Objectively speaking, Light Armor is superior to Heavy Armor in terms of practicality. Required fields are marked *. I've personally always found light armor better because I can dodge more easily and carry more loot. Heavy Armor: The best heavy armor, Daedric armor has 108 base armor rating → 481 displayed armor rating → 69.8% damage reduction. EDIT: I was wrong, you don't have to know how to make scale/plate to make plate mail versions of dwarven/orcish/ebony armor. Light armor allows you to have unique yet effective builds like an assassin with a two-handed weapon. So, even if light armor is easier to get behind in the beginning and max out to compete with the best heavy armor sets, it’s still a hard pill to swallow if your no-nonsense, hit-first-ask-questions-later knight is wearing wolf hide or if the Nord berserker that could give Thor a run for his money has a mismatched set of a weird-looking helmet, boots and what looks like a skirt. I find that half-fall damage perk really out of place in the heavy armor tree. The Daedric Armor has the highest base armor rating overall. And they all happen to be heavy armor sets. While light armor is more practical and flexible when customizing your character, the look and protection that heavy armor offers can’t be overlooked. But if you’re open to experimenting with your build early in the game, wearing light armor will allow you to do so in a less restricted manner. In some of my playthroughs, though, I'm an assassin/thief type character and prefer light armor, like Thieves' guild armor and Dark Brotherhood armor. This allows you to kill your opponent in a couple of blows even if he catches you sneaking behind him. Also, keep in mind that in order to get the most out of your build, you’d have to spend eight perk points for Light Armor, whereas Heavy Armor would require eleven perk points, which could’ve been spent on a more valuable perk more suited to your play style. Heavy armor sets do often look really badass and cool. It is not until you level up that you can upgrade your Health and spend some perks on Restoration. 3. If you’re like most RPG gamers, then you’re the type to love to be immersed in the world around you. So, not only do you enjoy just roaming around to admire the scenery and talk to random NPCs just to hear what they have to say, but you also love to assign a ‘role’ to your character. The Knights of the Nine 6. Functionally, these two are the same skill save for enemy taking damage. If they are, then heavy armor is useless/pointless, as light armor can do it better. It may even take a while before you find a decent shield! Yes, heavy armor will protect you a lot more than light armor - light armor makes you quieter, more stealthy and agile - it supports a rogue sort of playstyle. But im wondering what the benefit of light armor is? It has the highest base defense out of all light armor sets, and its pieces can be found throughout the “Deathbrand” quest that came with the Dragonborn DLC. As I understand it, there are no attributes in Skyrim, so heavy armor will not affect your ability to use magic or archery or anything. Light armor may have a bad reputation in Skyrim, but it has its perks, particularly for players looking to be sneaky and stealthy. The Dragonscale Armor set is one that could have been placed literally anywhere on the best armor side of this list. If you want to spend the least amount of perks, however, I would highly recommend Heavy Armor. Light armor will give you more mobility and will be ultimately better in the long run since you can easily reach the max damage resist cap with smithing and light armor skill (550-600 IIRC). Personally, my favorite looking armor, this one can be obtained through a side quest of the Thieves’ Guild. You can sneak with it though, right? You can also gain a perk to make your armor weight nothing at all. Smithing has the same issue, you have to waste a perk on a type of light armor (elven smithing) in order to be able to make scale/plate (advanced smithing) for heavy armors on the other side. I so no reason what-so-ever to use light armor, except early when you have no perks in stuff :P. That's funny, my dilemma was with how light armor looks so much cooler. Most light armor sets in Skyrim just don't look good imo. While Heavy Armor outperforms Light Armor by a landslide in terms of protection, it’s not worth the sacrifice of mobility, stamina, and weight load for what can be accomplished using a shield or Restoration spells. From perks, Heavy Armor gets: less fall damage, less stagger when hit, and 10% damage reflect, Light Armor gets: 50% faster stamina regen, and 10% damage avoid. The light armor perk is called 'Unhindered' and is 3 perks deep, requiring 50 skill in light armor. The Reflect Blows perk deals bonus damage to enemies, allowing you to more quickly dispatch grou… Now I'm 23 lvl with 70 points in sneak with upgrades, and heavy amor don't affect my sneak. Heavy Armor is obviously, heavy. Fall damage is meaningless in this game as you can get the Ethereal Shout VERY early on. Page 1 of 3 - Light Armors vs Heavy Armors - posted in General Skyrim Discussion: When building a character, taking all the perks in light armor and heavy armor as well as all black smithing perks isn't a sound investment. Your email address will not be published. Even the regular steel set looks very cool imo, and then there's Orcish, Nordic carved, Orcish, Blades armor, … Either is viable, but overall, Light is more versatile and provides more then enough armor. I think heavy armor is only absolutely better if you use a sword-and-board playstyle, or don't really give a crap about being sneaky.I have to say though, the fact that you can pretty much use whatever skills you like, in almost any combination, is awesome. I use light armor and, even with muffle, I can be detected if I move to quickly. Light armor is more appropriate for a stealth build. Leather armor is easy to make and easy to upgrade early on in the game. The only problem i'm curious about is my achery that seens in red when I use full heavy amory, I think that I lose some points when heavy amor and show 15 points when I really have 45. Every single one of those Cons that you listed can pretty easily be fixed by perks in Heavy Armor, or in Sneak. Running around in heavy armor just seems silly to me. Heavy armor is more protective than light armor until you reach the armor cap. This is the main difference between heavy and light armor—light armor always has an advantage in this category. Rislav the Righteous 4. If I'm playing an assassin/rogue, I'm probably going to be in light armor. You can also brawl with drunken people and take a few hits before defeating them. Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts! Anything light armor can do, heavy armor can do better. So as far as I … The game was meant for people to play around and try different things. Daedric armor is a bit silly looking in my opinion, I’m not really a fan of it. Heavy Armor vs Light Armor » Thu Aug 11, 2011 11:24 pm . Using it allows you to fall from any height without taking damage. Ultimately, whether you use light or heavy armor, you cannot go beyond 80% damage resistance, meaning that what really decides the usefulness of each armor type is determined by if the character plans to use Enchanting. Probably the best part of this game so far. Granted, you can have your way around it, but the truth is you’re going to have a better time if your character looks the part. For RP reasons i chose to follow the light armor perk tree. So it is more than likely that most players would want to wear heavy armor right away. Once again, this is based off what little I've picked up from streams and the wiki. With that said, there are a lot of reasons why you’d choose to wear heavy armor, especially early in the game when you’re more vulnerable to attacks. And I can’t talk about amazing light armor sets without mentioning the Nightingale armor. So it’s no wonder that light armor is such a tempting option when starting a new game. It is also much faster to get the weightless perk in the Light armor tree, which negates the affect of wearing light armor while sneaking. Louder, clankier armor or something? Chimarvamidium 3. Light armor is inexpensive. And this serves as a good segway to my second point, and that is roleplay. If they aren't, then heavy armor is more viable, becoming better than light armor … No sneak, weighs too much, move too slow. First is with the Muffle enchantment, which reduces noise produced by movement by 50%. I kinda like the red inlay but I don’t like the silly horns and extravagant over the top features. That’s not to say you can’t do the same with heavy armor, but things get trickier with stealth when you have a full set of iron armor on you. Oghma Infinium – choosing the \"Path of the Thief\" increases all thief-oriented skills by 5, including Light Armor 6. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. At first I went with heavy armor for obvious reasons, but I've decided to switch to light armor and also use sneak attacks with bows to initiate fights. For instance, Reflect Blows is a perk available for the Heavy Armor tree, and it has a 10% chance of reflecting damage, whereas the Light Armor tree has Deft Movement, which gives you a 10% chance of avoiding damage. Usually, when I start a profile, I just start with heavy, and I'm too lazy to build up my light armor skill. With heavy armor you'll be more protected, but can no longer sneak as well - you'd play a kind of warrior/paladin archetype. Benefits of Light Armor vs Heavy ? Late on the game, with all necessary upgrades and the right perks, protections come to be about the same, so the choice mainly depends on what you want your experience in the early-mid game to be like, the build that benefits your play style the most, the perks you want and the overall appearance you prefer for your character. The cons outweigh the pros for me. You like to feel like you’re living there and that the world you inhabit is a real place. Jornibret's Last Dance 3. What if you don’t want to level up sneak and use those perk points elsewhere? And last, there’s the Silence perk that quiets any noise made by your character by 100%. For most players, including myself, this sacrifice is too much to bear for the benefit of increased defense. Skyrim best armor ranked - highest defense Heavy Armor, Light Armor, Shields and their locations The best armor sets in Skyrim and where to find them. The Rear Guard 5. When it comes to aesthetics, there’s no denying that heavy armor sets are usually the most badass-looking ones. I generally go for heavy armor. It really doesn't matter because with smithing you can max out your armor protection with either Light or Heavy armor's without perks in armor rating/boosts. Leather armor is incredibly easy to find and upgrade early in the game. And you can reach the 500+ armor cap without having to spend more perks. Too long. A drunken fella in Windhelm is always looking for someone to fight. Just … The truth is that not only does heavy armor outperforms light armor in their base stats, but also most of the best looking armors in the game are heavy armor sets. Use whatever you want. Not to mention it is usually cheaper. In the late game, both Heavy and Light armor behave similarly, and they both have the same armor cap, which is 567, so it’s really a matter of preference. And I run at things with a hammer! TLDR: What are the advantages/disadvantages of each type of armor? A subreddit dedicated to the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Especially considering that some good perks such as Muffled Movement, with which the noise produced by armor is reduced 50%, are behind the Light Armor skill tree. A lot of people also opt for this one not only because they may prefer this design, let’s admit it, the whole evil overlord vibe the Daedric armor gives is not everyone’s cup of tea, but also because the base damage of the Dragonbone weapons is higher. It can be found in Shalidor’s Maze and next to Froki’s Shack. I choose light armor because -I like the way it looks -Matches my character playstyle (a mix of everything so sneaking is needed) -Is lighter so I can loot more and run faster -I assume it will be like Oblivion in that it's so much easier to find than heavy. Light Armor : The best light armor, Dragonscale armor has 82 base armor rating → 362 displayed armor rating → 55.5% damage reduction You can make your armor weight nothing, sneak is based off of the weight of your armor. Board index ‹ The Elder Scrolls ‹ V - Skyrim; Change font size; Print view; FAQ; 41 posts • Page 2 of 2 • 1, 2. A detailed analysis of the differences between light and heavy armor for a starting character in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. You can customize the enchantments on your boots to muffle the noise just enough so that it wouldn’t make a difference between having Heavy or Light armor. Advantages: 1. If you want to sneak, avoid heavy armor. Whatever kind of armor you prefer will greatly depend on your play style and personal preferences. Meaning that while Deathbrand armor might have a lower armor rating than Daedric, with the bonus that it’s actually stronger than the heavy armor set. I don't remember how it was in Morrowind, it's been so long since I've played. It looks like something a gay fighter might wear to a leprechaun’s halloween party. And some sets of heavy armor can be accompanied by shields for a major boost! That may not be the best option, however. This, however, comes at level 70 for Heavy Armor, which is near endgame level. The 5 Best Armor Sets In Skyrim (& The 5 Worst) Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a massive game, one loaded with great and awful armor … Oghma Infinium — choosing the \"Path of the Warrior\" increases all combat-oriented skills by 5, including Heavy Armor.These quests permanently raise the Heavy Armor skill: 1. That is a relief. 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