I am not quite certain how Steve Rayhawk got a different answer out of Gambit. I assume it's because he used wins/losses instead of dps numbers,
Yes. In this problem we are concerned with winning a duel, and not with the margin of victory. The problem statement includes "The winner is fully healed afterwards."
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?