Armor



Armor is a category of items that provide players and certain mobs with varying levels of protection from common damage types, and appear graphically on the wearer. These items include several different classes of helmets, chestplates, leggings, and boots, which can each be placed in designated armor slots of a player's inventory for use.

Crafting
It takes 24 units of a given material to make a full set of armor. Chestplates provide the most protection per unit of material, followed by leggings. For leather, iron, and diamond armor, boots are followed by helmets, but for other materials, the helmet is more efficient. However, boots are always the most durable.

Armor can be repaired by placing two pieces of the same type (e.g., iron helmets) in a crafting grid. The resulting item will have slightly more durability left than the original items combined, but any enchantments will be lost. Repairing armor with an anvil will preserve and combine the enchantments. Chain armor can be repaired with anvils by combing iron ingots.

Duplicate armor pieces are not stackable in inventory slots.

Tiers


Armor classes include (from weakest/least durable to strongest/most durable):
 * Chain
 * Chain
 * Chain

Chain armor is rare and unable to be crafted. It can be obtained through trading with villagers, as rare drops from mobs wearing them, or through the Creative inventory.

Novelty armor
Pumpkins can be worn as a helmet. This will partially block the player's view and do not provide protection, but it can prevent Endermen from becoming aggressive when players look at them. Putting on a pumpkin after provoking an Enderman or attacking an Enderman while wearing a pumpkin will not stop it from attacking.

Mob heads can also be worn as a helmet. They are merely for cosmetic use and have no other functions. Unlike pumpkins, they do not block the player's view.

Mechanics
Whenever a piece of armor absorbs damage for the player, the armor itself is damaged, reducing its durability. After taking enough damage, the armor piece is destroyed.

Damage types
The following types of damage are reduced by armor and, consequently, damage the armor itself:
 * Direct attacks from mobs and players
 * Getting hit with an arrow
 * Getting hit with a fireball from a Ghast or Blaze, a fire charge, or an Ender acid ball
 * Touching fire, lava or cacti
 * Explosions
 * Getting struck by lightning
 * Getting hit with a falling anvil
 * Getting hit by chicken eggs
 * Getting hit with a fishing rod lure

The following types of damage are not reduced by armor and have no effect on the armor itself:
 * Ongoing damage from being on fire
 * Suffocating inside a block
 * Drowning in water
 * Starvation
 * Falling (including Ender pearls)
 * Falling to the Void
 * Status effects
 * Instant damage from a Potion of Harming
 * Standing next to where lightning strikes.
 * Getting hit by snowballs.
 * Getting hit by snowballs.

All sources of damage will damage all armor pieces worn in Pocket Edition, however.

Armor enchantments
Armor can be enchanted to provide various enchantments. Enchantments can provide more protection or allow armors to protect certain types of damage that armor doesn't normally protect against, such as fall damage or fire. Damage reduction from enchantments do not decrease the armor's durability. Armor enchantments do not appear on the armor bar.

Defense points
The player's current protection level is represented visually by the armor bar. Each defense point represent 4% damage reduction. With all 20 shown full, the player has a total of 80% damage reduction. The armor meter is affected by the particular pieces that are worn, as well as the tier of the armor. Different combinations of armor provide different levels of defense. A full suit of diamond armor protects the player from 80% of damage, whereas a full suit of iron will provide 60% protection and a full suit of leather will provide 28%.

The following table shows the amount of defense points added by each individual piece of armor, as well as the total points added by a full set of armor for each material.

The table below shows the number of defense points per unit of material. For example, a pair of iron boots provides 50% efficiency (4 ingots to 2 points of armor), whereas a diamond chestplate  provides 100% efficiency (8 diamonds to 8 points of armor).

Thus, a full set of diamond armor gives .833 defense points per diamond, whereas a full set of leather armor gives .292 (65% less) defense points.

The table above shows the amount of damage received after being hit by a regular, non-enchanted sword while wearing a full set of armor.

Durability
Any hit from a damage source that can be blocked by armor will remove one point of durability from each piece of armor worn. The following chart displays how many hits each piece of armor can endure.

The chart below shows the durability per unit of material for each piece of armor, compared to that of the boots. Note that the durability per unit does not depend on the tier of the armor.

This means that for the same number of leather/iron ingots/gold ingots/chain/diamond, boots can take 1.5 more damage than leggings. Thus, chestplate and leggings offer more defense points per unit, but have a less durability per unit.

Enchantments
Enchantments can improve armor's capability to reduce damage, or add capabilities.

An armor's material determines how enchantable it is. The higher a material's enchantability, the greater the chances of getting multiple and high-level enchantments (see enchantment mechanics for details).

As with several enchantments, several different levels of protection are possible. The maximum level of a protection enchantment is currently IV (4). Protection enchantments from multiple pieces of armor stack together, up to a calculated maximum.

Each protection enchantment protects against specific types of damage. The amount of damage reduction depends on the Enchantment Protection Factor (EPF) provided by that enchantment.

The EPFs for each enchantment and level are the result of the following formula:

floor ( (6 + level^2) * TypeModifier / 3 )

When a player or mob wearing armor is subjected to damage, the EPFs of all applicable enchantments are added together, capped at 25, multiplied by a random value between 50% and 100%, rounded up, and capped again at 20. The damage is then reduced by 4% per point of total effective EPF (for example, a total effective EPF of 20 reduces damage by 80%).

Because of the caps in the calculation, it's possible to max out protection against specific types of damage with only three pieces of armor. For example, two pieces of armor with Blast Protection IV (EPF 11 each) and a single piece with Protection III (EPF 3) would give a total EPF of 25 versus explosions (before the remainder of the calculation). Any additional EPF would be wasted against explosions (but might be useful against other types of damage, if applicable).

If the damage is of a type that armor protects against normally, this reduction applies only to the damage that got through the armor. For example, a full suit of diamond armor reduces damage from attacks by 80% -- if each piece of armor also had a Protection IV enchantment (EPF 5 each), the enchantments would further reduce damage by 40% to 80% each time, for a total damage reduction of 88% to 96% (i.e., 80%, plus 40%-80% of the remaining 20%).

Mob armor


Certain mobs can spawn equipped with random armor pieces. Some mobs also spawn with the ability pick up armor on the ground and equip them. The frequency of mobs spawning equipped with armor and higher tiered armor is dependent on the difficulty. Armor protects mobs the same way to players, and likewise with armor enchantments.

The following mobs can spawn with armor:



The following do not spawn with any armor, but will pick up any dropped pieces:



Giants do not spawn with armor (they do not naturally spawn at all), but can be equipped with armor using commands.



Helmets can protect mobs from burning in sunlight, depleting its durability as it takes up the damage. Eventually, the helmet will lose all its durability and break. Pumpkins and mob heads also protect mobs from burning in sunlight, but because they do not have durability they can be used indefinitely.

Armor stand
Armor stands are entities that can hold and display armor, including pumpkins and mob heads.

Horse armor
Horse armor can be equipped on horses to protect them from damage. Unlike player armor, horse armor does not have durability, though they absorb damage from attacks like regular armor. They come in three variations: iron, gold, and diamond.

Special mob armor
Other mobs do have armor values built in, but they do not provide damage protection and are used instead for aesthetics or other purposes.


 * Sheep's wool is considered as armor. It can be dyed and sheared off for wool. Sheep can regain their wool by eating grass.
 * Pigs, horses, donkeys, and mules can wear saddles, which is considered as armor.
 * Snow Golems have pumpkins worn on their heads as helmets.
 * When a Creeper is struck by lightning, it will become charged. Charged Creepers have an electric glow around them, which is actually an armor value.
 * The Wither develops a shield right during its initial stage. It will develop another shield when it is at low health, which deflects arrows.
 * A tamed wolf's collar is considered as armor, and can be dyed.

Studded armor


Studded armors were sprites that were added sometime around in items.png. They were taken from Notch's unfinished game, Legend of the Chambered, along with other armor sprites. The sprites were never implemented into gameplay and were eventually removed.

Trivia

 * On Halloween, zombies, skeletons, and other mobs have a chance of spawning with a pumpkin on their heads, and a smaller chance of spawning with a jack-o-lantern.