High King of Skyrim
King of the barbarian horde
I've been talking with some mates recently about which armour is better to use in Skyrim. I've been maintaining that light armour is in fact superior to heavy. Let me tell you why. For starters it weighs less and therefore doesn't restrict your movements as much in the heat of battle. This fact is bolstered by the effect on your stamina bar. Running in light armour will drain less stamina than covering the same distance in heavy. This may even decide the outcome of certain battles, I know it has for me. Now of coarse, the Steed stone can nullify this problem with heavy armour, at least until the Conditioning perk is available. I however, feel that this stone is simply a waste compared to all the other stones, especially early game. There are far more useful stones that can help you shape your character initially and even stones to help bolster a weaker type character early on. If you look at the light armour tree compared to the heavy tree you'll notice that the light armour tree has two less perks. All of these 6 perks however are extremely useful. In fact, one may argue the only tree in the game where every perk is useful is the light armour perk tree. Now in my opinion, the same cannot be said of heavy armour. Let's face it, the first two perks up the left side of the heavy tree, Fists Of Steel and Cushioned are plops and yet they must be taken to reach what I believe is the best perk in Conditioning. A fact that always frustrates me when building a character that uses heavy. Now most people I speak to all say that heavy protects you better than light and I'd have to agree. However, I feel that this is only a factor early game as light armour is capable of reaching the armour cap rendering this advantage null and void. Which armour looks better is simply a matter of opinion, although I personally like the look of most armours in the game. Two very popular quest lines, Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood even promote the use of light armour in that their respective guild armours are both light. Now I'm not saying one can't complete these quests in heavy armour but to me it just doesn't suit the climate of them. What kind of assassin creeps up on a victim to knife them in the back in full plate mail? Sneaking around somebodies house also seems silly wearing heavy clunking metal armour, but that's simply my opinion. Also, the last master perk in light armour, Deft Movement seems far superior to it's heavy counterpart Reflect Blows. Deft Movement allows you to completely avoid damage altogether. Reflect Blows means that yes, your enemy suffers damage but so do you. For me, it's a no brainer, light armour is superior! Am I on my own or are you with me?