Minecraft armor: materials and defense

Armor is your first and most important line of defense against damage in Minecraft. Without it, even a few hits from a zombie or a skeleton can end your adventure. A full set of armor has four pieces: a helmet, a chestplate, leggings and boots, and you can craft each of them from leather, iron, gold or diamond. Chainmail comes from hostile mobs or from trading with armorer villagers, and you get a netherite set by upgrading a diamond one at a smithing table.

Helmet

The helmet protects your head and is one of the cheapest pieces of armor: it takes just 5 units of material arranged in an upside-down U on the 3x3 grid (3 across the top and 1 on each side below). It gives from 1 armor point (leather) to 3 (diamond/netherite). Although the helmet gives less protection than the chestplate or leggings, it has its own unique enchantment, Respiration, which lets you breathe longer underwater. The Turtle Shell (made from 5 turtle scutes) also gives you an extra 10 seconds of breathing underwater.

Unique helmet enchantments

• Respiration III - extends your underwater breathing time by 45 seconds. Essential when you explore underwater ruins and ocean monuments.
• Aqua Affinity - restores your normal mining speed underwater. Without this enchantment, mining underwater takes 5x longer.

Chestplate

The chestplate gives the most protection of any armor piece: from 3 points (leather) to 8 (diamond/netherite). It's also the most expensive to make, taking 8 units of material on the 3x3 grid: every slot is filled except the top middle one. A good chestplate should be your priority, because a diamond chestplate on its own reduces damage by about 32%.

Keep in mind that the chestplate slot is shared with the Elytra, the wings that let you fly. That means you have to choose between the protection of a chestplate and the ability to fly. Experienced players often wear an Elytra with protective enchantments on their other armor pieces to make up for the missing chestplate.

Leggings

Leggings give 2 to 6 armor points and take 7 units of material in the shape of a pair of pants: a full top row plus both side slots of the middle and bottom rows. In terms of protection, they're the second most important piece after the chestplate. With netherite leggings as part of a full set, this piece alone reduces damage by about 24%.

Boots

Boots are the cheapest piece to make: they take just 4 units of material, two in each of two columns on the grid. They give 1 to 3 armor points, but they can get some of the most valuable unique enchantments in the game:

• Feather Falling IV - reduces fall damage by 48%. Combined with Protection IV on your other pieces, it lets you survive a fall from a huge height.
• Depth Strider III - speeds up your movement in water to almost normal walking speed. The alternative is Frost Walker, which freezes the water under your feet.
• Soul Speed III - makes you walk much faster on soul sand and soul soil in the Nether. You get it by bartering with piglins.

Comparing materials

How defense works

Minecraft's defense system is more complex than it might seem. Each armor point (shown as half an armor icon above your health bar) reduces damage by 4%, up to a maximum of 80% at 20 points. Against strong attacks, though, another stat comes into play: Armor Toughness. The higher the Armor Toughness, the less protection your armor "loses" when you take heavy hits. Diamond and netherite armor have Armor Toughness, which makes them much better than iron against strong attacks (such as creeper explosions or attacks from the Wither).

The Protection enchantment reduces damage even further, on top of your armor points. Protection IV on every piece gives an extra 64% damage reduction, which, combined with netherite armor, makes you almost indestructible under normal conditions.

Special uses of armor

Golden armor and piglins

Golden armor plays a special role in the Nether. Piglins, the hostile mobs that live in the Nether, stay peaceful toward players wearing at least one piece of golden armor. Just put on golden boots (the cheapest piece) and you can explore bastions freely and trade gold ingots with piglins. It's a key strategy when you're hunting for Ancient Debris.

Leather armor and dyeing

Leather armor is the only type you can dye. Combine an armor piece with one or more dyes at a crafting table to get any color you like. You can mix dyes to create over 12 million color combinations. This is especially popular on RPG and building servers, where looks matter a lot.

Armor trims

Since version 1.20 you can decorate armor with Armor Trim smithing templates, which you find in structures all over the world. At a smithing table, combine a template + an armor piece + a trim material (for example diamond, gold or emerald) to give your armor unique patterns. Trims only change how your armor looks and have no effect on its stats.

A strategy for getting armor

Here's the recommended order for getting armor early in the game. It works both in single player and on survival servers:

1. The first few minutes - craft leather armor from cow leather, or look for iron armor in chests in caves.
2. The first night - aim for at least an iron chestplate and helmet. You need 13 iron ingots.
3. The first few days - complete a full iron set (24 iron ingots) and start looking for diamonds.
4. Mid game - craft a full set of diamond armor (24 diamonds). Put enchantments on it before you upgrade it to netherite.