The importance of wearing a proper helmet in Skyrim (includes Science&

[huminum]

I just wanted to put the test results of this little expirement I conducted out here.

 

 

2-3 weeks ago I started a new game in Skyrim. The main inspiration for the new game was to increase the Light Armor skill to 100 by wearing just a light helmet. All the other armor was to be of Heavy Armor category. This would also serve as an indication of how much damage my character's poor thick head had received over the course of the game. So far my character is in his level 40s and I would estimate the combat has been half ranged combat and half melee, although One-Handed Weapons skill is 10-20 points higher than the Archery skill (about 90 and 80 respectively). Not sure if that's a conclusive indication of the combat style ratio I've engaged in (melee vs. ranged). My melee style included 1H weapons + heavy shield. I haven't made a single swing with a 2H weapon. Anyway. Here are the numbers so far:

 

 

Light Armor: 58

Heavy Armor: 83

 

 

"Holy Christ." I said to myself. As I played, I wasn't even really paying the attention to those numbers. I had too much fun playing. But eventually I remembered why I started the new game in the first place, right? So I had to fire up Skyrim just to check those numbers. An important fact to note is that I had trained the Heavy Armor by 5-10 points at a trainer. So in terms of skill increases via received hits only, the Heavy Armor should be 73-78, which makes these numbers even more astonishing, IMO. Any skill increases via books are negligible, since I haven't consciously gone after them. I never would've guessed that the player character's head receives such abuse in the game. There were, however, a few occasions when I noticed, after several fights, that I had forgotten to switch out my crafting bracers (note: I play in 1st person mode). Those particular bracers are light armor. But even if we were to deduct as much as 10 points from Light Armor due to this negligence, I would still be surprised by those two numbers.

 

 

On retrospect, I feel that I've had unusually hard time surviving melee fights in Skyrim, even after considering that I've played on Expert difficulty. I can only attribute this perceived extra difficulty to:

A) the combination of lighter head protection and the high volume of bruising that is directed to the player's head. Or

B) Skyrim has been made more difficult at some point during the last dozen patches or so. It's a long time since I last played before now. But most likely it's

C) due to the fact that I wore both armor types, Light and Heavy, and so I got the worst of the both worlds, and neglected the bonuses from certain perks that boost armor rating.

 

 

But is there any extensive research done about the body location hit ratios? I would love to see some percentages and statistical data. If not, I guess this could be considered as some sort of starting point. Trust me when I say, your character's head gets more pounding in Skyrim than you think it does. Much more. Stop hesitating and go buy that expensive Ebony Helmet you saw at a merchant 20 minutes ago. If at some point you have two ingots and can't decide which items to upgrade, upgrade your helmet twice. That is all.