So that was our two part strategy to rebalance the late game: adjust
the worst offending items in such a way as to remain fun, but less abusive, as well as add a new higher tier of items that, though powerful, had limited use that would refresh each mission.
Be brave with colours and patterns and experiment (
worse case scenario, you simply remove the
offending item and if you've layered right you'll have something underneath to pull you through.)