Is it just me or is armor useless?

[infernaldragon5]

It seems to me that armor doesn't really reduce damage by enough to justify how much it slows you down and reduces stamina gain. I was having a lot of trouble at first, then I thought, you know what? Why don't I strip down? And ever since them I've beaten every boss I've encountered by the second try, some on the first.

I'm sure pvp is a different story but for pve it seems naked is the best way to go.

[Ruego Al Alba]

It seems like armor only offers marginal benefits. Also depends on scaling, but I didn't really notice when fighting Giant Lord. I had my typical light armor get-up and took almost the same amount of damage from one strike of his sword versus when I got hit with it with a fully upgraded Hiede Knight set. I was wearing Ring of Steel Protection +2 with my HK set too, and I only saw about + or - 200 damage less than with my light armor equipped.

Edit: Poise seems to be the only thing I'd consider good about heavy armor especially in PvP. I think that's why Havel's is so common.

[infernaldragon5]

Yeah. There is also the whole deal where speedrunners run through both games naked. Only exceptions are in Dark Souls 1, its best to equip the heaviest armor possible for 4 Kings and Dark Lord Nito, since its simpler to just tank their attacks and kill them then to dodge their attack.

I think the main purpose of armor in dark souls is to provide poise. Not sure how usefull it is in dks2 however.

[The_Machiavellian]

It really depends. But armor isn't going to save you during most boss fights. It helps with poise a little, but that doesn't seem to matter much in a boss fight.

[Hunubul]

Only good in PvP and fashion souls. And when you have maxed stats, that -200 dmg is fine too.

There were many times I had less than 100 hp left with my knight with the alonne captain armour. Without the armour I my have been dead.

[Infected Survivor]

go new game +7 without armor, you will see what will happen to you when you take a hit :D

[Jacopo Beanman]

lol havel's. i'd like you to meet a rapier stab you. over.

and over.

and over.

cuz dat stunlock

[Mr.America]

Armor is mostly useless, the only thing it provides is fashion and elemental defense. You can, essentially wear armor, rings and use buffs in such combinations that you can become immune to certain elements (ancient dragon hehe). If you go super heavy + elemental def you can also become quite the tank in pvp, but you'll be so slow that you won't hit anyone.

[[-HSG-Mountainman Brothers]]

I always try to stay under 50% equipment load. The last "Tank" build I tried was an EPIC FAIL anyway. With my "naked" boxer, I took out every boss on the first try (until now, maybe some boss will put him into the ground..... ;) )

[Le Fay]

Armour can help, but usually only provides marginal damage reduction. Then again, that marginal reduction can also be what saves your life. Heavy armour does have a more significant reduction. As for poise, in my opinion poise is broken, especially when you consider that a single hit from a dagger can stagger someone using said heavy armour.

[Shifty Mario]

PVE, physical defense will never be good later game. Poise seems to work quite well though.

PVP, very high physical can actually mitigate decent amount. Poise doesn't work as well though. Gonna need very high poise in order to tank some hits. Read this to know how poise works:
http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/2n8aqd/everything_you_ever_wanted_to_know_about_poise/

Imo, it comes down to elemental resist since that does straight percentage reduction. Having little means any elementals or buffed will do too much.

[Joker]

oh, armor is far from useless. most people don't understand that armor is a strict tradeoff between mobility and damage reduction. what you should *NOT* expect is a damage reduction in areas like 50% or above - that's what shields are for.

you do, however, benefit from the reduction, especially with a suitable shield equipped. there are also different damage types for physical damage (slash, thrust, etc.) and each of the armors offers different resistance to each phys dmg type.

it's not intended to make you invincible, it's meant to keep you ALIVE when you get hit hard.

all those fast swinging guys with their bleed swords? yep.. put on the right armor and swing through them like butter, partly thanks to POISE which can only be found on heavier stuff.


anyway, have fun with your light builds and dying like idiots in next games.. :D

[fistor]

armor is actually quite good still, but the threshold where it gets useful is MUCH higher than in DKS1. when i wear full steel set on my SL150 STR build, i end up with over 850 phys. defense, over 900 against slash dmg - fighting curved sword and katana users becomes a breeze, when 2H R1 even buffed does like 400 dmg max :D

[Vice]

For PvE I generally wear a high def/poise chest and then a light weight helm/gloves/boots. That way I get enough poise to shrug off little attacks while still maintaining low weight and have balanced physical and elemental defense. You get the Drangleic armor after the pursuer and that should take care of your poise needs. The brigand set is nice and light until you can get something with elemental resists like the black set. I used that for most of the game.

Then once I picked up Havel's set I switched things around. I'd use the gloves and/or legs for their great poise:weight ratios and the black set robe.

[Lцсᶖаᶇ º¹]

I just wear whatever looks good. Magic armors probably give the best value though, high magic defs and low weight. Learn to roll and you're good.

[Kirmukarmu]

Armor is completely useless because 1) armor rating is worthless 2) poise doesn't work in PvP.

I think they killed armor with the patch that nerfed havelbuttface.