I’m playing my current build as a knight but I’m having trouble switching from medium to heavy armor. Dodging is a lot harder so what can I do to play better? I’m using a one handed sword and shield, but I’ve heard hammers and longswords can work better with heavy armor. Also, is agility needed for a heavy armor build, or should I focus on stamina or health? What kind of builds work for you?
I picked up just enough Agility to get the first perk. My focus has been primarily on Strength, followed by Grit, Vitality, and Encumbrance (in roughly that order). It’s hardly an optimized build, and I’m starting to have some serious trouble dealing with the higher level NPCs up north. I can recall being able to whack Frost Giants with relative ease using a 2-handed sword; now with my mace and shield, I can’t even manage 1 before his friend pounds me into paste. (Maybe it has something to do w/how easily NPCs can stunlock & perma-knockdown us now?)
I’ve heard mixed things on Agility. It seems useful, but apparently offers diminishing returns. My only (useful?) advice is to prioritize Strength over Vitality, especially for PvP. You’ll never have a deep enough health pool to keep up with someone else’s damage output.
Hey man a lot of people currently play heavy armor builds with greatswords/ hammers right now. Heavy armor combined with t4 or 5 vitality and high strength. Is more or less the current meta as the heavy armor reduces the damage a great deal and with hit Vitality it lets you take swings at your enemy mid combo often making a boxing match rather one sided. However if your wanting to dodge then you will have to pick up agility as well meaning you wont have other stats higher. But you don’t really need the agility if your running high Vitality.
I’ve been doing something like that. Right now I have 16 in strength, 15 in grit, 12 in vitality, and 14 in encumbrance. So, what perks would be best with a two handed heavy armor build? I was going to go for salt the wound for sure and then maybe the light damage buff. I’m level 31.
I’ve noticed high vitality doesn’t pay out a lot(most NPCs beat you in sheer HPs). I want to have enough encumbrance that my heavy armor and weapons don’t encumber me, I’ll probably leave it at 15. I’ve heard that grit is really important though, so should I raise that above 15 or focus more on strength?
Aaron you didnt tell us one important part…which mode you are playing in. This can have a bearing on where you should invest points. Anyway my first and most important attribute is always VITALITY. Its never out of place in any mode. ‘Impervious’ will really help with environmental temperature extremes. And if youre a singleplayer like myself, Vitality it will help a lot against hard hitters like bosses. Take it to at least lvl 3. Playing as a heavy armour knight, I would make Strength your second priority. Again, probably lvl 3 or higher. Its good to get the first level of agility too, will help you get around easier. As others have said, ‘nimble tumbler’ will help with dodging, but also use up a lot of attribute points. If youre PvP, I would then sink a descent amount into Grit; from what Ive been told stamina will really help you win fights. If youre not, or even thereafter, just sink any remaining points into Encumberance. You dont really need Accuracy if youre aiming to be a tank. And your points are just too precious for Survival.
Finally, just experiment, use the yellow lotus potion and try out different builds…find the one that YOU feel is the best combination. Hope this helps.
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I completely forgot about that but I’m in single player. Grit isn’t important in pve though?
I wouldnt say that its unimportant. In PvP you would be going toe to toe (often solo) with competent, high level players. But remember that in PvE youll often be out exploring in parties, and your friends will have your back. Moreover, they will present more of a ‘distraction’ for enemies while your stamina refills. I found that when I hit lvl 60 and started unlocking exiles epic armours, especially say Silent Leigon in the heavy department, you will just outlast most regular enemies through endurance alone. They just wont pose a huge threat and you wont need a huge stamina pool. In fact Im now thinking of going up a difficulty.
Although if you are singleplayer and completely solo like myself, Grit and a larger stamina pool will help if you: a) if you dodge a lot, b) plan to take on bosses and world bosses eventually, and c) for climbing (but theres a way around it). So after Vitality and Strength, you could maybe split your points between Grit and Encumberance!? Its up to you, Grit is a contentious one.
I’m single player, but I travel with a couple thralls(I use the better thralls mod). So, would I be better off using a spear to avoid big sweeping attacks that hit my thralls too or would a longsword/hammer work better?
If you’re going solo, I recommend the following setup:
(WITHOUT GEAR)
STR - 33
VIT - 30
GRIT - 30
ENC - 20
Dump the left over points in agility. The goal is to get yourself a Flawless Epic set of Kambujan or Khitani Captain armor. That pushes your STR to 42, or 40 if you have to equip your Sandstone mask. With this build I have solo’d all dungeons up to Black Keep. Planning to test it on Midnight Grove and the Well. You can pretty easily tank most fights and dish out a ton of damage with a 2H sword or spear.
If you’ve got multiple thralls following you, stick with a spear so you only hit what’s in front of you. I don’t use followers, so the 2H is better for me. Use a Light>Heavy>Heavy>Light combo to smack everything around you with the 2H.
I like it but what if I left enc at 15 and grit at 20 so I could raise strength to 40? Then I would go with the epic basic heavy armor to raise my enc. Could that work too?
I wish there was an option to turn off friendly fire so I couldn’t hit my thralls, it would make this a lot easier. lol
Rule of thumb on all builds is to get the most saved att, points out of Armor. This allows more points to spread out for most of the 1st perks in everything but accuracy and survival. Using +5 to save 20 att points to reach a 2nd perk, vs saving + 5 to save 40 att points to reach a 4th perk is a huge difference. and with epic it is even bigger difference +9 to get to 2nd perk is 32 points saved, vs +9 to get to 68 points saved.
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Good point.
I switched over to heavy armor and I’ve started spending my attribute points like pbcop recommended, its working good so far. With a spear, I can kill hyenas before they hit me most of the time. I pulled off my first raid on the Black Galleon and brought back a new buddy. 
Weelp I’m not much of a boss person, I gave up on the sewer abomination and I’m probably going to stick to the building and normal fighting from now on. 
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