Hello! – I’ve been speaking with a lot of people as of late upon making our organization and specifically promoting a realistic/immersive take on armor and combat in general. (Yes, realistic in terms of Azeroth.) As such, I’ve had plenty of conversations discussing armor with individuals and newly made friends – I thought it’d be a good idea to share some of the questions, comments, answers, and general information for all of you interested to share.
Note: I am by no means an expert, only an enthusiastic history nerd. If I said something that’s been proven otherwise or not quite correct – PLEASE let me know.
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1. “You’re in plate armor! You can’t run/move like that!”
Plate armor is about 55lbs generally, it can be lighter or heavier(The heaviest I’ve seen is about 75lbs, designed to take 16th century gunfire, and the wearer could still move with ease.) Generally plate armor is no more or less than a modern day Soldier’s pack and gear. You can definitely feel 55lbs bouncing around on you, and you might not be able to move as far or fast with it on, but you can typically do all the same stuff you could without it. Specifically, armor is very well distributed over the body… the belt, arms, legs, shoulders, and so forth all help disperse the weight. In terms of movement, any armor worth its weight in salt is articulated in such a way that you can move and turn, bend and unbend just as you normally would – you had to be flexible in combat.
2. “Well, all I have to do is stab at their weak points!”
Okay good, but… these people wearing plate armor are typically not peasants who just slapped on some armor. These are military men, I’m sure folks in the army today know as much about their own weaknesses in combat as the Knights did back in the day. People in plate armor hopefully have trained for a long time to wear the armor, they know that your sword can’t pierce their chest so they have no need to defend their… but the back of their knees, or their inner arms? They need to protect those… so they’re going to focus and fight very hard to keep you away from those spots.
Not to mention, most people wearing plate typically have chainmail, or at least a thick gabeson under the armor; it’s not as easy as you’d think. There’s a reason why Knights were feared.
3. “Well, I’ll just shoot through the armor!”
Eeeeh, this is a hard debate as Blizzard from what I’ve seen hasn’t revealed too much information about the guns used in WoW lore or the general strength of plate armor.
Shooting someone in the chest with a typical smooth bore musket may or may not pierce through the plate. It would depend on the shape of the armor, the distance he was shot, the angle, and the ammunition type.
Generally speaking, if a player specifically states they have a thick, rounded chest piece – I’d go in favor of the dude in plate armor vs the musket.
If it was a flat piece of plate, probably the musket.
4. “Well, how do we defeat plate then?”
IDK, go put some on yourself I guess… No, but really. Like every armor, plate has its own series of weaknesses.
If you can’t cut through armor, and you can’t stab at their weak points… Just get a heavy mace or pick, or other blunt weapon with good weight and go to town, really. You hit a guy with plate armor, even if he uses his shield to block the mace strike he’s going to feel it. The more you hit him, the more he’ll feel it. Ideally, you’d want to get a solid blow to the head, a joint like the knee or elbow, or even just a direct hit anywhere without the shield to cover it. Hitting someone in plate on the forearm with a good mace is a good chance they’ll fracture or break their arm to cripple them in a fight or outright end it.
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Thank you for the read, hope you enjoyed! I’ll probably add to this and discuss other armor types and weapons, so if you enjoyed please give us a follow or at least a reblog. 🙂
Editting List: @khadorek – Armor is closer on average to 55lbs rather than the originally posted 75lbs.
