Hello all,
I'm a bit confused on what armor (specific pieces please) I should be using with a 2h build, 27 / 12. I am using a long sword because I like speedy swingy weapons. I also have 2 shield skill so I can equip shields when I play sieges and am trying to get over a wall with archers, etc. Please give me your input!
Currently I have
Chest: light kuyak (13 weight)
Head: Strange War Mask (2.5)
Black Greaves (3.8)
Wisby Gauntlets (.8)
Round Cavalry Shield (4.5) - mostly on my back due to the limited use
you should also take in account your usual weapon weight and length (it does not affect wpf penalty but still slow you).
i'll make you an example of my actual armor set:
Rus lamellar cuirass: 17kgs
plate mittens: 1.5kgs (x2 as hand armor) = 3kgs
klappvisier: 3kgs (x3 as head armor) = 9kgs
mail boots: 2.8 kgs
now this is a medium to heavy set with +3 chest armor and +3 gauntlets giving you 52head 72body 54legs armor with a total of 34.8 kgs with a morningstar equipped.
i tried 18/21, 21/18, 24/15, 27/12, 30/9 builds and i can say the best compromise with that weight is 24/15 for siege oriented builds, 21/18 for battle oriented builds.
the previous gen i had the 27/12 build and yes was really hard to kill.. was really good in a flag mess or over the walls fighting, while really slow and uncomfortable in open space battles. but i found that 4ath is not really effective because people keep running away from you... also when you're outnumbered, a little higher athletics can really give you a good enough footwork to deal with multiple enemies without taking too much hits. and despite someonelse suggested you, NEVER backpedal when you're outnumbered by hiding you behind your nearest enemy. backpedal just the need to take a breath and start doing good footwork going forward with in-and-out tactics. also 4ath with the rain its really painful. also as tot stated, short weapons need the necessary running speed to avoid being kited by an agi polearm backpedaler.
then i can suggest you to relate your armor weight to the athletics you need and the playstyle you need...
you actually have 29.6 kgs of armor weight. with a longsword you will have 31.4 total kgs. with that weight, i would not go under 5ATH. also, i would use heavier gauntlets if your wallet can afford the upkeep. high tier hand armor have a really good armor to weight ratio so, with x5 you can easly go with plate mittens.
also, black greaves are useless in my opinion. leg armor is not worth that much protection... better taking away 1kg there and add it on body armor so look at mail boots or similar. and if i can suggest you a really good but underrated weapon, take a greataxe. yes it's unbalanced but there isn't that much feint spam anymore since the trend gone toward hold attacks. the greataxe can stun lighter weapons, break shields, have a nice swing speed and 43 cut damage. it's a good siege weapon like the mornigstar... i even did a gen with a +3 longsword and i had fun with that but wasn't that much effective. specially against turtles, even worse against poleaxes that stun your blocks... and since longsword need a good powerstrike amount but also a good athletics amount, i would go with something more efficient. (still a really good duel weapon tho).
in the end, i would go 24/15 at 30 and 24/15 maxed IF at 31. if you plan to use a slightly lighter armor, you can do 27/12 to balance with HP the lower armor factor.