STEP 2 - Mixing in details in different map channels and adjusting them on the mesh
Everything done so far can be considered as preparation for this step, this is the main step for this technique.
I've explained how I go about adding more mix levels to the material editor so now I'm gonna focus on what I've done with the uv's for each mix level I've added.
Map Channel 1 - Blood and General Maps
Map channel 1 is the default channel that comes when you work with objects and textures.
That is why I didn't really need to make a new map channel for it - just moving around existing uv's to set where the blood stains fall was enough. I didn't even need to unwrap any model because even if inevitable stretches and overlaps occurred - it didn't really meter too much.
There is a meaning to the order of the mix levels and since the blood will cover the rest of the details, it goes to the base of the maps.
Map channel 2 - Side decorations / diamonds' gradient
This is where this technique really takes advantage of it's potential. When preparing the mask, I had to make sure that it can be seamlessly tileable horizontally and that I have enough "empty black space" to work with the uv's. I went through every armor part and added an Unwrap modifier and set it's channel to 2. First step is to scale down all the uv's to a really small chunk and put them on the side on an "empty black space", then select a few polygons on the side of the model through the unwrap, hit planner mapping and organize the uv's while seeing in the viewport how the side decorations fit the model. This process is repeated with every few polygon chunks from the corners of the model and then I weld them all into 1 long "uv line". The great thing about doing it this way is that I can really easily manipulate the side decorations to grow or shrink with the model's flow and get the feedback in the viewport in real time.
In this tutorial I am focusing on the shading of the armor's metal material but I just wanted to mention here that I've also used the same map channel 2 unwrap for the diamonds - in the diamonds' material I've placed a radial gradient map in the "extra light" slot to give them extra subtle depth, I went through every object that had diamonds in it and in the same map channel 2 unwrap modifier that was already there I've selected the diamonds uv's and manipulated them around one of the tiles of the gradient (and not necessarily in the center of the uv's to avoid cluttering).
Map Channel 3 - Symbols
Again, When preparing this mask, I made sure I kept enough "black empty space" between the symbols, That is also why for this map I turned tiling off - to have more empty space to work with on the corners.
So now we go again through every armor part, add another unwrap modifier and set it to channel 3. First step is to select all the uv's, scale them down and take them outside of the uv box (which should be enough to "make a clean start" since the tiling is turned off). The idea now is to select the polygons that will have a symbol, hit planner and and manipulate the uv's until you are happy with how the symbol sit's on the model. Again, immediate viewport feedback makes it possible to nicely "deform" the original shape of your symbol to fit the shape of your models more "naturally", this also helps avoiding having a cloned look when using the same shape several times. (take a look for example at how much the big shape on the helmet is deformed from its original texture to fit the flow of the helmet).
Map Channel 4 - Scratches
I've added this one later but since the scratches should also appear on the side decorations and symbols, I've added this mix level below them (like I've mentioned earlier, the order of the mix levels in the material is important and it wouldn't make sense to have the scratches on the armor stop where there are symbols and side decorations).
For most of the armor's parts I've simply placed a UVWmap modifier with map channel 4 and did a quick move/rotate/scale tweak to the gizmo to determine how the scratches fall.
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