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I'm currently using Steel Plate Armor (Legendary) with 191 AR and 38 weight. Crafting Daedric Armor (Legendary) would give me an additional 67 points of AR, but it has a weight of 50. I have about 500 AR which is already near the cap. Is the extra armor worth it?

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  • im lvl 73, im wearing full dual enchanted deadric, used 4 smithing gear pieces and im sitting on 1200+ armor with it. and with the heavy armor skill that makes its weight 0.
    – user17167
    Dec 27, 2011 at 2:23
  • I'm level 38 and I've also daedric with about 1000+ armor but the enchantment is lower then on my steel armor? Is this bad?
    – Micromega
    Dec 27, 2011 at 2:26

1 Answer 1

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There are two things to consider. The first is that Armor Rating in Skyrim has Increasing Returns - that is, the more you have, the better it protects you. So to answer your second question first, the 67 points you're shy of the cap will get you more mitigation than any other 67 points.

It sounds like you should be able to reach the cap with a little bit of Fortify Smithing Gear / Potions.

According to the UESP and my rough calculations, you only need:

67/4 = 16.75/.2 = 84% fortify smithing (This is assuming your smithing is 91 w/ the perk. You need less if you have smithing at 100) which is easily attainable with items / potions.

So with a little investment, you can hit the armor cap with your steel plate.

To answer your first question, once you're at the armor cap, Daedric really isn't better than Steel Plate (unless you like the look) especially because it's heavier.

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  • there's a few small things to point out, there are some effects that lower the target's armor rating, so going above the armor cap has a few benefits that rarely will take place. The daedric gauntlets has the highest base armor rating, which is used in the steel fists perk.
    – l I
    Dec 18, 2011 at 21:57
  • have you tested this? I've punched someone with an adjusted rating of 379 gauntlets (max daedric) yet I only did 70 damage because of 17 base, +15 khajit, and 2 +16 unarmed rings.
    – l I
    Dec 18, 2011 at 23:09
  • gaming.stackexchange.com/a/40007/3917
    – l I
    Dec 18, 2011 at 23:10
  • The look of non-steel armors is somewhat disappointing... I guess I'll craft my own steel armor too when I hit the cap in Heavy Armor and Smithing... Cheers!
    – Emanuele
    Jan 4, 2012 at 22:03
  • @Emanuele: I don't care but with the heavy armor perk daedric armor doesn't weight an ounce.
    – Micromega
    Jan 5, 2012 at 0:05

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