Shield Enchantment v. Better Armor

potatomanjack · Post by **potatomanjack** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 11:14 pm

Just a quick question.

Would it be better in general to use a piece of armor enchanted with protect xx% or piece of armor with higher innate defense.

In this case, I found a Fur Cuirass (2 defense for me) with 7% shield, but am currently wearing a steel Cuirass with 4 defense.

I guess, I'm just looking for the calcs for weapon protection enchant v. armor class value.

Cheers,

PMJ

Sanguine · Post by **Sanguine** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 11:19 pm

In this particular instance the fur cuirass would give you more protection.

Kestral · Post by **Kestral** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 11:26 pm

Sanguine is correct.

The shield effect confers points of defense for how much points of shield there is.

You can wear nothing and have an 85 point shield effect going on and you don't need to wear Daedric. Do note that all points above 85 are useless, as they will not be counted in defense.

Immortal NPC · Post by **Immortal NPC** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 4:23 pm

ALSO! If you have the choice of putting or selecting a normal Shield enchantment and a magic Shield enchantment (example: fire, shock, frost shield), choose the magic one because in addition to protecting you more from those elements, it counts towards your armor rating just like a normal Shield enchantment would!

Redguard_Master · Post by **Redguard_Master** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:40 pm

You also have to consider that using shield enchantments slots reduces the number of free slots you have to divert other pursuits. But in your particulat instance yes the fur provides better defense. But if your a heavy armor person keeping heavy armor on will allow it to level up and surpass lighter armors.

Dragour · Post by **Dragour** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:50 pm

A few more notes, you can use an enchanted shield with two handed weapons, warhammers, battleaxes, claymores (dai-katanas) and staves, you don't gain the armour rating from the shield but you gain the enchantment

Also in the endish game you can wear clothing that gives you the same highest defence rating as armour.
So it's either clothes with 85% defence and some magic resistance (fire/frost/shock) or armour with 85% with whatever enchantments you want, the armour will weigh less in the end but still require a hammer which enemies can disentergrate your armour within battle

Redguard_Master · Post by **Redguard_Master** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:58 pm

Course there are lot of ways around that, master armorer, 100% reflect makes your armor undamaged by anything but arrows, oblivion has 10 ways to do everything.

Dragour · Post by **Dragour** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 10:13 pm

Redguard_Master wrote:master armorer

I wonder why I mentioned "during a battle" when you can't repair your armour?

Redguard_Master · Post by **Redguard_Master** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:59 am

You'd have to have one marathon of a battle to break your armor in a single sitting.

Dragour · Post by **Dragour** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 2:01 am

Redguard_Master wrote:You'd have to have one marathon of a battle to break your armor in a single sitting.

It's possible... *remembers the time my armour was destroyed by several minotaur lords* ... yeah I'm pretty sure it is possible

Telliria · Post by **Telliria** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:56 am

Dragour wrote:
Redguard_Master wrote:You'd have to have one marathon of a battle to break your armor in a single sitting.
It's possible... *remembers the time my armour was destroyed by several minotaur lords* ... yeah I'm pretty sure it is possible

That´s why you´re also a good alchemist so that you can make a potion to give you 85 armour in one sweep (preparation needed though) =D

Burrito · Post by **Burrito** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 6:17 pm

Redguard_Master wrote:You'd have to have one marathon of a battle to break your armor in a single sitting.

Go to the arena, choose 3 minotaur lords and watch your armor get obliterated in 1 minute.

Juggernaut Mudcrab · Post by **Juggernaut Mudcrab** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:11 am

^ Never happens to me.

I have always figured that a shield essentially acts as a better shield enchantment, as long as you take the time to hit journeyman and have high magic resist, spell absorb,etc.

WartBoy95 · Post by **WartBoy95** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 6:25 am

It depends on what items you are comparing, and how good the enchantment is.

Juggernaut Mudcrab · Post by **Juggernaut Mudcrab** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 2:51 pm

Yeah, I use Lord K's Bulwark from the Fighter Stronghold DLC because it has arguably one of the best armor ratings in the game; plus, once you hit journeyman, it won't be damaged anymore except by disentigrate spells, which is where the magick resists come into play.