Arena Armor Theory

[Augur]

Hello Hivemind, just returning from having my first 1-shotted Master character. I don't have enough money yet to fully equip multiple characters with really good armor, so this guy was running around in a full chainmail suit with a gambeson, arming cap, and padded legs with a tunic and that's it. I prefer being on the mobile side of things, and the chainmail kept the nasty red bar away most of the time.

I enter an Expert match with a volgue, going against a guy with a heater shield and a flanged mace. I do my routine "I hate shield users" square-dance, and then he casually rolls a nat20 overhead on my unfortunate face, and my character drops like a sack of mashed potatoes, comically in a sitting position with enough blood to make DOOMguy blush. From full yellow health. At this point I'm thinking, maybe I should make it mandatory for helmets in adept matches onwards.

My other character mainly has a helmet and full arm protection (vambraces, couters, spaulders), keeping most of the most common things I get hit safe under plate. I don't normally get hit in the chest unless I get thrust there, which funnily is the same case as my HEMA fencing bouts.

What's your preferred armor setup? Do you load up on everything you have, or if not, what do you sacrifice?

 

[Peasant135]

At this point I'm thinking, maybe I should make it mandatory for helmets in adept matches onwards.

AWaH. Always. Wear. A helmet. This has become sort of a meme in this community because of how easy it is to die from a hit to the face/head. Steel helmet > any other single piece of gear(excluded the weapon ofc.)

I think there is nothing special about my equipment setup: i leave out gauntlets,vambraces on a character with a large shield, try to buy quickly chain/plate gauntlets for a character that is using a 2h weapon without a guard and ofc aiming to get full body coverage of 3-3.5 points slash protection asap then worry about other types of damage.

 

[Orlacktherof]

I've got yet to wear any headgear of any kind. Then again I don't play much to begin with so I guess there's that.

 

[Pc Genie]

Not to look like a spammer because I keep plastering my YouTube videos here, but to quote myself in the Learn Real Swordfighting During Exanima Gameplay at 9:52 "notice this guy right here [describes their hair], he's broken one of the golden rules of armour", continuing on about how if you have enough budget for one item of armour, it should incontestably be the helmet.

Are you like an actor who removes his helmet to show that beautiful hair shortly before getting his skull split open?

Here, I'll even link it to the exact moment I tell everybody to wear a bloody helmet!

EDIT: It doesn't go properly, just manually head to 9:48.

 

[Orlacktherof]

Yes.

 

[MrApophos]

PC Genie - You sound like David Mitchell. A lot like David Mitchell.

 

[Pc Genie]

You sound like David Mitchell. A lot like David Mitchell.

Now you mention it, I see what you mean.

 

[MrApophos]

I do agree though, helmet or head protection trumps all other to begin with. Head > torso > limbs > hands/feet. Personally I have never bothered with lower leg and foot protection, partially because I rarely take hits, and partially because the majority of strikes I recieve are to the torso and arms.

 

[Pc Genie]

Personally I have never bothered with lower leg and foot protection, partially because I rarely take hits, and partially because the majority of strikes I recieve are to the torso and arms.

I love it when arena foes think like that. I have them wearing basic trousers thinking they won't get hit here. I once defeated a reasonably armoured man in only a few hits because his legs were totally unarmoured, and that's against a spacebar holder!

12:45 onwards, you see the fight I'm referring to. First couple of hits were light ones, but the final two proper hits are leg carves capitalising on poor armour distribution.

 

[Peasant135]

Pc Genie, I would like to point out that he actually said:

I do agree though, helmet or head protection trumps all other to begin with. Head > torso > limbs > hands/feet. Personally I have never bothered with lower leg and foot protection, partially because I rarely take hits, and partially because the majority of strikes I recieve are to the torso and arms.

....while you killed that guy with blows to the upper legs and I would too argue that u.legs > l.legs in terms of number of hits taken during most Exanima fights. That's one of the reasons why I want the developers to introduce longer variants of gambesons/maille into the game. Right now going out into the arena with cloth throusers is akin to suicide while historically, while wearing the knee-long gambeson, it was routinelly done, and padded/maille leggings were worn only by the cavalry.

 

[MrApophos]

May I clear up a point: I may not get hit much, or at all in the legs, but I often cleave the knees of foes with a 2H axe or maul. In fact, I usually go for a leg hit straight into a face hit. Works like a charm.

 

[Don Kanaille]

When I armor my characters, head protection is the absolute highest priority, for obvious reasons. I usually follow the arming scheme of real life, which goes head -> torso -> limbs, with the minor exception that I don´t use hand protection as prominently as I would in real life. In a real fight fingers can get easily cut or crushed, but I found this to rarely happen in Exanima, as weapons don´t really slide along each other. I also prefer closed-face helmets whenever possible, as I don´t have to care about vision or breathing in Exanima.

The other guideline I use is "get metal everywhere when possible". A full suit of mail, as soon as the rank allows for it, goes a very long way of keeping your characters alive, as those quick cuts can´t wound you any more. Something like a shortsword can really fuck you up with minimal movements, but not when you wear mail.