Can't seem to get my equipment load down enough to wear decent heavy armor

[Viper]

Can you ever get to a point just playing the main game and not grinding forever where you can wear heavy armor and still be able to roll decently( less than 70%). I am SL 76. My Vitality is 30. I am still wearing the Knight Armor. I am however carrying the Dark Knight Shield and Dark Sword which are both a little heavy. My Equipment load is 67%. If I put on the SIlver Knight Armor set which is nowehere near the heaviest Armor Set..but better. My Equipment Load is 73%. I feel at this point like I am just wasting points. It will probably take at least 3 more to be able to wear it. Is 33-34 to much to put into Vitality at SL 80 for a Knight.

[Lydia Scott]

Vitality is basically useless and so is heavy armor. Havels ring also helps with equip load too.

[76561198359476007]

Originally posted by Praiser of Sun:

Vitality is basically useless and so is heavy armor. Havels ring also helps with equip load too.

Unless you use a weapon that utilizes hyperarmor.

[Parking]

If you're intent on using full heavy armor and staying sub-70% with those weapons, you might wanna aim for 37 VIT. It'll be enough cushion to change your weapons up. Do you have Havel's Ring (any of the versions)? Because that might be what you're looking for aswell. The Ring of Favor and Prisoner's Chain also increase carry weight.

Just remember what you invest in VIT you lose in another stat. If you want to shield tank alot, be sure to stack END as well.

[Viper]

It is not useless. It increases your base defense. And also increases your equpment load. Vitality allows you to take more hits.

[76561198359476007]

Originally posted by Viper:

It is not useless. It increases your base defense. And also increases your equpment load. Vitality allows you to take more hits.

Hits from throwing knives.

[Lydia Scott]

Originally posted by Viper:

It is not useless. It increases your base defense. And also increases your equpment load. Vitality allows you to take more hits.

Vitality increases your defense. But defense is useless inside of this game. It literally doesn't work worth ♥♥♥♥. Absorption is literally the only defense stat.

[Viper]

thank you Parking...Yes I do have Havels Ring. I am wearing it. I have 22 Endurance and 36 Strength at this point also. I want to be able to be a little tanky and take on foes with my shield. I do not like just rolling all over the place like a circus performer. It is not realistic. I do it still quite a bit because its necessary however.

[Viper]

Originally posted by Praiser of Sun:

Originally posted by Viper:

It is not useless. It increases your base defense. And also increases your equpment load. Vitality allows you to take more hits.

Vitality increases your defense. But defense is useless inside of this game. It literally doesn't work worth ♥♥♥♥. Absorption is literally the only defense stat.

I doubt its uselss..Since i can stand there holding my shield with a Lothric Knight and take all his hits and swings and basically not get damaged. And if they do set a hit on me. It doesn't damage me that much. Although the ones in Lothric castle are doing quite a bit of damage if they hit me with there finishing move.

[Lydia Scott]

Originally posted by Viper:

Originally posted by Praiser of Sun:

Vitality increases your defense. But defense is useless inside of this game. It literally doesn't work worth ♥♥♥♥. Absorption is literally the only defense stat.

I doubt its uselss..Since i can stand there holding my shield with a Lothric Knight and take all his hits and swings and basically not get damaged. And if they do set a hit on me. It doesn't damage me that much. Although the ones in Lothric castle are doing quite a bit of damage if they hit me with there finishing move.

First off. Shields aren't affected by the defense stat. Second they probably get their damage reduced by your resistance not your defense stat.

[Parking]

Originally posted by Praiser of Sun:

Originally posted by Viper:

I doubt its uselss..Since i can stand there holding my shield with a Lothric Knight and take all his hits and swings and basically not get damaged. And if they do set a hit on me. It doesn't damage me that much. Although the ones in Lothric castle are doing quite a bit of damage if they hit me with there finishing move.

First off. Shields aren't affected by the defense stat. Second they probably get their damage reduced by your resistance not your defense stat.

Yeah, shields don't function the same way armor or vitality does.

Maybe vitality affects something, but ultimately the reduced damaged from blocking comes mostly from whatever you blocked with. They have a static percentage damage reduction for all seperate forms of damage.

[Viper]

My Physical Defense is 152 right now which gives me an absorption of appr. 27%. That means i will take 27% less damge. I just looked up absorption and thats how it works. If I put on light armor which I just did. My absorption goes down to 6.5%. And it would be even less if I neglected Vitality. Thats a difference of over 20% absortption. Thats pretty big. For example if you get hit by a finishing move that does 300 dmg Light armor deducts 19 damge. My present armor and vitality deducts 82 damage.

[Parking]

Originally posted by Viper:

My Physical Defense is 152 right now which gives me an absorption of appr. 27%. That means i will take 27% less damge. If I put on light armor which I just did. My absorption goes down to 6.5%. And it would be even less if I neglected Vitality. Thas a difference of over 20% absortption. Thas pretty big. For examle if you get hit by a finishing move that does 300 dmg Light armore deducts 19 damge. My present armor and vitality deducts 82 damage.

See, the thing with that is... Those numbers aren't wholly truthful. It is possible to get that resistance absurdly high, but it soft caps without telling you. So you could have, after you try a myriad of buffs and stupid-heavy-armor, a resistance of like 80%, but you won't take 80% less damage. It's weird, theres a bunch of math behind it to calculate actual mitigation.

Edit: And don't forget, all armor, ontop of % mitigation, has a shared flat damage reduction that does not change between armor sets, and this IS effected by VIT, just not by too much..

[Viper]

https://www.reddit.com/r/darksouls3/comments/4f8yy8/how_defense_and_absorption_really_work/

[Parking]

Originally posted by Viper:

https://www.reddit.com/r/darksouls3/comments/4f8yy8/how_defense_and_absorption_really_work/

Again, this analysis only takes into account what the game displays. I've read this page before, and me and a friend did tests a while back messing with different armors and buffs and even tried to see how it affects hyper armor. And what we concluded was that the static defence is correct, hyperarmor damage mitigation benefits from heavy armor, but the damage absorption itself has diminishing returns. Having extremely high absorption doesn't necessarily grant what it is supposed to grant.