Best light armor for melees?

[Paprik]

So I was wondering what's the best break point for weight and which specific armor pieces fit that break point... Most people seem to prefer (and advise) using light armor cause mobility and speed = win. This would be for a melee character.

[Miwiw]

First seeing what is Light Armor? I consider anything up to the Lamellar Vests ~ Heraldic Mail (including those with similar armor stats around 36/9 38/12) as Light Armor.
That means all Armor up to Byrnie (which is included) is Light Armor.

Thereforce there are differences;

shirt (like Linen Tunic, Short Tunic, Pelt / Rawhide Coat or "any colour" tunic) -> very light 1-2 (3) hits
leather thingies (like Fur Coat, Leather Vest, Steppe Armor, up to Sarranid Padded Vest) -> light 2-3 (4) hits
heavier leather (like Tribal Warrior Outfit, Sarranid Leather Armor, Light Strange Armor, Byrnie) -> heavy "light" 2-5 hits

Those hits are of course depending on IF, enemies PS and STR plus weapon. Playing a nice melee build with Byrnie can take some hits  and is pretty good in melee. Walking speed is still nice and weight low enough to act fast enough with any swings.

I especially can recommend the Byrnie, the Tribal Warrior Outfit and Leather Jerkin. Of course also the Ragged Outfit, any Gambeson or the Studded Leather Coat are nice as well.
Shirts are more for light archers, leather thingies for shielders and crossbows (heavier archers) and the heavier leather could be nice for 2handed or polearms.

This is of course my opinion. Other people could understand "light" different.

[Paprik]

well yeah, by light I meant full set below 15kg... I'm having trouble deciding which of the three light tiers should I choose.

At the moment, I'm using studded leather coat cause it seems like there's no real upgrade unless adding a ton more weight. Byrnie adds +6 body ar. -7 leg ar. for 2kg. Not really worth it imo.

And what about the other pieces? Helmet, boots and gloves? Is it worth going beyond Rus Cavalry boots and Lamellar gauntlets?

[Rusty_Shacklefjord]

It depends on just HOW light you want to go.

I pretty much always wear light armor and spend a lot of time in the battle server. In my experience, the byrnie and lamellar vests are just about the perfect balance. Body armor is the most important armor stat, so don't be afraid to get something on the upper end of light. Even a tunic over mail would work, although that's really getting more into the medium armor range. Pretty much any gauntlets work, since they're so light. In fact, when I want to roll a little heavy and survive to the end of the round I usually take some wisby gauntlets, or even my heavy gauntlets, to boost me into 40+ total body armor. Of course, regular leather gloves are fine too, especially if you're going for high speed.

Head armor can be helpful, although personally I don't bother with it when I'm going light. A straw, felt, or fur hat for style, maybe. If you want some head armor, you should stay below the mail coif, which is 0.7 weight. I like the steppe cap. Boots aren't really important, so feel free to skimp. I like taking the turkish shoes, since they look nice and are 0 weight, although anything up to the rus cavalry boots would work.

[FRANK_THE_TANK]

For me it depends on if your talking about +3 or not. +3 Its the Byrnie because it gets +5.

If its not, Tribal warrior out fit, Kaftan, Padded Leather, reason being, these with leather gloves light boots and a light helmet will have no impact on your wpf and movement speed, if you mix that with a str build you will last long enough and move faster than all the mid tier and heavy armor dudes wondering about. just remember that when you need to run for it, sheath your weapon, it can make all the difference.

Also I prefer using a long weapon when I'm going for light armor speed. Lets you get more hits in and stay clear, + if its long its probably a pole arm which means you can maneuver around the fight and tag people letting other guys finish them off while they are stunned.

My current kit is: Leather Jerkin, Leather Gloves, Rus Cav Boots, Head cloth. Lets me run plenty fast when I'm not hauling extra weapons for crafting ticks.

[Malaclypse]

Ragged Outfit! Especially if you can get +3.

[Digglez]

35 armor or so is about what I've found is the lowest you can go and expect to NOT be 1shotted by gorilla juice heads

[FRANK_THE_TANK]

I hope that in the near future I can respond to this question with, "a kilt".

[Crazyi]

any of the Llamar Vests are my favorite.

[Formaldehyde Junkie]

Ragged Outfit! Especially if you can get +3

+1

[Erzengel]

Statswise the best light armor is the Byrnie. On top of that it simply looks awesome. Loom it, you won't regret it.

[Ronin]

I think tunics, clothes etc are not light armor. They are simply not armor, they are clothings. I find myself most useful at 3-6 weight body armor. I don't know why but I think Gambeson is so fine. In my opinion something higher than 6 weight, should be considered as medium armor. Simply because anything above 6 slows you down considerably. The point of light armor is that, it should provide protection yet you should be able to run around very fast. At least that's how I felt when I used as a 24/15 two hander. I think the best light armor is based on your character stats, rather than personal preferences. A ninja is faster than me with a 9 weight armor than me with a 5 weight armor.

[Vexus]

Haubergeon ftw.

[Cup1d]

Any armor that let you survive arbalest's bolt from medium distance.
Melee hits is your own mistakes.

[Ronin]

Any armor that let you survive arbalest's bolt from medium distance.
Melee hits is your own mistakes.

Not always. When you are surrounded by multiple enemies, you may get hit. Actually, this is where light armor excels. When you are forced to fight with multiple enemies, you want your movement speed as high as possible. I think a good light armor is the one that allows you to fight multiple enemies at once while providing enough protection against hits you will likely to get. Also, against bolts and crossbows. That means, this is highly dependant upon your athletics and ironflesh.

As a side note: a good armor should absorb very low damage completely (making them 1 damage or so). That two handers can not spam you with their superfast thrust attacks. That's why clothes should not be considered as light armor. If you can stab a naked man to death, you get what I mean.