Daedric Armor and Dragonplate Armor are among the highest tiers of Heavy Armor sets in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Both built to withstand and tank plenty of damage, Daedric Armor is considerably sturdier than Dragonplate Armor, though the pieces of Daedric Armor are heavier than their Dragonplate counterparts. While both armor sets may differ statistically, what makes either option better than the other depends entirely on your character’s build.
Daedric or Dragonplate Armor — Which is better?
On paper, Daedric Armor is far better than Dragonplate Armor at what most Skyrim players depend on Heavy Armor for. When unaffected by perks that boost Heavy Armor performance, the full Daedric set — including the shield — has a Base Armor stat of 144, compared to the Dragonplate set’s 136 Base Armor.
While this difference may not seem like much at first, this value is calculated before you factor in the five tiers of the Juggernaut Heavy Armor perk, which scale your equipped armor rating in percentage-based boosts. That 12-point difference can significantly impact your survivability in the late game once you have these perks unlocked. The Daedric Armor and Dragonplate Armor are incredibly difficult to obtain and virtually reserved for the end-game, so the Daedric set will tend to put in more work toward your combat efficiency.
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However, combat efficiency doesn’t inherently relate to adventuring efficiency, and as a Dragonborn, you’ll need to be doing a lot of running around Skyrim. The full Daedric Armor set weighs 96 pounds by default, and this 96 pounds worth of gear will take up a massive chunk of your inventory space at all times, regardless of if it’s equipped or not. As heavier armor, the Daedric set also slows down your movement speed considerably and burns more stamina when you sprint.
The weight penalties related to Heavy Armor can also be nullified with progression. The Conditioning perk in the Heavy Armor tree makes all armor in the category weightless in your inventory and on your person. The major downside to the Conditioning perk, however, is that it exists at the very top left of the tree, meaning that you’ll need to progress through the Juggernaut, Fists of Steel, and Cushioned perks and reach Heavy Armor level 70 before you can invest a level up into the perk. This makes Dragonplate Armor the far more efficient option for Heavy Armor characters still trying to progress their way up the perk tree.
