Evasion and protection break point in Legend of Grimrock

Question

I found various armor equipments in Legend of Grimrock that gives some protection points but also a malus in terms of decreased evasion if the character does not have Light or Heavy armor proficiency.

I am trying to understand which is the break point. Better if I do an example, which of the following helms guarantee the best performance for a front fighter that does not have learn yet nor Light nor Heavy armor proficiency? For performance I mean of course less damage received.

• +3 Protection
• +5 Protection, -5 Evasion if you don't have Light Armor proficiency
• +10 Protection, -10 Evasion if you don't have Heavy Armor proficiency

Answer 1

It completely depends on the enemies you're fighting and the damage their attacks do.

If you are fighting an ogre, and they will hit you on average for 70 HP damage, and you have 30 protection, you'll only take 40 damage. If you have 50 evasion, let's say for argument's sake that it's a straight-up percentage of hits dodged, you'll take 35 HP damage on average (i.e. 1 out of every 2 70 HP hits.)

If you're only fighting spiders, and they hit ~15 HP, if you have 15+ protection you won't take any hits, but your evasion points will be worth less.

So, basically, the bigger the enemy, the more worthwhile evasion is. ... but watch out when you get hit.

Answer 2

For your frontline fighters, tanking isn't worthwhile in this game because Evasion is vastly superior in my opinion. It would be much better to wear normal cloth armour until you get Light proficiency, keeping your evasion up and gaining the + Protection, don't go toe-to-toe with enemies, back away or circle strafe. Not getting hit is key in this game.

Even so, your frontline fighters would ideally have good dex and the evasive trait so they can effectively protect the backrow, negating damage is better than soaking it up. If you really want a Tank, just have the one, because he'll/she'll be receiving alot of damage, especially on Hard mode.

Hope that gives an idea for your dilemma. Someone could probably give a much better answer than I. :)