Iksar tanks in Kunark - best mitigation race despite lack of plate?

[Soothsayer]

Iksar get a decent innate AC bonus which scales with level. That's great, but the problem is that they can't use juicy plate armor until Velious. I've also read that Iksar get a higher AC softcap (reference thread) - not sure if there's any truth to that, but hey.

So... with all that in mind, can Iksar come out on top in terms of mitigation despite lack of access to cobalt armor in Kunark?