In Elden Ring, armor plays a crucial role in determining your defense, poise, and overall ability to survive tough encounters. While weapons and spells define how you deal damage, your armor affects how much damage you take, how mobile you are, and how well you can withstand heavy hits. Here's a comprehensive armor guide to help you understand the different aspects of armor, how to optimize it for your build, and where to find some of the best armor sets in the game.
Armor Basics
Armor in Elden Ring is divided into four parts:
1.Helm: Protects your head and provides basic defense stats.
2.Chest Armor: The most protective part, offering the highest defense values.
3.Gauntlets: Protects your arms and provides additional defense.
4.Leg Armor: Protects your legs and adds to your overall defense and poise.
Each piece of armor contributes to:
•Physical Defense: Reduces damage from physical attacks.
•Magical Defense: Reduces damage from magic attacks.
•Poise: Determines how resistant you are to being staggered by enemy attacks.
•Weight: Affects your equip load, which determines your rolling speed and mobility.
Armor Weight and Equip Load
Armor weight is one of the most important aspects of the game’s equipment system. Equip load impacts your mobility, which is crucial for avoiding enemy attacks and boss moves.
Equip Load Tiers:
•Light Load (30% or less): Fast roll, greatest distance and speed when dodging, quick stamina recovery.
•Medium Load (30% to 70%): Normal roll, good balance between protection and mobility.
•Heavy Load (70% to 100%): Slow roll, reduced distance when dodging, slower stamina recovery.
•Overloaded (100%+): You cannot roll at all and will move very slowly.
Finding the balance between defense and mobility is key in Elden Ring. A medium load is typically the safest option for most builds, offering solid protection without compromising dodging ability.
Poise and Stagger Resistance
Poise is a stat that determines how resistant you are to being staggered by enemy attacks. Higher poise allows you to take heavier hits without getting staggered, which is important for tanky or melee-focused builds that want to keep attacking without interruption.
•High Poise: If you favor heavy armor and slower, powerful weapons, having high poise is beneficial as it allows you to withstand attacks while continuing your offense.
•Low Poise: Light armor sets offer less poise, so dodging and agility will be more important.
Certain enemies and bosses in Elden Ring can stagger you easily, so managing poise with heavier armor can be helpful for melee fighters or players who want to endure hits while trading damage.
How to Optimize Armor for Your Build
Choosing armor in Elden Ring depends on your playstyle and build. Here's how you should think about armor selection based on different builds:
Melee Strength Builds
Focus on High Defense and Poise: Strength builds usually prefer heavier armor since they are often in the thick of combat, trading blows with enemies. Prioritize armor sets with good physical defense and poise.
•Recommended Armor Sets:
•Bull-Goat Set: Provides extremely high poise and physical defense, perfect for tanky builds.
•Lionel’s Set: Another great heavy set with high poise and strong defense.
Dexterity Builds
Balance Between Defense and Mobility: Dexterity builds benefit from medium-weight armor that allows fast rolling while still offering decent protection. You’ll want to dodge more than absorb hits.
•Recommended Armor Sets:
•Raptor’s Black Feathers: A light-to-medium armor set that improves jump attack damage, ideal for agile Dexterity builds.
•Royal Remains Set: Good defense with moderate weight, making it great for a balanced Dexterity-focused character.
Magic Builds
Prioritize Light Armor and FP Efficiency: Magic-focused characters often rely more on dodging and ranged attacks. Lighter armor sets allow better mobility and faster casting speed. Some armor sets also boost magic stats.
•Recommended Armor Sets:
•Queen’s Crescent Crown (or Lusat’s Glintstone Crown): Boosts Intelligence and increases magic damage at the cost of higher FP consumption.
•Azur’s Glintstone Set: Provides solid magic boosts and is ideal for sorcery builds.
Faith and Incantation Builds
Balance Defense and Mobility: Faith-based characters might want a mix of protection and mobility, with some sets boosting healing or casting effectiveness.
•Recommended Armor Sets:
•Crucible Tree Set: Heavy armor with great defenses, offering excellent protection and poise for melee Faith builds.
•Ruler’s Robe Set: A lighter option that fits well with Faith builds, offering moderate protection without hindering your mobility.
Hybrid Builds
Medium Armor for Flexibility: Hybrid builds that mix melee and magic should focus on medium armor sets that offer a balance of protection and mobility without heavy penalties on your casting or dodging speed.
•Recommended Armor Sets:
•Scaled Armor Set: A balanced option that offers solid defense and works well for hybrid characters.
•Carian Knight Set: Offers decent magical defense with medium physical protection, good for battle-mages or spellswords.
Notable Armor Sets and Where to Find Them
Bull-Goat Set (Heavy, High Poise)
•Location: Obtained from Great Horned Tragoth by completing the Patches questline or invading Tragoth at the Ruins-Strewn Precipice.
•Why It’s Good: It has the highest poise in the game and very strong physical defense, making it perfect for tank builds.
Raptor’s Black Feathers (Light, Jump Attack Boost)
•Location: Found in a chest in Sage’s Cave, hidden in Altus Plateau.
•Why It’s Good: It boosts jump attack damage, making it excellent for Dexterity builds that favor aerial attacks.
Crucible Axe Set (Heavy, Faith Build)
•Location: Dropped by the Crucible Knight Ordovis at Auriza Hero’s Grave in the Altus Plateau.
•Why It’s Good: Great for melee Faith builds due to its high poise and strong defense.
Carian Knight Set (Medium, Magic Resistance)
•Location: Found in a chest in Raya Lucaria Academy.
•Why It’s Good: This set offers excellent magic defense and a respectable amount of physical defense, ideal for hybrid melee-magic builds.
Lusat’s Glintstone Crown (Magic Boost)
•Location: Found in Sellia, Town of Sorcery, after defeating Lusat.
•Why It’s Good: Increases Intelligence and magic power, making it perfect for sorcery builds, though it increases FP costs.
Royal Remains Set (Health Regeneration)
•Location: Found in Roundtable Hold after defeating Ensha.
•Why It’s Good: This armor regenerates health when you drop below a certain HP threshold, making it great for staying alive in prolonged battles.
Tips for Armor Selection 
•Balance Equip Load and Poise: If you want to tank hits, consider going for a medium-heavy armor set that maintains mobility while offering decent poise. High-poise builds are excellent for trading hits with enemies and bosses.
•Consider Your Playstyle: If you prefer dodging and avoiding damage entirely, prioritize light armor and aim for a Light Load to maximize your rolling speed. For tankier, melee-focused builds, go for Heavy Load setups with strong poise.
•Upgrade Endurance: If you find that heavy armor makes you too slow, consider upgrading your Endurance stat to increase your maximum equip load. This will allow you to wear heavier armor without sacrificing mobility.
•Use Talismans to Complement Your Armor: Talismans like Radagon’s Scarseal or Erdtree’s Favor can increase your equip load, HP, and stamina, giving you more flexibility in your armor choices.
Fashion Souls: Style Matters
While stats are important, many players also care about how their character looks. Elden Ring offers a lot of unique and visually striking armor sets. If you don’t want to sacrifice style for function, try to find sets that offer a balance between both. With enough practice and skill, you can still succeed with less-than-optimal armor if you prefer a certain aesthetic.
By understanding the role of armor in Elden Ring, you can fine-tune your defensive capabilities to suit your playstyle, whether you prefer dodging gracefully in light armor or withstanding powerful blows in heavy plate. Experiment with different armor combinations to find what best supports your build while exploring the dangerous world of the Lands Between.
