Skyrim Light Armor Guide

Armor List, Damage Reduction & Skill Perks

Skyrim's Light Armor skill reduces physical damage your Dragonborn takes while wearing gear of the this kind. This guide will teach you what Light Armor skill does for your character, training the skill, and provide a list of all craftable light armor types to help you compare their price, defense, and weight.

Damage Reduction
Light Armor increases your armor rating while wearing light armors. Armor reduces the physical damage you take - such as that from melee attackers and arrows. It does not reduce magical damage - that is where resistances come into play. Each level will raise your armor rating for each piece of Light Armor you wear; perks further boost this bonus, making it important to know which type of armor you want your character to use.

Training Light Armor
Every time you take physical damage, your character will get a bit of experience in Light Armor. It's best to pick a type between light and heavy and stick to your choice, to maximize your armor rating later in the game without wasting Perks. The easily accessible Expert Light Armor trainer is Grelka in Riften. In order to train at the Master, Nazir, you must join the Dark Brotherhood.

Light Armor Benefits
Light Armor is light, thus, your character can move faster than when wearing Heavy Armor and will consume less stamina when sprinting. Since noise penalties while sneaking are based on armor weight, wearing Light Armor incurs an immediate benefit in the silence department compared to Heavy. Both armor types can reach the armor cap of 567 defense rating with a high Smithing skill, though Heavy Armor has a higher starting defense and will be easier to defend yourself in during Skyrim's early game.

Light Armor List

The following Armors are listed by type, in the order of weakest to strongest. Elven armor is the first type of armor that can reach the armor cap by doing smithing upgrades with a high Smithing skill.

* - Elven Gilded Armor has 35 defense, weighs 4 and values at 550 Septim.

Skyrim Light Armor Perks

Agile Defender (5 Ranks, +20-100% Armor Rating from Light Armor)
(level 0/20/40/60/80 Light Armor Skill required)
If you will specialize in wearing all light armor, this is a great Perk, providing passive damage resistance and a means of reaching the armor cap in this type of gear, as items upgraded with Smithing will benefit even more from this boost.

Custom Fit
(level 30 Light Armor Skill required)
25% bonus to Armor when wearing Light Armor in the head, chest, hands, and feet slots.

Matching Set
(level 70 Light Armor Skill required)
25% bonus for wearing light armor in the head, chest, hands, and feet gear slots that are of the same type (Elven, Glass, Dragonscale, etc.)

Unhindered
(level 50 Light Armor Skill required)
Light Armor weighs nothing and doesn't slow you down when worn. So, wearing Light Armor with this perk is like wearing regular clothes - your character will run at their fastest.

Wind Walker
(level 60 Light Armor Skill required)
Stamina regenerates 50% faster when wearing all light armor in the head, chest, hands, and feet gear slots. This allows you to sprint more often, and can raise your damage output in combat by allowing you to power attack more often.

Deft Movement
(level 100 Light Armor Skill required)
Gives a 10% chance to "dodge" a melee attack, taking no damage, so long as your character wears all light armor (head, chest, hands, feet). A great perk you'll want if you've gone this far. Since you can get it with just four points, and get a lot of armor boost in the process, this is hard to pass up if you are sticking with light armor.

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