mage armor vs real armor?

[00yiggdrasill00]

now im sure this has been asked before (and beaten to death) but which is better for a mage? im getting conflicting infomation from the old threads (and they mention a lvl cap of 81, something thats not around any more)

what i do know
max mage armor is 300 with a game cap of around 550
i can make the mage armor last for some time with the alteration perks
upgraded heavy armor is better then the mage armor but only if upgraded and with perks
alteration perks can give magic resistence
lighter armor helps with sneak

what i dont know (what i would like to know)
is there a solid reason to take the cloth over the steel, like cloth only enchants or something?

i will finish by saying im already heavily invested in the conjour and destruction trees, and make use of a mix of spells/summons/bound weapons.

thanks

[Ulrik H.D]

Mage with heavy armor is OP and will be the best choice, though it will be a walk in the park if you doesn't play it on legendary, because as I said, mage with heavy armor is OP.
Cloth is only good if you want the enchantments the robes can give you

[Delta 1038]

At the top of my head about mage armour and cloth?

- You don't have to level an extra skill. So this means you can focus on alteration (Which has pretty powerful spells) rather than heavy/light armour to get decent protection.
- It's weight free. Sure you can get the perks to make armour weightless but that means you have to spend a few perk points to do that.
- Cloth has no disadvantanges when sneaking.
- Cloth can take the same enchantments as heavy/light armour.

but

- They cost mana to cast.
- They take time to cast.
- You can't reach the armour cap.
- You can't take advantage of heavy/light armour perks.

[Carl!!!!]

All of my characters use mage armor even with armor. I also use the Invested Magic mod though, so the armor spells (and several other spells) last a really long time, at a portion of your max magicka while they're up. Mostly because the alteration tree doesn't have a lot of perks, but it has some pretty good higher level perks that can benefit anyone. And you can hit the armor cap with mage armor spells. Ebonyflesh has a magnitude of 100 (armor rating). Dual casting makes that 220. Mage armor at rank 3 makes the armor spells 3x stronger when not wearing armor, so we're at 660 armor rating there. The effectvie armor rating cap is 542 when wearing 4pieces of armor and a shield, 567 without a shield, and 667 with no armor at all. So a whole 7 displayed points under the cap. So yeah, mage armor can pretty much hit the cap. You can throw on a shield which doesn't ruin the mage armor perks, and be at the cap. It was a popular tactic on console, idk about on pc, cuz mods. XD

[SpaceCodet]

To hit the armor cap you'll need smithing of 100 and upgrade your heavy armor. I beleive you can get Ebony up to the cap with a potion of smithing along with heavy armor perks. I'll that your word that it's five fifty. Thought it was higher though. As well, don't remember what dragon skin (alteration spell) gave you.

The cap mean you take 20% of weapons damage if you have it. Think I remember seeing a mod that made it 86% less damage taken with the cap cause it pushed it up and made it slightly harder to level up. Ebony legendary armor made with a potion +40% wouldn't cut it anymore.

Since the legendary patch has been added the level cap of 81 isn't a factor any longer. People don't delete out dated posts. Which in this case causes a headache for folks such as yourself.
So when one of your skills get to 100 you can flip it to 15 and level it up again. This will let you go past level 81.

I tend to just use the armor spells when I play a magic type. I also use Invested Magic to make the spells last longer. As long as you have enough magic to pay the upkeep the spell will last for three or so game days. I find spells better for magic-user who don't ware armor.

[Ilja]

Originally posted by Delta 1038:

- You can't reach the armour cap.

(Unmodded) Skyrim maximum damage reduction is 80%. This can be achieved with the Dragonhide spell.

I just usually use fur armor (for Frostfall) with beneficial perks from Light Armor. Then I cast one of mage armors on top of it, if needed.

[Delta 1038]

Originally posted by Ilja:

(Unmodded) Skyrim maximum damage reduction is 80%. This can be achieved with the Dragonhide spell.

Huh, can't believe I've forgotten about that spell. Maybe it's because I never really used it. And yeah Frostfall! It's fur or freeze.

[Burnspot]

Mage armor's turned out to be one of those things I try to always use on any of my profiles. I'm currently using light armor with mage armor (high level alt skills)...it works quite well. One mod that I've found very useful is Smart Cast[www.nexusmods.com]. I have Smart Cast deploy my mage armor spell when I draw a weapon (or just my hands)...it still costs you magicka, but just eliminates the extra step of selecting a mage armor spell and manually casting it.

[Brandybuck]

As a mage you should never let any foe get near enough to hit you. Just saying.

[Ilja]

Originally posted by Brandybuck:

As a mage you should never let any foe get near enough to hit you. Just saying.

My current character is a wench and modded as being part of Immersive Wenches. She does now always have an option to keep enemies away from hitting range. Sometimes the proper fur armor is a good thing.

---

For those wondering: she indeed wanders around Skyrim, with a hired body guard, buys a lot of alcohol from cheaper areas (Trade and Barter and Traderoads of Skyrim) and sells them in higher profit areas.

I have even tweaked an old adult mod - disabling outdated adult features and removing obsolete version of JContainers - to make sure that she is actually able to work and gain money from inns, by serving drinks and food around the house.

What? I am bored and want to play. There is littel point to start a full playtrough before upcoming updates to Frostfall and Wet and Cold. :D

[Bullwinkle]

The armor cap has been metioned several times. It is good to keep in mind that your enemy could be using a mace or hammer perk that allows him to ignore 25, 50 or even 75% of your armor. When that happens, the true armor cap is around 2200 armor rating.

A player with a rating of 1500+ will get one-shotted less often than a mage with armor spells, I'm thinking. It isn't the kind of thing that will come up very often, but if your goal is to avoid getting killed, you know ... like EVER, then there is no substitute for heavy armor, imho.

[00yiggdrasill00]

thanks for the info i hadnt even thought of that

[therussmeister]

Originally posted by Dresden69:

Ebonyflesh has a magnitude of 100 (armor rating). Dual casting makes that 220.

Is that documented somewhere? Everything I've read says dual casting only increases the duration of mage armor, it doesn't effect the magnitude.

[gnewna]

Originally posted by The Dread:

although i have never tried this idea, i'm pretty sure it will work. Get your enchanting to a high level, find some high level mage robes, and then destroy them at a enchanting tabke to get the effects. apply the effects to heavy armour with a high level soul gem, and you will now have the most OP armour in the game, but to be honest at this point that probably wont matter due to an already high level.

Absolutely no point destroying high level robes (except that you will get slightly more XP for destroying a high value item) it won't get you better enchants, you learn the effect, not the magnitude.

[00yiggdrasill00]

Originally posted by therussmeister:

Originally posted by Dresden69:

Ebonyflesh has a magnitude of 100 (armor rating). Dual casting makes that 220.

Is that documented somewhere? Everything I've read says dual casting only increases the duration of mage armor, it doesn't effect the magnitude.

i would like this cleared up too please. im sure it only increases the duration though

[Ilja]

Effects are documented here.

Skyrim:Armor (spells) UESPWiki
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Armor_%28spells%29