Leather & Steel

Ive been trying to lock down a solid 2h mace mara build for OB and every build I have browsed of everyone elses has not had points spent into L&S even though they pass right by it. Can someone explain to me why not? A 64% armor increase sounds MASSIVE to me. Does this not function like i imagine it does? People are willing to go all the way over to IR for some bonus armor even though its farther and they have to abandon any evasion.

First of all it's 24 percent, not more.

The problem with every percentage based node is the way the game calculates it, IR gives a flat and huge boost to your armor pool, it adds up armor on your already existing armor value and with some equipment and grace the increase in armor is just amazing.
When it comes to nodes like L&S however the addition is multiplicative making it much less effective. You'll never get a somewhat comparable increase in your armor value from such a node.

That being said it's not a bad node, it simply isn't really worth getting since armor isn't quite the best defensive value and theres an easier and better way to boost it.

I added in the skill points building up to L&S also.
Hmm guess i just dont quite understand. It seems like even if it stacks multiplicative and not additive it would still be a massive increase in armor.