I once played a game where a similar kind of setup was arranged with armour - however, the armour selection was not necessarily fixed over each battle. Players could effectively change armour at specific points throughout the combat.
If you want to try an even more interesting arrangement, imagine players get to switch one item of their setup every, say, 10 or 15 rounds.
Note: this image does not belong to me; I found it on 4chan. It presents an interesting exercise, though, so I'm posting it here for the enjoyment of the Less Wrong community.
For the sake of this thought experiment, assume that all characters have the same amount of HP, which is sufficiently large that random effects can be treated as being equal to their expected values. There are no NPC monsters, critical hits, or other mechanics; gameplay consists of two PCs getting into a duel, and fighting until one or the other loses. The winner is fully healed afterwards.
Which sword and armor combination do you choose, and why?