» Sat Feb 09, 2013 8:40 am
I never used heavy armor until my most recent atypical playthrough as a Nord two-hander. Light armor raises just like heavy and builds towards the cap by the same work and effort. The difference initially is so tiny that I find myself considering the choice of heavy armor for him more an image thing than practical. It may be a pain to do it all, but at low levels, casting the oak flesh spell for a boost of 40 and drinking light armor potions leaven your rating well.
The best advice is of course the most obvious, don't get hit. Hard to do, but one of the ironic problems of the stealth mage types I usually play is that even though light armor would (and was in Oblivion and Morrowind) be a major class defining skill if we had classes, it stays in the low 20s long into my higher levels. I wind up having to train it sometimes to get to 30 and take matching set. I've never needed more than that perk and one or rarely two of the agile defender perks to reach 567 without a shield. But then I do take smithing up to 60 for arcane as soon as I can and use four smith boost items and a potion when I make newer suits. I take elven too.