Interesting Factoid Re: Heavy vs. Light Armor Debate : V

» Sun May 13, 2012 8:19 am

According to http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Armor_Rating#Armor_Rating:

Damage reduction is capped at 80%. If you are wearing all four pieces of armor, this occurs at 567 displayed armor rating. If you have 100 skill, all relevant armor perks, and Legendary equipment, you will need about 85 base armor to achieve this cap. This requires the Nightingale set for Light Armor (though Dragonscale comes close), and at least a Steel Plate set for Heavy Armor. With the Lord Stone, the required contribution for worn armor drops to about 74. This requires at least a Glass set for Light Armor, and at least a Dwarven set for Heavy Armor.

Overall, I'd say Light Armor is the best choice by late game, since Heavy Armor's perks are pretty negligible (punching, reduced falling damage) and it continues to make more noise, if you sneak at all. Of course, you need high skill and Smithing to realistically hit the cap with high-end Light Armor.

Actually, the two armor types still seem pretty balanced to me. I just remember seeing a lot of debate going on about them, and of course I can't find the threads again in this chaos.

» Sun May 13, 2012 3:36 pm

My armor type is chosen for role playing purposes and not for it's effectiveness.

I like heavy armor on my two handed orc warrior, and light armor an my sneaky
bosmer.

Not saying anyone who does otherwise is wrong, but for me the choice goes beyond
raw numbers.

» Sun May 13, 2012 3:17 pm

At the very, very end of the game they are equal, but what about all the time it took to get there when heavy armor had superior ratings?

Also, by the end when light armor has caught up to heavy armor in rating, heavy armor no longer weighs anything or restricts movement while wearing it. So unless you're a stealth character they are pretty much the same.

So basically they end up at the same place but take different routes to get there, neither one is better it depends on how you like to play.

» Sun May 13, 2012 10:25 pm

According to http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Armor_Rating#Armor_Rating:

Overall, I'd say Light Armor is the best choice by late game, since Heavy Armor's perks are pretty negligible (punching, reduced falling damage) and it continues to make more noise, if you sneak at all. Of course, you need high skill and Smithing to realistically hit the cap with high-end Light Armor.

Actually, the two armor types still seem pretty balanced to me. I just remember seeing a lot of debate going on about them, and of course I can't find the threads again in this chaos.

I thought about this, but truthfully I don't want my Nord wearing glass armor. Gay.

» Sun May 13, 2012 11:33 pm

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1266212-2469-armor-3199-damage-using-smithing-alchemy-enchanting-only-31-perks/

I can't really trust UESP right now, considering some of it's information is different from what I am actually seeing in-game.

» Sun May 13, 2012 9:15 pm

I'm starting to regret picking heavy armor for my warrior. Two of the perks are utterly useless (gauntlet damage and falling damage reduction) and I could have really used that stamina recovery perk in the light armor line.

» Sun May 13, 2012 3:32 pm

At the very, very end of the game they are equal, but what about all the time it took to get there when heavy armor had superior ratings?

Also, by the end when light armor has caught up to heavy armor in rating, heavy armor no longer weighs anything or restricts movement while wearing it. So unless you're a stealth character they are pretty much the same.

So basically they end up at the same place but take different routes to get there, neither one is better it depends on how you like to play.

Stamina still regens slower in heavy even with the weightless perk.

» Sun May 13, 2012 9:08 pm

bump for op