all i see is tanks

anyone eles agree that 90% of the armor on dark souls is ment for tanks and the small percent that is for fast dps players is way to flimsy?

i think there should be either more leightweight armor or better buffs on the existing few.

penny for your thoughts

You will find that those who PvP will always aim for these armors. Those who perfer PvE will aim for light armor usually, unless found with havel armor in Anor Londo. They usually switch to something more suited to their taste.

jagger_1243 wrote:anyone eles agree that 90% of the armor on dark souls is ment for tanks and the small percent that is for fast dps players is way to flimsy?

i think there should be either more leightweight armor or better buffs on the existing few.

penny for your thoughts

There is some armor that is good, but you have to piece mail it together and it would look like crap. The good lightweight armor is Xanthous set, the Dingy set, the Antiquated Set, and the Painted Guardian Set. Each one grants a great set of resists and "ok" defense. The what the lightweight armor really lacks is poise, for good reason, but if there was a light set that magically grants poise, I would be good with using it.

For PvP, I crank out as much poise as I can get. This is because I'm usually fighting with a Zwei or BKGA. Heavier, slower weapons rely more heavily on poise. If I was using a lighter weapon, then I wouldn't focus on poise, but good defense and no stamina penalty.

theres a lot of good lightweight armor dude usually the best are the starting armor or the ones that dont look that good at the start but when you upgrade them they kick ***, lightweight armor has better magic resistance and the heavier armor have better physical resistance and poise but they actually work better foe dex builds cause their swords are a lot lighter than ultra gs'. i myself have only str/fai hybrids and i mix and match and go for looks rather than stats.

i think most players go online with heavy armor because its the only effective armor, and altho yes you can peice some light armor with heavy armor to be effective, there is no full light set that offers poise or good defence.

honestly i think this would be ok if there were even amounts of tanks and dps players like the game designers probly thought there would be, because then a tank could roll with a dps and tear ppl to pieces. but thats not the case 95% of ppl i see are tanks. it would be a good idea to set up a rouge/assassin guild to get some more diverse online experiances?

Almost everyone I run into 4/5 are suited in full Havel or Havel with Mask of Father.

jagger_1243 wrote:i think most players go online with heavy armor because its the only effective armor, and altho yes you can peice some light armor with heavy armor to be effective, there is no full light set that offers poise or good defence.

honestly i think this would be ok if there were even amounts of tanks and dps players like the game designers probly thought there would be, because then a tank could roll with a dps and tear ppl to pieces. but thats not the case 95% of ppl i see are tanks. it would be a good idea to set up a rouge/assassin guild to get some more diverse online experiances?

what? meridam just posted the best light armors for resists and defence, sadly no poise though.

exactly what i mean deathsdragon, its ridiculous. im gonna start a challenge that im doing right now to test if ppl can even play this game without coasting through it saftly as tanks.

im going on ng+5 and im gonna do the hole playthrough with full theif set and bandit nife upgraded to there max. you guys think this would be a good challenge to post?

In my opinion, backed by few facts this is how I see it.


Light armor gives you good elemental/magic defense, some physical defense, little poise and great mobility. You can combine this with the DWGR to have best mobility and some defense.

Medium armor serves as a middle ground. Offering passable defence, 30-50 poise and good mobility. With 40 end, Ring of FaP and DWGR you can wear full medium armor, have passable defense, some poise and best mobility.

Heavy armor offers great defense and high poise. Combined with havels ring and DWGR you get best defense, best poise and best mobility.

So for a pure melee build, or a melee magic hybrid it only makes sense to wear heavy armor. You get the massive defense and poise. With the right rings you get the same mobility as a naked player.

Now in my own experience I have found it is much harder to pvp with low poise than it is to pvp with high poise. Having the slightest hit stunlock you can be detrimental. Even as a dex build I'll try and cram as much poise as I can onto a character without exceeding the limit the DWGR puts on my equip load. Typically 60-70 poise is more than enough to take most weapons but the game becomes a breeze when you have over 100 poise.

One of my pet peeves on Dark Souls pvp are all these players who wear "tank" armors in addition to the Dark Grain Ring. Flipping around in Giants Armor or Havel's. Ridiculous if you ask me.

ErrJon6661 what you just said is the reason im doing my challenge. its possible to have best defence poise and mobility! thats freaking god mode and unless you jump on that train your done with. lets mix it up a bit ppl

Thats what I do, in pve I always use different weapons and often go naked. In PvP I usually wear medium armor and the DWGR, but its almost necessary above sl 50 in pvp to have poise and the dwgr.

my new char has never taken off their starting armor the only thing thats been added is the winged spear. full knight (not elite knight) looks good is medium wt and people underestimate you, oh and on another file I upgraded the pyromancer set to +8, the fire defense is ungodly i mixed it with heavy cleric armor for nice results if i'd had more chunks i'd have worn the whole set. also the black leather set is a pretty good light armor. Also have you checked out the velka set?

Velka's set is nice. I forgot who did it but defense to weight ratio's for each armor have been posted on the wiki, the best one is the bandits starting armor with over 12 points of physical defense for every unit. I love using the shadow set w/ the gold hemmed hood. You look badass with that and a silver knight strait sword.

ErrJon6661 wrote:Thats what I do, in pve I always use different weapons and often go naked. In PvP I usually wear medium armor and the DWGR, but its almost necessary above sl 50 in pvp to have poise and the dwgr.

Meh, for pvp I tend to use whatever I think looks cool on that character, poise isn't a major concern, if it happens that I can lose a ring slot and keep mobility, I put the wolf ring on if it fits the concept, if not, then I don't. I don't have the best win ratio, but I don't care, being another guy that can trade a hit to stunlock you or tank then BS is not fun to me so I refuse to engage in it.

I try and balance style with functionality. I'll admit after a large string of losses I'll throw style out the window. But the hardest I'll go is equiping Ornstiens armor with the wolf ring and dwg ring to "tank" hits and remain mobile.

ErrJon6661 wrote:I try and balance style with functionality. I'll admit after a large string of losses I'll throw style out the window. But the hardest I'll go is equiping Ornstiens armor with the wolf ring and dwg ring to "tank" hits and remain mobile.

that seems to be an acceptable low, considering that most go considerably lower, I admit to have done golem's with DWGR and havels... but I DID have a hat just for style... I never lose the hat...

I'll admit, I've gone full havels with the DWGR ring on. Its fun as hell. Why? Because its easy, no one can stun you. you're free to literally walk through hits to get the bs. But its broken and I have a bit of integrity when it comes to playing this game.

ok... for the start i hate heavy armour anyone that uses it in pvp to me is a gaint noob... in my long time of playing this game i never used heavy armour and all my builds are light medium or none... when i 1st started proper pvp as in farming/invading it was on my lv 80 with my dark set and a +5 lightning washing pole i dident use fog ring or overpowered items and the fact i was faster then most other players and better ment i kicked ***... then the pach that nerfed all the gliched/over powered weapons came out and all em noobs that used em started tanking pivot backstabbing or spamming like they never did before... now i use metal pig helmet/the bag thing from cooks no armour to cover my fin chest and dingy/hollow soldier for arms and legs all un upgraded i look awesome iv got no poise well less then 10 sametimes n minimal defence n magic resistance thats wt makes me better then the *** *** tanks using the bkga or a poise braking gs... the armours in the game are nice looking but the ring effect of havels brakes the game as now a tank in full havels can ninja roll

I go for esthetics mostly but i try to combine decent parts so i have fair Poise & def...
As much as a Mother mask + Giants set = imba combo i just don't like the look & 50% of (xbl at least) players use it.
I never see guys running around in my armor compositions & that makes me feel unique

P.S. i made a FAT str based guy just so i can walk around in Catarina / Smaug's looking even fatter & got 100 msgs that i am a chump / n00b that can't pvp for **** without 70 poise & uber armor xD

I tend to PvP in what armor fits my character, as well I really only use the DWGR on agility based characters. "Tank Hill," my tanking character I typically have decked out in full black knight, I rely on heavy hits, blocking at the right moments and parrying for a riposte when I can. But he's my PvE character mainly, for PvP I go with a Dex build, and on him I typically go in shadow garb and rely on more dodges, and completely manoeuvring my enemies. I know it isn't the ideal set up, but it just feels right to me. Flipping around with a rapier, parrying, riposting, and jabbing in between their defenses.

Okay I agree that i see a LOT of people they spawn and oh surprise surprise, it's full giants, mask of father and a BKGA (i think i fought this guy 3/4 times other day, final time he decided enough was enough after getting his *** kicked the other times and hornets ringed BSd me while i bowed to him, the bastard.)

I generally have a balance but i usually wear a mix of heavy/medium armour with a light on top so like a hood or big hat or nothing if not applicable, but i never wear giants or more than one havel's piece..

I like to have the poise i get from my usual setup of elite knight chest, havel's gauntlets and Black iron leggings gives 66 and has some awesome defence, while leaving me just mobile enough to go flipping since it's almost a disadvantage in PvP to not flip as everyone seems to...

has anyone ever bothered to go for the <25% equip roll in PvP? I actually think that roll would be better than the ninja flip bu i've never bother to create a light armour set i enjoy the look of to test it out..

I wonder how the removal of Havel's and Mask of the father would effect PvP, I've actually been trying that out on a new playthrough. If I want heavy armor, I have to put a good amount of points into endurance rather than just equip something. I kind of like the idea, but I'm not so sure how I would have faired on my first playthrough without Havel's haha.

Tolvo wrote:I wonder how the removal of Havel's and Mask of the father would effect PvP, I've actually been trying that out on a new playthrough. If I want heavy armor, I have to put a good amount of points into endurance rather than just equip something. I kind of like the idea, but I'm not so sure how I would have faired on my first playthrough without Havel's haha.

I never use Havel's ring or mask of father, though I admit to using Ring of Favor (pretty much standard on all of my builds) to be honest PvE doesnt matter too much what you wear as long as you be careful.. I do most my pleaythroughs without using havel's generally because i don't have the endurance to equip it until end game..