Can someone explain how "armor rating" works? I see there are spells that give 40 armor rating and cuirasses that give 40 and it looks like it will be easy to get an armor rating in the hundreds, so it certainly isn't a flat percentage...

I noticed this too. I believe it's calculated differently in this game with each point representing roughly .50 - .75%.

In Oblivion the maximum armor rating was 85. Multiply that by ten and you have the max armor rating in this game.

Also, I believe I heard someone had an armor rating of 400+...

The maximum armor based on what I have seen probably will be capped at 1000. So that means 10 armor is 1%. But honestly cap is probably around 750.

So 1000 = 100%?

So an armor effect of 40 only stops 4% of damage?

Correct.

I doubt the calculation is so simple as 10 armor = 1%. Most likely it is of the diminishing returns variety similar to League of Legends armor rating system.

An example: Armour / (Armour +100)
100 Armour = 50%
200 Armour = 66%
300 Armour = 75%
400 Armour = 80%
500 Armour = 83%
600 Armour = 86%
700 Armour = 88%

There is someone who claims to have about 700 Armour in game and it is a believable amount with smith and heavy armour perks.

That would mean early levels there isn't much difference between heavy and light armor, or even no armor.

I'm guessing the armor cap is a lot higher then 85 this time with all the perks that increase it, you would go way over it.

Given that players have reported armor ratings in the 500-600 range, it seems like that they are no longer using a percentage system. This is a good thing - the percentage system in Oblivion svcked.

I think the top current theory is that they want back to an armor system more like it was in Morrowind, where the percentage of damage blocked by armor varied depending upon how much damage was inflicted at once - repeated strikes from a dagger could be stopped more easily than a single strike from a 2-handed warhammer even if they did the same total amount of damage. IIRC the formula was something like %blocked = 100% - (dmg / (dmg + armor)).

There is no need for a cap when that kind of formula is used.

wait, so it's like x10 from oblivion? So Hand to Hand is a viable option with Fits of Steel; the base gauntlets do around 35 damage, Daedric ones could to 75.

Ok, I would be happy with something like this.

I'm not sure I like this new armor system.

Assuming I am correct, for the formula, basically you increase your HP by 100% for every 100 Armour. So if your base health is 200 hp and you have 300 Armour, you are basically equal to a person with 800 Hp in terms of ability to absorb physical damage.

A 51 level full tank with 600 Hp and 700 Armour will be equal to 4800 HP! You can't reach that level of toughness in Oblivion.

totally just want to go full tank in one character now.....
just walk through everything ahahaha

I heard you still die way faster though. Some attacks can inflict well over 500 Damage, some attacks also ignore defense.