Winterhold College Textbook: Practical Application of Destruction: Chapter II: Light Armor

I would like to give a shout out to DuncanTheSilent, whose series of "A (Grumpy) Nord Blacksmith talks about......" have helped a lot with my work

One of the most common form of defense a destruction mage would have to face is armor, which is usually worn by humanoid opponents, though some creatures might have defense mechanism akin to it. Armor usually fall into two categories, light and heavy, although some blacksmith might argue that there are a middle ground between the two, a mage should hardly concern himself with it. This chapter will deal with combating opponents wearing different types of light armor.

Light Armor

Though there many kinds of light armor in production nowadays, they all fulfill the same purpose: to enable the user to dodge blows rather than counter them. A skilled warrior well-versed in light armor will not stand his ground while fighting, instead, he would rely on his fast reflex to dodge incoming blows and only let the most harmless of scratches to connect. Whether a man is clad in worn leather or fine malachite, his instinct is to rely on finesse and agility, and as such, the standard procedure against opponents such as this is to use fast casting spells while remaining at safe distance. Opponents clad in light armor strike with lightning speed and it could be hard for mages to dodge them in close quarters. Instead, if one is found in such a position, try using close quarter spells to knock them back, and after they are at a safe distance, use spells to strike. The following section provides details into each kind of armor.

Leather: a material favored by the likes of thieves and scoundrels, leather armor, though incredibly light, offers almost no protection against most forms of attacks. Any kind of spells should be able to easily penetrate leather, though keep in mind that lightning spells might be less effective against them due to their nature.

Chainmail: chainmail armor are not quite common among Skyrim, however, it does enjoy some popularity in Cyrodill and High Rock, although chainmail can be made from most materials, one is mostly likely to encounter those made from fine steel. Chainmail armor offer good protection at the cost of slightly reduced mobility, but make no mistake, a skilled user of chainmail armor can move just as well as he can out of it. Chainmail armor alone is not hard to penetrate with a spell, the “Fire Beam” variation of the “Flames” spell is often enough to defeat the armor in a few second, one might also launch a torrent of tiny ice shrapnel as they could easily go through the gaps within the armor. However, most users of this type of armor usually wears it underneath another layer of protection, in which case, it becomes much harder to subdue.

Moonstone: more commonly used in forging elven armor, moonstone is the preferred choice by most battlemages and practitioners of magic. Its almost non-existent weight allows for unprecedented-level of mobility, which is often accompanied by the user’s devastating magicka. Enemies wearing such armor are not usually common, however, every aspiring mage should learn to counter this kind of defense, as they usually proves troublesome for most spell weavers. Moonstone armors insulates very well against hostile magic, normal lightning spells are almost completely ineffective when striking directly at the target, and most form of fire spells have diminished effects too. While facing opponents clad in such armor, using ice spells are recommended, a large chunk of projectile will have significant impact on the target, and due to the metal’s lightweight nature, it offers little protection against it, other forms of blunt force trauma are effective as well when dispatching said foe.

Malachite: known by most people as glass armor, such beauties are rarely found on the hands of the lesser-known adventurers. Malachite retains moonstone’s ability to resist magical blows while surpassing it in resilience against weapon strikes, making it one of the most effective armor in the category. Mages of this level are usually not powerful enough to consistently defeat Malachite with their spells, if one has the misfortunate to encounter such opponents, looking for weak spots in the armor or exposed area of the flesh will usually prove fruitful.