Why should I use light armor ?

Navaac223

I have made a lot of different pvp builds by taking inspiration from other build I could find but I still don't understand why a lot of people try to get a light armor belt. From what I saw in the passives, it doesn't look like it gives more damage than medium armor. Why do people go out of their way to get light armor ?

fizl101

Undaunted passive, get an increase in stats for each weight of armour worn

Navaac223

Do you mean that this bonus does not stack ? Like, if you have 2 medium pieces it doesn't give you 4% stamina ?

Navaac223

Oh wait, I get it, I thought the max stat increases were tied to the type of armor worn, like each piece of heavy armor gives you 2% more to health only

divnyi

Navaac223 wrote: »

Oh wait, I get it, I thought the max stat increases were tied to the type of armor worn, like each piece of heavy armor gives you 2% more to health only

It's both. 1 heavy = +2% hp, 1 of each type = +2% hp. So if you want max HP and don't care about other heavy bonuses, you can roll 5 heavy + 1 med + 1 light, and it would be same as 7 heavy.

fred4

If you wear only 1 piece of light and 1 piece of heavy, then wearing a heavy chest and light belt nets you the most resistances.

As regards the more general question, there are reasons to wear some or mostly light:

1. Sustain / cost reduction for a predominantly magicka build. In particular cloak sustain on a magblade. The #1 reason.
2. Higher crit % and higher penetration. Medium is good in trials, when you're already at pen cap, or in PvP if you prefer to optimise for high crit damage. However in solo play and possibly in PvP too, light armor should be more damage on average, not least when you build for equal sustain by trading away weapon / spell damage in the equivalent medium armor build on a magicka character (not hybrid or stamina). This may be a bit class dependent, but I find that light armor suits both magplar and magblade on account of their crit damage class passive. You could do the opposite and lean into that passive for burst, in which case you might choose medium. You might wear Mechanical Acuity on a magplar and choose medium. However for a middle of the road build, light is a valid option.

The downside is the damage penalty and unbalanced resistances.