I think this will help:
https://rankedboost.com/elden-ring/armor-sets/

Can anyone explain how armors work in Elden RIng?

I'm 40 hours in. Still in my Astrologer's set and can't find anything better. Except for the super ugly Twin Sage Glintstone Crown that gives +6 int.

Now, Queen of the Full moon looks OK, but the armor and leggings seem to be worse than start game Astrologer's grab. Arm piece is better than Astrologers and hat is worse than the ugly crown.

Am I missing something? Or is it actually hot it is? The starter set is better than one of the major bosses set?

Also, why does Raya Lucarian Sorcerer Set listed here as S Tier? Crown +6 int is good, but other pieces mostly have worse stats than E Tier Astrologer's set.

There’s a few, I’d recommend looking at the list the other guy/girl gave you, that’s what I did.

Stats don’t matter, it’s all about your drip :)

There is a shitton of gear in this game and a lot of it is easy to miss. Mage is probably some of the easiest to find at least the armor because of the Druid shrines.

I play as a mage, myself, but I feel like the majority of equipment that I've found up until act 2 have been geared towards melee builds. I have multiple rare rogue, duelist and generic melee armors that are collecting dust in the stash.

I'm doing a completionist play-through, so I think I've found the majority of equipment. Granted, I haven't explored every single nook and cranny of Cuanacht, yet.

The mage gear pieces are simply the easiest to find and obtain. Most of the melee oriented stuff is on tough enemies as loot, or are craftable armors. Dex-oriented gear is the rarest since most of those are hidden in optional quests.

cromlach upon the pillars is a recipe for the best bow armor in the game. nuff said

Lancelot set is legitimately one of the best sets in the game and you get it in act one.

I will say I don’t think I see a lot of dex gear outside of act one. The double sneak attack sword and 1.5 sneak attack daggers I think are the only specials daggers I’ve found and in act 2 you can get a bow with double sneak attack damage as well.

One of the bounties has a unique rapier that does extra parry damage I believe and is mostly a dex weapon. Swords are generally strength + dex requirements but if your looking to build just dex you’re going to be disappointed

Master robes of destruction and magika regen is what i go with. Better than the arch mage robes if youre a destruction user.

The Arch mage robs, and a dragon priest mask, is top tier for a mage , what u use for hands and legs is whatever u feel like xD

I generally end up with a full set of daedric mail and every available bit of jewelry double enchanted so that destruction and conjuration are sub zero magica cost.

And a set of scout with illusion and alteration as a spare.

I leave the heavy armour for my tanks

It depends on build.

A pure mage is all about robes. I prefer the master college robes over the archmage robes.

Battlemages, Spellwords, and Sorcerers favor heavy armor. I like the ebony spell-knight armor.

Nightblades, and Witchhunters favor light armor. Leather, fur, or hide seem like a better fit for a mage. An Altmer could get away with Elven or glass armor.

I’ll typically roll my own enchantments. I use a lot of armor mods because I get bored of the vanilla stuff. But, I try not to use game-breaking mods. I like modded armors that have equivalent stats to vanilla armor .

If you don't craft, Archmage Robe, Morokei mask, Ring of the Erudite, idk about the rest. At higher levels item s which reduce mana cost up to 25% can drop unless I'm tweaking, these are good.

If you make your own gear, it depends on your build. If you use every school of magic, make destruction free(4 enchantments) then buff Magicka and Magicka regen. Put magic resistance on your boots, and then you have 1 enchatment slot left on your gloves and boots. I prefer fortify carry weight.

If you only use 2 schools of magic, make both free.

With enough bonuses and necromage, you can actually make 2 schools of magic free and another one cost 66% less, but that's very cheesy.

The best gear for a mage is no armor so you can command people whenever you’re outnumbered and make them fight each other

Enchanted clothing > robes But if you don’t want to do clothing then enchanted armor.

Keep your wrist shackles from the beginning, you will enchant them later

It varies a bit depending on your playstyle and preferences, but there's a good summary here of what to aim for. As for dealing with crowds, try custom spells that apply calm.

If you're not stacking shield potion effects when you're a mage, you're not doing it right. The mats for crafting shield potions are literally everywhere. You can go in naked and by right should be more tanky than a heavily armored fighter.

Hi guys, may I ask, what's the point of wearing mage armor? Only because it' lighter?

So which means if I am a mage but have enough Endurance, I can wear heavy armor of warrior?

The point is "What make a mage decide to wear a mage set?"

I'd be interested to know also. I'm going for fashion at the moment with the magic guild robes (the blue ones) with a bug head lol, but always looking for an upgrade!

The white set you get at rannis rise with the twinhead helmet from academy is pretty good.

No point in wearing robes when leveling stam also increases carry weight
I have over 60 int rn but I'm wearing full plate cause its that easy

I think I only have like 20-30 points in it for my current build

Elden Bling is the new Fashion Souls

You can get renalas robes from the old finger lady at the round table

I wear the heaviest armor I find normally except when facing magic bosses where I put back my astrologer suit.

I've been using Snow Witch Hat, Gloves from the Spellblade set, Azur's robe, and whatever the heaviest leg armor I can wear without going to fat roll. Snow Witch boosts ice spells, Spellblade boosts glintstone, and luckily glintstone icecrag appears to count as both as far as I can tell.

Could probably wear a better armor than Azur's Robe to be more defensive, but I'm choosing it for style since I want to look like a mage rather than just an armored guy casting spells. All of these are pretty easy to get. The Witch hat probably takes the most time investment to get access to but its still not much and you're likely going to do that questline anyway.

I wear the snow witch set you get from the ranni questline after radahn

I like wearing that armor you see on the cover art, the one with the winged helmet and mechanical arm. It’s pretty light, and it looks pretty rad. The only problem is you have to beat this tree root boss first

Pretty sure the Rodger gloves are bugged as they don't increase Flintstone pebble but almost double my lighting bolts lol

I'm in the same boat. I have decent weapons and spells, but 7 hours in and I am still using the starter armor.

For weapons meteorite shard is a great early game weapon. It’s in a higher zone, but just ride there on your horse. Plenty of videos on YouTube. There isn’t much mage armor in early game.

Carian Regal Sceptor - best all-purpose staff if > 68 INT and no drawbacks.

Academy Glintstone Staff - best scaling below 68 INT.

Lusat’s - highest INT scaling staff, but all skills cost 50% more FP

Prince of Death Staff - highest overall scaling, but it requires 80 INT and 80 Faith.

Graven Mass talisman. Radagon Icon. Godfrey Icon.

Spells: too many to list. Some are great all-around. Others are situationally easy-mode.

Twinsage crown.

Spellblade set if using ashes of war.

Staff: Lusat’s or Carian Regal Scepter

Melee options: Dark Moon Greatsword or Wing of Astel. I’ve also run cold infusion on Hoslow’s Petal Whip as a mix up.

Talismans worth considering: Magic Scorpion Charm (missable), Ritual Sword Talisman, Graven Mass Talisman, Graven School Talisman, Radagon Icon

Armor: Spellblade Set, Noble’s Hood, Twinsage Helm

Must have spells: Adula’s Moonblade, Stars of Ruin, Comet Azur, Carian Slicer

Stars of ruin is on my to do list for sure

Mystic robes and battlestaff

Just run ancients and freeze everything

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Look here for mage weapon progression, and here for armor progression.