I like all the Heavy Armors I've seen so far. Steel Plated and Ebony are friggin' pimpin'...

But the thing is, I don't feel Dovahkiin'y or Viking-ish unless I use the Iron Armor (Dovahkiin's signature helmet and bare armed).

I guess my question is.

Is it viable to play in full Iron Armor for the rest of the game?

I'm currently level 24, playing on Adept and using full Iron Armor (Superior) and a Superior Skyforge Steel Greatsword (cause it looks better than any other Greatsword I've seen... Besides the Ebony one... Haven't seen that one). They are all unenchanted and I've only had problems with Krosis and Bandit Leaders because they tend to 2/3 shot me because the game believes that I would overuse potions and have a companion everywhere I went.

So... Yeah,

Yes, it is. The actual statistical differences between materials is fairly minor and greatly eclipsed by skill/smithing/perks.

You can, especially if you power with smith/alch/enchant, but also when you get to the end of the companions quest line you can make ancient nord/draugr armor that gives the look you're going for with iron and having protection around ebony level.

Yea, it is viable, with smithing you can improve your iron armor quite substantially, and if you do a bit of enchanting you can make a pretty powerful set.

It won't ever be as powerful as the high end armors, but there are a lot of ways to make armor better.

Apperently you can upgrade any armor to go over the rating cap so if you have smithing you can wear anything you want.

Friggin' AWESOME.

How about Hand to Hand? Is that viable at all with the Heavy Armor Perk?

Not on higher difficulties. Hand to hand isn't a skill so you will likely have a lot of issues trying to be a brawler in the game. Give it a try though, might work.

I think the plate armour looks pretty good, especially with the winged helm, better than the standard iron armour imo. :biggrin:

Um, no. Not even close. Ancient Nord Armor has exactly the same armor value as regular Iron.

Actually with smithing and the heavy armor perk it's not to bad. It's not as powerful as 2H or 1H but it'll get you through it.

Use upgrades and perks, then yes.

Ancient Nord Helmet = ultimate nord helm.

I find it funny when you are maxed at smithing skill you cannot max out the improvement of leather and iron goods, only those that your smithing unlocks relate to.