I just want to know if I have a full set of Legendary Dragonplate armor, but no Fortify Smithing enhancements, and 100 Heavy Armor skill but no perks, what will the armor rating be on my armor? What perks, if any, will I have to choose to hit the cap?

The math involved is elementary algebra, but making sure you put all the variables in the right spot is a little tedious.

Just off of headmaths (I hope I executed the ops right), it's like 213 with just 100heavy armor, and no smithing improvements.

Without smithing, you'll have to get all 5 Juggernaut and utilize The Whole set + Matching set, bringing it to around 538 total. (-100 for the hidden +25 Armor effect on each piece equipped)

Note, these roughish estimations are without a shield.

Without any Smithing at all, I think only Daedric can hit the cap.*

*You can also fortify your Armor skill through enchantments, depending on how much you add, Dragonplate or Ebony can also reach the 567(Displayed) Cap.

Well to even get Dragonplate armor I'm going to have to have 100 Smithing and the Dragon Smithing perk, so all the pieces will be to Legendary status. So with that, what Heavy Armor points, if any, will I need to hit the cap.

I have the armor in question. I concur with Criminal_Scum's findings. I'm not at home right now so I cannot verify exactly what rating the set has, but with the correct perks it's up around 530 something. Also, I do not have 100 heavy armor skill but I do have 76 skill and all but the reflect blows heavy armor perks. I wanted conditioning so my heavy armor would be weightless. The most important thing to max out the armor is the matching set perk. You'll need at least 5 perks invested in blacksmithing (and 100 skill, in order to get dragon armor) and if you really want to max the armor out you'll probably want to have arcane smithing (so that would be 6 perks total, at least). If you do enchant the armor, you may also want to look into some of the enchanting perks... but that's another thing altogether.

I have this armor set and it's way over powered. I can walk right up to ancient dragon's and stare them in the eyes without fighting and last for about 20 seconds or so. If I wear this armor I like to use underpowered weapons so that battles don't feel lopsided. And, a word to the wise, if you choose to use this kind of armor you should realize that it may ruin other armor for you. Once you get used to being that well-protected you may find it amazingly easier to die when you switch to a stealthy armor or mages clothing. And you'll want to be sure you always have the full set on. Don't switch to some special boots thinking it will upgrade you armor. You lose the huge matching set bonus.

Oh, if you're planning on using smithing to beef it up... Assuming you don't use exploits, I'm fairly certain "Legendary" Dragonplate will be at or above the cap for armor effectiveness with 1 Juggernaut, Matching Set, and Well-fitted, all of these you'll want to get anyway to acquire the "Reflect Blows" Perk.

I saw the formula for armor rating on UESP wiki. It was pretty complicated. I don't know if it's because I can't math or because the formula was hard to read. Is there another place I can find the formula?

It's hard to read because of things like (Agile Defender or Juggernaut and Matching Set). Once you start plugging in all the variables, it's a lot less irritating. (1+.80+.25)

Reflect blows is a wasted perk. So is the dodge perk in light armor. Both have a meager 10% chance to proc. There are far better perks out there. The damage in NPC can dish out is nowhere near the level a PC can do. Add to the fact it only occurs in 1 in 10 times makes the perk a complete waste.


But the only way to get a full suit of dragon plate

Hmm, it is not letting me edit the above comments.

At any rate the only way to get a full suit of dragon plate is by crafting. Unless you want to spend hours saving and reloading before opening a chest.

I don't have to justify my builds to you. If you're too narrow-minded or inept at mathematics to find their niche, that's your problem.

As I've previously stated, I plan on getting the Dragon Smithing perk, which of course requires 100 Smithing, and the pieces will be Legendary status. I'm just wondering about the Heavy Armor perks.

By all means take the perk. Just both capstone perks for Light/Heavy armor are not particularly useful.


@ the op - you will need to take 3-4 perks. Just make sure you get both Juggernault and Custom Fit.

That's not true if you play on master or adpet difficulty.

Well, it's partially true if you are abusing smithing. I still think on Master, the highest caste of Briarheart berserkers still deal more damage than is possible without exploits though. I've actually had Reflect Blows process twice in a row, causing a Briarheart to kill himself in a spectacular disco roll during a Dual-wield power attack.

I generally do not play on Master, I find it too tedious. And I never abuse smithing. I never use a fortify potion/echantment of smithing/alchemy/enchanting. The game is actuall pretty balanced if you follow that rules.

Sure, you can get lucky and have reflect blows trigger multiple times against a dungeon boss. And you can also have it never trigger against a boss and have it trigger against a lowly bandit. Very unrelaible. I would rather just rely on my own reliable damage output then some 1 in 10 shot of reflecting damage back.

I don't understand how you can even justify your stance if you don't play on Master. It's like a stress test without the stress...

Reflecting Blows is a wasted perk. The damage reflected is reduced by your armor and difficulty, so at Master difficulty and armor cap, the actual damage dealed is in terms of 20 to 30 damage. Since it only has 10% chance of occurring, we are talking about 2 to 3 reflected per enemy hit. Also, the perk does not reduced damage that you take. It gets my vote of weakest perk in game, below dozers like bribe and intimation.

On the other hand, the light armor dodge perk gives you an effective 11% health increase. It is a top perk.

LOL, cause I find it boring. There are two ways to make a game more challenging. Jack up the difficulty or place rules on yourself to make the game more interesting. I like to use self restricting mods to make the game more difficult. Personally, I think Master difficulty is only hard in the begining. Once you have maxed out block, armor and magic resists the game is pretty trival. Regardless of difficulty.

Woot - thats right! With a health of 400 it is worth a staggering 44 health. Do you know how HARD it is to make up for that 44 health. Ack, tons of potions, tons of healing spells, tons of fortify health enchantments. Top tier for sure.

Edit: Not trying to be obnoxious here. I just do not see either dodge or reflect blows as being particular awesome. The basic juggernault/agile defender are better.

Enemies in Skyrim don't have any Armor and never have any attack-oriented perks (Armsman, Barbarian), so I personally think Master Difficulty compensates for that and puts you on equal ground.

But you can use whatever difficulty you want, just don't expect people to pay attention to builds optimized for Adept, since it's possible to clear adept Skyrim at level 1 with an Iron Dagger.

Hmm, now giving weapon/armor perks to an NPC would make for an interesting mod.

Lets see build for master. Between perks/enchantments/potions hit 567 armor. Between perks/enchantments/potions hit resist magic/fire/frost/shock 85%. Optional, between perks/enchanments/potions hit max block. Walk around with weapon of choice that has been smithed using fortify smithing potions/enchantments. To make even more challenging lets max out sneak and get all the back stab mutipliers.

Unless you self gimp Skyrim is simply not challengning. Same was true for Oblivion and same was true for Morrowind. You can jack the difficulty up all you want. Even a massive 1000 point attack can be reduced to palty 22 pts of dmg by maxing armor and block.

Edit: For the reasons above I think the opening 15 levels are the "funnest" in Skyrim.

You do realize the multiplier effect is appiled also to whatever Forify Health effect you have, be it enchantments or potions?

Armor can be capped easily with power smithing. Health is a more valuable and difficult resource. While evasion is not direct health, an improvement of 11% to overall survivability against melee and bow attacks at the cost of one perk marks it as top tier. Yes, it has been tested to be able to dodge that 300 damage arrow from Ebony bow-wielding Deathlords.