Valheim Armor Sets in Order 2026: Tier List and Set Bonuses

Valheim 1.0 has 20 armour sets, and they come in biome order: Rag and Leather in the Meadows, then Troll, Bear and Bronze, Root and Iron, Fenris and Wolf, Lox Fur, Vilebone and Padded, Eitr-weave and Carapace, Embla, Ask and Flametal, and last the Caller, Vanguard and Protector sets of the Deep North. The Protector now has the most armour of any set at 44 per piece, the Vanguard is the Deep North medium set with a stamina and dodge bonus, and the Caller is the new mage set.

Iron Gate's 1.0 patch notes added four armour sets: those three plus Lox Fur, a Plains set for stealthy archers. The same update added the Moose Hide Cape, the Cape of the Caller and the Crown of Valheim, plus the Forge of Potential, which can push gear past quality 4. The numbers in this guide come from the community Valheim Wiki, and none of the patches since, up to 1.0.20 on 15 October 2026, list a change to armour values.

Valheim Armour Sets in Order

Work through the biomes in this order and pick one set at each step:

1. Meadows: Rag, then Leather
2. Black Forest: Troll, Bear or Bronze
3. Swamp: Root or Iron
4. Mountains: Fenris or Wolf
5. Plains: Lox Fur, Vilebone or Padded
6. Mistlands: Eitr-weave or Carapace
7. Ashlands: Embla, Ask or Flametal
8. Deep North: Caller, Vanguard or Protector

You only need one set per biome. Take the heavy set if you fight up close, and the light or mage set if you sneak, shoot or cast.

Every Armour Set at a Glance

Armour per piece is the base value at quality 1. Full set at max adds up helmet, chest and legs at the highest quality a normal crafting station reaches in patch 1.0.20: quality 4 for most sets, quality 2 for Rag and quality 3 for the three Deep North sets, whose fourth level needs a level 7 Black Forge or a level 6 Galdr Table that does not exist yet (Vanguard Set, Caller Set). Capes are left out. Crafted at gives the station level the whole set needs.

Valheim Armour Tier List by Playstyle

Raw armour is only part of the picture, because the lighter sets carry bonuses the heavy ones lack. This is how the sets line up by playstyle, from first to last:

• Heavy: Bronze, Iron, Wolf, Padded, Carapace, Flametal, Protector. The most armour in each biome. Every heavy chest and legs piece up to Flametal costs 5% movement speed, while the Protector pieces cost nothing (Protector Armor).
• Medium: Ask, then Vanguard. Good armour, cheaper stamina and +10% pierce damage, with no speed penalty.
• Light, stealth and bows: Troll, Root, Lox Fur. Lox Fur has the biggest sneak bonus of any set.
• Light, melee damage: Bear, Vilebone. More damage and regeneration, but you take 25% more blunt, slash and pierce damage.
• Fists and speed: Fenris, with 3% extra movement speed per piece.
• Mage: Eitr-weave, Embla, Caller. Eitr regeneration on every piece and the lowest armour of their tier.

On armour alone, the best full sets at max quality are the Protector (144), Flametal (132), Vanguard and Carapace (114 each), Ask (102) and Padded (96).

Which Armour to Wear in Each Biome

Meadows

You start in a Rag tunic, and Rag trousers cost 5 leather scraps at the Workbench (Rag Armor). Move to Leather once your Workbench reaches level 2. It needs deer hide, gives 2 armour per piece and has no set bonus (Leather Armor). Do not sink much into Leather upgrades: a quality 4 Leather piece has 8 armour, the same as a fresh Bronze one.

Black Forest

Bronze is the heavy pick, with 8 armour per piece from bronze and deer hide at the Forge. Its chest and legs each cost 5% movement speed (Bronze Armor). The Troll set has 6 per piece and keeps you fast, and wearing all four pieces, the Troll Hide Cape included, adds +15 Sneak (Troll Set). The Bear set sits in between at 7 per piece. Its Berserk bonus gives +30% health and +15% stamina regeneration and +10% slash and chop damage, but you take 25% more blunt, slash and pierce damage (Bear Set).

Bronze is the safe choice for the Elder if you fight in melee. If you mostly use a bow, the Troll set's sneak bonus is worth more than the 6 armour you give up.

Swamp

Iron is the big jump: 14 armour per piece, made at a level 2 Forge (Iron Armor). The Root set has 8 per piece and gives +15 Bows for the full set. Its mask halves poison damage, its harnesk resists pierce damage, and every piece makes you weak to fire (Root Set).

The mask is the piece that matters in a biome full of poison. You can wear it with Iron chest and legs: you lose the bow bonus but keep the poison resistance and gain armour. A Poison Resistance Mead gives stronger resistance than the mask and the two do not add up, but the mask never wears off (Resistance).

Mountains

Outdoors the Mountains apply Freezing, which stops health regeneration and slowly drains your health. A frost resistant piece or a Frost Resistance Mead prevents it as long as you stay dry (Freezing). The Wolf set has 20 armour per piece from silver and wolf pelts at the Forge, and its chest piece resists frost, as does the Wolf Fur Cape (Wolf Armor).

The Fenris set has 10 per piece, adds 3% movement speed per piece and has a frost resistant coat. The full set gives +15 Fists and fire resistance, which makes it the set for unarmed builds (Fenris Set).

Plains

Padded armour is the default here: 26 per piece from iron and linen thread at a level 2 Forge (Padded Armor). Two light sets sit next to it. Vilebone has 12 armour on the visage and 18 on the cage and drapes. Its Vilebone Wrath bonus gives +20% health and +40% stamina regeneration and +20% blunt and pierce damage, with the same 25% extra physical damage taken as the Bear set (Vilebone Set).

Lox Fur is new in 1.0. It has 16 per piece from a level 2 Workbench, and the full set gives +30 Sneak and +15 Bows: twice the Troll set's sneak bonus plus the Root set's bow bonus (Lox Fur Set). The hood needs Writhan Roots, which drop from the Writhan, a creature 1.0 added to the Swamp (Writhan). The Lox Cape resists frost, handy for trips back into the Mountains.

Mistlands

Carapace is the heavy set: 32 per piece from carapace, scale hide and refined eitr at the Black Forge (Carapace Armor). Eitr-weave is the first mage set, with 16 per piece from the Galdr Table and +100% eitr regeneration across its three pieces. Its Feather Cape removes fall damage, which you will appreciate on Mistlands cliffs, but it doubles the fire damage you take (Eitr-weave Set).

Ashlands

Flametal is the heavy set at 38 per piece. Its breastplate and greaves add 20% heat resistance each, which cuts lava damage and gives you longer in boiling water but does nothing against fire damage or burning (Flametal Armor). Ask is the medium set at 28 per piece: the full set cuts run and jump stamina by 10% and attack stamina by 20% and adds 10% pierce damage, which suits bows and spears (Ask Set). Embla is the mage set at 19 per piece with +130% eitr regeneration (Embla Set).

Two capes belong to this tier. The Ashen Cape has 12 armour on its own, resists frost and cuts attack stamina by 10% and block stamina by 20%. The Asksvin Cloak resists frost, gives Wind Run and cuts dodge stamina by 15% (Armor).

The fourth quality level of Ask and Flametal needs a level 6 Black Forge, and Embla's needs a level 5 Galdr Table. The extensions that get you there, the Smith's Aprons and the Standing Loom, came with 1.0 and need Deep North materials, so you finish upgrading your Ashlands set after you have started the Deep North (Black Forge, Galdr Table).

Deep North

The Deep North freezes you day and night (Deep North), and all three sets here have a frost resistant chest piece. There is no new light set in this biome. The light set 1.0 added is Lox Fur, back in the Plains.

• Protector (heavy): 44 armour per piece, the most of any set, with no movement penalty and no set bonus (Protector Armor). Wear it if you hold the front line.
• Vanguard (medium): 34 per piece and no movement penalty. The full set cuts run stamina by 10% and dodge stamina by 20% and adds 10% health regeneration, 10% stamina regeneration and 10% pierce damage (Vanguard Set). Wear it if you dodge more than you block.
• Caller (mage): 22 per piece, with +40% eitr regeneration on the headdress and +60% each on the robes and trousers, +160% in total. It has no set bonus (Caller Set).

You cannot craft these pieces directly. Each one takes three steps:

1. Get the mould. Krigen, the Jotun warriors of Mörkhalla and the Jotun invasions, drop the Vanguard and Protector moulds, and Hexen drop the Caller moulds (Krigen, Hexen). The wiki puts each Krigen mould at 3% (6% from one-star and 12% from two-star Krigen) and each Caller mould at 5% (Caller Set). Patch 1.0.15 made both Jotun warrior types drop both the medium and the heavy moulds (1.0.15 notes).
2. Craft the cast: Vanguard and Protector casts at a level 4 Black Forge, Caller casts at a level 3 Galdr Table. They need Deep North materials such as Bloodgold, Moose Hide, Seal Pelt and Nornathread, and our progression guide covers where those come from.
3. Harden the cast in the Frost Foundry. Each cast burns 5 Liquid Frost from the Frigid Kiln and takes 50 seconds (Frost Foundry).

Moulds are rare, so plan on farming. Iron Gate changed rare drops in 1.0 so you are less likely to kill a long run of enemies without one (1.0 notes), and since 1.0.20 the pseudo-random drop system no longer resets between play sessions (1.0.20 notes).

Two new capes go with these sets, and both start at 12 armour. The Moose Hide Cape (Black Forge level 4) resists frost and cuts attack and run stamina by 20% (Moose Hide Cape). The Cape of the Caller (Galdr Table level 4) resists frost, adds 20% eitr regeneration and cuts dodge stamina by 10% (Cape of the Caller). Resistances do not stack, and your chest piece already covers the cold, so pick the cape for its other effects. The two new trinkets follow the same split between fighters and casters: the Neckstabber gives +20 armour and +20% health regeneration for 30 seconds when it triggers, and the Witch Crown gives 50 stamina and 50 eitr (Trinkets). Our trinkets guide has all 15 with recipes, trophy drops and adrenaline costs.

After Kall Fimbulbringer you can craft the Crown of Valheim at a level 4 Black Forge from his Crown Jewel and 5 Bloodgold. It has 50 armour, 5% extra movement speed and 20% lower stamina use for attacking, running, swimming and sneaking, and its Royalty effect stops non-boss creatures from attacking you (Crown of Valheim). It cannot be upgraded, but 50 already beats a quality 3 Protector helmet at 48. Our bosses in order guide covers the fight.

How Set Bonuses Work

A set bonus only turns on when you wear every piece of the set at the same time. That means helmet, chest and legs for every set except Troll, which also needs the Troll Hide Cape (Troll Set).

Eight sets have a bonus: Troll, Bear, Root, Fenris, Lox Fur, Vilebone, Ask and Vanguard. The other twelve have none, but many of their pieces carry their own effects, like frost resistance on the Wolf chest or eitr regeneration on every mage piece. Those work without the rest of the set, so mixing pieces is fine as long as you know what you give up.

Two rules matter when you mix (Resistance):

• Resistances do not stack. A second frost resistant piece adds nothing.
• The strongest resistance beats any weakness. A Fire Resistance Barley Wine cancels the Root set's fire weakness.

How Armour Works

Armour reduces physical, fire, frost and lightning damage (Armor), but not in a straight line. The formula on the wiki's damage mechanics page works like this:

• If your armour is less than half the hit, you lose the hit minus your armour.
• If it is half the hit or more, you lose the hit squared divided by four times your armour.

That second case is why big armour numbers still pay off. Against hits of 40 damage, 20 armour lets 20 through, 40 armour lets 10 through and 60 armour about 7, so every extra point still buys you more hits before you go down. Resistances apply first: a frost resistant chest halves the frost part of a hit, and your armour then works on what is left.

Armour does not add health. Your health pool comes mostly from food, and our food and feasts guide covers that side.

Upgrade Tips for 1.0

• Each quality level adds 2 armour per piece. Capes add 1, except the Ashen Cape, Moose Hide Cape and Cape of the Caller, which add 2 (Armor).
• Upgrading a piece you are wearing takes it off. Put it back on before you walk out of the door.
• Build the two 1.0 station extensions. The Smith's Aprons (5 Bloodgold, 8 Timberwood, 2 Moose Hide) takes the Black Forge to level 6: quality 4 for Ask, Flametal and the Ashen Cape, quality 3 for Vanguard, Protector and the Moose Hide Cape (Smith's Aprons). The Standing Loom (5 Timberwood, 10 Nornathread) takes the Galdr Table to level 5: quality 4 for Embla and the Asksvin Cloak, quality 3 for the Caller and quality 2 for the Cape of the Caller (Standing Loom).
• Repairs cost no materials (Black Forge). Deep North pieces go back to the Black Forge (Vanguard, Protector) or the Galdr Table (Caller) for repairs, not to the Frost Foundry. At launch the Deep North heavy armour could not be repaired at all, which patch 1.0.10 fixed (1.0.10 notes).
• Brought an older world into 1.0? Check the upgraded armour on your armour stands. An early 1.0 conversion bug could strip upgrade levels from items on stands, and our 1.0 server prep guide explains the way back.

The Forge of Potential

1.0 added one Forge of Potential per world, somewhere in the Mountains, and it shows up on your map once you find it (Forge of Potential). Each attempt uses up one idol of the item's tier: Protection Idols for armour and shields, Battle Idols for weapons and tools. 65% of the time the item gains a quality level, also past quality 4. The other 35% of the time it is destroyed and you get part of its materials back.

The Bloodgold Protection Idols for Deep North armour and the two new capes come from chests in Mörkhalla, Abandoned Villages and the Deep North's Viking graveyards and shipwrecks (Bloodgold Protection Idol). Patch 1.0.20 fixed a possible exploit at the forge (1.0.20 notes). Only refine pieces you can afford to lose: a 35% chance of destroying a Protector breastplate whose mould was a rare drop is a real cost.

Hosting It With Us

Mould farming and Mörkhalla runs go faster with the whole group online, and a dedicated server keeps the world up between sessions without anyone hosting it on their own PC. Our Valheim server plans run the official 1.0 dedicated server and update when Iron Gate ships a patch. They start at €6.40 a month for 4 GB and 2 to 4 players, and 6 GB for a full group of 10 costs €8.30. Every plan includes DDoS protection, NVMe storage and backup slots in the panel, and you can choose from 9 regions.

One limit to know before you order: our Valheim servers accept Windows (Steam) players only. Crossplay with Xbox, Game Pass, PS5 and Switch 2 does not work on them, so friends on console need a player-hosted world.

FAQ

What is the best armour in Valheim? On armour alone, the Protector set: 44 per piece and 144 for the full set at quality 3, with no movement penalty and a frost resistant breastplate. The Vanguard is better if you dodge a lot and the Caller if you cast. Once Kall Fimbulbringer is dead, the Crown of Valheim gives you a 50 armour helmet with its Royalty effect.

Which Valheim armour sets have set bonuses? Eight of them: Troll (+15 Sneak), Bear (Berserk), Root (+15 Bows), Fenris (+15 Fists and fire resistance), Lox Fur (+30 Sneak and +15 Bows), Vilebone (Vilebone Wrath), Ask (cheaper stamina and +10% pierce) and Vanguard (cheaper stamina, more regeneration and +10% pierce). You need every piece on, and the Troll set needs its cape as well.

How do you get the Deep North armour sets? Kill Krigen for Vanguard and Protector moulds and Hexen for Caller moulds. Craft the cast at a level 4 Black Forge for Vanguard and Protector or a level 3 Galdr Table for the Caller, then harden it in the Frost Foundry with 5 Liquid Frost.

Can you upgrade armour past level 4 in Valheim? Yes, at the Forge of Potential in the Mountains. Each try costs an idol of the item's tier and succeeds 65% of the time. When it fails, the item is destroyed and you get part of its materials back.

What armour do you need for the cold? Any piece with frost resistance stops Freezing in the Mountains and the Deep North as long as you are dry: the Wolf chest, the Fenris coat, any Deep North chest piece, or a cape such as the Wolf Fur, Lox, Feather, Asksvin, Ashen, Moose Hide or Caller cape. One piece is enough, because resistances do not stack.

Related guides: Valheim progression guide, Valheim bosses in order, Valheim food and feasts, Valheim 1.0 Deep North server prep, Valheim weapons by biome