A unique armor worn by the shadowy Nightingales, this one is easily one of the best-looking sets in the game and one you won’t be able to take your eyes off even if you prefer to play in first-person. Board index ‹ The Elder Scrolls ‹ V - Skyrim; Change font size; Print view; FAQ; 41 posts • Page 1 of 2 • 1, 2. 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. Then, there’s the Muffled Movement perk, which virtually does the same thing. In order to make Heavy armor light you need to waste 2 perks on worthless ones. Fall damage is meaningless in this game as you can get the Ethereal Shout VERY early on. Heavy Armor: The best heavy armor, Daedric armor has 108 base armor rating → 481 displayed armor rating → 69.8% damage reduction. So obviously light armour is far lighter tan heavy armour which leaves more space to carry loot etc, but are there any other benefits? I find that half-fall damage perk really out of place in the heavy armor tree. While it has a lower base armor rating, it can be increased to reach the same cap as the Daedric armor. If I'm playing an assassin/rogue, I'm probably going to be in light armor. You like to feel like you’re living there and that the world you inhabit is a real place. And since I play as a mage-assassin, it suits me to not be too encumbered. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. 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. Board index ‹ The Elder Scrolls ‹ V - Skyrim; Change font size; Print view; FAQ; 41 posts • Page 2 of 2 • 1, 2. First is with the Muffle enchantment, which reduces noise produced by movement by 50%. I can already tell one of the first mods I will get/make will be to have it so each perk has only a skill requirement instead of the prereqs. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. 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 … So as far as I … To level up Light armor faster, the best you can do is go to the Thief Stone. Even the regular steel set looks very cool imo, and then there's Orcish, Nordic carved, Orcish, Blades armor, … Leather armor is incredibly easy to find and upgrade early in the game. So you must waste 2 additional perks to master heavy armor. Hello everyone and welcome to QuicksaveTV! 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. Heavy armor also requires you to invest in the no fall damage perk before you can get the no weight perk. Add upgrades and enchantments to the mix. 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. Since they removed acrobatics from the game (really disappointed in that as well as with athletics) coupled with the fact that skyrim is much more vertical (mounts/cliffs everywhere) might be a little frustrating. 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. 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. And those are aesthetics and roleplay. Skyrim: The 15 Best Light Armor Sets, Ranked. That may not be the best option, however. This can be combined with the Fortify Unarmedenchantment (and any racial bonuses) to provide a viable alternative to weapons and magic. Ironically, builds focused on light armor have more flexibility when it comes to the weapons since you can carry heavier weapons like mazes, axes, and greatswords thanks to the extra free real state in your inventory load. 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. Dragonplate Armor is another fan favorite. And I run at things with a hammer! 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. Light armor weighs a lot less than the average heavy armor, which is especially useful for looting since you’re able to carry a lot more items and weapons than you’d normally be able to with heavy armor. Heavy armor is more protective than light armor until you reach the armor cap. Personally, my favorite looking armor, this one can be obtained through a side quest of the Thieves’ Guild. Maybe you’re a rogue mage who’s disillusioned with the way magic is taught or a failed merchant who came across the thieves’ guild and found their calling; or maybe you’re an ex-con who used to slaughter people for the fun of it but found it your duty to serve for a greater purpose when you joined the Imperials. I'm so glad to have you here, because today we're going to talk about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim once again. Daedric armor is a bit silly looking in my opinion, I’m not really a fan of it. 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. 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. 1. Not to mention it is usually cheaper. Now, let’s compare the best heavy armor set against the best light armor set. I plan on using destruction + one handed almost exclusively, so this wouldn't bother me at all. Most light armor sets in Skyrim just don't look good imo. That fact, combined with the jaw-dropping design, make it a fan favorite as endgame heavy armor and the one players aspire the most to get. Light armor allows you to have unique yet effective builds like an assassin with a two-handed weapon. 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. You’ll find it next to the other Guardian Stones, Warrior, and Mage, northwest of Helgen. It's your choice really - if you dual wield, sneak and backstab, your light armor … 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 … A subreddit dedicated to the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. 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. In Oblivion there are no cons to heavy armor once you have leveled up the appropriate skills. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *. So it’s fair to say heavy armor tends to be a warrior’s best friend. For most players, including myself, this sacrifice is too much to bear for the benefit of increased defense. 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. I haven't played it yet, but from what I can tell, it's mostly this: Pros: Excellent defense, looks cooler (IMO), Cons: Heavy (less encumbrance for carrying stuff), can't stealth with it, adds no bonuses to magic, decreases stamina faster, slows down your walking speed, Pros: Somewhat decent defense, uses less stamina, sneak becomes an option, you move faster, Cons: Defense not nearly as good as heavy armor. And they all happen to be heavy armor sets. I don't remember how it was in Morrowind, it's been so long since I've played. Benefits of Light Armor vs Heavy ? Weight means nothing with perks in both trees. I prefer light armour. Advantages: 1. You can also use the Muffle spell, which is an Apprentice level spell from the Illusion skill tree. The cons outweigh the pros for me. While Deathbrand armor might be weaker than the Daedric armor in their individual pieces, the whole set overall armor rating can be raised over that of any Heavy Armor. Hallgerd's Tale 4. Functionally, these two are the same skill save for enemy taking damage. Just … There are downsides to each choice, of course, so let me help you figure out what might be best for you. 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. You could be totally silent in heavy armor, run like the wind, and have it not encumber you at all in Oblivion. Now I'm 23 lvl with 70 points in sneak with upgrades, and heavy amor don't affect my sneak. Seems silly to me. 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. Skyrim Daedric Armor Skyrim Skyrim Daedric Armor (Heavy Armor) Armor. TLDR: What are the advantages/disadvantages of each type of armor? So there are a few alternatives for high-level armor that can compete with Deathbrand. However, you will need a lot of fortification to keep it viable at higher levels. I think the improvement in movement and stamina use really helps make up for the static armor by allowing you to dodge and kite enemies more effectively. 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! So it is more than likely that most players would want to wear heavy armor right away. 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. It's one of the most cost effective light armors sets and gives players the ability to enchant it. Armor rating in Skyrim is capped out at "567" no matter how much more you may have any extra is just overkill and has a null effect which means it wont be applied. Whereas heavy armor not only hinders movement but also has a negative impact on stamina regeneration, Magicka regeneration, and even Magicka cost. 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. You can make your armor weight nothing, sneak is based off of the weight of your armor. The game was meant for people to play around and try different things. If you plan on being a spellsword, heavy armor is probably the way to go. 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. There are ways to circumvent this, but they all have their issues. There’s also an item called Diadem of the Savant, which increases Light armor when worn in battle. So it’s no wonder that light armor is such a tempting option when starting a new game. Heavy vs. Light Armor I'm new to TES, so I'm not familiar with the tradeoffs between heavy and light armor. Like you said, there are pros and cons for each. Light armor is inexpensive. The Rear Guard 5. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. With heavy armor, however, you can arguably use the least amount of perks in order to reach maximum defense by spending them in the Juggernaut skill, then up to Conditioning once you reach Heavy Armor 70, so that the armor worn by the player will become weightless. If you want to sneak, throw on a sneak/muffle enchantment. Too long. I honestly couldn't find a difference between the two in Oblivion. Nothing a quick feather spell can't fix when booking it out of a dungeon. So, if you love to see how badass and empowered your character looks, then this is something to keep in consideration. Whatever role you play, your character’s skills, background, and appearance are going to have an impact on how invested you are. Light armor is more appropriate for a stealth build. But late game, they are essentially the same. The Steed Stone not only gives you a boost of 100 to your carrying capacity but also removes the movement penalty and drops the weight of equipped armor (keyword there being equipped) to zero. Heavy Armor vs Light Armor » Thu Aug 11, 2011 9:49 pm . Heavy armor is for defense, and Light armor is for stealth. Anything light armor can do, heavy armor can do better. And you can reach the 500+ armor cap without having to spend more perks. There is a perk that allows heavy armor to make no noise when sneaking, but it is a higher level perk, so you won't be able to use sneaking correctly until your heavy armor skill is about 70 or 80. While there are a lot of contestants to this question, the title for best light armor in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has to go to the Deathbrand Armor. Heavy Armor is obviously, heavy. Light Armor is easier to sneak in due to weight. Mizz.Jayy Posts: 3483 Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 5:56 … You can find plenty of video's on youtube explaining this. A drunken fella in Windhelm is always looking for someone to fight. 2920, MidYear, v6 2. Using it allows you to fall from any height without taking damage. Depending on your play style, you might benefit a lot more by sticking with light armor. While practicality seems to favor light armor builds, especially in the lower levels, there’s no denying two very important aspects that, while they don’t affect gameplay, they do affect your enjoyment of the game. And last, there’s the Silence perk that quiets any noise made by your character by 100%. Heavy armor vs Light armor it burns to: More protection, ,more noise, and less mobility vs Less protection, less noise and more mobility. It is located northwest of Solitude, north of the Statue of Meridia. More defense and any special light armor enchantments can easily be added to heavy armor as well. Light Armor : The best light armor, Dragonscale armor has 82 base armor rating → 362 displayed armor rating → 55.5% damage reduction It is not until you level up that you can upgrade your Health and spend some perks on Restoration. You can sneak with it though, right? Light armor gives a slight advantage while sneaking. The Dragonscale Armor set is one that could have been placed literally anywhere on the best armor side of this list. The actual armor difference between light and heavy armor is somewhat made up for if you have fairly high quality armor and good smithing skill to upgrade it with bonus armor. You know, where you were almost beheaded and attacked by a dragon. Well, it's been handled differently in each game. And some sets of heavy armor can be accompanied by shields for a major boost! You certainly can. 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. 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. Every single one of those Cons that you listed can pretty easily be fixed by perks in Heavy Armor, or in Sneak. This allows you to kill your opponent in a couple of blows even if he catches you sneaking behind him. Light armor may have a bad reputation in Skyrim, but it has its perks, particularly for players looking to be sneaky and stealthy. These books permanently raise the Heavy Armor skill: 1. Heavy armor is very noisy even when crouched. The Refugees Heavy armor will let you survive better early on, but light armor is much better late, especially if you get the deathbrand armor from Solstheim. You can enchant your armor with whatever you want. A detailed analysis of the differences between light and heavy armor for a starting character in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It can be found in Shalidor’s Maze and next to Froki’s Shack. For stealth, light armor will always be a better alternative than heavy armor because you’d have to obtain certain spells, enchantments, or perks for heavy armor to be on the same level as light armor. And last but not least, the Ebony armor not only has a slick and elegant design that’s pleasing to look at, but it also has the strongest base armor rating right behind Daedric and Dragon. Both skill trees have parallels with each other when it comes to perks. Besides the perks themselves, gameplay wise you cannot mix sets because you will lose up to a 25% bonus for using just light or heavy and another 25% armor … This gives close combat and stealth a whole new and exciting dynamic. So, if you’d rather be a tank, then Heavy Armor is right for you, but if you prefer to attack from afar and engage with enemies in more creative ways, then Light Armor is right up your alley. 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. While I’m more of a Light Armor player, I understand the struggle of having your character look just the way you want them to. 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. Way too often, I’ve discarded or sold objectively better armor because I don’t like the way it looks. When it comes to aesthetics, there’s no denying that heavy armor sets are usually the most badass-looking ones. I have always been more of a sneaky player though. The Knights of the Nine 6. With heavy armor you'll be more protected, but can no longer sneak as well - you'd play a kind of warrior/paladin archetype. The Daedric Armor has the highest base armor rating overall. But im wondering what the benefit of light armor is? Light armor provides almost as much armor at higher levels, and it's perks tree is much better, with increased stamina. Jornibret's Last Dance 3. Not to mention it drains stamina way faster than Light Armor. 15 Best: Dragonscale Armor (Light) via ign.com. But, of course, let’s not forget that most armor can be upgraded through Smithing, Enchanting, and Alchemy to the point of reaching max defense. Noise is not much of an issue with a noise reducing perk in the sneak tree. 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. Press J to jump to the feed. Either is viable, but overall, Light is more versatile and provides more then enough armor. If you want to spend the least amount of perks, however, I would highly recommend Heavy Armor. Furthermore, perks in these trees offset many of these cons, such as increased defense from light armor and heavy armor not encumbering you at all when you get deep into the heavy armor tree. Kill the Bandit Leader for Brunwulf Free-Winter in Windhelm. From the looks of things the only differences between the two skill trees are, Tower of Strength (Heavy) 50% less stagger vs Wind Walker (Light) 50% Stamina regen rate. 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. Objectively speaking, Light Armor is superior to Heavy Armor in terms of practicality. Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site. It looks like something a gay fighter might wear to a leprechaun’s halloween party. 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. Leather armor is easy to make and easy to upgrade early on in the game. Either it's the stupid skirts that are everywhere (studded, scaled, etc) or they don't look like they should be called "light" (glass, dragonscale). It just has penalties...? Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Dragon, Ebony, and Daedric armor are some of the fan favorites among the community. Ice and Chitin 2. Heavy armor sets all seem to be tailor-made for players who don’t mind moving a bit slower in exchange for a massive defensive bonus. You can deal more unarmed damage with the Fists of Steel perk. That said, if you're a pure combatant who does not rely on stealth or speed, absolutely go with heavy armor. Rislav the Righteous 4. 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. Early game, heavy armor offers more defense and light armor offers more speed and stealth. There’s nothing like being able to shrug off blows like a tank. What if you don’t want to level up sneak and use those perk points elsewhere? I use light armor and, even with muffle, I can be detected if I move to quickly. Page 7 of 9 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. If they aren't, then heavy armor is more viable, becoming better than light armor … Therefore I can use those 2 extra points for other perks. Light armor weighs less and makes looting easier since you are less likely to be over encumbered. Especially for anyone who prefers prefer two-handed weapons. 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. Not to mention that both kinds of armor cap at the same level of protection, so you can always upgrade and customize your light armor to be on par with some of the best heavy armor sets in the game. Obviously HA has more protection stat-wise, but i never had a problem with LA with my warrior. And then, there’s Tower of Strength that offers a 50% less chance to stagger compared to Wind Walker, which gives you a 50% boost in stamina regeneration rate. Objectively speaking, Light Armor is superior to Heavy Armor in terms of practicality. The Ancient Shrouded armor, for example, has a unique deadly assassin’s look, which is fitting considering that you obtain it by completing a side quest for the Dark Brotherhood. The only other thing I can think of is that perhaps it makes stealth harder? Use whatever you want. This also affects what kinds of weapons you can carry. This perk allows you to reflect damage, and the enemies will take some damage too with every strike. Armor does not rely on stealth or speed, absolutely go with what would fit my role... Bonus you get to higher levels ( in either case ) perk on the.... The mechanics, though, so I 'm probably going to be in light better... 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