Armor (rating)

A character's armor rating is a measurement of how well protected he/she is against taking damage. For a detailed look on how armor affects damage, see the article on damage. In summary, an increase of armor by 40 will reduce the damage taken by half, while a decrease of armor by 40 will double damage taken.

Armor only affects damage taken from weapons or skills that cause physical and elemental damage. Other skills, such as some Monk, Necromancer, and Mesmer skills, will not have their damage reduced by armor. See damage type for more information.

There are two different types of armor found on equipment:
 * Base armor prevents damage from all affected sources. This armor is written with white text in the format "Armor: X" (The X being the number of the armor rating). All armor sets have some base armor as a part of basic armor. All shields also have base armor.
 * Bonus armor only affects damage from specific sources. This armor is written in colored text in the format "Armor + __ (vs. __ Damage)". Many armors as well as some shields and focus items can have bonus armor.

In addition to equipment, there are also many skills that can change the armor rating of oneself, allies, or enemies. Also, some equipment and skills provide armor penetration, which can reduce the armor rating of enemies.

Armor sets

 * See Basic armor for the armor ratings available on all armor sets.
 * See Armor types for the additional armor available on most armor sets.
 * Any armor rating on a piece of armor only affects the location the piece of armor is covering.

Shields and focus items

 * Shields may have a maximum of 16 base armor.
 * Some focus items have +5 base armor under certain conditions, such as while enchanted.
 * Some shields can have up to +10 bonus armor versus a specific damage type or species.
 * Any armor rating on a shield or focus item is applied, regardless of the location hit.

Weapon upgrades

 * Weapon upgrades of Defense, Shelter, and Warding all provide increased armor. Staves can also have Defensive upgrades along with the aforementioned upgrades.
 * Sundering weapon upgrades give you a chance of having armor penetration against your enemies' armor.

Weapon modifiers

 * Some weapons have a -10 armor (while attacking) modifier as a penalty for damage +15% always.

Skills

 * See the armor skills quick reference for a listing of skills which modify armor rating.
 * There is a cap of +25 armor from skills. Single skills may exceed this cap. The PvE skill "I Am Unstoppable!" is an exception to this rule and will stack past +25. There is also a cap of -20 that ignores what your current armor level is.  Because of this using skills like Aggressive Refrain and Soldier's Fury at the same time will not give you -40 armor, but -20.

Blessings

 * Effects such as Great Dwarf's Blessing or Rebel Yell affect your armor rating on top of other factors.

Profession specific armor
The armor rating of armor sets are standardized by profession.
 * Caster class armor are equal across all casting professions at the same level, maximum of 60.
 * Ranger, Assassin and Dervish armor are 10 higher than caster class armor at the same level, maximum of 70. Rangers get the special bonus of +30 vs elemental (regardless of level).
 * Warrior and Paragon armor is 20 higher than caster class armor at the same level, maximum of 80. Warriors get the special bonus of +20 vs physical (regardless of level).
 * Pet armor follows the equation:
 * Pet armor = (Pet level) * 3 + 20
 * Because pet level is capped at 20, pet armor maximum is 80, like Paragon and Warrior armor.

By tying pet armor progression with Warrior/Paragon armor progression, the notion of level for armor is explained in the table below. Using this formulation the level of armor is an integer with two exceptions, namely starter armor and collector armor in Pre-Searing. The maximum level of armor is 20.

Elite, Obsidian and PvP armor always have the maximum armor level (or level of armor = 20).