How much does armor matter? Is it really worth it?

[Donald J. Trump]

I just got the havel set and with some rings and stuff, my armor is 800-1000. I tested on one of the Gyrm guys in Doors of Pharros, and I have to say it was not that great a difference between getting hit while fully armored and getting hit while naked. The armour helped of course, but the difference between no armor at all and the best armour in the game (albeit non-upgraded) seemed very small.

So is it worth it loading myself up with heavy stuff for a few extra points of armour? Is there something I'm missing here? Wouldn't I be better off wearing a very light armour or nothing at all, with a good greatshield and strong stamina regen to be able to block more hits? (this is excluding armour and clothing with special bonuses of course)

[Mr.America]

Armor only matter when trying to get elemental resistance to be able to completly negate a certain type of magic attack, like, for example, the ancient dragon's fire. Get 900 ele. def. and you don't take any damage from it. Someone figured out how to get 900 def in all elements, google it.

[Larai]

Originally posted by King Of The Losers:

Poise, but, more importantly, you discover the true meaning of a souls game. FASHION!

It's all about the fashion. Lets not lie to ourselves.

Poise is a very interesting stat. I made a build that stacked as much poise I could get and the results were surprising. With enough poise you can remain standing through a Fire Storm or Scraps of Life. You can just completly ignore the force spell. I was able to poise through a L2 attack from powerstanced smelter hammers. Sometimes I was even able to begin an attack while taking damage, as opposed to not being staggered during an attack.

[otakon17]

In NG, armor DOES matter. Poise is wonky compared to the last game in my opinion, and elemental defense works on a 10:1 ratio, every ten points blocks 1% of damage, get to 1,000 in any stat or elemental defense and you're immune. However, physical defense is much less effective, far as I know it's flat damage reduction, 20:1 with 20 points of defense blocking ONE POINT of damage. In NG+ and beyond, when you have enemies capable of doing 2370+ damage in a single attack, even with some 1300 physical defense it'll only reduce the damage by around 200 points or so.

So to sum up:

Elemental/Status Defense: Percentage based, hit 1000 and become immune.
Physical Defense: NG it's important, NG+ and beyond it's mostly pointless. Which really just ends up making everyone into a dodgy-McDodgerson and forcing gameplay styles on folks.

[Larai]

Well you really only have three options anyway. Dodge (lag-prone), block (guard breaks), or poise+hp (unreliable).

[Infected Survivor]

sometimes armor can save your life in pvp when you have less than 5% HP left after you killed the guy.

[Snazzy Dragon]

Armor is only important against one type of attack in PvP: slashes.
What's the most popular weapon?
Katanas.
What type of damage do they do?
Slash :^)

But nah not really, only poise can be important. But put fashion over practicality, and be roll happy.

I do hope in the SotFS update they modify this; armor was useful in dks1 but in dks2 it's just there so you're not running around naked.

[Dr. Uncredible]

As a heavy-weapon user I can´t recommend poise enough! It´s essentially the difference between being constantly interrupted by light attacks and making a huge lovely mess with the small tree you´re lugging around.

[Bottom of the Well]

NG and Ng+-NG+3 armor matters after that you may as well fight naked and let them look at your soiled loin cloth as 2-4 hits and any creature will kill you and 1-2 boss hits will kill you.

[Valkrex]

Hell yes armor helps. ESPECIALLY against bosses. The only reason I beat the Fume Knight and Elana on NG++ was because I put on heavier armor that had more defense. I was taking too much damage with lighter armor, so I wouldn't be able to go on the offensive, but heavier armor let me tank a hit or two if I failed a dodge and surivive instead of getting killed flat-out.

[Rando Calrissian]

Armor can be the difference between dying, and being able to take 1 more hit (or heal). It can be the difference between winning, or losing. Fashion souls = go play with your barbie dolls.

[六十七匹の稲妻炎カニ]

Originally posted by otakon17:

In NG, armor DOES matter. Poise is wonky compared to the last game in my opinion, and elemental defense works on a 10:1 ratio, every ten points blocks 1% of damage, get to 1,000 in any stat or elemental defense and you're immune. However, physical defense is much less effective, far as I know it's flat damage reduction, 20:1 with 20 points of defense blocking ONE POINT of damage. In NG+ and beyond, when you have enemies capable of doing 2370+ damage in a single attack, even with some 1300 physical defense it'll only reduce the damage by around 200 points or so.

So to sum up:

Elemental/Status Defense: Percentage based, hit 1000 and become immune.
Physical Defense: NG it's important, NG+ and beyond it's mostly pointless. Which really just ends up making everyone into a dodgy-McDodgerson and forcing gameplay styles on folks.

pretty sure it's not a 20:1, when you equip the steel protection ring and compare damage more like 10:1 or 5:1, The second i see Lucatiel for the 2nd or 3rd time, i never remove that ring since i often go for light builds for longer roll distance, paired with havel gloves for poise