While Pre Hardmode's armor progression is nothing special, Hardmode opens up a lot of variety in armor sets, with some being more viable than others due to their special set bonuses, or the raw stats they provide. This guide will cover every armor available and rank them based on their viability.
The Different ranks are:
S Rank: Overshadows everything else available, this armor is overpowered or extremely strong.
A Rank: Solid, but not broken. This armor will always perform very well in any situation you use it in.
B Rank: Not exactly bad, but there is something better available.
C Rank: Mediocre, there is definitely another armor you should be wearing instead.
F Rank: Completely useless. There is never a reason to consider getting this.
Note that Hybrid Sets made from the combination of different armor segments exist and are usually better than the full armor sets. This guide won't cover these hybrid builds, but if an armor has a particularly good piece for mixing it will have a "#" next to its rank and a brief description of why the specific piece is used.
It should be obvious that each armor will be ranked relative to other sets in its current stage of progression. There is also no way you will agree with my full list, so you are perfectly free to criticize the hell out of it if you disagree with me.
Pre-Mechanical Boss
Pearlwood Armor
Stats:
+8 Defense
Rank: F
Well, duh.
Cobalt Armor
Stats:
+28 Defense, +15% Melee damage, +5% Crit chance, +15% Melee speed, +17% Movement Speed (Melee)
+20 Defense, +15% Ranged damage, +13% Ranged Crit Chance, +10% Movement Speed, +20% chance not to consume ammo (Ranged)
+18 Defense, +13% Magic Damage +14% Magic Crit chance, +40 Max Mana, -14% Mana usage, +10% Movement Speed (Magic)
Rank: F
Only slightly better than late Pre-Hardmode armors, and noticeably worse than every other armor available in Hardmode, even Palladium.
Its availability is the only thing going for it, although the time spent mining enough Cobalt for this is almost always better spent getting something else. This is essentially the Hardmode equivalent of Copper Armor.
Palladium Armor
Stats:
+21 Defense, +14% Magic Damage, +12% Magic Crit Chance, +60 Max Mana (Magic)
+23 Defense, +14% Ranged damage, +12% Ranged Crit Chance (Ranged)
+32 Defense, +17% Melee damage, +3% Melee Crit chance, +12% Melee speed (Melee)
Set bonus: Gain Rapid Healing (+2 HP/sec) for five seconds after hitting an enemy.
Rank: B
Lacking in terms of stats, but a very efficient set bonus for survivability, even after its nerf. Being as easy to obtain as Cobalt armor, this can be the only armor you'd need to bother with to beat the Mechs.
Mythril Armor
Stats:
+24 Defense, +22% Magic Damage, +10% Magic Crit Chance, +60 Max Mana -17% Mana usage (Magic)
+37 Defense, +17% Melee damage, +28% Melee Crit chance (Melee)
+27 Defense, +19% Ranged damage, +17% Ranged Crit Chance, 20% chance not to consume ammo (Ranged)
Rank: A*/C#
For a melee armor, this is a rather interesting sidegrade for Adamantite that sacrifices defense and secondary stats for all-out DPS. For the two other classes, though, this is nothing more than the armor for those that can't be bothered to look for the Tier 3 ores and who were unlucky to also get Cobalt in their world.
Those Mythril Greaves have quite a lot of extra crit chance for hybrid builds; more so than any other armor in this tier.
Orichalcum Armor
Stats:
+27 Defense, +24% Magic Crit Chance, +8% damage, +80 Max Mana +11% Movement Speed (Magic)
+30 Defense, +21% Ranged Crit Chance, +8% damage, +19% Movement Speed (Ranged)
+42 Defense, +19% Melee damage, +9% Crit chance, +11% Melee Speed, +18% Movement Speed (Melee)
Set Bonus: After hitting an enemy, a piercing petal with 30 base damage appears attacks from the edge of the screen.
Rank: B
Somehow underrated and overrated at the same time. While it grants up to 108 passive DPS in the form of a piercing, wall penetrating projectile, it is inaccurate and the rest of the stats are poor.
Far from unusable but truth be told, its availability is the best thing going for it.
Adamantite Armor
Stats:
+32 Defense, +20% Magic Damage, +19% Magic Crit Chance, +80 Max Mana, -19% Mana usage, +5% Movement speed (Magic)
+36 Defense, +22% Ranged damage, +17% Ranged Crit Chance, 25% chance not to consume ammo, +5% Movement speed (Ranged)
+50 Defense, +22% Melee damage, +14% Melee Crit chance, +20% Melee Speed, +25% Movement speed (Melee)
Rank: A#
Not a lot to talk about here, this armor doesn't have much to offer besides stats. Special mention to the Adamantite Mask; for rocket launchers specifically it's better than the Shroomite Helmets, since half their damage comes from Rocket Launchers, which the Specialist bonus doesn't affect.
All three of its set bonuses are nothing more than secondary stats, so I'd highly recommend you to hybridize with this armor if you don't care about those.
Titanium Armor
Stats:
+34 Defense, +21% Ranged Damage, +13% Ranged Crit Chance, +6% Movement Speed (Ranged)
+49 Defense, +16% Melee Damage, +15% Crit Chance, +9% Melee Speed, +6% Movement Speed (Melee)
+30 Defense, +23% Magic Damage, +13% Magic Crit Chance, +100 Max Mana, +6% Movement Speed (Magic)
Set Bonus: Hitting enemies creates Crystal Shards that damage enemies (base damage 50, up to 7 at the time)
Rank: A
High stats (only slightly below Adamantite) with a powerful set bonus. The Titanium Barrier requires clever use of Shield of Cthulhu's invincibility and it can't be used effectively against many ranged enemies, but when it shines it adds a very noticeable amount of extra DPS in a fight.
Since all weapons summon shards at the same rate and with the same damage, you should always use this with weapons that can hit rapidly.
Special mention to its synergy with Fetid Baghnakhs, which allows you to experience a less extreme version of how ridiculously busted they used to be back in 1.3.
Frost Armor
Stats:
+43 Defense, +26% Melee and Ranged Damage, +11% Melee and Ranged Crit Chance, +10% Melee Speed, +8% Movement Speed
Set bonus: Melee and Ranged attacks inflict Frostbite (25 Damage over time)
Rank: A
As a Ranged armor, this is quite an improvement over Adamantite, boasting higher stats and a much more impactful set bonus.
As a Melee armor it is more of a sidegrade to Adamantite: one has better stats, the other has a Flat DPS set bonus that also allows you to camp better underground.
The Frost Chestplate (20 defense, +11% Melee and Ranged Crit) makes for some very strong hybrid armors at this stage in the game.
Forbidden Armor
Stats:
+26 Defense, +25% Magic and Minion damage, +80 Max Mana, +2 Minion slots.
Set bonus: Double tapping down Summons an Ancient at the Cursor's location, with 20 base Minion and Magic damage (Meaning it benefits from buffs to both)
Rank: S#
Out of all the "double class" armors, this one does a perfect job of incentivizing the player to use both of the supported classes. Its stats are very disappointing for either class (better than Cobalt tho), but when both minions are magic weapons are combined it becomes extremely strong.
This is on top of one of the best set bonuses in the game: a third Nimbus Rod cloud, but wider, stronger, and very easy to reposition. Not to mention that it benefits from buffs to both minion and magic damage.
Finally, the Forbidden Treads give +1 minion slot and solid magic stats, making it a very strong choice for hybrid sets, and Forbidden Robes are not half-bad when combined with the Adamantite Headgear.
Spider Armor
Stats:
+20 Defense, +3 Minion slots, +30% Minion damage
Rank: A
Best and only pure Summoner armor of the tier. The equivalent of Adamantite Armor for a Summoner.
Crystal Assassin Armor
Stats:
+36 Defense, +15% crit chance, +15% damage, +10% melee speed and chance not to consume ammo, -10% reduced mana costs, +25% movement speed.
Set Bonus: Ability to Dash.
Rank: S
This armor requires you to understand it properly to get the most value out of it.
Its stats may leave much to be desired at first sight, but they are compensated by its set bonus, which frees up an accessory slot that would normally be taken by a Shield of Cthulhu.
However that is only half the strength of this armor, the other comes from its universal damage boosts, which means that any class using this armor will benefit significantly more from Minions and support magic weapons such as Nimbus Rod, Clinger Staff, and Life Drain. And of course, there is the freedom to use whatever main weapons you like without major losses in DPS.
Finally, it looks sick as a vanity set. This armor does it all.
Pre-Plantera
Hallowed Armor
Stats:
+50 Defense, +17% Melee Damage, +17% Melee Crit chance, +10% Melee Speed, +8% Movement Speed (Melee)
+35 Defense, +22% Ranged Damage, +15% Ranged Crit Chance, +8% Movement Speed (Ranged)
+31 Defense, +19% Magic Damage, +19% Magic Crit Chance, +100 Max Mana, +8% Movement Speed (Magic)
+27 Defense, +17% Minion Damage, +3 minion slots, +8% Movement Speed (Summoner)
Set Bonus: Grants Holy Protection (dodge the next attack) for 30 seconds after striking an enemy.
Rank: S
Ever since it was added Shadow Dodge has been an extremely powerful set bonus. Its ability to completely absorb damage was only comparable to few other defensive set bonuses, and those were almost always held back by below-average stats on their respective armors.
It shouldn't surprise anyone that when 1.4 moved it to Hallowed Armor, a set with better stats than Titanium, it was settled as the best armor in the game.
Squire Armor
Stats:
+54 Defense, +2 HP/sec, +15% Melee Damage, +30% Minion Damage, +15% Melee Crit chance, +2 Sentry Slots.
Set Bonus: Improves Ballista sentry's stats. You get the Ballista Panic! buff when hit, doubling Ballistas' attack speed for 5 seconds.
Rank: S
Even after getting its regeneration nerfed, Squire remains a very strong combination of both defense and offense for Melee, and its buffs to Minion damage and Sentry slots for Minions and the Queen Spider.
While its set bonus is mediocre since the Ballista Rod is weaker than the Queen Spider, it will be very nice to have when fighting the third tier of Old One's Army.
It also comes with not one but two great pieces for hybrid armors: Squire's Great Helm with its regen and Squire's Greaves with 15% Melee crit chance and 15% Minion damage.
Monk Armor
Stats:
+46 Defense, +20% Melee Damage, +30% Minion Damage, +15% Melee Crit chance, +2 Sentry Slots, +20% Melee Speed and Movement Speed.
Set Bonus: Lightning Auras attack faster and gain a set 25% Crit Chance.
Rank: B
I'm not too sure what was exactly the point of giving Melee two Tavernkeep sets, especially when one of them is worse than the other in every way. Compared to Squire armor, it's slightly better offensively but significantly worse defensively, leaving it vastly outclassed. Its Set Bonus is probably the most significant out of all the OOA sets, but Lightning Auras are still worse than the Queen Spider.
However, Monk's Shirt is the strongest Melee Chest piece in the game, with a massive 20% damage increase for all your hybridizing needs.
Apprentice armor
Stats:
+32 defense, +20% Magic Damage, +30% Minion Damage, +2 Sentry slots, +20% Magic Crit chance, -10% Mana usage.
Set Bonus: Flameburst Sentries gain greatly increased range.
Rank: B#
The 3 sentry slots and 30% Minion damage are pretty great, but the rest of this armor is not. Those base stats are simply too low to be good, even after their 1.4.1 buff. Forbidden armor is a strictly better version of this set.
I don't know and I don't care about how much the Set Bonus improves Flameburst sentries because they are still worse than the Queen Spider and range is nothing significant when you use them again in Tier 3.
The Apprentice Leggings give 20% Magic Crit Chance, the second-highest of any leg slot in the game.
Huntress armor
Stats:
+36 defense, +20% Ranged Damage, +30% Minion Damage, +10% Ranged Crit chance and chance not to consume ammo, +2 extra sentry slots, +20% Movement Speed.
Set Bonus: Explosive Traps inflict the Oiled debuff, making enemies take 25 extra DoT from fire debuffs.
Rank: B#
Stat wise this is a weaker clone of Monk Armor for Ranged, so everything said about that armor applies to this as well.
On paper, its set bonus looks passable after its 1.4.1 buff, but the unreliable range of the Explosive Traps combined with the fact that there are very few reliable ways to set enemies on fire at this stage in the game makes it probably the worst set bonus in Hardmode.
In the ideal world, this and Monk Armor would swap their set bonuses; then melee would be able to make much better use of it by using the Fire Gauntlet and Flasks, but that probably won't happen in vanilla.
Chlorophyte Armor
Stats:
+51 Defense, +21% Melee Damage, +21% Melee Crit chance, +5% damage reduction, +5% Movement Speed (Melee)
+44 Defense, +21% Ranged Damage, +15% Ranged Crit Chance, +5% Movement Speed (Ranged)
+38 Defense, +21% Magic Damage, +15% Magic Crit Chance, +80 Max Mana, -17% Mana usage, +5% Movement Speed (Magic)
Set Bonus: Summons a Leaf Crystal, which shoots a single projectile with 100 base damage every 0,67 seconds.
Rank: A
Solid stats and a powerful set bonus makes this a good offensive alternative to Hallowed armor, and you can simply decraft it with Shimmer once it's outlived its usefulness.
Turtle Armor
Stats:
+65 Defense, +14% Melee Damage, +12% Melee Crit chance, +15% damage reduction. Increases enemy aggro towards you.
Set bonus: Reflects contact hits with twice as much damage.
Rank: B#
Very nice defensive stats, but offensive stats that are comparable to Palladium Armor's and an insignificant Thorns effect doesn't let it stand out compared to Chlorophyte, let alone Hallowed or Squire.
At the end of the day you are better off with just the Turtle Scale Mail for melee hybrid sets, but even then Monk's Shirt is a better choice.
Post Plantera
Tiki Armor
Stats:
+30 Defense, +30% Minion Damage, +30% Whip range, +4 Minion Slots
Rank: A
Direct upgrade to Spider Armor, the best summoner armor in the tier. Its range bonus can be more useful than Spooky's higher damage in the right situations.
Spooky Armor
Stats:
+30 Defense, +56% Minion Damage, +4 Minion Slots, +20% movement speed.
Rank: A
Direct upgrade to Tiki, and this time there actually are good summoner weapons at the stage of the game where this is obtained.
Special mention to the Spooky Chestplate which can be used to give all classes 2 extra minion slots, and Spooky Leggings which are still a nice armor piece if there is nothing better for your class.
Beetle Armor
Stats:
+61 Defense, +44% Melee Damage, +8% Melee Crit Chance, +42% Melee Speed, +12% Movement Speed. (Scale Mail)
+73 Defense, 15%-45% Damage reduction, +11% Melee Damage, +5% Melee Crit Chance, +6% Melee Speed, +6 Movement Speed. (Shell)
Rank: A
Because a big mass of raw stats just can't be beaten. Whether you want to be offensive or defensive, this armor comes with the best choices for each playstyle.
Spectre Armor
+42 Defense, +25% Magic Damage, +17% Magic Crit Chance, +60 Max Mana, -13% Mana usage, +8% Movement Speed (Mask)
+30 Defense, -25% Magic Damage, +8% Magic Crit Chance, +60 Max Mana, +8% Movement Speed (Hood)
Set Bonus: Enemy hits spawn homing magic orbs that deal 100% of the hit's damage, not counting crits (Mask)/Enemy hits spawn healing orbs that heal by 20% of the hit's damage.
Rank: A/S
Looking at the mask, we have a very powerful armor for a pure mage due to its set bonus that greatly increases the DPS of any magic weapon used with it. Its set bonus is essentially 400 more flat DPS, except the orbs can crit so it can go up to +800, which is absolutely insane. Since low mana barely matters in this game, this armor is nuts offensively.
Looking at Spectre Hood, we have an S rank because immortality with lifesteal is as good as it is cheap.
Shroomite Armor
+51 Defense, +15% Damage for Arrows, Bullets or Rockets, +13% Ranged damage, +25% Ranged Crit Chance, +20% chance not to consume ammo, +12% movement speed.
Set Bonus: Standing completely still without attacking makes you go into stealth mode, giving up to +60% Damage, +10% Crit chance, and +50% Knockback.
Rank: A#
Once again, Raw stats are the way to go. The damage increase from the helmets is multiplicative, making them significantly better than they may look at first. However its The Set bonus is pretty much the worst in the game; there is simply no way to reliably use the stealth without getting brutally killed.
This has the best Ranged Helmet and second-best Ranged Chest slot for hybrid armors, that you should probably switch over to since the Shroomite Leggings and the aforementioned set bonus are amongst the worst in the game.
Dark Artist Armor
Stats:
+42 defense, +25% Magic Damage and Crit Chance, -15% Mana costs, +60% Minion Damage, +3 extra sentry slots.
Set Bonus: Greatly increases Flameburst Sentry range.
Rank: A#
There may be better sets for a pure mage, but its +60% minion damage increase makes this extremely strong when combined with certain minions.
Flameburst sentries are not strong, but their incredible range and crowd control makes them helpful to have around. Not particularly amazing, but helpful.
It also comes with the best Magic leg slot in the game, with a massive +25% crit chance bonus. Dark Artist's Robe also provides some good stats for both mages and minions as well as some mana economy.
Shinobi Infiltrator Armor
Stats:
+54 defense, +20% Melee damage, +20% melee crit chance, +20% Melee and Movement Speed, +60% Minion Damage, +3 extra sentry slots.
Set bonus: Lightning Auras hit 20% faster and gain a set 25% crit chance.
Rank: B#
The combination of solid stats for Melee, a 60% damage increase for your Dragon or Terraprisma, and a very efficient set bonus for Lightning Auras makes this a rather powerful armor for the Pillars and Moon Lord.
Shinobi Infiltrator's Helmet may be a bit weaker for melee bonuses than the Chlorophyte or Hallowed Masks, but its 20% increase to minion damage gives it a niche over those two.
Red Riding Armor
Stats:
+48 defense, +25% Ranged Damage, +20% Ranged Crit Chance, +60% Minion Damage, +3 extra sentry slots, +20% Movement Speed
Set Bonus: Explosive Traps attack much faster inflict Oiled!, making enemies take more DoT from fire debuffs.
Rank: A#
Same story: Decent stats and +60% Minion damage with some sentries to boot. Oiled is less reliable than ever at this point, but the increase in power to Explosive Traps is rather big.
When hybridizing, the Red Riding Dress may be a tiny bit weaker than the Shroomite Chest, but that doesn't matter since it comes with a massive 25% Minion damage increase as well.
Valhalla Knight Armor
Stats:
+68 defense, +4 HP/sec, +10% Melee damage,+20% Melee Crit Chance, +60% Minion Damage, +3 extra sentry slots, +20% Movement Speed.
Set Bonus: Getting hit doubles all Ballistas' attack speed for 5 seconds.
Rank: A#
Same story with Monk and Squire; slightly worse offensive stats here but significantly better defensively with great regeneration and good defense.
The Breastplate and Greaves are undoubtedly great armor pieces, but the Helmet for this armor is pretty bad even after its buff. When replaced with either Hallowed Mask or Shinobi Helmet, the result is an armor set insanely good defensively and very strong offensively.
Post Moon Lord
TLDR: They are all S rank except for Nebula Armor, which is on a tier of its own since it's so grossly broken even among the overpowered.
I mean, these sets were literally designed to be broken. Is there any reason to actually rank them considering the only thing you do with them is flex on previous challenges?
