Armor

Armor is used to reduce the damage players receive during combat. The choice of material affects not only protection but also debuffs to things like movement speed or hunger rate. Unlike tools, armor can be repaired.

Obtaining

All armor can be crafted with the crafting grid. There are 4 types of non-metallic armor: Improvised, Lamellar (Wood), Leather and Gambeson which do not require any metallic component. Lamellar metal armor, is made by pouring molten metal into lamellar molds from metals molten in a crucible , such as copper or bronze. The other 4 metal armors are: Brigandine, Chain, Scale and Plate. These require components like mail or plates made by forging .

Basic Armor Mechanics

The purpose of armor is protection. However, the armor model in Vintage Story is somewhat complex, with armor and damage tiers, relative and flat damage protection, and relative and flat damage loss by tier.

• Armor does not protect players from damage taken outside of combat, i.e. from falling, starving or poisoning.
• A full suit of armor includes three equipped components: Head, Body and Legs.

When a combat attack on a player occurs

1. The armor slot receiving the damage is selected. Each slot has a different chance to be selected (head = 20%, body = 50%, legs = 30%.) If the player has not equipped armor in the slot selected for damage, then the player receives full damage.
2. Armor tier and weapon/attack damage tier are compared. If the damage tier of the weapon (or mob) is higher than the armor tier, different sets of losses are chosen. If the damage tier of the weapon or attack is high enough to overpower the armor protection, then damage reduction benefits could be negated.
3. Damage is calculated. If the damage tier of the weapon (or mob) is not higher than the armor tier: Flat damage reduction is applied first. Then, relative reduction (based on the percent protection granted by the armor type and material tier) is applied to further reduce the remaining damage.
4. Damage losses are applied based on the damage tier.

Protection

It is important to understand how armor values function. Each type of armor (Improvised, Gambeson, Chain, Plate) have base stat modifiers. A full set of iron plate slows you down just as much as a full set of copper plate, but iron armor has more durability so it lasts longer than copper armor. Secondly, iron is "more protective" because a metal of a higher tier has a higher "Flat Damage Reduction" and a higher "Relative Protection" reduction percentage. Also, armor constructed from higher tier materials protects more effectively against powerful attacks from higher tier weapons. Generally, higher tier metals make more protective/durable armor: iron is more durable and affords more damage reduction when compared to black bronze , which is more durable and protective than copper. Armor is an investment in resources, but the cost of materials returns value to the player.

Types of Armor

Wood

Image	Type	Upsides	Downsides	Source
	Improvised	Protection: 55% Protection tier: 0 Durability: 70	None	Wood + Grass
	Lamellar (Wood)	Protection: 65% Protection tier: 0 Flat reduction HP: 0.5 Durability: 200	Healing rate: -10% Hunger rate: +8% Range Accuracy: -3% Range Charge: -7% Movement Speed: -3%	Pelt, Resin, Wood

Leather

Image	Type	Upsides	Downsides	Source
	Jerkin	Protection: 40% Protection tier: 1 Flat reduction HP: 0.25 Durability: 250	None	Leather only
	Leather	Protection: 60% Protection tier: 1 Flat reduction HP: 0.6 Durability: 700	None	Leather + Twine

Cloth

Image	Type	Upside	Downside	Source
	Gambeson	Protection: 70% Protection tier: 2 Flat reduction HP: 0.7 Durability: 900	Healing rate: -17% Hunger rate: +3% Movement Speed: -2%	Linen square
Can be dyed	Tailored gambeson Crafted only by the Tailor class	Protection: 75% Protection tier: 2 Flat reduction HP: 0.75 Durability: 900	Healing rate: -10% Hunger rate: +3%	Cloth (plain or dyed), Sewing kit

Metal based Armor Debuffs

Image	Type	Downside	Source
Tin bronze version	Lamellar	Healing rate: -10% Hunger rate: +8% Range Accuracy: -3% Range Charge: -7% Movement Speed: -3%	Pelt, Lamellar
Iron version	Brigandine	Healing rate: -17% Hunger rate: +12% Range Accuracy: -7% Range Charge: -14% Movement Speed: -5%	Jerkin , Plate
Iron version	Chain	Healing rate: -10% Hunger rate: +7.5% Range Accuracy: -3% Range Charge: -6% Movement Speed: -3%	Jerkin , Chain
Iron version	Scale	Healing rate: -17% Hunger rate: +12% Range Accuracy: -10% Range Charge: -20% Movement Speed: -7%	Chain armor , Scale
Steel version	Plate	Healing rate: -33% Hunger rate: +24% Range Accuracy: -10% Range Charge: -20% Movement Speed: -14%	Chain armor , Plate

Metal based armor

Armor Material	Tier	Lamellar	Brigandine	Chain	Scale	Plate (High Damage tier resistance)
Copper	1	Protection: 75% Flat reduction HP: 0.5 Durability: 450	Protection: 78% Flat reduction HP: 1 Durability: 900	Protection: 80% Flat reduction HP: 1.1 Durability: 600	Protection: 84% Flat reduction HP: 1.3 Durability: 800	Protection: 90% Flat reduction HP: 1.5 Durability: 500
Gold	1	N/A	N/A	Protection: 82% Flat Reduction HP: 1.2 Durability: 500	N/A	Protection: 90% Flat Reduction HP: 1.5 Durability: 400
Silver	2	N/A	N/A	Protection: 82% Flat Reduction HP: 1.2 Durability: 700	N/A	Protection: 92% Flat Reduction HP: 1.5 Durability: 1000
Bismuth Bronze	2	Protection: 76% Flat Reduction HP: 0.58 Durability: 525	Protection: 79% Flat Reduction HP: 1.1 Durability: 1050	Protection: 81% Flat Reduction HP: 1.2 Durability: 650	Protection: 85% Flat Reduction HP: 1.3 Durability: 1150	Protection: 94% Flat Reduction HP: 1.55 Durability: 900
Tin Bronze	2	Protection: 77% Flat Reduction HP: 0.6 Durability: 600	Protection: 80% Flat Reduction HP: 1.1 Durability: 1100	Protection: 82% Flat Reduction HP: 1.2 Durability: 700	Protection: 86% Flat Reduction HP: 1.35 Durability: 1200	Protection: 92% Flat Reduction HP: 1.6 Durability: 1000
Black Bronze	2	Protection: 78% Flat Reduction HP: 0.65 Durability: 675	Protection: 81% Flat Reduction HP: 1.15 Durability: 1200	Protection: 83% Flat Reduction HP: 1.25 Durability: 750	Protection: 87% Flat Reduction HP: 1.4 Durability: 1300	Protection: 95% Flat Reduction HP: 1.65 Durability: 1200
Iron	3	N/A	Protection: 82% Flat Reduction HP: 1.2 Durability: 1300	Protection: 84% Flat Reduction HP: 1.3 Durability: 800	Protection: 88% Flat Reduction HP: 1.5 Durability: 1400	Protection: 96% Flat Reduction HP: 1.7 Durability: 2200
Meteoric Iron	3	N/A	Protection: 82% Flat Reduction HP: 1.22 Durability: 1500	Protection: 84% Flat Reduction HP: 1.35 Durability: 900	Protection: 88% Flat Reduction HP: 1.55 Durability: 1700	Protection: 96% Flat Reduction HP: 1.72 Durability: 2800
Steel	4	N/A	Protection: 84% Flat Reduction HP: 1.3 Durability: 2600	Protection: 86% Flat Reduction HP: 1.4 Durability: 2000	Protection: 90% Flat Reduction HP: 1.6 Durability: 3500	Protection: 97% Flat Reduction HP: 1.8 Durability: 5500

Exclusive Armor

Image	Type	Broken	Damaged	Pristine (High Damage tier resistance)
	Blackguard	Protection: 40% Flat Reduction HP: 0.25 Durability: 600 Protection Tier: 1 Healing rate: -17% Hunger rate: +12% Range Accuracy: -7% Range Charge: -14% Movement Speed: -5%	Protection: 75% Flat Reduction HP: 0.5 Durability: 900 Protection Tier: 1 Healing rate: -18% Hunger rate: +15% Range Accuracy: -8% Range Charge: -16% Movement Speed: -8%	Protection: 96% Flat Reduction HP: 1.7 Durability: 1800 Protection Tier: 3 Healing rate: -20% Hunger rate: +20% Range Accuracy: -10% Range Charge: -20% Movement Speed: -12%
	Forlorn Hope	Protection: 40% Flat Reduction HP: 0.25 Durability: 500 Protection Tier: 1 Healing rate: -17% Hunger rate: +12% Range Accuracy: -7% Range Charge: -14% Movement Speed: -5%	Protection: 90% Flat Reduction HP: 1.5 Durability: 1000 Protection Tier: 1 Healing rate: -17% Hunger rate: +14% Range Accuracy: -8% Range Charge: -16% Movement Speed: -7%	Protection: 96% Flat Reduction HP: 1.7 Durability: 1600 Protection Tier: 3 Healing rate: -17% Hunger rate: +16% Range Accuracy: -8% Range Charge: -18% Movement Speed: -8%

When it comes to armor, plate is the most protective and has the highest flat damage reduction: a player wearing a full set of steel plate armor should receive close to zero damage from most types of attack. But plate armor slows the player considerably and makes it difficult to use ranged weapons. Plate is also the most expensive to create, as it requires plates on top of chainmail, which is added to a leather jerkin. Please note: the leather jerkin is a component for Brigandine, Chain, Scale, and Plate armors, while the Leather Armor is a "finished armor". Both items can be worn as armor, but they offer very different protective values.

Technical

The armor system is extremely complicated, with eight variables governing each armor piece's protection properties. The most important variables are relative and flat protection, and protection tier. Those three numbers are most of what changes between armors. In total the variables are:

• Protection tier
  • Relative protection
    • Per tier relative protection loss for high damage tier
    • Per tier relative protection loss for low damage tier
  • Flat damage reduction
    • Per tier flat damage reduction loss for high damage tier
    • Per tier flat damage reduction loss for low damage tier
• High damage tier resistant (halves the 15% protection loss)

Protection tier

Relative Protection Loss

	Levels of Protection
Levels of Damage		0	1	2	3	4
	1	-18%	-6%	-6%	-6%	-6%
	2	-33%	-21%	-9%	-9%	-9%
	3	-48%	-36%	-24%	-12%	-12%
	4	-63%	-51%	-39%	-27%	-15%

Flat Damage Reduction

	Levels of Protection
Levels of Damage		0	1	2	3	4
	1	-20%	-10%	-10%	-10%	-10%
	2	-40%	-30%	-20%	-20%	-20%
	3	-60%	-50%	-40%	-30%	-30%
	4	-80%	-70%	-60%	-50%	-40%

VeryGoodDog has compiled a spread sheet and a calculator of all armors against all drifters.