How Good is Armor? (Endurance vs Vigor)

[Casul Gamer]

I got my vigor to around 50 atm. 40 is the softcap, but the second softcap is 60 and some people so to get it up to 60 so I've been doing that. It also seems like armor doesn't help much in Fromsoft games (except DS1 maybe).

However, I noticed that endurance also increases stamina so maybe it's more useful. I'm mostly dual wielding, but I leveled up strength so I could have the option of using a good shield and having more endurance is essential for that.

[Senki]

well armor doesn't help as much as in some other rpgs but it definitely does help

the most important part is poise honestly so you don't get interrupted by some attacks, if you wear the heaviest armor it's worth it

[Sham!]

not even close to how good ds1 poise was, but you still want enough to not be staggered left and right
leveling endurance is worth it as some fights require you to run a lot and then swing, i find 30 to be nice sweet spot for a no ng+ melee build

[SHOCKNUTZ]

lately i've been running only 44 vigor with end-game bosses as a co-op summon. i'm more aggressive so i'm in front of the boss a lot. no hp+ talismans or hp+ armor. i'm more melee than ranged. for armor i wear medium armor or heavy armor depending on the character i'm playing, but always keep Medium weight. the armor defense stats help but what's really going to help is your buffs. consumables or spells.

for Maliketh as an example, i'm up in his face the whole fight. first phase i use Boiled Crap because he does more physical damage. for the 2nd phase i use Holyproof Dried Liver because his attacks deal more holy damage in that phase. i can take multiple hits with like 1500 hp and i'm still able to recover. that's while wearing a scorpion charm too.

one time a host summoned me for Maliketh, he got clapped 2nd phase. same host summoned me again, i dropped them 1 Holyproof Dried Liver. host popped it, got hit 2nd phase like before but was able to stay alive and recover.

same thing with Gideon and his Law of Causality. i've seen this 1shot a lot of people. but if you use a holy defense spell/incantation or dried liver, you'll survive it.

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Boiled+Crab
https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Holyproof+Dried+Liver

there is an incantation you get late game that could replace the Boiled Crab if you meet the Faith requirements, and it's far superior.
there are also incantations for other affinities like magic, fire, lightning, holy that will be better than the Dried Liver if you have the Faith.

There are 4 Dried Livers. Magic, Fire, Lightning and Holy. don't sleep on them.

if you're using a shield, pay attention to the type of damage it negates. and yeah make sure you have enough endurance to block and attack or dodge if you need to after it depletes some of your stamina.

there is also Shield Grease.
https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Shield+Grease

an example maximizing magic defense if you're facing a magic boss

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Barrier+of+Gold (60%)
--or  https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Protection+of+the+Erdtree (30%)
--or  https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Magic+Fortification (35%)
+
https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Golden+Vow+(Spell) (15%)
+ (your shield)
https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Shield+Grease (+guarding + all damage negation)
+
https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Spelldrake+Talisman (13/17/20%)
+
https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Pearldrake+Talisman (5/7/9%)

^i don't do this, i just pop my flask (+1 stat, +damage), use 1 consumable and enter. but there are things you can do other than armor for defense.

[Casul Gamer]

I thought I was ok with shield and stamina. I had trouble to margot so I switched to shield and was able to block ok. Then I upgraded STR to use a better shield and fought an enemy in a dungeon that drained all my stamina with one hit so I'm not sure what to do now.

I already have 50+ poise with only around 11 endurance (will be less if I use a heavy shield and/or heavier weapons). I have around 50 vigor so I could respec to 40 vigor and 20 endurance

[Tommysonic5]

I can't help but over-leveling all my characters to get ~40+ endurance so that I can equip 6 weapons and have lots of stamina and wear pretty heavy armor. I also try to get 50+ vigor by endgame. Currently 60 vigor on a level 265 character :)

[Casul Gamer]

Originally posted by Tommysonic5:

I can't help but over-leveling all my characters to get ~40+ endurance so that I can equip 6 weapons and have lots of stamina and wear pretty heavy armor. I also try to get 50+ vigor by endgame. Currently 60 vigor on a level 265 character :)

Is that in NG+ or something? I didn't realize you can get that high in a normal playthrough. I'm playing blind so I don't know exactly how far there is to go. I'm in the snow area and I think around 100 and I thought I was somewhat overleveled.

[SHOCKNUTZ]

Originally posted by Casul Gamer:

Originally posted by Tommysonic5:

I can't help but over-leveling all my characters to get ~40+ endurance so that I can equip 6 weapons and have lots of stamina and wear pretty heavy armor. I also try to get 50+ vigor by endgame. Currently 60 vigor on a level 265 character :)

Is that in NG+ or something? I didn't realize you can get that high in a normal playthrough. I'm playing blind so I don't know exactly how far there is to go. I'm in the snow area and I think around 100 and I thought I was somewhat overleveled.

100-120 is average for mountaintops/snowfields. your weapon upgrade level should be 20-24/8-9 somber.

[Tommysonic5]

Originally posted by Casul Gamer:

Originally posted by Tommysonic5:

I can't help but over-leveling all my characters to get ~40+ endurance so that I can equip 6 weapons and have lots of stamina and wear pretty heavy armor. I also try to get 50+ vigor by endgame. Currently 60 vigor on a level 265 character :)

Is that in NG+ or something? I didn't realize you can get that high in a normal playthrough. I'm playing blind so I don't know exactly how far there is to go. I'm in the snow area and I think around 100 and I thought I was somewhat overleveled.

I've stopped at the end of NG+ currently. I usually end the game around level 170-180ish by clearing everything and sending my sign to summon pools most of the time.

[vapechimp]

I will answer you with some stats

If you put the bull goat armor and max damage negation by all ways possible (via spells and consumables) you will reach a max of 75 % (tested)

On the other hand if you walk naked and cast the same spells and consumables you will reach 60% negation. So is it worth to wear the heavy armor set for measly 15 % by investing into heavy armor ?

Probably not, but at the same time the spell that gives massive 35% protection is obtainable at the end of the game. So you will have to run naked until then > I guess not

[Nauct]

Especially endgame it makes little difference, you're gonna be dead in two hits no matter what really. Even the talismans that increase damage don't really have an impact when the damage is scaled so high, weird but true.

The armor has flat damage reduction and percentage reduction. Obviously a flat 20 reduction doesn't make a big difference when you're getting hit for 800.

Just go for looks while being light as possible. It is wise to at least have a piece equipped in each slot in this game because you basically get a penalty for not having a slot filled, unlike previous titles

Edit: Just get 60VGR if you want to make your life easy
Edit2: Stamina seems good, but your stamina regens much faster than the older souls games, it's not as important in Elden Ring

[Casul Gamer]

I respec'd to 40 vigor and started raising Endurance instead since I'm using a shield sometimes and extra stamina is necessary for that, but if I drop the shield maybe I will just pump vigor.

If I drop the shield I prob don't need STR anymore. Most of the weapons I've been using or thinking of using scale better with DEX. I don't really like to respec a lot even though I do have plenty of those consumables.

[Nauct]

Originally posted by Casul Gamer:

I respec'd to 40 vigor and started raising Endurance instead since I'm using a shield sometimes and extra stamina is necessary for that, but if I drop the shield maybe I will just pump vigor.

If I drop the shield I prob don't need STR anymore. Most of the weapons I've been using or thinking of using scale better with DEX. I don't really like to respec a lot even though I do have plenty of those consumables.

End game if you're focusing on just using melee weapons you have enough points to easily get both damage stats, like 40STR 60DEX especially with the talismans. I say 40STR just because when you 2H that's 60 which is a good place to stop

[MjKorz]

Originally posted by Casul Gamer:

I got my vigor to around 50 atm. 40 is the softcap, but the second softcap is 60 and some people so to get it up to 60 so I've been doing that. It also seems like armor doesn't help much in Fromsoft games (except DS1 maybe).

However, I noticed that endurance also increases stamina so maybe it's more useful. I'm mostly dual wielding, but I leveled up strength so I could have the option of using a good shield and having more endurance is essential for that.

Armor is one of the pieces needed to achieve really good physical defense. Heavy armor + high strength + dragoncrest (great)shield talisman + some crab and you're dramatically harder to kill than some dress-wearing DEX clown. I'm playing a pure STR+END+VIG heavy armor + greatshield + (great)spear character now and it's extremely noticeable compared to my previous mage character.

[Alex]

How about 45 vigor, 30 endurance, 9 poise with bull-goat talisman, fast roll and zweihender as main weapon? I got this on ~80 lvl on current playthrough

[-Tr¡Ρ-]

Endurance isn't so much about equip load, it's about poise. Poise directly scales with how heavy armor is. If you're swinging a big slow weapon, you want a lot of poise so it won't get interrupted. There's not much more to it than that.

60 VIG is only recommended for PVP because the damage output in Elden Ring is so much higher than in previous games. 40 is plenty for PvE.