Armor

Armor is used to protect the player from damage. There are many different kinds of armor that can be made of many different materials, from wood, all the way to iron plates. While each material provides increased protection and resistance, each kind of armor gives small, or not so small, debuffs to things like movement speed or hunger rate.

Obtaining

All armor is accessible via crafting. Four non-metal armor types: Improvised, Wood Lamellae, Leather, and Gambeson do not require metal. The four metal armors Brigandine, Chain, Scale and Plate require metal plate and chain components crafted by smithing. The fifth type of metal armor, Lamellar, is made by casting Lamellae, which can only be constructed from metals that can be worked using the crucible, including copper and bronze.

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's 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

Armor

Armor

Blackguard armor

Brigandine armor

Chain armor

Forlorn Hope armor

Gambeson armor

Improvised body armor

Lamellar armor

Leather armor

Leather jerkin

Plate armor

Scale armor

Tailored gambeson armor

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.

Armor Type	Flat Damage Reduction (HP)	Relative Protection (%)	Healing Rate	Hunger Rate	Ranged Accuracy	Ranged Charge	Movement Rate	High Damage?
Leather Jerkin	0.25	40%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	No
Improvised (Wood)	0	55%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	No
Leather Armor	0.6	60%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	No
Lamellar (Wood)	0.5	65%	-10%	+8%	-3%	-7%	-3%	No
Gambeson (Cloth)	0.7	70%	-17%	+3%	0%	0%	-2%	No
Lamellar (Metal)	0.5-1.1	75%-80%	-10%	+8%	-3%	-7%	-3%	No
Brigandine	1.0-1.3	78%-84%	-17%	+12%	-7%	-14%	-5%	No
Chain	1.1-1.4	80%-86%	-10%	+7%	-3%	-6%	-3%	No
Scale	1.3-1.6	84%-90%	-17%	+12%	-10%	-20%	-7%	No
Plate	1.5-1.8	90%-97%	-33%	+24%	-10%	-20%	-17%	Yes

Armor Tiers and Durability

Non-Metal Armors

Armor	Material	Protection Tier	Durability
Improvised	Wood + Grass	0	75
Wood Lamellar	Pelt, Resin, Wood	0	200
Leather Jerkin	Leather only	1	250
Leather Armor	Leather + Twine	1	700
Gambeson (Cloth)	Linen Cloth	2	900

Metal Armors

Different materials may be made into different types of armors. The material used affects the durability of the armor. So even if a player doesn't have the desired material at the moment, players can choose an armor type that matches the material resources obtained.

Armor Material	Tier	Lamellar	Brigandine	Chain	Scale	Plate
Copper	1	450	900	600	800	500
Gold	1	N/A	N/A	400	N/A	500
Bismuth Bronze	2	525	1050	650	1150	900
Black Bronze	2	675	1200	750	1350	1200
Tin Bronze	2	600	1100	700	1200	1000
Silver	2	N/A	N/A	500	N/A	1000
Iron	3	N/A	1300	800	1400	2200
Meteoric Iron	3	N/A	1500	900	1700	2800
Steel	4	N/A	1900	1000	2000	3200

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:

• 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
• Protection tier

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