For clarity, I'm not trying to brush off a common question so much as I trying to be consistent that context matters.
The Explorer Gauntlets are a great example of the issue. They are hands down one of the best hand pieces in the game, and with luck or out of game knowledge, can be gotten fairly early in the game. Warriors, and Rogues rejoice!
But mages, and clerics can't equip them. And 2-H warriors might prefer something else (not recommended, but plausible).
As for weapons, the troll rule is obvious --- fire is best as nothing else can kill a troll. So is elemental weakness / resistence of enimies.
But there are more subtle details in the game mechanics.
Cleave: Elemental damage hits all enemies with full force, while physical damage is reduced.
Critical: Physicals damage is improved, not elemental damage (unless using a pure elemental staff).
Charge / Whirlwind / Flank / Fury: Physical damage is improved, not elemental damage.
So if you're playing a 2-H combat beast heavily using Charge and Whirlwind, you might want to use pure physical weapons over similar DPS weapons that have extra elemental damage.
So rather than trying to comment all the possible circumstances that could play a role in an assessment of what is "best" it seems simpler to just state context matters a lot.
Because the game is open world, even a new player without out-of-game knowledge can stumble across a wide range of possible equipment in the game. In addition, lucky drops (e.g. golem's fist) can really change things, too.