Shield or Armor?

[mikaeliby]

Why would one want Armor, when there is Shield? Armor disintegrates, Shield does not. Armor weighs alot, Shield can be put on the very lightest items. Armor mostly have just a few points of protection, a grand soul gem gives an enchantment of 10% Shield, a sigil stone mostly 15%.

So why wear armor instead of shield-enchanted stuff? For role play only, or does it give better perks and protection when levelled?

[ElanaAhova]

Has to do with leveling based on your character stats. You gain experiencing doing things. Wearing armor improves the related stats. Want to run faster? Face a wall and run... Swim?, jump in water, face side, swim... So, wearing armor increases ... yes, armor rating. Making potions increases alchemy skill.

For mage route (my fav, stealthy mage w Bow and dagger), use dagger and blocking spell.

[mikaeliby]

My first character was a blade fighter/sneak thief. Started out wearing armor, and switched to better ones when I found them, but then I found a robe with good Shield, and that was much better at the time so I just went with that and it worked great. How high does the armor level to I wonder?

Now I´m playing a full on destruction/conjuration/restoration mage and I´m at 65% Shield with all my clothes and jewlery.

[ElanaAhova]

Originally posted by mikaeliby:

My first character was a blade fighter/sneak thief. Started out wearing armor, and switched to better ones when I found them, but then I found a robe with good Shield, and that was much better at the time so I just went with that and it worked great. How high does the armor level to I wonder?

Now I´m playing a full on destruction/conjuration/restoration mage and I´m at 65% Shield with all my clothes and jewlery.

Yes, my fave approach.

[Poil]

Because some of the armor sets looks cool of course. :)

[mikaeliby]

That I admit is a good reason!

[ElanaAhova]

Originally posted by Poil:

Because some of the armor sets looks cool of course. :)

I haven't played in many years. But I remember this mod that made glass armor translucent, fixed the awful green color. Very slight glimmer. Gnarly.

[mikaeliby]

Did some research, and it seems that the highest armor rating is 85, wether it´s by light, heavy or Shield enchant. So there does not seem to be much other reason than role play to use armor. However an all non-armor build is the only way to get 100% spell effectivness.

But then again. One reason for armor would be to have resist magic enchants on all pieces, thereby protecting against both physical and magical damage.

[Killroy]

Armor is very useful for leveling Endurance and Speed. Additionally its useful for level Armorer which in turn levels Endurance as well.
Post leveling attributes, high enough armor skill means the armor is weightless while worn. Additionally each piece can be enchanted providing benefits benefiting any build.

[mikaeliby]

Yes that´s it.

[Morphine Cat]

I find boosts to speed better than shield effects, because if you move quickly enough you can step in to attack and then back off before they get their swing in.

Granted, it doesn't level up your armour skills in the same way, but I never make those major skills anyway, so not a big loss.

Practice doing the step in attack/step out evade move on easier enemies like goblins and you'll find it really easy, especially against things like Dremora that are swinging big ass claymores that take forever to get to the contact point of their swing arc.

[arottweiler]

You can time blocks easily because most enemies don't have the AI to react to blocking and will attack anyway. Then you can attack while they are staggered. You can train a lot of skills with summons like the skeleton.

[mikaeliby]

I tend to go for the best looking combination of clothes as a mage, and after getting good magick skills put all into speed. Speed really helps in battle, and I´d say generally speed/jumping is one of the most fun things about Oblivion :)

Just got 90% magick resistance. That helps too :)