Best armor?

[cryocry]

A character's total armor rating is capped at 85. Enchantments of Shield or Fire/Frost/Shock Shield added to any set of armor, either Heavy or Light, can get you to that cap when you've mastered that particular armor.

 

Hell, if you jam Transcendant Sigil stones that impart 20% Shield to a shirt, hood, pants, and shoes, you'll get an armor rating of 80 from clothes! Throw in the Wrist Irons your character starts out with, and you'll easily max out the armor— without any sort of base armor rating or a shield.

 

On the cheap outlook of things, a Master of Heavy Armor and Master of Light Armor will carry the same weight (zero!); move at the same speed (that is, if their Speed attributes are the same— ignoring the fact that Speed is a defining attribute of Light Armor); and have the same Spell Effectiveness. Only part where HA is inferior to LA is in regards to Sneak— and only if you happen to be a Novice or Apprentice at Sneak (Journeyman's perk is, of course, the ability to sneak no matter how heavy your boots are).

 

Hardcore number-crunchers will debate as to the best armor in terms of how many enchantment slots you have freed up once you do get to 85. You can reach 85 with a low-grade armor set, but at the cost of enchanting nearly every single piece with a Shield spell in order to pull it off. A high-grade armor set will get you there with one or two pieces requiring a Shield enchantment— giving you three or four slots to fill with something a little more interesting.

 

Aside from that, once you realize that any armor suite in the game can be the "best" in protection, your choice will ultimately fall upon looks or style.

 

 

 

 

Ok, I know half this stuff (if you were directing it at me). I said Light Armor is the skill to master because you don't have to wear as much when you're a master, because the armor rating doubles for each peice somewhere. And, Rhydderch Hael:

So, you would only need to kill a battlemage and get his hood and some sigil stones to get it, huh? Cool!

[sacredstick]

Imperial dragon armour :P