I was wondering what was the max effective armor rating. In essence, what's the armor rating cap? I've done some testing and it seems like armor rating has a hard cap, I'm just not sure what number it is. For example, even if you have a ridiculous over 9000 number as your armor rating you still get hit for the same amount as if you had a far lower number for your armor rating, so I assume that armor rating is capped at a certain number.

So yeah, the damage formula is "(Damage * Damage) / (Damage + Opponent Armor Rating)", so what's the max armor rating that fits into that formula, as it seems to be capped. If it seems like I'm repeating myself, it's just that I'm trying to clarify as much as possible as to not cause a misunderstanding.

Whoops. I coulda sword this was in the Skyrim section. Sorry.

It's okay, it happens. I was hoping to find the armor rating cap so that it's something I can make a mental note of and aim for if need be. Like try not to go above X number and what have you. I really wish Morrowind had more information on it's mechanics like Skyrim and Oblivion do.

I might be able to do some concrete testing if I knew of someone who hit hard but had a consistent damage magnitude (I.e. 30-30 or 50-50 instead of 1-80). I have a feeling that the cap is somewhere around 300-400.

Armor Rating depends on the type of material and the corresponding armor Skill.
For any single piece of armor: AR = Armor Skill * constant
Type of material determines the constant. (Obviously the constant can be calculated by AR/Armor Skill)

For example: The constant for glass is 1.66. Assume that your Light Armor skill is 30. Then the AR for any piece of glass armor would be 30 * 1.66 = 50.
Your Light Armor skill maxes out at 100, therefore your cap for glass armor (assuming you're wearing a complete set) would be 1.66 * 100 = 166.666.

Each piece of armor contributes to your AR cumulatively in the following manor:
Helm 10%
Pauldrons 10% each
Bracers 5% each
Cuirass 30%
Greaves 10%
Boots 10%
Shield 10%

(Any part of the body left uncovered is considered Unarmored) Unarmored AR = (Skill level/100)*(Skill level/100) * 65.

Example: A glass cuirass with a Light Armor skill of 60 would contribute 1.66*60*.3 = 30 towards your AR. The other 70% of your AR would have to be calculated on a piece by piece basis in a similar manor.

I appreciate the effort but I believe there was a misunderstanding. I'm not interested in knowing how armor rating is calculated (As there is lots of information and formulas already available on the UESP for that), what I'm interested in knowing is what's the cap. What I mean by that is the following:

Basic damage calculation: (Damage * Damage) / (Damage + Opponent Armor Rating)

The "Opponent Armor Rating" variable in the damage formula is capped. How do I know? Simply because I've done some tests where I've had ridiculous amounts of armor rating (For testing purposes) and damage was not lessened more than if I had a far smaller number. The issue I'm having is pin pointing the exact number where armor rating stops becoming more effective. In other words, the hard cap on armor rating.

In Oblivion it was simple, if I recall correctly, armor rating was capped @ 85 which meant 85% damage reduction. In Skyrim it's capped @ ~567 provide you're wearing all the appropriate armor pieces to obtain the hidden bonus. So what's the magic number for Morrowind?

That's a better explanation of what you wanted. Didn't realize there was such a cap.

Doing a simple (Unarmored) experiment I came up with a figure of about 75%.

With enough data I'm sure that you could come up with a very close approximation. Good luck.

If the following post is correct, then the limit to damage reduction is 75% like you stated. I guess there's no magic number when it comes to armor rating but rather just a limit on how much armor rating can reduce damage. Thanks for the help and effort.