Armor (rating)

Description
A character's armor is a measurement of how well protected he/she is against taking damage. Generally speaking, a high armor level prevents more damage from a successful attack than a low one. However, there are many more aspects to it than that. For a detailed look on how armor affects damage, see the article: Damage.

A very rough estimate, just to get a feel for a character's armor level: For every increase of 40 in armor level, damage will be halved.

Just as there are different damage types, there are, correspondingly, different types of armor. General armor will prevent damage from all sources, specific armor will only prevent damage of its type. For example, an item that reads "Armor +5 (vs. Fire dmg)" will only prevent Fire damage with this ability. It should be noted that damage from most blood magic skills, mesmer skills, health degeneration, and generic loss of health are completely unaffected by armor.

There are many skills that influence the armor level of oneself, allies, or foes.

Armor Types
Since there are numerous damage types, there is numerous armor types to counter them. The armor types divide in two main categories being armor against physical damage and armor against elemental damage. Physical damage including Slashing damage, Blunt damage and Piercing damage and the Elemental damage including Fire damage, Cold damage, Lightning damage and Earth damage. If an armor bonus does not specify to which category it applies, it basically means that the armor bonus is aplied against physical and elemental damage. For example, the skill "Watch Yourself!" gives allies within earshot +20 armor. A Ranger wearing a end-of-the-game Drakescale armor (70 base Armor, 100 Armor against Elemental damage, 115 Armor against Fire damage) under the effect of this shout would then have 90 base Armor (70 +20), 120 Armor against Elemental damage (100 + 20) and 135 Armor against Fire Damage (115 + 20) for the time he is affected by the shout. However, if the armor bonus is applied to a specific type of damage such as "Shields Up!" (which gives allies within earshot a +50 armor bonus against Piercing damage, then the previous ranger would have 70 + 50 Armor (120 Armor) against Piercing damage.

Armor against Physical damage
Physical damage is dealt by Axes, Daggers, Hammers, Bows, Swords, Spears and Scythes that do not have any elemental upgrade. Having a bonus against physical damage will help you to reduce the damage done by those weapons.

Weapon Bonuses that increases armor:

 * Sword Pommel of Defense, Axe Grip of Defense, Hammer grip of Defense, Bow Grip of Defense (+5 Armor)
 * Sword Pommel of Shelter, Axe Grip of Shelter, Hammer Grip of Shelter, Bow Grip of Shelter (+7 Armor against physical damage)
 * Sword Pommel of Warding, Axe Grip of Warding, Hammer Grip of Warding, Bow Grip of Warding (+7 armor against elemental damage)

Offhand and Shields that increases armor:

 * Numerous offhands offer a +5 armor bonus but makes you lose 5 maximum energy
 * Numerous Shields offer +10 armor agaisnt either piercing damage, blunt damage or slashing damage

Weapons that decreases armor:

 * Some weapons (Axes, Swords, Hammer and Bow) always dealing +15% damage have a -10 armor bonus while attacking

Armor Sets:
Every armor pieces grants you some protection against damage. For more information on those armors, see the Armor Types article.

Skills influencing armor
There is a great number of skills influencing the armor level of oneself, an ally or a foe. Below is the a list of these skills. The armor bonuses that are ranging between a value and another (+15...60 for example) are the value of the bonus at 0 in the corresponding attribute to 15.

{|

Assassin Skill
! Skill !! Physical Armor Bonis !!Elemental Armor Bonus!! Target !! Notes !!
 * || +80 || +80 || Self || The bonus ends if you successfully hit with an attack or use a skill
 * || -20 || -20 || Target Foe || The armor bonus only applies if the target is only hexed by Shadowy Burden
 * }
 * || -20 || -20 || Target Foe || The armor bonus only applies if the target is only hexed by Shadowy Burden
 * }

{|

Elementalist Skills
! Skill !! Physical Armor Bonus !!Elemental Armor Bonus!! Target !! Notes !!
 * || +24...60 || +24...60 || Yourself only || Lowers your moving speed by 50...14%
 * || +40 || +40 (-24 vs fire) || Yourself only ||Lowers your armor against fire attacks
 * || +10...40 || +10...40 || Yourself only || Increases your movement speed by 33%
 * || +24 || 0 || All nearby Foes ||
 * || +20...80 || +20...80 || Yourself only ||
 * || +20 || +20 || Yourself only ||Lowers your movement speed by 50%
 * || 0 || +24 || Any allies including yourself standing in the ward ||
 * || +12...24 || +12...24 (+12...60 armor against fire damage) || Increases armor against fire damage ||
 * }
 * || +20...80 || +20...80 || Yourself only ||
 * || +20 || +20 || Yourself only ||Lowers your movement speed by 50%
 * || 0 || +24 || Any allies including yourself standing in the ward ||
 * || +12...24 || +12...24 (+12...60 armor against fire damage) || Increases armor against fire damage ||
 * }
 * || +12...24 || +12...24 (+12...60 armor against fire damage) || Increases armor against fire damage ||
 * }
 * }

{|

Mesmer Skills
! Skill || Physical Armor Bonus !!Elemental Armor Bonus !! Target !! Notes
 * || -24...-12 || +40 || Yourself Only || Lowers your armor against physical damage
 * || +40 || -24...-12 || Yourself Only || Lowers your armor against elemental damage
 * }
 * || +40 || -24...-12 || Yourself Only || Lowers your armor against elemental damage
 * }

{|

Monk Skills
! Skill !! Physical Armor Bonus !!Elemental Armor Bonus!! Target !! Notes
 * || +10 * n || +10 * n || Other Ally || n is the amount of necromancer hexes on target ally when using this skill
 * || +15...30 || +15...30 || Target Ally ||
 * || 40 || 40 || Target Ally ||
 * }
 * || 40 || 40 || Target Ally ||
 * }
 * }

{|

Necromancer Skill
! Skill !! Physical Armor Bonus !! Elemental Armor Bonus !! Target !! Notes
 * || -20 || 0 || Target Foe ||
 * }
 * }

{|

Ranger Skills
! Skill !! Physical Armor Bonus || Elemental Armor Bonus !! Target !! Notes
 * || 0 || +34...60 || Yourself Only ||
 * || +15 || +15 || Everyone in the spirit's range ||
 * }
 * || +15 || +15 || Everyone in the spirit's range ||
 * }

{|

Ritualist Skills
! Skill !! Physical Armor Bonus !! Elemental Armor Bonus !! Target !! Notes
 * || +15 || +15 || Yourself only || The Bonus doesn't apply anymore if you drop Vorizun's ashes
 * || +24 || +24 || Target Ally || Ally under this weapon spells needs to suffer from a hex and/or a condition for the armor bonus to apply
 * || +10...25 || +10...25 || Yourself only || The Bonus doesn't apply anymore if you drop Tanasen's ashes
 * }
 * || +10...25 || +10...25 || Yourself only || The Bonus doesn't apply anymore if you drop Tanasen's ashes
 * }
 * }

{|

Warrior Skills
! Skill !! Physical Armor Bonus !! Elemental Armor Bonus !! Target !! Notes
 * || +24 || +24 || Yourself only ||
 * || +20 || +20 || Yourself only ||
 * || +24 || +24 || Yourself only ||
 * || +10...40 || + 10...40 || Yourself only || Your movement rate is slowed by 75%
 * || +50 against Piercing Damage || 0 || You and all allies within earshot ||
 * || +20 || +20 || You and all allies within earshot ||
 * }
 * || +10...40 || + 10...40 || Yourself only || Your movement rate is slowed by 75%
 * || +50 against Piercing Damage || 0 || You and all allies within earshot ||
 * || +20 || +20 || You and all allies within earshot ||
 * }
 * || +20 || +20 || You and all allies within earshot ||
 * }