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What is both the most efficient way to reach the cap of 85% physical damage reduction (567 Armor)?

Can it be reached without smithing/enchanting perks? Is it more efficient to not get some smithing or enchanting perks and just get heavy armor perks? Or is there some combination of crafting and heavy armor perks that gets to 567 armor with a smaller investment of perk points?

For purposes of this question, most efficient is defined as the smallest possible amount of perks used to acquire the stated physical damage reduction, passively - i.e. without popping pots (temporary) or using extra buffs from stones, blessings, or +Heavy Armor skill enchants (to keep those slots on equipment free for other enhancements). Also, any skill used to achieve this can be assumed to be leveled to 100 (for example Heavy Armor could be assumed to be already leveled to 100).

Goblinlord
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  • I don't think you'll be able to achieve it without at least 1 smithing perk as you can't improve anything to legendary status without it. Also, you'll probably want the smith perk for enhancing enchanted gear. Now the question is... is it possible to achieve the 567 armor required with just steel armor. – l I Nov 22 '11 at 01:20
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    @yx. Don't need the perk to enhance enchanted - make it first, upgrade it second, enchant it third. – Amy B Nov 22 '11 at 02:08
  • @AmyB, I think the armor rating will still go down as per this question – l I Nov 22 '11 at 02:21
  • Strange because everyone talks about 576 armor cap I have all Daedric armor 100 HA 100 Smithing and to enhance it I used 20% necklace 17% gauntlets and a 50% potion bought from potion lady in Whiterun and my Armor Rating says 980 so either i'm readin g it wrong or the 400ish abouve 576 just dont count. Oh and by the way at lvl 61 those darn Master mage dudes and Forsworn Bravehearts still obliterate me and I need to do a lot of healing toe to toe against even Ancient dragons –  Feb 09 '12 at 19:34
  • 567 is not a number that your armor can't go over, it's just the number when additional armor does nothing. – MaskedPlant Feb 09 '12 at 19:47
  • So what it basically means is that thriving to enhance my armor above 576 AR such as I did was pretty much a waste of time because I still take the same amount of damage if it was 576 which is cool as I love the look of Dragonscale and I have enhanced that to 700 and something with another character who I advanced in light armor Thanks for info by the way 8-) –  Feb 09 '12 at 19:53
  • Every point of armor gives .12% damage reduction. 667 is the cap of 80% DR, or a displayed rating of 567 with four pieces of armor providing a hidden 25 point bonus each(542 displayed with shield, 592 w/o something. Helmet, for example). You can make materials without a smithing perk legendary, if you use a set of smithing gear and a smithing potion. Edit: just noticed a comment below that mentioned fortify smithing enchants and potions. – Jtenorj3 Mar 17 '17 at 18:56

1 Answers1

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Ran some console commands in the name of Science!

First, I leveled light armor to see the effect that skill has on armor rating.

Imperial Armor chest

  • 25 armor at 15 skill.
  • 33 armor at 100 skill.

Well, that's underwhelming. The rest of the numbers in this post are with 100 light armor skill.

Then I maxed smithing and started crafting.

  • 74 - 4 piece leather - no perks
  • 119 - upgraded with 100 smithing
  • 238 - agile defender 5/5 (cleanly doubled the value)
  • 357 - custom fit, matching set (and another 50% on top)

So much for unperk-able leather. How about elven?

  • 297 - 5 piece elven armor, agile defender 5/5, custom fit, matching set
  • 528 - upgraded with 100 smithing, elven smithing perk
  • 610 - upgraded with 130 smithing by using Ring of Smithing (+15) and Necklace of Smithing (+15), elven smithing perk
  • 537 - same, but shield-less

Elven armor is the lightest armor I'm aware of. 4 piece is 7 units of weight. 5 piece is 11 units of weight. With this low weight, you can easily skip armor weight reducing perks.

Then I headed off to the enchanting station for one last test. I enchanted with fortify armorer and saw no change to armor rating after the enchant. I recommend skipping the arcane blacksmith perk if you are planning to wear only your own crafted armor. Just upgrade before enchanting. (Ignore what the enchanting table tells you about armor rating, it's wrong.)

That's 2 smithing perks, and 7 light armor perks. With 100 skill in light armor and smithing, you'll be level 26 and easily able to afford these perks.

Can you skip the 2 smithing perks? Possibly. You'll need to compensate by raising smithing skill (much) higher, but if you're already choosing enchanting perks and/or alchemy perks for other reasons...

TLDR: You can reach 610 armor rating with 9 perks and minor un-perked assistence from alchemy or enchanting. 567 is the armor cap.

Amy B
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  • I thought about trying with steel armor, but... heavy armor weight reducing perk is in a bad place in the tree. – Amy B Nov 27 '11 at 06:09
  • You can hit the cap with hide armor as long as you stack enchanting or alchemy (no perks required, just more money). Honestly, it's worth grabbing the armor perks – Domocus Nov 27 '11 at 06:17
  • Thanks @AmyB I am going to have to do some testing myself when I have the time D=... (too much time taken up actually playing). I will count this as an answer until someone else comes up with something better. Domocus can you really get that with Hide armor? When I had my smithing pumped and with a (though my alchy wasn't maxed and hadn't done alchy/ench stackin) I wasn't able to get anywhere close. Also... for this... no console commands to get something you couldn't normally have. Then again... I don't think my light armor skill was up >_<. – Goblinlord Nov 28 '11 at 07:09
  • @Domocus That is NOT with no perks. That requires enchanting and alchemy perks. I think it also requires the light armor perks. – agf Dec 06 '11 at 01:37
  • @agf It can still be done, just takes longer. – Domocus Dec 06 '11 at 16:09
  • @Domocus your assertion is nifty. If you go do it and show the perks chosen and numbers, and you chose fewer than 9 perks, I would upvote your answer. – Amy B Dec 06 '11 at 16:16
  • I have attempted it before but gave up to cost of gold, mainly due to the fact that my secondary character has little gold, but the idea is the same. – Domocus Dec 06 '11 at 17:48
  • @AmyB It's not a great position, this could be avoided by using the Steed standing stone power (Equipped have no weight [not just armor], armor doesn't slow you down, +100 capacity). If I'm using heavy armor, I usually pick it up pretty quickly. Admittedly, people are pretty picky about their standing stones though – msg45f May 07 '17 at 08:56