heavy armor slow you down?

[Nunda]

I think I've noticed my character running sightly slower while heavy armor is equipped. but it's by such a small amount that it could be in my head. am I slower or am I seeing things?

 

also what are the pros of light armor that make it a valid choice over heavy armor when heavy armor gives better protection?

[Deleted80993User]

I think I've noticed my character running sightly slower while heavy armor is equipped. but it's by such a small amount that it could be in my head. am I slower or am I seeing things?

 

also what are the pros of light armor that make it a valid choice over heavy armor when heavy armor gives better protection?

 

In my eyes, stealth is a huge factor, depends on the character you're playing, truly.

[dezdimona]

heavy armor does make your character move slower because of the added weight factor. with light armor you gain speed but lose amount of damage done. I use light armor but carry a heavy shield, so both stats gain by their usage

[madman132]

heavy armor does make your character move slower because of the added weight factor. with light armor you gain speed but lose amount of damage done. I use light armor but carry a heavy shield, so both stats gain by their usage

What now? Are you a master in both heavy and light armor? How long did that take? I remember how i went into the sewers in a room with three mudcrabs and let them pinch me until their Claws should've been ground up on the ten full sets of heavy armor i brought down there.

I made a heal over time spell that ran a long time and went into the state of halfsleep that is very well known to MMORPG players when they grind something...

 

Either that or you could just be lazy and use the Console :P

 

With a heavy Shield, do you still get the 50% Armor bonus for wearing all light armor?

 

Or is it a roleplay thing? If so, you could use a light armor shield, some of them seem to be pretty "heavy" to me, like maybe the Elven Shield. That's like solid Metal and it sure is big enough to actually protect you.

Why the Akaviri shield is "heavy" and the Elven Shield is "light" is beyond me. The Classification is completely arbitrary, as you can see with the "iron shield" (Heavy Armor) and the "light Iron Shield" (Duh! :D)...

 

Or you could make a giant Towershield, but then again there probably are a million billion bajillion hyperkajillion Shields out there already ;D

[gpstr1]

Yeah-- you run slower with heavy armor, pretty much no matter what.

 

The game bases your speed and movement on what you're wearing rather than, or at least more than, what you're carrying. So you can be carrying your max encumbrance, carrying light armor and wearing heavy and you'll move slower than if you're carrying the exact same things but wearing the light armor and carrying the heavy. And you'll move fastest of all if you're wearing nothing and carrying everything, though bandits and creatures might pose a bit of a problem then......

 

At expert level in heavy armor, you get a 50% reduction to the encumbrance of the heavy armor you're wearing, which helps a bit, but at the same level in light armor, you get a 100% reduction, so light armor still remains lighter and thus faster. Since it's always lighter, you've got more encumbrance left over to carry weapons and loot and it makes sneaking easier (at least until you get to journeyman level in sneak, at which point weight doesn't matter any more).

 

Ultimately, aside from the lighter weight and lower encumbrance, there's no real advantage to light armor, and at higher levels even those advantages tend to fade. But by the same token, the 50% armor bonus for wearing all light armor at master level makes up for the protection advantage that heavy offers, so it all balances out and it really comes down just to personal preference. I put stealthy characters in light armor just because, even though it doesn't make any difference once I'm past journeyman level in sneak, sneaking around in a full suit of Daedric just seems wrong. Similarly I put warriors in heavy just because standing toe-to-toe with a Dremora while wearing a suit of glass seems wrong.

 

And yes-- equipping a heavy shield with light armor cancels the 50% master level bonus for light armor, though at that point in the game it can potentially be worth it anyway, especially if you've got good armor and are pushing the 85% protection maximum already and the shield in question is especially nice, like the Escutcheon of Chorrol.

[nosisab]

At level 20+ my "Antamages" gets the 'strange' custom of "willing" taking blows from Ogres just to improve their light armor stats :)

 

I remember sometime ago, just a few eons in the past, when heavy armors had some utility for my chars beyond the merchandise value.

 

The only real problem with Antamages (what indeed is just a magic gifted race battle mage, with only blade and light armor plus 5 choose magic schools and The thief for birthsign) is surviving the few fists levels. Once they do they becomes HIGHLY resilient to physical and magical damage and strikes with lightning speed and/or magic ... The good thing about that setup is being very easy to control the leveling. I never train (with trainers I mean) the main skills except maybe for the master levels and it allows to good secondary skills leveling. Indeed I experimented with having just a few, not likely to use in the daily affairs but easy to perform when required, skills. But the newer characters uses that setup described above with success, albeit leveling faster.

 

Heavy Armors are good for slashing and hashing but the price is too high (beyond what no armor will help against Afinity Sword, as no magical defenses will too).

 

PS: Although I use the thief for birthsign it's not meant to be a stealth char; just for the boost on speed and agility and, 'mainly', luck, it provides. Attributes highly recommended to have with the above sword.

[Nunda]

Thank you so much people, you've answered my question completely.