There seems to be no downside to heavy armor vs. light at al : V - Skyrim

» Fri May 11, 2012 2:51 am

The 10% chance to dodge doesn't really match up to 10% reflect damage, which everyone seems to be ignoring. And as a melee class, the large amount of extra armor you get from heavy is almost a necessity especially when playing on master difficulty. I don't think that as an up-close melee class there's really any competition between heavy and light armour. Not sure if the same can be said about ranged/rogue classes, however.

» Fri May 11, 2012 5:43 am

No, I don't think that line of logic is correct. The pure armor benefits from Heavy Armor are higher than light, so it's extremely certain that at that top level you will definitely NOT be getting one shotted, all while reflecting some sick damage back.

Plus, the fact that you can completely remove the weight problems from Heavy Armor itself is ridiculous. The stamina stat is so easy to increase artificially without light armor perks that there is almost no reason not to go heavy armor when you want to play efficiently.

If you really want to role play, go ahead. But you're not getting the best you could possibly get.

Well I suppose everyones personal experiance differs, but I personally have found that the difference between heavy armor and light armor is negligable as it applies to pure armor and stamina is significantly harder to control given my heavy reliance on power attacks. To put it in the form of experiance, in heavy armor I died more often than in light armor. This had mainly to do with with my ability to tear an opponent in half before he even gets a chance to injur me, while in heavy armor I found myself hitting potions almost constantly.

But like I said, I think there is a case to be made for heavy armor, but it really depends on how heavy your reliance on stamina is, their is no amount of artificial bonuses that can counter the sheer amount of mana I go through when I fight. That regen is really important element.

» Fri May 11, 2012 12:22 am

The majority of the game does not exist in a place where you have 100 skill and unlimited perks.

Conditioning, for example, requires 70 skill and 4 perks. That's actually very high. I'm level 26 in the game, have 40 hours, and I have nothing to 70 skill. You're going to be dealing with the full heavy weight for 40 hours. That is if you're even playing a build that gets hit often enough to raise your skill that often.

By contrast, light armor gets its "weighs nothing" perk at a mere 50 skill and 3 perks. In addition to being lighter that entire time. You could probably ignore this perk altogether.

Also most people who use light armour are stealth orientated fighters...meaning they get hit less(because their stealthy).

Light armour needs a boost in exp.

» Fri May 11, 2012 7:43 am

Like previous games I expect I'll usually prefer light armour but for those characters who did go heavy I'd pick the Steed Birthstone making Conditioning and the 2 junk perks unneccessary.

» Thu May 10, 2012 10:26 pm

I like light armor better.