As you progress through Valheim, you’ll come across many different armor types to craft or upgrade, each offering a good amount of new stats or bonus effects. SOMETIMES, however, it’s better to craft the next best thing rather the upgrade what you’ve got, so make sure you look over what you’d rather do.
Table of Contents
Body Armor
Rag Armor
Rag Armor, pretty much the equivalent of wearing a garbage bag, is the armor you start with. It can only be upgraded ONCE, but hey, like the description says, better than nothing.
Rag Tunic
Level 1
Level 2
Rag Pants
Level 1
Level 2
Leather Armor
Leather Armor is a PRIORITY when you start your adventure. It’s fairly simple to craft and offers 6 total base protection at Level 1. The upgrades, however, do require you to kill some skeletons to get bones, so it might be a challenge if you’re new to the game.
If you need help with combat, be sure to check out my:
Leather Tunic
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Leather Pants
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Leather Hemet
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Troll Leather Armor
Troll Hide Armor is fantastic for MULTIPLE reasons. First off, it offers 6 armor for each piece you use, and the ONLY thing you need to upgrade it is more Troll Hide.
The other benefit to this, making it applicable ALL the way to the end game, is the set effect where (when wearing all 4 pieces) you are gives a +25% bonus to sneaking, which means you’re able to almost ALWAYS hit those critical assassination shots on your enemies.
Troll Leather Tunic
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Troll Leather Pants
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Troll Leather Helmet
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Bronzeplate Armor
I’m gonna be brutally honest here, there is NO reason to even bother with Bronze Armor at this point. The leap from Bronze to Iron is not that far away, and you’re better off spending your hard earned bronze (because the stuff takes a LONG time to obtain) on your tools to eventually farm Iron armor.
Bronze offers 8 armor per piece, which is just slightly better than Troll gear, but with the leap of 2-6 between Leather and Troll, you’d expect Bronze to have offered a BIT more. Regardless, if you’ve gotten enough Bronze and you feel like you’re dying a lot, it MAY be worth it to just grab the base armor, but for the most part your bronze is spent in far better ways that making and upgrading Bronze armor.
Bronze Plate Cuirass
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Bronze Plate Leggings
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Bronze Plate Helmet
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Iron Armor
THIS is the Armor Goal right here, as (Until you hit Wolf Armor) this offers and INSANE leap from 8 armor with Bronze to 14 armor with Iron, PER PIECE. Although Iron isn’t the most easy to grind for, you need a Swamp Key and a *couple* of good crypts to get all the Iron you need, it’s a must have set when you have enough!
Iron Armor does have a negative 5% movement speed on each piece, so it can definitely slow you down, but you can also do the classic “Strip Naked so you run really fast when you’re not fighting but when you do get into a fight quickly put it all back on” maneuver. CLASSIC.
By the way, if you’re looking for a way to get a ton of Iron fast, check out:
Iron Scale Mail
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Iron Greaves
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Iron Helmet
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Wolf Armor
This Armor is absolutely fantastic once you can craft is, offering a HUGE 20 armor per piece worn. That’s a solid +6 from Iron! This Armor isn’t the easiest to obtain, as it requires a heap of Silver, found in the Mountain biome, alongside wolf pelts and finally 2 Drake trophy’s, which I’ve only seen literally 2 out of the few dozen I’ve killed.
I do consider the Drake Helmet a part of the Wolf Armor set, as it pretty much uses the same kind of materials AND is only acquired when you’re able to venture into the mountain biomes.
Wolf Armor Chest
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Wolf Armor Legs
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Drake Helmet
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Padded Armor
And lastly, you’ve got the glorious looking Padded Armor. This armor is hands down the tankiest in the game, still holding that -5% movement speed, but offering a huge 26 armor protection PER piece. Best part: It’s not all that expensive to make…besides the linen.
You need to have beaten the Fourth boss (Moder) in order to get the Padded armor, and have found a flax farm out in the Plains biome, typically around Fuling camps. These flax seeds can be regrown to farm more at a time, which is pretty nice, as you need quite a bit to craft each piece of armor. Flax can then be spun into Linen via the Spinning Wheel.
Padded Cuirass
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Padded Greaves
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Padded Helmet
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Capes
Deer Hide Cape
The Deer Hide Cape a really nice addition to your Leather armor at the beginning of the game, because although it does cost a bit more at it’s base resource cost, it does offer even just that extra bit of protection. Alongside you looking cool.
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Troll Hide Cape
The Troll Hide Cape doesn’t offer any more protection than the Deer Hide Cape does, BUT this one is needed to complete the Troll Hide set bonus of getting that 25% to your stealth. It’s pretty cheap, and you can get it giving +4 armor if you upgrade it to max level 4.
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Lox Cape
I recommend EVERYONE get this as soon as you are ready to venture up the mountain. I made the mistake of spending heaps of time up in the mountains without any frost resistant armor, assuming I needed Wolf Armor to go up there without taking damage. WELL, if you can just quickly use your Wishbone to locate a silver vein, don’t do ANYTHING else in the Mountain biome except get 2 silver (mined with Iron Pickaxe or better) and head home to smelt it. The Lox cape, which requires 6 Lox pelts (3 Lox) and 2 Silver, will allow you to run freely up in the mountain (as long as you aren’t wet) without taking any frost damage.
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Wolf Cape
The Wolf Cape, although looking very cool, doesn’t actually offer all that much more than the Lox Cape does, besides being more durable at Level 4. It cost a LOT to make, with 4 Silver, 6 Wolf Pelts, and 1 Wolf Trophy, and that cost is just better spent on crafting the Wolf Armor instead, and using the Lox Cape.
However, it DOES look super cool… so maybe it is worth it. Just for that.
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Linen Cape
Finally, you’ve got the Linen Cape. This Cape, once again not offering any more armor than all the previous ones, had one cool thing above all the rest: It can be CUSTOMIZED. Yup, you heard me, CUSTOMIZED. Just like some of the shields in Valheim, you’re able to select a specific color you want to craft it in, so make sure you select which color you want beforehand, as you can’t change it when it’s made.
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
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