So some people say it's heav armor, some say it's light armor. It would be pretty stupid from Bethesda to put the plate perk in light armor branch for a heavy armor, so I'm guessing it's light armor ?
Plus how do you make them ? I think the steel plate armor looks THE BEST of all armors in the game. I hate spiky armors, they look childish to me.

And... what do you think of light armor vs heavy armor ? To me there doesn't seem to be that much of a difference between the two when comparing stats.

It's heavy armor, and yeah, it's silly for its perk to be over on the light armor side of the tree.

I pick armor based on character theme, not pure stats. Light armor for my sneaky Huntress; when I get around to making a claymore swinging brute I'll put him in heavy.

Steel plate IS heavy armor, even though the perk to forge it is found on the "light" side of the smithing tree. The Advanced Armor perk also unlocks Scale Armor, which is a light armor, and I guess they (Bethesda) didn't want to overload the heavy side or something. Forging a whole set of Steel Plate Armors will require 9 Steel ingots, 4 Corundum ingots, 4 Iron ingots, and 9 Leather straps... and it does indeed look cool as hell.

It is quite possible to build a character that will get more protection from Light armor than Heavy Armor, but a heavy armor user will have a higher defense earlier, at the cost of some mobility and stamina while sprinting.
-Loth

The perk "Advanced Armors" allows you craft both Scaled and Steel Plate. Scale is Light and Plate is heavy. You're right it doesn't make much sense for a Heavy Armor type to be on the Light side of the Smithing tree, but at least it's fairly easy to reach at only 3 points.


(1) Level Smithing skill to 50; (2) gather the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Forge#Advanced_Armors; (3) ???; (4) Profit.


Light Armor enjoys lots of intrinsic advantages over Heavy Armor because of the way equipped armor weight impacts several important game mechanics. The weight of your armor affects: (1) your ability to Sneak; (2) how quickly your Stamina drains while running; (3) your carrying capacity (duh); and (4) your ability to enchant multiple sets of armor for different purposes. A full set of Elven armor, for instance, weighs only 7 lbs, which means you don't need things like a Muffle enchant on your boots, or the Steed Stone so you can run farther and carry more, etc. If you're wearing Heavy Armor, you have to "solve" all of those issues with enchants, perks, standing stones, etc. whereas a Light Armor wearer can simply ignore them and focus on other things.

That being said, virtually every type of Armor in the game can reach the armor cap (567 displayed), so wear whatever you think looks best. If that's Steel Plate for you, you'll likely need (1) either the Steed Stone or the Conditioning perk in Heavy Armor; and (2) a Muffle enchant on your boots and the Muffled Movement perk in Sneak (if you want the option of being stealthy). That should solve most of the weight problems.

Edit: Loth beat me to the punch!? Unpossible.

BRUHUUHUUHHAHAHAHAAAAA! REVENGE IS MINE!
-Loth

Water, fire, air and dirt...
[Censored] plate armors, how do they work?
and I don't wanna talk to a scientist...

I see no reason not to use full on heavy armor, especially with the steed perk. It's like wearing a second skin.

Thanks for the info : )

I have two more questions:

1. If you have the Steed stone or the perk that makes heavy armor weigh nothing, except for the weight, does it make you stamina regeneration faster too ? with heavy armor of course.
2. is it possible to disenchant lets say the nithingale armor and put it's effects on the steel plate amor ?
3. Do you have to recharge the armors you enchant or is it just with weapons ?

Yes. The Steed Stone makes your armor weigh nothing, which solves the stamina drain and sneak issues for you.


I'm not sure if it can be disenchanted, but I'm not sure why you'd need to. All of the stats on Nightingale Armor are mundane and can be found on lots of other stuff.


No.

1: It makes the stamina drain from running (and fighting I think) much smaller, but I don't think it'll regen faster.
2: Nope, nearly all unique items can't be disenchanted. You can learn all the effects that Nightingale has from other items, but you may not be able to stick them on the same slots.
3: Nope, only weapons have to be recharged. All enchants on apparel are permanent effects.

I wish I could have gotten the exact effects from Nitingale. I love the stats but I don't want to look like Batman or Darth Vader.

You can put illusion on your helmet, stamina on your chest, muffle and frost resist on your boots and lockpicking + fort. one-handed on your gloves.

You'll just have to find some other items with those effects ^^

That was THREE questions, BTW... not two.
-Loth