I may be wrong, but I feel like my armor rating is absurdly low. I am a level 26, I use light armor (which may be part of the problem) with the best pieces of armor I have found so far which is mostly elven or scaled light armor. My light armor skill is 58, that is with an enchantment improving it, but that is what it is at. Against most strong opponents, I tend to die from 2, 3 or 4 strikes.

However, my total light armor rating is 96!

Meanwhile, my friends say they get their total armor rating into the mid 300's with heavy armor. (Adept difficulty)

I feel like my rating shouldn't be so low, even using light armor. I am playing on expert level, if that changes anything.

Am i doing something wrong? Is there some catch to armor that I'm missing? Should I switch to heavy armor if I am using a mostly melee oriented character (Imperial)?

You're right, you're problem is you're using light armor. Let's look at Dwarven versus elven chestplates: Dwarven (heavy) has an armor rating of 56, base. Elven chestplate has 31, base. The difference between the other pieces is even larger. Light armor is not meant to take hits, it's meant to protect you against the few hits you'll be taking as you kite/sneak around the enemy.

i think its that, it may be hard, but maybe find a good mine and smith, idk though cause i use heavy.... and get 400+ i think (adept but i don't think that changes anything :/ )

You need to first off invest in the light armor perks, there is a total of 150% more armor rating from the perks. In addition to this you can drastically increase the base armor values of the armor by using smithing. This can easily cause your light armor to hit the armor cap. Heavy armor really isn't that much better inherently. It's all in smithing and the armor perks.

it is rather low armor, your light armor isnt that low but is your armor upgraded? is smithing skill low? is it perked? do you use a shield? what kind of character buildup/playstyle you using?

believe it or not armor ratedi s only important if your buildup/playstyle takes you to melee, and if so I heartily recommend you use a shield (even if you dont perk it) and level smithing and perk it so you can keep up with new armor and upgrades.
if you dont use a shield you must practice your hit and run maneuvers very well but on mster.. even pors get pasted often.

and if your character isnt melee at all, then you should relly on either sneak or magic for main defence and you need not worry about it so much, but do avoid meleeing stuff that is going to hit you back.


heavy armor has an advantage, big advantage, early in the game, but stick with it, in almost all cases ,light armor is better than heavy armor in the long run, less useless perks, less perks overall to max out, better bonuses etc.
both armors easily hit armor cap, tho again its very important if you use light armor to get smithing perked to keep armor updated and upgraded, and shield blocking is very strong even in light armor.

Thanks for the responses.

I'm currently wearing Scaled Armor of the Squire which has a rating of 70... it was 56 last night I have no idea why it changed.

I suppose I'll try to make a switch to heavy armor though, thanks

Just remember, heavy armor will make you move slower and cause more noise when you sneak. So if you're trying a hit-and-run or sneak character, stick with light armor.

Ditto what Drekor said: the first Light Armor perk has five levels that will boost your armor rating tremendously as well as others that give you boosts when you're wearing all Light Armor. Also, don't forget that you can improve your armor at a workbench if your Smithing skill is high enough and you have taken the appropriate perks. Put the two together and you'll out-do base Heavy Armor without all of the weight.

Unless your going full melee, light armor is just fine. Even then its fine if you fight right.

But yeah, if you wanna TANK go heavy armor.

You just need to invest in some smithing son!

I wear heavy armor and sneak all the time. The muffle spell, and muffle enchantment on boots I found, work well to let me get close enough to attack. As soon as I can I'll get the perk as well.