Armor Importance

[🦆iSheyn🦆]

So I've been playing for a bit over 9 hours now and killed 2(?) Story bosses I think.
Now Im still rocking the default class clothes from the start and was wondering how important it is to change armor in this game?
Should I already have "better" Armor at this point or is armor not really something that I should worry about?

[Archdeacon Monseigneur]

Originally posted by C1REX:

Originally posted by Archdeacon Monseigneur:

armor normally matters.
just not in the DLC because the numbers of anything that hits you are wack.

https://youtu.be/nX26vwGJKkg?si=XspR472_yHj8iVJZ

well ok i suppose if you use literally the most heavy armor in the game you take normal amounts of damage.
good to know that 98% of the armor in the game is useless though.
as in; anything below verdigris.

what level is this guy btw?
i mean, he better be around 150-200 or this is a useless video.

[C1REX]

Originally posted by Archdeacon Monseigneur:

Originally posted by C1REX:

https://youtu.be/nX26vwGJKkg?si=XspR472_yHj8iVJZ

well ok i suppose if you use literally the most heavy armor in the game you take normal amounts of damage.
good to know that 98% of the armor in the game is useless though.
as in; anything below verdigris.

what level is this guy btw?
i mean, he better be around 150-200 or this is a useless video.

He is lvl 164 in the video.

[Archdeacon Monseigneur]

Originally posted by C1REX:

Originally posted by Archdeacon Monseigneur:

well ok i suppose if you use literally the most heavy armor in the game you take normal amounts of damage.
good to know that 98% of the armor in the game is useless though.
as in; anything below verdigris.

what level is this guy btw?
i mean, he better be around 150-200 or this is a useless video.

He is lvl 164 in the video.

yeah, he is also using a bunch of incantations and food buffs to obtain the damage negations.
the point being made is that armor is not very good - on its own - specifically.

i get that you're not supposed to just put on armor and facetank everything, but i think its a bit much to ask players to literally stack every damage negation effect in the game on top of super heavy armor on top of a greatshield in order to bring damage down to an acceptable level.

like, what are light and medium builds supposed to do?
if their incantation or food buff falls off they'll get splattered.

[WereChicken]

Heavier armour gives more poise and a little more damage absorption.

You will absolutely notice the difference between heavier and lighter armour, but the overall difference is relatively minor compared to the difference character level makes.

[Anzaman]

Originally posted by Not Rawr:

People in this thread will claim armour is worthless while also using every buff in the game that gives less dr than armour would.
Tired of hearing this for every souls game as if 20% or so DR isn't a massive difference.

Astrologer Robe ~55% physical DR -> Black Flame = ~70% + Golden Vow = ~73%.

Verdigris Armor ~61% physical DR -> Black Flame = ~74% + Golden Vow = ~77%.

Sure there's difference between them, ~17% more eHP with both buffs, if I didn't butcher the calculations, but do you really want to face tank attacks with either of them? Especially with the high investment into Endurance you'd need to even be able to use the heaviest stuff in the game.

[Eastersimulator]

the difference in wearing robes and the heavy armors of the game are significant. But most players use it to look cool because dodging and leveling vigor is your first and last line of defense.

[Holneer]

Verdigris and Bull-Goat armors are endurance bait. You either wear the new solitude set or banished body and helm (unaltered) and veteran gloves/legs for poise and defense.

[C1REX]

Originally posted by Archdeacon Monseigneur:

Originally posted by C1REX:

He is lvl 164 in the video.

yeah, he is also using a bunch of incantations and food buffs to obtain the damage negations.
the point being made is that armor is not very good - on its own - specifically.

i get that you're not supposed to just put on armor and facetank everything, but i think its a bit much to ask players to literally stack every damage negation effect in the game on top of super heavy armor on top of a greatshield in order to bring damage down to an acceptable level.

like, what are light and medium builds supposed to do?
if their incantation or food buff falls off they'll get splattered.

You are right. Armour on its own is not that important but that’s only the case if we don’t use talismans, consumables and spells. Then yeah - we are weak regardless of armour.
Elden Ring has a system that I personally don’t like but many other games are using it. The buffs don’t simply add up but rather multiply each other. It makes a single 10-20% buffs barely noticeable but crazy OP if you stack them. That makes balanced builds kinda weak and full damage buff or full damage negation builds the current meta for pve.
Armour is like a buff as well that multiplies other buffs. Small difference on its own but a very big difference when combined together.
I personally don’t like this mechanics as meta in such games is to have top tier gear and then cast like 10 spells, drink something, eat something, use some weapon skill, use a shield buff skill to multiply the numbers. Nioh took it to extreme where buffing before bosses took longer than a 2s boss fight after that.

However, you can still be relatively tanky with a light armour in Elden Ring. Just a bit less OP.

https://youtu.be/GH9FWpHiQyQ?si=6Chus9Mf7UDrYjTq

[Ichi-niiPL]

Personally i think you should just wear what armor you think looks cool xD
I wear Radahn armour and weapons because it look sweet, and i like strength weapons - gigachad all the way xD

[Cacomistle]

The heaviest armor in the game, for the entire set, gives like 40% damage resist. That's pretty good, but also if you just wear something like the starting armor for samurai, it gives 18% damage resist. The difference between wearing those 2 is something like 40-50 points in endurance (and heavy armor might be outright unwearable without giving up medium roll if you're using a heavier weapon) for about a 25% damage resistance. Realistically, if you put 30 points in endurance you'll probably get like a 15-20% damage resist from the armor you could have worn at 10 endurance, assuming you're keeping medium roll.

If you put all the same points into a damage stat, depending on your weapon scaling you'll probably get more damage than that, though you won't get the stamina from endurance.

Another way of putting it, heavy armor is one of many ways to scale your character's strength. It helps, but you do not need to worry about it specifically.

There's also armors with special effects. Those can make certain builds noticeably more powerful, since they're doubling as armor and a damage increase.

I don't think the weight cap increasing talismans are worth it for heavier armor on medium roll.

Armor sets tell you how much damage resist they give (and you can look at the wiki to see the entire set), so its not very hard to figure out how good it is. A 20% damage resist for instance lowers your damage taken by 20% compared to if you didn't have it. Its self explanatory how effective resists are.

[Nifty]

Originally posted by 🦆iSheyn🦆:

So I've been playing for a bit over 9 hours now and killed 2(?) Story bosses I think.
Now Im still rocking the default class clothes from the start and was wondering how important it is to change armor in this game?
Should I already have "better" Armor at this point or is armor not really something that I should worry about?

Grabbing a medium armor set is a great way early on to break that 20% main game resistence barrier.

You won't have the means to do so otherwise yet.

[ReBootXD]

Armor is significantly less important than other rpg’s, it does help but it’s not something that you can use as a crutch to tank hit after hit.

All armor pieces are viable for using through to the end of the game. You can dress however you like and it won’t negatively impact you in a noticeable way.

[Funpire]

Originally posted by 🦆iSheyn🦆:

So I've been playing for a bit over 9 hours now and killed 2(?) Story bosses I think.
Now Im still rocking the default class clothes from the start and was wondering how important it is to change armor in this game?
Should I already have "better" Armor at this point or is armor not really something that I should worry about?

People say armor means nothing and isn't noticeable, but go take a hit wearing Goldmask's armor, then take a hit wearing a full set of Vergigris. It's just night/day, especially if you get invaded and every point of damage you take matters or on bosses.

The largest benefit imo, is the poise you get that allows you to attack through NPC's/Players attacks. People who don't play with armor are either god tier and never get hit or are in denial.