Heavy Armor vs. Light Armor vs. Non-Armor

[ModelV]

Right so I dont really understand the armor system. I know heavy armor slows you down and gives more defense and that light armor is better for sneaking and lets you be more mobile but I dont know the exact pros and cons of the different armors and what play style they work with.

 

Anyone care to elaborate on them?

[FordPerfect]

Given the right perks there's no real difference between light and heavy besides aesthetics. Both light and heavy have a perk in their tree to remove the weight and movement penalty of worn armour. The sneak tree has a perk to remove the stealth penalty of wearing heavy boots. Finally, armour rating doesn't matter after 580 (easily obtained in light or heavy armour).

 

Playing unarmoured leaves you with no damage reduction (580 armour cap is 80% reduction) and no benefits, but it is how I play my mage. It makes the game a whole lot harder.

 

Light or heavy, it makes no difference with the perks - you can easily be a daedric wearing thief just as well as a leather wearing thief and you will be just as well protected with good/upgraded armour.

[ZenMonkey47]

Once you pick up the conditioning perks for HA or LA the weight and speed decrease becomes a non-issue, so it all comes down to sneaking. If you REALLY want to sneak around in heavy armor, there's the illusion 'muffle' spell or the rare muffle enchantment.

 

As for the defense bonuses, they really don't matter because the cap for armor is 567 and with smithing and perks, this is ridiculously easy to achieve with either heavy or light.

 

Basically, it all comes down to perks and which you think looks the best.

[Feanoro]

It all depends on what you want to do with your character pretty much. If you're the kind to be in the middle of the battle all the time hacking and slashing and pounding then you should get heavy armor and perks in it. Heavy armor has better defence than light armor until you get a very high smithing level and perks in the smithing skill. Basically it will help you in your style a lot until you become a high lvl.

 

However, if you're the sneaky type character who likes to range or backstab people, you should go with light armor. Light armor will protect you better than nothing and will make much less noise when you sneak around compared to heavy armor, thus helping you sneak better. At the same time, the more you invest in light armor perks the better off your character will be because all the sneaky/thieving/assasin armors are light.

 

Finally, if your main focus is magic in fights (something like summoning atronachs to hold off the enemy while you blast at them with destruction magic) then you'll find robes (non-armor but particularly non-armor with magic benefits) is what will help you most, particularly if you use defensive spells such as wards and oakflesh->ebonyflesh, etc.

 

Of course, you can always create a combination of all of these but the most important thing is where you invest your perks in. If, for example you keep upgrading the light armor tree you'll then find that light armor will be way way better than heavy armor for you down the road. Similarly, if you keep investing in the heavy armor tree you'll find that all the light armor will encounter will barely protect you against anything at all.

 

What's important to remember, though, is that you should make a choice at some point, otherwise if you spread out your perks among a ton of things you'll have trouble later on.

[ModelV]

Thanks for the help!

[beazalbob69]

Funny you mention the RARE muffle enchant. I got a pair of muffled Ebony Boots from a chest somewhere cant remember where now. Silent heavy boots lol! Edited January 10, 2012 by beazalbob69

[beazalbob69]

Once you pick up the conditioning perks for HA or LA the weight and speed decrease becomes a non-issue, so it all comes down to sneaking. If you REALLY want to sneak around in heavy armor, there's the illusion 'muffle' spell or the rare muffle enchantment.

 

As for the defense bonuses, they really don't matter because the cap for armor is 567 and with smithing and perks, this is ridiculously easy to achieve with either heavy or light.

 

Basically, it all comes down to perks and which you think looks the best.

 

Funny you mention the RARE muffle enchant. I got a pair of muffled Ebony Boots from a chest somewhere cant remember where now. Silent heavy boots lol!

[thesapien]

So it sounds like the ones who focus on spells have it best if they desire running around with a naked mod?

[BrknSoul]

Remember that Alteration specced un-armored Mages can (eventually) learn the Dragonhide spell and gain 80% damage reduction. Other than that, the Ebonyflesh spell gives upto 300 armor (with the Mage Armor perk) which is about 51% reduction when not wearing armor. Edited January 10, 2012 by BrknSoul