Armour
One thing to note about armour is armour breakpoints where it gives more than 1 AC. This makes some higher level progression scale (those operating on 4/9/14/19/24/29 or 5/10/15/20/25/30) worse for heavy armour users as they are basically going to be losing 2 (3 at one point) AC relative to using the basic magic armor at some points.Light and cloth armor only have 2 breakpoints, 16 and 26, so they’ll usually just be behind 1 AC using these higher level progression scale armours.
AC is also less relevant as you go up in levels. Approximately 70% of monster attacks target AC at level 1, and only approximately 40% target it by level 26. That means going down 2 AC at level 26 will take about 25 attacks (10% more chance to get hit per attack, 40% of attacks) against you to mean you get hit once more than you otherwise would have, vs the approximately 14 attacks it would have meant at level 1.
Heroic:
GoldBattle Harness (4+, Uncommon. Cloth, Leather or Hide): So first thing is the initiative bonus. Initiative is good, this is a power bonus though unlike many of the other items which do this which give an item bonus. This means it does stack with those items, but does not stack with e.g. Combat Leader. Check what bonus types you have to initiative before buying. The second thing is the free draw. This allows you to drop a held item, draw another one for free and use it all without spending an action, enabling better golfbagging of certain items. If you don’t want to drop your items, or want to replicate this effect without this armour, consider the Fast Hands power instead, which lets you do the same thing.
Sky Blue
Dwarven Armor (2+, Uncommon. Chain, Scale or Plate): The default low-level armor for heavy armor users - on the 2+ progression track which means you get your +2 ACs early, and the daily power, a free action surge, is also quite good at low levels. It doesn’t scale badly, due to being a free action heal instead of a minor one, there’s just better armors later.
Summoned Armor (6+, Uncommon. Any.): Heavy armor users may honestly opt for this to get their 2 AC bump at the earliest opportunity. It’s a strict upgrade over the basic magic armor. Light and Cloth don’t want this as much.
Robe of Eyes (2+, Uncommon. Cloth.): Being blinded sucks, this gives you immunity to that. The item bonus to perception can come in handy as well but you take this because its cheap and gives blind immunity.
Stoneskin Armor (3+, Uncommon. Cloth.): There’s a lot of good cloth for low heroic and this is one of them. If your minor action isn’t contested, which it won’t be at low heroic, this is 5 HP per encounter, adding up to a couple of surges a day.
Flowform Armor (4+, Uncommon. Cloth or Leather): Incredibly good armor that scales very well. No action (not an immediate) to immediately save against all those nasty save ends effects before they can take your turn away. As an encounter power too.
Shimmering Armor (4+, Uncommon. Cloth.)/Shadowdance Armor (5+, Uncommon. Cloth or leather): Rated the same for doing the same thing. May be redundant if you have Staff Expertise, if so skip these, but any character using Area or Ranged powers will find it invaluable to never have to worry about OAs for using their attacks again. It saves you so much pain when movement restrictions come into effect.
Tactician’s Armor (5+, Common. Chain, Scale or Plate): How does a 5+ progression heavy armor end up sky blue? Well, it’s this. Add 1 to a bunch of powers and class features. Swordmages with heavy, INTlords, Invokers, Artificers, etc. All really like this armor if they can stomach the AC loss it will usually bring.
Armor of Dogged Grit (7+, Uncommon. Chain, Scale or Plate): Does not actually trigger that often, and you can’t be cheeky and leave it at a lower level to trigger it more often because its heavy armor and needs to be upgraded. However, it will trigger occasionally and will probably be worth a surge or more over a day. Being on the 2+ progression scale is what really sells this.
Summoned Armor (6+, Uncommon. Any.): Heavy armor users may honestly opt for this to get their 2 AC bump at the earliest opportunity. It’s a strict upgrade over the basic magic armor. Light and Cloth don’t want this as much.
Robe of Eyes (2+, Uncommon. Cloth.): Being blinded sucks, this gives you immunity to that. The item bonus to perception can come in handy as well but you take this because its cheap and gives blind immunity.
Stoneskin Armor (3+, Uncommon. Cloth.): There’s a lot of good cloth for low heroic and this is one of them. If your minor action isn’t contested, which it won’t be at low heroic, this is 5 HP per encounter, adding up to a couple of surges a day.
Flowform Armor (4+, Uncommon. Cloth or Leather): Incredibly good armor that scales very well. No action (not an immediate) to immediately save against all those nasty save ends effects before they can take your turn away. As an encounter power too.
Shimmering Armor (4+, Uncommon. Cloth.)/Shadowdance Armor (5+, Uncommon. Cloth or leather): Rated the same for doing the same thing. May be redundant if you have Staff Expertise, if so skip these, but any character using Area or Ranged powers will find it invaluable to never have to worry about OAs for using their attacks again. It saves you so much pain when movement restrictions come into effect.
Tactician’s Armor (5+, Common. Chain, Scale or Plate): How does a 5+ progression heavy armor end up sky blue? Well, it’s this. Add 1 to a bunch of powers and class features. Swordmages with heavy, INTlords, Invokers, Artificers, etc. All really like this armor if they can stomach the AC loss it will usually bring.
Armor of Dogged Grit (7+, Uncommon. Chain, Scale or Plate): Does not actually trigger that often, and you can’t be cheeky and leave it at a lower level to trigger it more often because its heavy armor and needs to be upgraded. However, it will trigger occasionally and will probably be worth a surge or more over a day. Being on the 2+ progression scale is what really sells this.
Blue
Bloodiron Armor (8+, Uncommon. Scale or Plate): If you have a lot of AoE attacks this is basically a +2 item bonus to AC. Of course, upgrading your armor to the next tier is just a +2 bonus to AC, and this becomes worse if you get any other item bonus to AC. It’s on the 3+ progression track so it has some uses for the right builds.
Hero’s Armor (2+, Uncommon. Any.): A pretty nifty item that gives you just a bit more out of your action points, either letting an ally spend a surge which can be invaluable at low levels, or just giving you a bit of defense. It’s very cheap, too.
Runic Armor (3+, Uncommon. Any.): Arcane only. Requires you have some non standard action way to second wind, such as being a Dwarf. Untyped bonus to all arcane damage rolls for 2 turns if you can meet those requirements.
Stanching Armor (3+, Uncommon. Cloth or Leather): Cloth has so many good armors that this is just as good as another cloth armor, but for Leather it is very good. Minor action surge is not the free action surge of Dwarven, but for low heroic that doesn’t matter all too much.
Genasi Soul Armor (4+, Uncommon. Cloth, Leather or Hide.): Promise of Storm is too awkward to steal with this, so usually its used to steal one of the movement powers. Not terrible, it is a daily though.
Scale of the Serpent (4+, Uncommon. Scale): 4+ progression track for heavy armor strikes again. The daily is quite good when your immediates aren’t saturated, removing these conditions can buy your turn back. Worth a consideration.
Time Link Armor (4+, Uncommon. Chain.): Item bonus to initiative and a daily initiative reroll if you roll badly on your d20. Not terrible, but being relegated to Chain makes this suffer the heavy armor problem of a 4+ armor.
Bloodthread Armor (5+, Uncommon. Cloth): A bit weird to rate as its effectively competing against Magic Armor +2 instead of +1, due to being a 5+ progression scale. So it gives you (relatively) +1 AC and +2 to saves when bloodied.
Benefactor Armor (9+, Uncommon. Chain, Scale or Plate.): Gets a little bit more out of your healing powers - approximately a surge and a half per day - and provides a daily double heal in a pinch. Heavy armor problem due to being on the 4+ progression, but overall not a bad pick for leaders in heavy armor.
Blending Armor (9+, Uncommon. Cloth, Leather or Hide): Move action shift 3 as an encounter power is pretty good for getting you out of trouble. A decent defensive armor.
Hero’s Armor (2+, Uncommon. Any.): A pretty nifty item that gives you just a bit more out of your action points, either letting an ally spend a surge which can be invaluable at low levels, or just giving you a bit of defense. It’s very cheap, too.
Runic Armor (3+, Uncommon. Any.): Arcane only. Requires you have some non standard action way to second wind, such as being a Dwarf. Untyped bonus to all arcane damage rolls for 2 turns if you can meet those requirements.
Stanching Armor (3+, Uncommon. Cloth or Leather): Cloth has so many good armors that this is just as good as another cloth armor, but for Leather it is very good. Minor action surge is not the free action surge of Dwarven, but for low heroic that doesn’t matter all too much.
Genasi Soul Armor (4+, Uncommon. Cloth, Leather or Hide.): Promise of Storm is too awkward to steal with this, so usually its used to steal one of the movement powers. Not terrible, it is a daily though.
Scale of the Serpent (4+, Uncommon. Scale): 4+ progression track for heavy armor strikes again. The daily is quite good when your immediates aren’t saturated, removing these conditions can buy your turn back. Worth a consideration.
Time Link Armor (4+, Uncommon. Chain.): Item bonus to initiative and a daily initiative reroll if you roll badly on your d20. Not terrible, but being relegated to Chain makes this suffer the heavy armor problem of a 4+ armor.
Bloodthread Armor (5+, Uncommon. Cloth): A bit weird to rate as its effectively competing against Magic Armor +2 instead of +1, due to being a 5+ progression scale. So it gives you (relatively) +1 AC and +2 to saves when bloodied.
Benefactor Armor (9+, Uncommon. Chain, Scale or Plate.): Gets a little bit more out of your healing powers - approximately a surge and a half per day - and provides a daily double heal in a pinch. Heavy armor problem due to being on the 4+ progression, but overall not a bad pick for leaders in heavy armor.
Blending Armor (9+, Uncommon. Cloth, Leather or Hide): Move action shift 3 as an encounter power is pretty good for getting you out of trouble. A decent defensive armor.
Purple
Bestial Armor (3+, Uncommon. Leather or Hide): Armor for chargers. Not necessarily bad for anyone else as it turns your charge into a double attack as a daily, but chargers with their MBA buffs tend to get significantly more out of this daily power.
Armor of Dark Majesty (4+, Uncommon. Leather or Hide): Warlock only, and is essentially competing with +2 magic armor, so you’re relatively +1 AC and +2 all NADs vs your curse targets. Much better if you can curse a bunch of enemies such as by Rod of Corruption.
Bear Spirit Armor (4+, Uncommon. Leather): Shaman only. This is a lot of temp HP for your whole at the early levels, it can easily swing an encounter to your favour.
Lifefont Armor (4+, Uncommon. Hide.): Warden only. Improves your Font of Life a bit, making you harder to disable, and if you end up with more than 1 save ends on you the daily can come in clutch.
Pouncing Armor (4+, Uncommon. Leather or Hide): Alternate armor for chargers. Using at at-will at the end of a charge lets you apply charge bonuses to at wills, and the ability to do a jump when charging is invaluable in skirting terrain. Bestial Armor has higher nova potential, but this is more consistent.
Marauder’s Armor (7+, Uncommon. Leather or Hide): Defensive armor for chargers, doesn’t have the explosive damage capacity of the other two but is pretty much always going to be a +1/2/3 untyped AC bonus for you.
Shared Valor Armor (8+, Common. Leather or Chain.): Great armor for Ardents and other sources of large amounts of THP, buff yourself while you’re buffing your ally. Combos with the Shield of Fellowship later if you can only give THP to yourself.
Shadow Warlock Armor (10+, Uncommon. Leather.): The god armor for warlocks and obviously useless for anyone else. This is your source of easy CA.
Armor of Dark Majesty (4+, Uncommon. Leather or Hide): Warlock only, and is essentially competing with +2 magic armor, so you’re relatively +1 AC and +2 all NADs vs your curse targets. Much better if you can curse a bunch of enemies such as by Rod of Corruption.
Bear Spirit Armor (4+, Uncommon. Leather): Shaman only. This is a lot of temp HP for your whole at the early levels, it can easily swing an encounter to your favour.
Lifefont Armor (4+, Uncommon. Hide.): Warden only. Improves your Font of Life a bit, making you harder to disable, and if you end up with more than 1 save ends on you the daily can come in clutch.
Pouncing Armor (4+, Uncommon. Leather or Hide): Alternate armor for chargers. Using at at-will at the end of a charge lets you apply charge bonuses to at wills, and the ability to do a jump when charging is invaluable in skirting terrain. Bestial Armor has higher nova potential, but this is more consistent.
Marauder’s Armor (7+, Uncommon. Leather or Hide): Defensive armor for chargers, doesn’t have the explosive damage capacity of the other two but is pretty much always going to be a +1/2/3 untyped AC bonus for you.
Shared Valor Armor (8+, Common. Leather or Chain.): Great armor for Ardents and other sources of large amounts of THP, buff yourself while you’re buffing your ally. Combos with the Shield of Fellowship later if you can only give THP to yourself.
Shadow Warlock Armor (10+, Uncommon. Leather.): The god armor for warlocks and obviously useless for anyone else. This is your source of easy CA.
Green
Eladrin Armor (3+, Chain): Teleport enhancer. Weirdly chain (I guess its elven chain). As usual with these, Expected Table Variance on what it applies to. If you need more distance out of your teleports and have chain proficiency, consider this.
Gloaming Armor (5+, Rare. Cloth, Leather or Hide): Invisibility shenanigans. If you never attack you stay invisible the entire encounter, every encounter. Pacifist clerics rejoice!
Irrefutable Armor (7+, Uncommon. Any.): Got a will targeting daily you don’t want to miss, and don’t care about your armor slot except for AC otherwise? This is probably the armor for you.
Ever-Fading Armor (10+, Uncommon. Leather or Hide.): Nothing stops you chaining this power to continue being invisible forever. Invisibility shenanigan builds also like this.
Gloaming Armor (5+, Rare. Cloth, Leather or Hide): Invisibility shenanigans. If you never attack you stay invisible the entire encounter, every encounter. Pacifist clerics rejoice!
Irrefutable Armor (7+, Uncommon. Any.): Got a will targeting daily you don’t want to miss, and don’t care about your armor slot except for AC otherwise? This is probably the armor for you.
Ever-Fading Armor (10+, Uncommon. Leather or Hide.): Nothing stops you chaining this power to continue being invisible forever. Invisibility shenanigan builds also like this.
Green
Meliorating Armor (3+, Uncommon. Chain, Scale or Plate): I don’t know what DM is putting you through the blender of a bunch of milestones in a day at low heroic, but if your DM is doing that this is the armor for you. Not very good in a 4 encounter 1 milestone day. Not amazing in a 6 encounter 2 milestone day.
Lifegiving Armor (3+, Uncommon. Plate): Necrotic resistance. This and the following armours are basically a whole bunch of various damage resistances which can be useful depending on campaign (e.g. undead do a lot of necrotic, so this armor is good for campaigns with lots of undead). Despite many being heavy armor, the resist outweighs the AC loss. Daily saves a surge to a surge and a half per day.
Black Iron Armor (4+, Uncommon. Scale or Plate): Necrotic and Fire resistance.
Ectoplasmic Armor (4+, Uncommon. Leather or Hide): Psychic resistance. Also a decent daily to get you out of a pinch.
Pelaurum Armor (4+, Uncommon. Chain, Scale or Plate): Radiant and Fire resistance.
Alchemical Defense Nodes (5+, Uncommon. Chain, Scale or Plate): Living Construct only. Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning or Poison resist. Some alchemical items can give two or more, these are: Acidic Fire (Acid, Fire), Blastpatch (Cold, Fire, Lightning).
Deathcut Armor (5+, Uncommon. Leather or Hide): Necrotic and Poison resistance.
Ghostphase Armor (9+, Uncommon. Cloth): Necrotic resistance. Daily power can get you out of a pinch, is a minor instead of an immediate though.
Inner Warmth Armor (9+, Uncommon. Hide): Cold and necrotic resistance.
Righteous Armor (9+, Uncommon. Plate.): Back to armors without resistance. This is a minion clearing armor for DMs that love minions. Practically this means the minions just aren’t going to flank you, though (which is still good for you) so if you want this to be “true” minion clearing you have to force them to get CA against you.
Lifegiving Armor (3+, Uncommon. Plate): Necrotic resistance. This and the following armours are basically a whole bunch of various damage resistances which can be useful depending on campaign (e.g. undead do a lot of necrotic, so this armor is good for campaigns with lots of undead). Despite many being heavy armor, the resist outweighs the AC loss. Daily saves a surge to a surge and a half per day.
Black Iron Armor (4+, Uncommon. Scale or Plate): Necrotic and Fire resistance.
Ectoplasmic Armor (4+, Uncommon. Leather or Hide): Psychic resistance. Also a decent daily to get you out of a pinch.
Pelaurum Armor (4+, Uncommon. Chain, Scale or Plate): Radiant and Fire resistance.
Alchemical Defense Nodes (5+, Uncommon. Chain, Scale or Plate): Living Construct only. Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning or Poison resist. Some alchemical items can give two or more, these are: Acidic Fire (Acid, Fire), Blastpatch (Cold, Fire, Lightning).
Deathcut Armor (5+, Uncommon. Leather or Hide): Necrotic and Poison resistance.
Ghostphase Armor (9+, Uncommon. Cloth): Necrotic resistance. Daily power can get you out of a pinch, is a minor instead of an immediate though.
Inner Warmth Armor (9+, Uncommon. Hide): Cold and necrotic resistance.
Righteous Armor (9+, Uncommon. Plate.): Back to armors without resistance. This is a minion clearing armor for DMs that love minions. Practically this means the minions just aren’t going to flank you, though (which is still good for you) so if you want this to be “true” minion clearing you have to force them to get CA against you.
Shields
Vanguard’s Shield (3, Common. Any shield): Somewhat party dependent, parties that daze often might find themselves getting charged a lot - and this is effectively a +4 to all defenses most of the time in that sort of party.
Jousting Shield (2+, Uncommon. Any shield): Chargers. Losing your arms slot for this can be worth it if you’re getting shredded by OAs. OA defense, unlike badge of the berserker, lets you walk away from an enemy you just charged last turn and charge them again without worry.
Tusk Shield (2, Common. Light shield.): Defensive charger shield. This will permanently be a +2 item bonus to all defenses for you.
Hammer Shield (8, Uncommon. Any shield): Requires hammer. Creative name aside, for hammer users this is basically going to be a +1 item bonus to all defenses all the time. Up to you to decide if its worth your offhand and your arms slot.
Jousting Shield (2+, Uncommon. Any shield): Chargers. Losing your arms slot for this can be worth it if you’re getting shredded by OAs. OA defense, unlike badge of the berserker, lets you walk away from an enemy you just charged last turn and charge them again without worry.
Tusk Shield (2, Common. Light shield.): Defensive charger shield. This will permanently be a +2 item bonus to all defenses for you.
Hammer Shield (8, Uncommon. Any shield): Requires hammer. Creative name aside, for hammer users this is basically going to be a +1 item bonus to all defenses all the time. Up to you to decide if its worth your offhand and your arms slot.
Paragon:
GoldDilatory Armor (13+, Rare. Any.): Aside from the text of this armor quite literally being broken (it should say you can choose to succeed the save instead of fail), even with the ruling that makes it not silly, it’s still probably the best armor in the game. Get hit with a bad effect and just say no. Stuns and dominates are a lot less scary when you only take them after all the enemies are dead. Also an encounter power because wizards didn’t think the effect was good enough.
Sky Blue
Feytouched Armor (12+, Uncommon, Leather or Hide): Item bonus to initiative if you already have a power bonus and don’t want to golfbag with the battle harness. Also cheaper than the harness being a 2+ progression scale instead of 4+.
Armor of Dark Deeds (14+, Uncommon. Leather or Hide): The armor of choice for a lot of strikers - most of the time you should be attacking with CA, so this is effectively permanent concealment.
Greater Armor of Eyes (14+, Rare. Any.): Like the robe of eyes, but any armor and also gives you darkvision if you need it. Higher level versions remove CA for enemies flanking you.
Legendmaker Armor (14+, Uncommon. Leather or Chain): Effectively gives your ally an AP if they reduce an enemy to 0. Doesn’t even specify non minion. More actions = good. Is an immediate so you might find it difficult to use if your immediate slot is congested
Temporal Armor (20+, Uncommon. Cloth.): Effectively an extra AP per day, though this is a minor action. Might honestly be worth golfbagging this instead of buying a higher level version if you can, 1 AC is not that relevant by level 25 and standards are.
Armor of Dark Deeds (14+, Uncommon. Leather or Hide): The armor of choice for a lot of strikers - most of the time you should be attacking with CA, so this is effectively permanent concealment.
Greater Armor of Eyes (14+, Rare. Any.): Like the robe of eyes, but any armor and also gives you darkvision if you need it. Higher level versions remove CA for enemies flanking you.
Legendmaker Armor (14+, Uncommon. Leather or Chain): Effectively gives your ally an AP if they reduce an enemy to 0. Doesn’t even specify non minion. More actions = good. Is an immediate so you might find it difficult to use if your immediate slot is congested
Temporal Armor (20+, Uncommon. Cloth.): Effectively an extra AP per day, though this is a minor action. Might honestly be worth golfbagging this instead of buying a higher level version if you can, 1 AC is not that relevant by level 25 and standards are.
Blue
Bloodtheft Armor (19+, Uncommon. Leather): Adds up to a surge to two over the day, also scales with necrotic damage enhancing stuff to make the enemy damage a bit better.
Purple
Robe of the Archmage (20+, Rare, Cloth): Wizard only. Extra utility power of any level every day, can be any type you want. Gives some NAD bonuses too.
Green
Champion’s Hauberk (13+, Uncommon. Chain or Scale): If you have Healing Word and want more channel divinities instead, this is the armor for you.
Armor of Shared Valor (15+, Uncommon. Chain or Leather): If you grant bonuses to defense this duplicates the buffs onto you. Mostly a Leader-specific armor.
Armor of Shared Valor (15+, Uncommon. Chain or Leather): If you grant bonuses to defense this duplicates the buffs onto you. Mostly a Leader-specific armor.
Shields
Winged Shield (15, Rare, Light Shield): This gets around one of the major problems of magic shields being that they eat two slots. This only eats your arms slot which might not be all that useful to you, as opposed to your offhand slot.
Shield of Fellowship (15, Uncommon. Any shield.): Forms a combo with Shared Valor armor (NOT armor of shared valor) if you grant THP to yourself. Should always be used in this combo.
Shield of Fellowship (15, Uncommon. Any shield.): Forms a combo with Shared Valor armor (NOT armor of shared valor) if you grant THP to yourself. Should always be used in this combo.
Epic:
Armor of Shared Health (30, Uncommon. Chain.): Is a level 30 item which means its ludicrously expensive. Leaders will enjoy the ridiculous amount of free healing they get out of this, amounting to a lot of free surges per day for them.Shadowflow Armor (13+, Rare. Cloth or Leather.): Encounter power invisibility as a minor action. Not really worth getting at paragon because concealment is significantly worse.
Armor of Enduring Health (23+, Uncommon. Hide or Chain.): There’s a bunch of stuff that can trigger off Second Wind, if you have a bunch of that stuff then another second wind is going to be useful for you. Otherwise not good.
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