I started a warrior character, I've been having fun with him for a while, and i actually find warrior style to be fun.

I use a basic warrior build, one handed, shield, heavy armor, and most relevant to this topic SMITHING.

I hit 81 In smithing, i realized i could make Ebony armor now, so i crafted myself some, the supplies to make the armor were expensive so i sold my Orc armor so i could afford to make myself ebony.

So i make myself the ebony, and improve it to the max, only to find that it's inferior to my old orcish.

It dosn't make sense to me that you'd need a higher level of skill to make an inferior armor, i assumed that because you needed more skill to make it, and that it's higher on the perk tree it would be better (because this had been the case before).

I upgraded the armor to the same level as the Orcish, but the Orcish is still better, i don't disagree with the quality of Orcish, but if Orcish is better I think it should be higher on the skill tree not lower.

If I'm doing somthing wrong please tell me, I really wish the Ebony was better (mostly because it's WAY cooler looking)

Orcish isnt better by default, there was probably something altering your armor rating when wearing orcish.

Did you wear any items of fortify smithing or drink a potion of fortify smithing whie you were tempering your orcish armor? There is no max on items, legendary doesn't mean its maxed out get your smithing higher and the items can go higher even if its already legendary.

Base armor values for Ebony are superior to Orcish.

Maybe you didn't have a Matching Set, or have a Light Armor sneaking in somewhere nixing Well Fitted, or maybe your smithing skill level was lower (due to different smithing enchants or potions).

Daedric > Ebony > Orcish > Steel Plate

Ebony is better than Orcish, but you must have been using equipment with the fortify smithing enchantment or taken the potion for fortify smithing.

Scroll down to the 'item quality' table - http://www.google.com/search?q=skyrim%20smithing - you will see the necessary skill needed to improve armor to different levels.

Are you playing on a console? Ebony armor is glitched, in that it doesn't get the bonus for the matching set perk. That would explain a -25% drop in armor rating. However, the unofficial patch fixes this on pc.

I was using the ring of silverblood when i made my Orcish but I used it when making my Ebony too.

How high does your smithing need to be for Ebony to be better then Orcish?

That stinks but I'm not using that perk (and probably won't have it until i've moved on to a more advanced set of armor), i was comparring to the two diffrent sets from my inventory and noticed when they are both upgraded to legendary the Orcish is better.

The base stats should be higher on Ebony by default. If both armors are fully upgraded and Orcish still has better stats, then something is wrong.

When I upgraded from Orcish to Ebony, I noticed the increase in armor rating, as it should have been.

Is Legendary the highest upgrade?

Yes, that's the highest quality, you can still improve armour but they'll still be classed as legendary. When you get your overall armour rating to 567 that's the highest you can go, you can keep improving it until it says 800 (or whatever) but it still mitigates the same amount (80%) of incoming damage.

When you've got high enough smithing or enough perks then you can improve any armour up to the cap so just wear what you like the look of best as the Ebony will be every bit as strong as Daedric.

There's lots of ways to get your armour rating up such as Smithing skill, smithing perks, heavy armour perks, heavy armour skill, ancient knowledge, enchant gear with fort smithing, fort heavy armor encahnts, fort smithing potions.

So how high smithing do i need to get highest armor rating?

Wait i just figured it out, it was because of some weird bonus I've fixed it now thanks guys.

Daedric > Dragon > Ebony > Orcish > Steel Plate > Iron > Leather > Hide

Enjoy looking awesome in your Ebony armor.

Heavy armors so leave leather and hide out.

Daedric > Dragonplate > Ebony > Orcish > Steel Plate > Dwarven > Steel (this includes wolf, falmer and a few others) > Iron

Daedric = dragon = ebony = orcish = steel plate = iron = leather = hide.

With a little smith buffing help.

I personally wish this wasnt the case. As a consumate light armor user- i still vote heavy should protect better (which currently if both have perks maxed it is actually worse) but light armor needs a flat character speed increase pr a jump modifier to balance the protection with a mobility "feel"

This is one of my gripes with this incarnation of ES. I think it was very lazy design.

Too add- for you Pc users out there- get light armor deft movement mod- it is fun on a bun.

It does a block tree "Quick reflexes" slow time effect 50% of the time a power attack is attempted on you (as the master light armor perk). Tre cool.

I had a similar problem when I first forged myself some Dragon Scale...it wasn't as highly rated as my Glass. Individual items gave slightly less damage protection, some gave more. But must've been because I'd had an enchanted item of Smithing on when I made or improved the Glass.