Some parts of Skyrim are cooler than others to wear. These pieces offer you the maximum defense and utility at a glance.
Ordinary steel plate armor has 39 AR (armor rating) and weighs 35 units, while Daedric plate armor has 51 AR and weighs 55 units. Daedric armor offers pretty good defense, with only one weak side. However, the weight is really high (let’s be serious, this game is full of items…).
There are few sets with the same protection level as these come with an insane lightweight – even lower than Elven or Glass armors. With such equipment you can stroll through any dungeon or fight a dragon without being at a disadvantage from the beginning.In this article, I will focus on the most awesome looking available armor pieces and briefly describe their strong and weaker sides.
Skyrim best armor?
Arguably, that would be the Ebony armor . It comes with the highest protection rating, while weighing only 33 units , compared to previous 55. The Dragonplate Armor is trying to catch up – it weighs 40 units and provides 48 AR of defense . So I guess one can say these are about equal in terms of performance. However, Ebony is a much better choice because of its superior look. Dragonplate armor offers similar protection as Ebony, but the latter has a nicer look, therefore I recommend Ebony . The weight of each piece is shown by numbers in parentheses.
“Ebony Armor” (33 units) – heavy black armor made from well-polished stone. Looks badass .
“Dragonplate Armor” (40 units) – looks like something that you would see in a fantasy game. Light, but still quite bulky.
The “Dawnguard Rune Shield” is the strongest shield available in Skyrim. It has 54 AR and weights only 14 units . It’s really cool to have a piece of the legendary Dawnguard equipment in your hands. I guess all armor items from this mod are overpowered, but it remains to be seen if they were tweaked by Bethesda.
Shields have the lowest protection rating in Skyrim, so 14 units is really little when compared with other pieces . In addition, you can block when using one-handed weapons, which reduces the need for shields. Nevertheless, it’s better to carry one with you – there are always situations when your weapons are broken or can’t be used (e.g. Cliffracer).
How to get the best armor in skyrim
There are few ways to get or craft the best armor.
1) The Ancient Knowledge perk from Smithing skill tree allows you to create Dragonplate and Daedric armor. In order to do that, you need the following materials:
– 4x Leather Scraps – can be obtained from leather items by disenchantment or tanning.
– 4x Iron Ingots – can be obtained from iron ore by mining or smelting.
2) Smithing is required to complete the “Dragonplate Armor” quest in Skuldafn , which requires you to create one piece of this armor . This way it’s possible to get Dragonplate Armor at level 29.
3) You can try your luck with a transmute spell, which will give you the item you wanted… or not. I would advise to find a book listing all possible items you can get . The cost for this service is 10,000 gold in Markarth , or 1,000 gold in Whiterun . There isn’t even any need to read the book yourself – it stays in your inventory.
4) Use the Daedric smithing perk. This way you can craft Daedric Armor at level 50 . It gives +25 AR compared to Dragonplate (24), making Dragonplate equally good as Glass, Ebony or even better than some higher-level armors. I don’t think there’s much use for Daedric Armor in this game, but it looks really nice.
5) Use the Ancient Knowledge perk to obtain the same items as above, or buy them from vendors . Please note that if you already have Smithing skill, you still need to obtain the perk to be able to craft these items.
You can get Dragonplate Armor by killing Hadvar (he also has a sword and shield) in the Dwemer ruin of Alftand . It’s possible to obtain Ebony Armor from Katla , who is guarding the entrance to Blackreach. Also, there are Ebony mines beneath the city of Mzulft , near Windhelm . You can try to find a corresponding book for Transmute spell there.
Transmute spell can be bought from Farengar or an alchemy merchant. If you don’t want to spend the gold on this, just wait until level 81 – if your Conjuration skill is high enough, “Discerning the Transmundane” quest will automatically start.
If Smithing is too complicated for you, best weapons and armor can be obtained from Felldir’s chests in Korvanjund temple or Bandit bosses . Dragonplate shield can be bought from Eorlund Gray-Mane , if you have the money.
