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Those trained to use Heavy Armor make more effective use of Iron, Steel, Dwarven, Orcish, Ebony, and Daedric armors.

Heavy Armor is a skill in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and is one of the six skills that falls under The Warrior play-style. Heavy Armor skill is raised by the use of certain kinds of armor that the in-game character can equip. Heavy armor typically weighs more than light armor, injuring speed and carrying capacity at the offset of added protection. Penalties to speed and carrying capacity can be countered using The Steed Stone or by consuming Potions of Carry Weight.

Governing Guardian Stone: The Warrior

Books and quests

These books permanently raise the Heavy Armor skill:

2920, MidYear, v6
Chimarvamidium
Hallgerd's Tale
Orsinium and the Orcs
The Knights of the Nine
Oghma Infinium - choosing the "Path of the Warrior" increases all combat-oriented skills by 5, including Heavy Armor.

These quests permanently raise the Heavy Armor skill:

Kill bandit leader for Brunwulf Free-Winter in Windhelm.

Trainers

Gharol (Expert): Dushnikh Yal in The Reach.
Farkas of The Companions (Master): Jorrvaskr, or the training area behind it, in Whiterun. Requires membership into The Companions.
Isran of the Dawnguard (Master): Fort Dawnguard, in Dayspring Canyon. Requires membership into the Dawnguard, and obviously the Dawnguard expansion pack must be downloaded.
Hermir Strong-Heart is listed as a trainer, but does not have a dialogue option for training.

Armor types

The following are the confirmed heavy armors that benefit from this skill:

Craftable armor

The Armors listed here are Heavy Armors that are able to be crafted by the player given the appropriate perk.

Iron - Shield, Helmet, Armor, Gauntlets, Boots
Ancient Nord Armor - Helmet, Armor, Gauntlets, Boots
Imperial Armor - Shield, Helmet, Armor, Bracers, Boots
Steel Armor - Shield, Helmet, Armor, Gauntlets, Boots
Steel Plate Armor - Helmet, Armor, Gauntlets, Boots
Dwarven - Shield, Helmet, Armor, Gauntlets, Boots
Orcish - Shield, Helmet, Armor, Gauntlets, Boots
Ebony - Shield, Helmet, Armor, Gauntlets, Boots
Daedric - Shield, Helmet, Armor, Gauntlets, Boots
Dragonplate - Shield, Helmet, Armor, Gauntlets, Boots

Non-Craftable armor

The following Armors are Heavy Armors that are either given to the player as a quest reward, bought, or found randomly throughout the world. They may or may not be unique.

Blades Armor - Shield, Helmet, Armor, Gauntlets, Boots
Ebony Mail - Chest
Falmer Armor - Shield, Helmet, Armor, Gauntlets, Boots
Falmer Hardened Armor, Helm, Armor, Gauntlets, Boots
General Tullius' Armor - Chest
The Jagged Crown - Helmet
Masque of Clavicus Vile - Helmet
Spellbreaker - Shield
Targe of the Blooded - Shield
Wolf Armor - Helmet, Armor, Gauntlets, Boots

Ebony Mail is a heavy armor piece, but it is not classified as part of the ebony armor set. While Orcish Armor is stronger than Dwarven Armor, Dwarven weapons deal more damage than Orcish weapons as the same with Dragon Armor and Daedric Armor.

Perks

The following are the perks that become available to select as the skill is leveled up

Perk (Ranks)	Requirements	Description
Juggernaut (5)	Heavy Armor 20/ 40/ 60/ 80	Increases armor rating for Heavy Armor by 20% (+20% per additional rank)
Fists of Steel	Heavy Armor 30, Juggernaut	Unarmed attacks with Heavy Armor gauntlets do their base armor rating in extra damage. Sneak attack bonus is two times the damage. Khajiit gain bonus unarmed damage from their claws (which stacks with this). Gloves of the Pugilist, provides the Fortify Unarmed enchantment for gloves and rings.
Well Fitted	Heavy Armor 30, Juggernaut	25% armor bonus if wearing all Heavy Armor: head, chest, hands, feet
Cushioned	Heavy Armor 50, Fists of Steel	Half damage from falling if wearing all Heavy Armor: head, chest, hands, feet Also reduces damage from environmental physics such as flying debris launched into the air by force shouts or other enemy attacks.
Tower of Strength	Heavy Armor 50, Well Fitted	50% less stagger when wearing only Heavy Armor Force Without Effort, provides an additional 25% stagger reduction.
Conditioning	Heavy Armor 70, Cushioned	Wearing Heavy armor no longer affects how much stamina is used when sprinting. Any heavy armor worn no longer counts towards the carry weight.
Matching Set	Heavy Armor 70, Tower of Strength	Additional 25% armor bonus if wearing a matched set of Heavy Armor
Reflect Blows	Heavy Armor 100, Matching Set	10% chance to reflect melee damage back to the enemy while wearing all Heavy Armor: head, chest, hands, feet

Leveling

There are two main ways to level heavy armor, besides using trainers.

"Regular wear and tear" - Just wear heavy armor while exploring and adventuring. Hits taken while wearing Heavy Armor increases skill level.
"Punching Bag" – Intentionally allow strikes to land successfully over and over again to level the skill.

Skill experience is calculated based on the attack strength of the foe. For example, taking multiple attacks from a Skeever or Wolf levels Heavy Armor at a significantly slower rate than blows from Giants or Mammoths would. Being the victim of power attacks also grants more experience than a standard attack.

The key to leveling Heavy Armor is to find foes that will not kill the trainer, but allows a large volume of attacks to be performed. An example of this would be: having level 65 Heavy Armor and taking strikes from a Giant's Club. Two or three attacks can be sustained at this level. Allow the attacks to land successfully, cast Restoration spells to regain health and repeat the process. This also helps level up Restoration.

Start a Discussion Discussions about Heavy Armor (Skyrim)

Finding enchanted armor.

3 messages
- SleepingIII
  
  I found an enchanted dragonplate armor many years ago, so it is possible to find enchanted highlevel armor and weapons though they're rare. J... 2013-05-12T19:50:11Z
- AlxCj
  
  the same level they start appearing in chests, they start appearing enchanted (in stores is different) and there is no possible way of increas... 2013-05-12T20:02:11Z
Heavy Armor Shields and Light Armor

3 messages
- Jonesy95
  
  Using a heavy armor shield would contribute to the heavy armor skill (I would assume), but the perks that would be in effect would vary. M... 2013-02-25T06:54:43Z
- A Wikia contributor
  
  Heavy shields do not contribute to leveling the heavy armor skill. The armor rating of the shield also does not scale with the leveling of he... 2013-04-09T19:39:26Z