I'm in a love/hate relationship with Dark Souls III. I did my first run with a strenght based medium weight armor character, and I did it pretty easy. As NG+ in this game is fairly not worth, I started a new character, using dual blades and very very light armor (primarily rags as the Master Armor from the Uchigatana guy at the begining).
Just arrived at High Lothric Castle and I'm starting to get reeeeally annoyed. Lothric knights usually kill me with one or two swings of their swords, no matter I'm wearing the rags or the most effective armor against cut damage. It does me the exact amount of damage. Not to talk about their OP power stance that one shots me.
The thing is, is armor really important in this game? As far as I've seen, it doesn't. Not to talk about PVP and poise. This was not the same in Dark Souls I and II.
Best Answer
Physical resistance has virtually no effect on PvE enemies because only 1 enemy deals pure physical damage, slugs.
For Lothric Knights, you want Slash and Thrust resistance.
However, all PvP damage counts as physical, so physical resistance is important in PvP.
It's worth noting that it's better to have something in each armor slot than nothing, even it's cloth rags. Even a cloth rag helm gives around a 10% bonus to base armor. Nothing to sneeze at. Having something in all 4 slots gives a 50% flat bonus to base armor, regardless of their individual stats.