If I can have top defense on the armor of my preference, I will use that set, over any other. And what's this all about the dress thing? If the armor set with the best defense available was actually, dress-like, would you wear it? I don't think so.

No, I would not. I do like a good protection for my balls and dresses do not offer this.

Btw, the Imperials have little choice, their armor is dress-like.

To be fair, all of the Helmets in game are really ugly, except for the Daedric and Iron. Light armor really gets shafted, thankfully the Diadem of the Savant counts as Light Armor, but you lose a custom enchantment slot.

Personally though, I don't use Smithing perks except for Steel (Necessary to access->) and Arcane blacksmithing on my Nightblade. It's too easy to break the game with the buffs. That's not even counting things like Necromage Artisan or Fortify Restoration potions. I play on Master and I find that smithing abuse is uncessary, though basic smithing is nearly mandatory. (Similar to Armorer in Morrowind-Oblivion)

If you're seeking the 567 Armor cap though, you should also remember the quest given by the Argonian in Riften's wharfs, "From-Deepest-Fathoms". Completing this quest grants a bugged effect of +25% AR and +15% Smithing permanently, in the same manner as "Sailor's Repose" from the Frostfloe Lighthouse quest.

Tell that to a Scottish and let's see where you'll end up

Anyways, comparing armor sets (even virtual ones) with dresses, was totally off. Like I said, Bethesda has made some quite beautiful designs. Enabling their usability at all player levels, is not a bad thing at all, in my opinion.

My hero does know nothing about beauty. He slays dragons, guts them and walks knee deep through their blood, bones and excrements, cuts off chunks of their stinking skins and hammers them into an armor, only so he can wear it day and night. He loves it. Give him a dress and he will uses to wipe his blades clean. The only men to wear dresses known to him are dead or mages.

Not how it works, each armor rating gives you 0.12% damage resist (rounded down usually). So you need 667 armor rating to reach 80% damage resist, but you get a hidden armor rating from armor pieces you wear, adding up to +100.

I believe the chest piece gives you +40 and the head feet and hands give you +20 each. So without a helmet you need 587 armor rating.

You can achieve this with any armor, given the right joint crafting skills. http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1342463-complete-character-design-freedom-damage-resist-caps-and-ridiculous-damage-thread-10/ <- this is a good guide to achieving high armor ratings.

Then you shouldn't have any problem with the armor of the Legendary Dwemer, made from a metal, nobody has ever been able to figure out how they made. And for all that's worth, there are mages who wear pants: Those from the College of Winterhold

No but the loss of an Enchant slot does. Offense is king in Skyrim.

Remember, if you are not wearing a helmet, the armor cap goes up to 592 because of the hidden 25 you get just by putting on a helmet. You can still reach the cap without a helmet, but if you stop at 567 and are not wearing a helmet, you are not at the cap.

EDIT: @bobjim123. I heard it was 25 for each piece, but you could be right about it being 40 for armor and 20 for each of the other pieces.

You get the slot back if you wear a circlet, which my current character does in lieu of a helmet. Yeah, he won't get the set bonus, but since he's going Heavy (currently in Orcish, eventually will wear Dragonplate) he doesn't need it.

The cap does not increase if you add a helmet, as it's based on the mitigation cap of 80%. Your armor rating will increase, but it wont actually matter.

Mitigation% = TotalArmorRating*0.12
TotalArmorRating = HiddenArmorRating+DisplayedArmorRating
HiddenArmorRating = 25*NumPieces; shields don't count, so max of 4

80% = TAR*0.12
80/0.12 = TAR
I'll multiply by 100/100 for clarity, so 80/0.12 becomes 8000/12
8000/12 = 667
667-100 = 567

So, while you'll have a 592 AR, the added 25 aren't actually doing anything unless the other guy has both a mace and the armor bypass perk, and that's pretty damn rare.

you'll note that the armor rating required for no armor worn is 667. the -100 you are doing is actually the hidden armor we're talking about. you can't use the -100 to the 667 value if you're not wearing armor for every piece. the reason you need 567 is because you get 20 from every piece: 567 + invisible 20 for head + invisible 20 for arms + invisible 40 for chest + invisible 20 for boots = 667. so if you take away the helmet, you actually need 587 + invisible 20 for arms + invisible 40 for chest + invisible 20 for boots = 667. this is not a question of armor cap but a question of what your armor will need to display to be at armor cap.

if you were not wearing any armor at all, you would need the display to be a full 667 in order to have max armor rating (no hidden).

if you want full armor rating against a fully perked opponent with a mace, the opponent will ignore 75% of your armor rating. meaning that after 75% is ignored, you still have 667. this value is 2668 as the absolute armor cap regardless of what the opponent is doing.

Okay, but if you are not wearing a helmet, doesn't the last step in your math look like this: 667-75=592?

Are you sure about the 40/20/20/20 split? The UESP says it's 25 per piece worn. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Armor#Armor_Rating If that's wrong, maybe someone should update it. I am on a PS3 so I cannot check it myself

@Squiros: I'm aware of all of that, but as mentioned below I was showing how the 567 figure was reached in the first place. I suppose I should have clarified that, though, as it does look like I'm running numbers for the OP's purpose.

No, because I'm showing how the 'armor cap' is determined based on the 80% mitigation cap. I assumed four pieces for consistency's sake, because that was one of the assumptions made when the numbers were initially crunched to get the 567 value.

Now, your displayed armor rating would need to be 592 (or 587 if Squiros is correct) to reach the cap with no helmet, since it includes the hidden 'per piece' bonus and you have to make up the missing value somewhere else if you're only wearing 3 pieces.

\
Totally agree

ah some one as vain as me

I guess... with deadric armor


with my mage too if I go all alteration (with mod I get 900+ armor form spells but it does not matter since the max is 80% protection anyways)

btw its capped .... 80% is the max protection i don't know how much in armor rating number I think its 650 or something

Okay, well it sounds like we are saying the same thing, since you are not going to get the hidden 25 (or 20) if you are not wearing the helmet. So if you want to be at the armor cap without wearing a helmet, you need a displayed armor rating of 592 (or 587).

I can get around 400 without a helmet with 100 smithing so yes it's certainly possible to get the max rating without a helmet which would disqualify the other two armor perks. Your going to have to fortify smithing though and that's pretty easy to do.

How is this bugged?

You could do this without a single piece of armour, with dragonskin spell and three perks in mage armour.

I do not think dragonskin requires mage armor to reach max reduction. I believe it provides max reduction on its own.

You're right. And it's dragonhide not dragonskin.

D'oh!

Some sad, and some comical replies!
First:
I call something precious and rare, when you can't make it - and you can't buy it.
This describes the white fur armour, fur gauntlets (Stormcloak), and fur boots (more common, incl. guards).
I mean, I could pump out common Daedric stuff for you all day long, I have ~20 daedric hearts in each of my homes' chests... that's like 100 hearts. But I don't want to look like that (and carry all that weight).
And second, YES these gloves and boots are 800 rating each; plus a leather helm around the same or a little more; plus a hide shield rated ~600 and the fur armor around 2200 or so.
Add it up (it's far more than 567 or whatever, heheh...)

I have gloves, ring, amulet and blacksmith apron that buff armoring 48 points (each).
I have fortify restoration potions from ~100% to 1000%.
Also fortify smithing potions from ~100% to 1200%.
Plus I have the same deal with fortify alchemy clothing, 4 x 48 points (each).
I can produce fortify enchantment potions up to 300% even without stacking the restoration potions (which can easily increase the buff of the garments from 48 to ~1200 points each).
Actually (as previously mentioned) the numbers get so nutty that it's embarassing - and clearly unbalancing.
I mean, why would anyone need Ebony or Daedric when my fur is totalling up over 4000 armor points?
This is clearly not what Beth intended...

I have retired all my nutty armor and weapons to mannequins, because it did destroy the immersion and the plain-old-fun.
And I repeat, don't stack the restoration potions - or things will become inevitably depressing!
In closing...
So svck on that information, Mr. You-can't-do-that and Ms. Denier-of-truth, LoL!
Seems some of you guys are nowhere near as experienced as I.
Regards

lol- The Gryphon hath pownt.

but he is right.