Heavy armor vs. Light armor - which is better?

[Loriac]

Which armor class is better in this game?

Heavy armor seems to protect slightly more, but light armor seems to have better bonuses and is easier to find (particularly cloaks and belts).

Or is no armor the option for real men?

[Josia]

I haven't yet had a very high skill rating in either armor, so I'm not sure of the impact of skill.

That being said, the strategy of taking at least 1 point in each to avoid unskilled penalties and then picking and choosing has worked pretty well for me.

[RaymondLaw]

That's a great idea! I, however, have a Rogue char. and therefore, prefer to move as silently as possible. Light armor is my friend

[Jaesun]

Because heavy armor is just too expensive/heavy and hard to find (as well as gold), I re-rolled and am happily using light armor for my fighter.

I'm level 9 and have 12 in my light armor skill. (I did find a light armor book...+2 points).

I don't see any advantage to using Heavy Armor. Other than your Avatar looks cooler in heavy armor.

[Loriac]

I don't see any advantage to using Heavy Armor. Other than your Avatar looks cooler in heavy armor.

This may well be the best reason to use heavy armor...

[realmzmaster]

Depends on what you want to be. If you are a rogue or thief then light armor is your best friend1 If you are a fighter, paladin or cleric heavy armour for a tank is a must, unless you have very high dexterity and dodge ability. I am playing a paladin and pick the Heavy armor skill. The first armor I get is leather with an armor rating of 2. So I am operating with an armor penalty. But. I kill a thug and in the sack is heavy armor with a rating of 4. I put it on and go merry on my way, no longer penaltized. This armour is the best I have found so far. I did find a leather jerkin + 1, but It only had a base rating of 2, so the plus only brought it up to 3. Not good enough. Heavy armor affords better protection, but requires greater strength and endurance to wear.

[Loriac]

Depends on what you want to be. If you are a rogue or thief then light armor is your best friend1 If you are a fighter, paladin or cleric heavy armour for a tank is a must, unless you have very high dexterity and dodge ability. I am playing a paladin and pick the Heavy armor skill. The first armor I get is leather with an armor rating of 2. So I am operating with an armor penalty. But. I kill a thug and in the sack is heavy armor with a rating of 4. I put it on and go merry on my way, no longer penaltized. This armour is the best I have found so far. I did find a leather jerkin + 1, but It only had a base rating of 2, so the plus only brought it up to 3. Not good enough. Heavy armor affords better protection, but requires greater strength and endurance to wear.

I'm not actually convinced by this. One of the nice things in this game is that mages don't really get a penalty for wearing heavy armor (at the worst, just don't put anything into the gloves slot, and you have no penalty). Also, the strength required isn't prohibitive (and it seems that if you want to maximise your carry capacity, then you should think about investing no more than 1 point in strength per level... otherwise, it seems like you get diminishing returns on carry capacity).

Also, the int and per requirements for the higher level spells don't seem so high that you have to skimp on the other stats. Plus which, with alchemy and imbue armor, you can bascially add on about +21 to armor rating with minimal investment in alchemy provided you can find 7xectoplasm (5 trained + 2 book + 2 on level up + 2x3 brewmaster rings = 15, i.e. you've used just 2 skill points and 1500 cash to get this).

I'm curious how this poll will turn out... if its approx 50/50 then it probably means that armor is balanced; and so far, it seems that opinion is fairly evenly divided.

[leonhartt]

For a warrior, heavy armor offers more armor points than light armor.

If you're going stealth, light armor offers less noise and so it's a better choice.

I guess it's good to have at least one point in both armor skills to try out the armors.

[swapoer]

One of the nice things in this game is that mages don't really get a penalty for wearing heavy armor


This is no nice.Beacause changing weapon is a free action and doesnt end you turn.So there is actually no penalty for a mage.And even change weapon does take times.It make more sense to let a mage suffer penalty from a heavy armor.Becasue a heavy armor is too heavy to make some complex post for casting a spell.


Also, the int and per requirements for the higher level spells don't seem so high that you have to skimp on the other stats.

Well ,the int is ok.But i run out of man frequently and have to rest to restore my mana after killing one or two thug.So per is especial importan for a mage.If you have some other way to avoid the investment in per,let me know.


Plus which, with alchemy and imbue armor, you can bascially add on about +21 to armor rating with minimal investment in alchemy provided you can find 7xectoplasm

Care to tell me how to imbuse armor ,i dont see this in manual or maybe i forget.

[Loriac]

It make more sense to let a mage suffer penalty from a heavy armor.Becasue a heavy armor is too heavy to make some complex post for casting a spell.


... i run out of man frequently and have to rest to restore my mana after killing one or two thug.So per is especial importan for a mage.If you have some other way to avoid the investment in per,let me know.


...Care to tell me how to imbuse armor ,i dont see this in manual or maybe i forget.

It seems traditional in these games that mages shouldn't wear heavy armor, perhaps because of the Gandalf or Merlin archetypes of old bearded men in robes. I quite like the choice to wear heavy armor for mages, and think it represents a 'battlemage' type of idea. The key is in achieving balance between the armors such that heavy is better for some things, light for others (which seems to be the case in this game, judging by poll results so far which are pretty much 50/50).

As far as I can tell, if meditation + perception >37 you regain mana at the rate of 1 per 3 turns (i.e. per 25, meditation 13 does the trick, as does per 29, meditation 9). This is huge - it means that you really have to be trying to burn through your mana to run out. Combine this with a bit of basic alchemy, and you can have a few mana 3 potions for the tough fights quite easily.

To imbue armor, you basically use the standard alchemy method, except that rather than a glass vial to hold the potion, you put in your weapon or armor. I won't mention the recipe that you use, but at alchemy 15 you can imbue each piece of armor you wear with a +3 bonus. You have 7 armor slots, therefore a possible +21 armor rating. There is a book available (from stores or from loot) that describes the process.

[GSV3MiaC]

Some of the unique (?) spelled items only seem to come in 'heavy' .. I'm thinking a couple of gauntlets and a helm or two, with big +s to hit, for damage, or to swords, or bashing weapons.

[Ivanil]

i think that if you manage to get a good +x heavy armor plus a simple point on light armor, you get the better defenses (because Heavy cloacks or belts don't exist xD)

[clayman]

I`m Lv6 now and I learn both light and heavy armor just 1 level. Maybe I will lv up to heavy armor because I am a paladin

[Josia]

Does anyone know how DR% due to armor skill is calculated? Does it matter how much of a class of armor is worn, e.g. all Heavy > 75% Heavy?

[Kaerius]

i think that if you manage to get a good +x heavy armor plus a simple point on light armor, you get the better defenses (because Heavy cloacks or belts don't exist xD)

Actually, they do. For example heavy cloak(2 armour), heavy banded belt(3 armour), etc. I've even found heavy belts with bonuses(strength, bludgeoning).

Anyway, from what I've seen so far, mixing might be best anyway, as full heavy armour is simply so heavy that you won't get that much room over for potions, ammo/demon oil, and loot.

Most of the stuff with some sort of bonus that I've found has been light armour, but the best bonus I've seen is on a piece of heavy armour...
Iron gauntlets of the warlord. Armour 3, +5 tohit, +2 damage. The downside of those is that you can't imbue them, I tried to imbue them for armour and got the error message that I couldn't imbue that weapon(same message as you get when trying to imbue a weapon that already has a damage bonus, perhaps I should patch and fix them).