How to make nice armor without mass fps loss?

Graphics
1

I know the lower poly the better, but other than that, it’s been really difficult for our 3d artist to make armor with even a bit of detail without the scene leaking fps. He used blender. Anyone have any tricks of the trade?

2

Create a high resolution model and brake it as low poly model with normal map.

http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/24048/create-a-low-poly-mesh-with-high-detailed-textures

3

Share images here and we can give better direction. Wireframes, and texture/shader setup images.
A few hundred to 1-2k polygons shouldnt make a huge difference in fps, unless there are other ‘issues’.

It’s usually a combination of polycount, least amount of supporting textures and a good shader that is appropriate for the build.