Armor/DS

Don't Starve

DST

Armor is any in-game Item that mitigates damage and protects the character from harm. It works by absorbing a portion of incoming damage in place of the wearer's (character or mob) Health. Note that an armor's Durability is decreased every time it blocks damage.

Calculations

When the character or mob is wearing both chest armor and head armor, the total received damage would be distributed as follows:

1. Initial damage is absorbed by the primary armor.
2. Leftover damage is absorbed by the secondary armor.
3. Unabsorbed damage is then subtracted from the character's or mob's .

It is difficult to tell without getting hit first or using a mod which item is designated as primary or secondary armor. Re-equipping them or reloading the game can change this order. The damage subtracted from the character's is the same despite the order.

Example: Attack damage of a Spider Queen (80) to a character or mob equipped with a (primary armor) and a (secondary armor) will be distributed as follows:

• 80 × 60% = 48 damage is absorbed by the
• (80 − 48) × 80% = 25.6 damage is absorbed by the
• 80 − 48 − 25.6 = 6.4 damage is subtracted from the character or mob's

Calculation can be simplified to: 80 × (1 − 60%) × (1 − 80%) = 6.4

In a generic form:

damage * (1 - primary armor) * (1 - secondary armor) = damage taken

Note that the damage taken does not change when the primary and secondary values are switched, only how durability is lost is affected.

Chest armor

Item	Name	DLC	Durability	Damage Absorption	Sanity	Movement Speed	Crafting	Notes
	Grass Suit		225	60%			x10 x2
	Log Suit		450	80%			x8 x2
	Night Armor		750	95%	-10/min		x5 x3	Decreases Sanity by 10% of total damage (Damage absorbed by the armor + damage let through the armor).
	Marble Suit		1050	95%		-30%	x6 x2
	Snurtle Shell Armor		1050	60%				Players can hide inside the armor. It absorbs 100% damage while hiding inside. Snurtle Shell Armor has a 75% chance to drop from Snurtles.
	Thulecite Suit		1800	90%	+3.3/min		x6 x4
	Scalemail		1350	70%	+3.3/min		x1 x1 x3	When worn, it provides immunity to fire damage, ignites enemies attacking the player.
	Seashell Suit		750	75%			x10 x2 x1	Protects the player from poisoning through physical contact.
	Limestone Suit		825	70%	+2.0/min	-10%	x3 x2
	Obsidian Armor		1350	70%			x5 x1 x1	When worn, it provides immunity to fire damage, ignites enemies attacking the player.
	Cactus Armor		450	80%			x3 x1	Deals 17 damage to attackers. Elephant Cacti ignore the player.
	Tin Suit		1200	85%		-10%	x3 x1	Has the possibility of spawning in a Bandit Stash.
	Mant Suit		450	80%			x5 x1	Makes Mants neutral to the player if worn with a Mant Mask.
	Weevole Mantle		900	65%			x4 x2	It doesn't contribute a speed reduction during the Humid Season however it does not prevent the helmet slot to the player
	Vortex Cloak		450	100% (from non-shadows)			x5 x1	Adds 10 inventory slots. Drains Sanity equal to 20% of damage absorbed by each hit. Nightmare Fuel can be used to restore 10% of its durability, at the cost of 5 Sanity.
	Bramble Husk		375	65%			x2 x4 ()	Prevents damage from Brambles, Bramble Blooms and Bramble Traps. Deals 22.5 damage to every mob around wearer when hit. Only available to the Hamlet character Wormwood.

Head armor

Item	Name	DLC	Durability	Damage Absorption	Water Resistance	Crafting	Notes
	Football Helmet		450	80%	20%	x1 x1	If given to Pig or Bunnyman it provides them a damage absorption effect
	Beekeeper Hat		750	80%	20%	x8 x1	Only absorbs damage taken from Bees, Killer Bees, Grumble Bees and the Bee Queen, ineffective against everything else.
	Shelmet		750	90%	20%		Has a 10% chance to drop from Slurtles.
	Thulecite Crown		1200	90%		x4 x4	Has a 33% chance to activate a force field which absorbs 100% of damage and prevents the player from getting stunned; While the force field is active 5% of the damage that would have been dealt is instead reduced from Sanity.
	Visor		600	85%		x1 x1 ()	Removes blurriness and fog effects in the Hamlet DLC. Only available to Wagstaff.
	Battle Helm		750	80%	20%	x2 x2 ()	Only available to the Reign of Giants character Wigfrid.
	Horned Helmet		600	85%	35%	x1 x4 x1	Protects against Poison from physical contact.
	Mant Mask		450	80%		x5 x1	Makes Mants neutral to the player when worn with a Mant Suit.
	Fancy Helmet		1200	85%	20%	x3 x3	Reduces movement speed by 10%. Has the possibility of spawning in a Bandit Stash.

Primary & secondary armor

The game itself does not distinguish any sort of pre-defined priorities of armor, instead takes them on the fly. While it might be hard to keep track of what armor receives the most damage, it is manageable.

Primary armor, i.e. the armor that absorbs the most damage, is always the last equipped. In order to save one's helmet, they would equip the helmet first, then the suit. If a suit is hot switched (replaced right away) it keeps its position. However, if there is any moment in which the helmet slot is empty (occurs when a helmet breaks, even if the player has a replacement in their inventory), the helmet assumes the primary slot and the suit has to be re-equipped.

It has been reported that reloading the game could change the positions. If not sure what armor is primary, just unequip the suit and equip it again, and the suit will become the primary.

Keep in mind that even the most beaten up log/grass suit still retains its original fuel value, therefore does not have to be used up. Instead of heading into the battle with an armor with low durability, risking the helmet assuming primary slot mid-fight, try equipping the shiny new suit and leaving the old one for when the night comes.