Why use armour other than heavy?

Skulbow

I have a Breton nightblade character who supposedly should wear light armour. Heavy armour offers more protection so is someone able to explain what benefits armour gives apart from higher or lower protection. You would think everyone should just run around in the best armour and the deadliest weapon. Sorry if this is a naive question but I don't fully understand a lot about Magica, Health and Stamina and how I should be progressing my character. I am sure I die a lot more than most people.

Reiterpallasch

The "play how you want" builds work fine while leveling, and you'll get by with heavy armor just fine. It's when you hit endgame that the benefits of light will outweigh those of heavy by miles in pretty much every way imaginable.

DPS? Staff/dress.
Healer? Staff/dress.
Tank? Staff/dress because @#$% game balance and all that.

forthewinn2

Using temporary armor buff skills you can easily hit armor softcap even in light armor. The reason people use light armor instead of heavy is because of the armor passives, light armor passives reduce magicka costs hence increasing the amount of damage you can do before you run out of magicka.

Basically if you can kill your enemies faster you wont need the extra armor as your enemies are already dead.

The three different types of armor have completely different passives, hence the one you pick depends on whether you want to deal primarily magicka or stamina based damage and whether you want to deal more damage or take slightly less damage while also dealing less damage.

Nox_Aeterna

You are looking directly at the armor , which tells me you didnt check the skill trees.

You have one skill tree for each kind of armor , read them and their skills , once you do that , im quite sure you will notice there are quite the up and down sides to each kind of armor.

The armor itself is not everything, you must know how to use it :P.

Mud_Puppy

Nox_Aeterna wrote: »

You are looking directly at the armor , which tells me you didnt check the skill trees.

You have one skill tree for each kind of armor , read them and their skills , once you do that , im quite sure you will notice there are quite the up and down sides to each kind of armor.

The armor itself is not everything, you must know how to use it :P.

Nox is right.
In heavy you will never have the damage potential of medium+melee and light+staff.

nerevarine1138

Nox_Aeterna wrote: »

You are looking directly at the armor , which tells me you didnt check the skill trees.

You have one skill tree for each kind of armor , read them and their skills , once you do that , im quite sure you will notice there are quite the up and down sides to each kind of armor.

The armor itself is not everything, you must know how to use it :P.

Yeah, the benefits of each type of armor are significantly different once you get experience in a specific line.

Ignore any poster who says you need to have light armor and a staff. They just haven't learned how to play the game.

Skulbow

Thanks everyone but can someone please point me in the direction of the skill tree?
I haven't played any Elder scroll games before so I can be quite ignorant...

Nox_Aeterna

Skulbow wrote: »

Thanks everyone but can someone please point me in the direction of the skill tree?
I haven't played any Elder scroll games before so I can be quite ignorant...

You should be able to open you skills by pressing "k" i believe.

There you should be able to see different tabs , class/weapon/armor/craft/world...

in armor there will be light/medium/heavy.

Springt-Über-Zwerge

Yea i recently started to use 5 light and 2 heavy plus a bow. Works totally fine both in pve and pvp. Btw Im Templar vet 12 so it is play like you want if you have enough skill even in endgame. If you dont have the skill use light + staff or use it because you want to be a caster.

Royalroacho

Ingame press the "k" button, theres a list with dropdown menus, its under "armor" skills

andre.roques.3b14_ESO

Skulbow wrote: »

Thanks everyone but can someone please point me in the direction of the skill tree?
I haven't played any Elder scroll games before so I can be quite ignorant...

If you press "K" in game, that defaults to the skill tree listings. Select armor and heavy...the passives are all of the circular "skills" (basically everything except the ultimate)

Previous ES games had variants of skill passives, but this isn't a unique concept. As you improve your skill with an armor type (just wear it while adventuring) you unlock the ability to spend skill points in that particular tree.

Tapio75

Every type of armor has its benefits. You can do quite well with 50/50 armors as well to get more but smaller passive bonuses.

They all also have their own active ability.

Last but not least, they look different and you can build your character look as you want

PS: Tutorial shows all essential keybinds, and windows. It even changes to your own keybinds so doing the Coldharbour start again could also bring some ideas

SirAndy

Skulbow wrote: »

I am sure I die a lot more than most people.

You need to start reading these forums. Heavy armor is the worst, by a long shot.

That's why everyone worth their AP is wearing a pretty dress and waving a wooden stick ...
;-)

RangerChad

I have a LA character and have 2.5k on both Armor and Resistance un-buffed. Heavy Armor looks cooler, but right now as the game stands LA is much better. Skills are cheaper, mana regen, and I can wear a man dress.

Karnus

I like to play heavy armor MDPS but I do wear 1 piece med and 1 piece light to add some benefit from those armor skill passives also. Not to mention having the option, should I ever feel the need, to change up the ratio of heavy/med/light.

Rodario

Have you even looked at the armor skill lines?

KhajitFurTrader

SirAndy wrote: »

Skulbow wrote: »

I am sure I die a lot more than most people.

You need to start reading these forums. Heavy armor is the worst, by a long shot.

That's why everyone worth their AP is wearing a pretty dress and waving a wooden stick ...
;-)

Don't forget remapping the movement keys to ESDF, since this is what separates the pros from the newbs, as every pro knows.

@Skulbow‌, if you find yourself dying a lot, armor alone won't help you much. Heavy armor should have the best damage mitigation of all three kinds (especially with fully blown passives), but too much damage kills you eventually, heavy armor or not. So what to do?

• Try to reduce the number of simultaneous damage sources, if possible. Fighting more than one enemy at one time is challenging. Try to take one or more out of the equation with crowd control skills, i.e. stuns, roots, snares, etc. Even skills with short CC time spans can make a difference.
• CC even single opponents. Damage that isn't dealt to you at all is better than damage mitigated.
• Be light on your feet. You can fight on the move and move while fighting. Fight tactically, use the environment to your best advantage (e.g. break line of sight with casters and archers).
• While moving, be aware of your surroundings. Don't kite the mob you're fighting into other enemy groups or patrols.
• Absolutely dodge out of the red areas your enemies put on the ground. These are very strong attacks, which often will kill you outright. You can dodge by double-tapping a movement key (NB: mapping of those doesn't matter).
• Block. Block, block, block, then block again (with the right mouse button). You can learn to read enemies, when they swing, and when they use a heavy attack. Block the latter, and the enemy is stunned (unbalanced) for a short time. You can block with any weapon, not just shields (even with bows, which doesn't really make much sense).
• You can interrupt casting enemies with a bash (hold RMB, then click LMB).
• Have an "oh turd!" skill on the action bar. A self heal and/or temporary damage immunity (shield) helps you to survive difficult situations and recover from them in-fight.
• Put heath potions on your quick slot [Q] as a last resort.
• There are weapon enchantments which give you either small heals or a short-term damage shield on your attacks. If you dual wield, you could even have both at the same time. Every litte bit helps. Just remember to keep the weapon(s) charged up.
• Use your ultimate ability [R] wisely, but use it. Ultimates are the strongest attacks you have available, and they're not just for group play. Look at the three your class skill lines, or at those some other skill lines (e.g. armor, guild) give you, then either choose one that's available often (small ultimate cost), or very powerful (high cost), but may end fights quickly.

GrimMauKin

I'm a Khajiit Nightblade; Khajiits have sneak and medium armour racial skills so a medium armoured Nightblade seemed the way to go.

snowmanflvb14_ESO

KhajitFurTrader wrote: »

SirAndy wrote: »

Skulbow wrote: »

I am sure I die a lot more than most people.

You need to start reading these forums. Heavy armor is the worst, by a long shot.

That's why everyone worth their AP is wearing a pretty dress and waving a wooden stick ...
;-)

Don't forget remapping the movement keys to ESDF, since this is what separates the pros from the newbs, as every pro knows.


[/list]

Actually the pros know that not every KB is the same especially when it comes to game boards.
I would also point out the pros know that LA and a stick does not fit for every class and play style. That tends to be more the type that was told this is what you have to wear and use then the type that actually works to understand the game and how it works Not saying LA and a stick does not work.. just that it does not work for every situation. Factors such as class, position, group makeup and situation and play style can and should influence these decisions.

isengrimb16_ESO

Running a DK with a destro staff and heavy armour; I'm doing OK so far, but he's only lvl 22. My litmus test is that Coldharbour quest, "Harvest Heart", that one's a total ... female dog .. of a quest.

The character I can get past that with little issue is gonna be my main. my med armour nightbow got past it, but now I'm having issues with veteran delves (they're too closed in, and I don't have the room I need, and I haven't decided how to set up my second weapon bar for close-up fights yet, without actually getting rid of the bow.)

Zadian

Skulbow wrote: »

… Heavy armour offers more protection …

Heavy armor doesn't offer more protection. Heavy armor offers more protection against "physical" attacks (armor) and less protection against spells (spell resistance).
Many attacks are magica based and to reduce damage from these attacks you need spell resistance.
In PvP almost everybody primarily uses magica bases attacks making heavy armor very useless in PvP.

In PvE you can use what ever armor you want and increase the protection with glyphes (if you use heavy armor use a glyphe with spell resistance, if you use light armor use a armor glyphe).

If you die a lot increase your health with glyphes, block the heavy attacks and move around while in a fight.

As others already wrote, the passive skills of light armor makes that armor type much more useful than heavy armor.

cazlonb16_ESO

Pretty much all the classes can get even physical protection, the one thing heavy armour is supposed to be good at, to the cap by using various buffs.

The unfortunate truth is that heavy armour doesn't protect better against anything and, even more importantly, the passives are all terrible and vastly inferiour to medium and light armour.

That doesn't matter much at low levels, when you have not unlocked the passives yet anyway, but it becomes more and more appearant the higher you get.

isengrimb16_ESO

cazlonb16_ESO wrote: »

Pretty much all the classes can get even physical protection, the one thing heavy armour is supposed to be good at, to the cap by using various buffs.

The unfortunate truth is that heavy armour doesn't protect better against anything and, even more importantly, the passives are all terrible and vastly inferiour to medium and light armour.

That doesn't matter much at low levels, when you have not unlocked the passives yet anyway, but it becomes more and more appearant the higher you get.

The thing is, I do have a dress-and-stick classic sorc that's in the lower lvl 30s or something. He's just an EU character that I'll probably just play when NA is down now. He's BORING. And oh, many of you already know I'm a crappy player who sticks to first person and gimps myself left and right; this is the first computer game character that ever bored me out, and I cheat like heck in single-player, and don't find THAT boring. That sorc makes me feel like I'm using a godmode cheat.

At least I have to move a little with the staff-wielding DK.

(I have trouble with Harvest Heart on a DW DK because of that FP POV. I need to learn to roll my butt away so I can see where the Black Winter attacks are.)

Wifeaggro13

nerevarine1138 wrote: »

Nox_Aeterna wrote: »

You are looking directly at the armor , which tells me you didnt check the skill trees.

You have one skill tree for each kind of armor , read them and their skills , once you do that , im quite sure you will notice there are quite the up and down sides to each kind of armor.

The armor itself is not everything, you must know how to use it :P.

Yeah, the benefits of each type of armor are significantly different once you get experience in a specific line.

Ignore any poster who says you need to have light armor and a staff. They just haven't learned how to play the game.

You dont have too. But your signifcantly under performing.its also why you can get yokeda dirt cheap and the cloth trial is twice the price

Nocturnalfox

I just wear heavy, put on the brighest colours I have, pick up my 2 hander and go sprinting into AD/EP lines and spam every stun lock skill known to man while our mages move in and spam all their pretty colours that make it look like my screen should give me an epileptic fit

I am the armoured troll, smaller and more annoying kin to the troll and frost troll.

Now I am thinking of wearing light armour for the reduced magicka costs...

DenverRalphy

Heavy armor has its own benefits. Unfortunately, those benefits have severely less impact than the other armors provide. The Armor Stat alone is nearly a joke, and the passives can be more than made up for by other means.

The only real way to make heavy armor worthwhile, is to make the armor stat worth investing in.

With all my toons, I never trait crafted armor for increased armor, since a physical attack mitigated by light armor is not noticeably worse than the mitigation from heavy armor.

nerevarine1138

Wifeaggro13 wrote: »

nerevarine1138 wrote: »

Nox_Aeterna wrote: »

You are looking directly at the armor , which tells me you didnt check the skill trees.

You have one skill tree for each kind of armor , read them and their skills , once you do that , im quite sure you will notice there are quite the up and down sides to each kind of armor.

The armor itself is not everything, you must know how to use it :P.

Yeah, the benefits of each type of armor are significantly different once you get experience in a specific line.

Ignore any poster who says you need to have light armor and a staff. They just haven't learned how to play the game.

You dont have too. But your signifcantly under performing.its also why you can get yokeda dirt cheap and the cloth trial is twice the price

I'll go ahead and tell the GMs that my timed trial achievement shouldn't count then. After all, I'm underperforming.

Skafsgaard

Skulbow wrote: »

I am sure I die a lot more than most people.

I think you right in that assumption.

theyancey

I prefer a mix. I currently use 5 light and one each of medium and heavy for my Breton DPS temp. He holds a retro staff and dual wields the other.

Tabbycat

theyancey wrote: »

I prefer a mix. I currently use 5 light and one each of medium and heavy for my Breton DPS temp. He holds a retro staff and dual wields the other.

A retro staff? Is that 8 bit?

Sorry... I couldn't help it. Still chuckling over your typo.

poodlemasterb16_ESO

It all depends on what you are doing. My Red Witch can softcap, well could, her armor with jewelery and all Light Armor. Using a particular type of armor for the actual armor number is not very useful. There is far more value in the armor passives than it it's actual armor number.