Minecraft players discuss their favorite armor sets

Despite all the incredible builds that players have made over the years, Minecraft is, at its core, a survival game. This means that as time progresses, players will inevitably make better tools, weapons, and armor and improve their starter base. As a result, some armors end up better than others so that there can be a progression system.

Reddit user u/a_builder7 recently posed an interesting question to the greater Minecraft community: Assuming every set of armor had the same durability and protection, which would be the one to use?

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What are the Minecraft community's favorite armor sets?

Leather armor

Comment byu/a_builder7 from discussion inMinecraft

Leather armor is in an interesting spot in terms of progression in Minecraft. Normally, leather is harder to acquire in the early game than iron. The leather obtained is normally best saved up for an enchanting area build.

This means that by the time players have enough leather to use it as armor, they are also too far into the game to justify its poor protection. However, without accounting for durability or protection values, leather's advantages become clear.

Players can use the game's 16 different dyes on leather armor for a total of over five million potential colors. This can then be combined with armor trims, found in Minecraft's ancient archeological ruins, for even further customization.

Players absolutely adore all the options given to them by leather armor. The single complaint is the small portions of leather that remain undyed.

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Diamond armor

Comment byu/a_builder7 from discussion inMinecraft

Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of players who said their favorite armor aesthetically is diamond armor. For more than a decade, diamond armor represented the pinnacle of armor in the game — ultimate protection.

To many players, enchanted diamond armor also represents officially crossing over from the early game to the midgame. Players are protected enough to survive most encounters but not quite powerful enough to survive anything.

The combination of diamond's nostalgic history, clean visuals, and importance to survival worlds makes this one of the game's most beloved armor sets.

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Chain armor

Comment byu/a_builder7 from discussion inMinecraft

One of the main arguments for chain armor's superior aesthetics is the fact that it allows players to see their skin while still being protected.

Many players spend hours hunting for or creating the perfect skin, so covering it up with armor seems like a waste. This makes chain armor's ability to offer protection while being see-through a unique combination.

Comment byu/a_builder7 from discussion inMinecraft

However, there are also a large number of comments reminiscing on the nostalgic history of chain armor, referring to the game's early days, when chain armor was only craftable in creative mode using fire blocks. This unobtainable history makes chain armor feel mysterious and rare, even though it is not really.

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Non-set armors

Comment byu/a_builder7 from discussion inMinecraft

While the question was focused on the different full sets of armor in Minecraft, there were a few comments that said they would wear some of the game's stranger armor pieces if they could.

Some of these stranger pieces include turtle shells, which give players extra time underwater; pumpkins, which allow players to safely look at endermen; elytra, which allow players to take to the skies; and mob heads, which make players harder to detect by the mob.

It would be interesting to see this range of beneficial Minecraft armor pieces expanded on in future updates, especially since so much of the community takes advantage of them.