Dwarf Fortress Best Armor

Dwarf Fortress is a game all about survival. You will need to make sure your dwarves have everything they need in order to survive. And if you want them to survive for long in the dangerous caverns and perilous lands, they’ll need armor. But not all armor is the same, with some being better than others. If you want them to survive, you’ll need to know the best armors for them.

The best armors in Dwarf Fortress

Unlike most games, Dwarf Fortress has a different way that armor strength is calculated. The use of the armor is entirely dependant on the quality of the weapon that attacking. You can think of it as a metal vs metal situation, so you’ll want strong metals to counter enemy weapons and wild animal attacks.

Armor is very effective against slashing and thrusting weapons, but only generally effective against bludgeoning weapons. This is because bludgeoning weapons don’t need to penetrate the armor to be effective, and instead rely on weight as its damage factor. So the more robust an armor is, the better it will resist the strength of the bludgeoning weapon.

Related: How to Make Steel in Dwarf Fortress

Iron / copper armor

Iron and copper armor are strong, sturdy, and have a lot going for them. Firstly, they are easy to produce compared to higher-tier armors and will protect your dwarves against most wild animal and opponent attacks. Also, they aren’t super heavy so new recruits with no training experience won’t be too hindered by them.

The smelting process of copper and iron is straightforward and their resources are abundant, so you should be able to fashion a whole squad without too much hassle. Don’t bother with armor of qualities below iron or copper, as most will penetrate them.

Steel armor

Being an allow, steel is naturally much stronger than iron or copper, pure elements. Steel is much stronger than most of the hazards that’ll come to your dwarves, but it is more expensive to make. It is also heavier, so ideally the squad you assign to steel armor has some armor wearing skill and experience, else they will quite limited in their effectiveness.

Steel isn’t too difficult to produce, just expensive and time consuming. You won’t be able to create a huge steel army in a short time, but upgrading your strongest squad is a viable short-term goal for a specialist unit whilst you wait to create more.

Adamantine armor

Adamantine armor is the strongest in the game. It is heavy, durable, strong, and will protect your dwarves from virtually any enemy. This armor set is not for the new recruits, but for your veterans, and for those that you often send on dangerous missions.

Adamantine is difficult, time consuming, and perilous to mine, as it can only be found beneath the third cavern layer, where there will be danger of magma. But if you can forge just some armor, you’ll have some of the most defended dwarves in the game.

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