How to Make Armor in Minecraft

At some point, a man gets really tired of getting shot by an arrow and carrying it around in their head for five minutes. Whilst this little tip may not entirely prevent you from carrying arrows around like a feathered hedgehog, it can help protect you in the long run. This guide will teach you how to make armor in Minecraft.

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How to Make Armor in Minecraft

Each Armor Piece Recipe

Armor in Minecraft is represented by another gauge that you will see hanging over the left side of your Experience Bar above your Health. Once you start collecting pieces, this can increase indicating how protected you are by your current attire. There are four armor pieces in total, the helmet, chest piece, leggings, and boots. They come in a variety of different materials, but they are all made the same way, except for obtaining the Netherite armor. 

Armor can only be created at a Crafting Table as it is the only inventory big enough to fit all the slots needed for the Recipe. Helmets are created by forming material three in a horizontal line with one material below that line on the furthest left and the furthest right, leaving a gap in the middle. Your Helmet should look like a ‘n’. 

Chestpieces are relatively simple, filling in the entirety of the slots in the Crafting Table while taking out the top middle piece to form a shirt-like piece. Not exactly the same as in Animal Crossing, but close enough for a game built on blocks.

Leggings are made similarly to helmets; however, they require the full outer length of the Crafting Table so that they form an upside down ‘U’, much longer than the helmet but following the same format.

Boots are created by using two slots on either side of the Crafting table. This can look like the quotations around the letter ‘n’.

Materials and How to Get Them

Armor can come from different materials obtained around the world of Minecraft. Some have to be gathered from animals, others you have to mine for and smelt. With the exception of Netherite and Chainmail, you can use the Armor Recipes to create all of the following armor.

Leather

The first and easiest material to obtain is Leather. You can either go to villages to try and find some easy pieces since Leather is not typically easy to gather twenty-four of. However, if you happen to run into a lot of cows, llamas, or horses (and can actually withstand the sound of horses taking damage), then gathering twenty-four pieces of Leather can help you make an entire set of armor.

Iron

Iron Ore can be found on different Y-Levels depending on which version you are playing. It can typically be found during strip-mining or mining through caverns. This material does require being smelted in a Furnace before you are able to use the Iron Ingots in the Armor Recipes. 

Gold

Similar to Iron, Gold Ore cannot be used to build the Armor Pieces, and needs to be smelted. Even though Gold Armor is weak, you will find that it has its uses, such as making friends in the most unlikely of places like the Nether. You can also make Gold Armor by collecting Gold Nuggets, placing nine nuggets within each slot of a Crafting Table will get you an Ingot. Collect enough and you will be able to make Armor when you find yourself in a bit of a dire situation.

Diamond

Tricky to find, this armor might take some time for you to gather all twenty-four pieces and you will probably want to craft what few Diamonds you have into tools before you make your armor. But once you do have a full set, this is going to help you when you have Netherite.

Netherite 

Netherite comes from Ancient Debris and can be found on certain levels while mining in the Nether. This material is incredibly rare to find but you do not need to find twenty-four pieces, just four in order to power up your pre-existing armor. Yes, once you have smelted Ancient Debris in a Furnace, you will be left with Netherite Scraps which when used in a Smithing Table, you can combine with your Diamond Armor to obtain Netherite Armor, the strongest in the game. 

Chainmail Armor

This type of Armor cannot be crafted and cannot be forged in Java or Bedrock. However, it is not impossible to obtain. Enemies can occasionally drop these pieces if they are wearing it, though it is not guaranteed. You can increase your chances by having Looting on the weapon you attack it with. Leveling up or increasing a Villager’s trade Experience can unlock various pieces of Chainmail Armor, the easiest way to obtain this armor. It is not exceptionally strong, landing somewhere along Iron in durability but it is a fun type of armor to have. 

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