Generalized guide to armor

[Gnolfus]

So I see a lot of (misguided) people complain about a myriad of things, and a common complaint is that heavy armor is the only viable option and that some weapons can magically oneshot anything.

First of all, lighter armor requires a different playstyle. If you choose to go into the middle of the battlefield in a pitched battle, especially in close quarters, you're at a disadvantage.
Second of all, it has a much higher skill cap and thus shouldn't really be used until you're somewhat competent at the basics of footwork, timing and positioning as well as dealing with multiple opponents at the same time. Try to stay at the flanks of the map, and always keep moving. Try to not backpedal too much and be too passive, especially when facing multiple people. You have to be more proactive and aggressive than with heavy armor.

What heavier armor gives you is a buffer for more mistakes, or a bigger health pool to combo with perks such as bloodlust, at the cost of more equipment points and movement speed. In a strict 1v1 I agree that it is probably straight up better. Now, on to armor.

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In general, you want to make a balanced outfit that doesn't leave gaps that people can easily exploit. If you go to the advanced tab on weapons, damage values against different body parts and armor levels will show. What you generally want to do is consider how many hits it will take to kill you against the most commonly used weapons. The idea is to try to stay consistent across the board for how many hits you can take and not leave obvious gaps.
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Head armor: Not wearing a helmet is the dumbest choice you can make, as most slashing weapons will oneshot you. That's right, an axe which costs 2 equipment points will one hit an unarmored head. This becomes exponentially more stupid if you couple it with heavy chest and leg armor, as you've killed your mobility but are as fragile as someone naked. A helmet, even a level 1 hood, should be your first priority when making a class.

Level 1 head armor will still get oneshot by many very commonly used slashing weapons (war axe, battle axe, greatsword and up). It's still much better than nothing though if this is all you can fit in your build, as you at least cannot be one shot by things such as a rapier stab.

Level 2 head armor is generally the minimum level I would recommend, even in light armor builds. You're now immune against one hit headshots from any weapon apart from a maul.

Level 3 head armor is nice, but slows you down a lot and a lot of commonly used weapons will still two-hit you to the head. What it however does have going for it is that against many weapons, when comboed with level 3 chest armor, is that you'll survive a head blow + body blow, unlike if you went with a level 2 helmet.
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Chest armor: Unlike head armor, you can sort of get away with going naked here. However, some very commonly used weapons will one hit you to the torso; Halberd, Zweihander, War axe, Executioners sword and probably some others that I forgot.

Level 1 chest armor: This is actually surprisingly viable. You're immune to getting one hit by any weapon in the game, and you keep a lot of speed. You're weak to arrows however.

Level 2 chest armor: This seems to be in a weird spot. Many commonly used weapons that will 2 hit kill a level 1 chest will also 2 hit kill a level 2 chest, and you lose considerable speed. What it does offer is much better protection against arrows (3 hits vs 2 hits), and 3 hit kills versus most of the swords slashing attacks. You're still nearly as vulnerable to stabs as with level 1 armor.

Level 3 chest armor: Not much to say, the heaviest and most commonly used armor in the game. 3 hits or more to kill against everything except a mace, eveningstar or maul, 4 hits to kill against a lot of the sidearms weapons.

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Leg armor: If you're going to skip on armor, this is where you do it. Unarmored legs will only get one shot by one weapon in the game, albeit a commonly used one; the Executioners sword. It's however still very dumb to go naked here if you're wearing level 3 head and chest armor, which is something a lot of people do. Many people will maybe not hit your legs, but once people catch on the rest of your armor might as well not be there because hitting the legs of someone is usually even easier than a headshot. Go 2/3/1 in stead. And if you go naked, at least use cosmetic items to try to cover it up the best you can (tabard chest armor, high boots, skirts etc).

Level 1 leg armor: The bread and butter if you're not going with level 3 chest and head armor. You'll take less damage overall than a hit to a level 2 helmet, which I'd say is more common. This is keeping with the concept of consistency that I mentioned at the start. Too bad all of the level 1 leg armors in the game currently look bad.

Level 2 leg armor: The choice if you're going with level 3 head and chest armor. Offers same level of protection to the legs as a level 3 armor does to the chest.

Level 3 leg armor: Outside of fashion, or arguably if you ride on horses a lot, this seems largely useless as few people will target your legs to begin with, even less so if it's plated. Pick level 2 in stead and use the equipment point for something else.

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Some armor combos and comments. The format is Head/Chest/Legs.

0/0/0 or 0/x/x: You're either a meme lord with a lute and throwing rocks, or you're cosplaying as your favourite anime character. Either way, you love getting decapitated by nearly any weapon in the game and should reconsider your life choices. Even with the peasant perk you can pick level 1 head armor.

1/1/0: Viable as the absolute bare minimum, 2 hit surviveability against most stuff. You'll still get decapitated a lot, but at least not by a rapier stab to the head. Maximum speed, and can be pretty good when comboed with the perk dodge and a weapon with long reach.

2/1/1 or 2/1/0: The default "light armor" combination. You're immune to getting one hit by any other weapon than a maul headshot. If you go with no leg armor, you can be one hit by a executioners sword leg swipe, but I've found this to be relatively rare as users of that weapon tend to not be the brightest of the bunch :o). You're still pretty damn fast, especially to everyone else who is wearing full heavy armor, and you have 13 equipment points left over for perks and weaponry.

2/3/1: The default medium-heavy combo. You can be 2 hit killed to the head or legs by a lot of commonly used weapons at the hands of a good player, but you more often than not can survive up to 3 hits, and you're slightly faster than the full on tincan boys. Frees up a lot of equipment points so you can use it on perks and weapons. Some examples include the very popular War Axe + Bloodlust, or Longsword + Bloodlust, or you can go with a more expensive weapon like a Halberd and still have a couple of equipment points over for very useful perks such as friendly, tenacious, etc. My favourite setup with this combo is either Halberd + Tenacious and friendly, or Longsword + Bloodlust.

3/3/2: Full tincan mode. Restricts some weapon + perk choices, and you're fairly slow, but has the best surviveability and is the best setup if you're going to stay in the thick of melee at all times. You can use up to a 8 equipment point cost weapon, or a 7+a perk. One of my favourite setups is this with a greatsword and either tenacious or friendly. If you want to go with a heavier weapon but still want to get some essential perks (tenacious, friendly and arguably fireproof) you can always downgrade to 2/3/1 for 2 additional equipment points.

That's it, this guide became much longer than I anticipated. I will maybe post it to steam guides if people appreciate it.