Body armor and helmets each have an armor value (its current durability) that soaks damage before HP. Incoming damage hits armor first; the Vs. Armor % of the attacker's weapon decides how fast it's stripped, and a slice (the weapon's Ignores Armor %) always leaks through to HP. A head hit deals ×1.5 to HP but normal damage to the helmet. When a piece hits 0 durability it gives no protection until repaired. Every piece also carries a Fatigue penalty that lowers your usable stamina for the whole fight.
— type to filter the quartermaster's ledger.
Body armor
Sorted however you click. The Armor / Fat. column is the efficiency score — protection bought per point of Fatigue spent — and it's the single most useful number on this page. Higher is better value; you only accept a worse ratio when you specifically need the raw armor ceiling on a dedicated tank.
Sort by Armor / Fat. to see it: among heavy sets the Noble Mail (160 / −15 = 10.7) and Heraldic Hauberk (250 / −26 = 9.6) carry the best protection-per-fatigue, while the Coat of Plates (320 / −42 = 7.6) and Coat of Scales (300 / −38) give the highest raw ceiling for a Battle Forged tank who can pay the Fatigue. Below that, Mail Hauberk (150 / −18) is the workhorse mid-game body.
Helmets
Same efficiency logic. Heavy closed helms add a Vision penalty (tiles of sight lost) — fine on a frontline tank, costly on an archer who needs to see and shoot far.
The Sallet Helmet (120 / −5 = 24.0, zero vision penalty) and the Barbute (190 / −9 = 21.1) are the standout protection-per-fatigue picks — the Sallet is the best archer helm without the Eagle Eyes trait. For a tank ceiling, the Full Helm and Decorated Full Helm reach 300–320 at a −3 vision cost.
Shields
A shield isn't armor — it adds flat Melee Defense and Ranged Defense (your chance to be missed) and has its own durability that axes (Split Shield) and flails bypass. Bucklers give the most defense per fatigue but can't Shieldwall; Heater and Kite shields anchor a wall.
What's "best"? Read the ratio, then your build
There is no single best armor — there's the heaviest set a given brother can wear and still act every turn. Two armor philosophies define the game, and they want opposite gear and opposite stats:
| Approach | Armor weight | How it survives | Key perks | Wants high… |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battle Forged (heavy) | 200–300 body + heavy helm | Huge armor pool; Battle Forged converts armor into damage reduction so blows barely scratch HP. | Battle Forged, Brawny, Colossus, Steel Brow | Fatigue, HP, Melee Skill |
| Nimble (light) | Low body+helmet Fatigue penalty | Nimble cuts HP damage by up to 60%, minus 4% for each point of combined body+helmet Fatigue; dodge-heavy. | Nimble, Dodge, Colossus, Steel Brow | HP, Melee/Ranged Defense, Fatigue, Initiative |
| Archer / Duelist | Minimal (head + light body) | Doesn't get hit — stays at range or kills first. | Nimble, Dodge (low-armor builds) | Fatigue, Initiative, the relevant Skill |
Fatigue is the budget armor spends. A brother starts a fight at full Fatigue and recovers ~15 per turn; attacks and skills cost fatigue to use. Subtract every armor/helmet/shield/weapon penalty from his max Fatigue — what's left has to cover at least one good attack per turn. Brawny reduces armor's fatigue penalty by 30% and is close to mandatory for heavy sets; Battle Forged is what makes 300-armor worth its weight. If a man ends up perpetually exhausted, he's over-armored — drop to a better Armor/Fat. ratio piece, not a heavier one.
What actually counts as "light" vs "heavy"?
There's no weight label in the game — a set is "light" or "heavy" only in terms of which survival perk it feeds, and the two perks read your armor in completely different ways. This is the bit that confuses everyone:
| Perk | What it actually reads | So you want… |
|---|---|---|
| Nimble (light) | The combined Fatigue penalty of body + helmet only. Weapons, shields and bags don't count, and Brawny does not help it. | That combined penalty as low as possible — every point costs you 4% of Nimble's max reduction. |
| Battle Forged (heavy) | Your total armor points (body + helmet). It cuts incoming HP damage by 5% of your current total armor value. | As many armor points as you can carry — the heaviest plate. |
Nimble reduces incoming HP damage by 60% − (4% × combined body+helmet Fatigue penalty), floored at 0%. At −15 combined you get no reduction at all. Full 60% only happens at 0 combined — in practice, aim for −10 or lower to keep meaningful protection. "Light" isn't a particular armor tier; it's how cheap your body+helmet are on the Fatigue meter.
| Combined Fatigue | Nimble result | Example set — armor points |
|---|---|---|
| 0–5 | Strong (~40–60%) | Padded Surcoat (50) + Full Aketon Cap (50) = −6 → 36% reduction, 100 armor |
| 6–10 | Moderate (~20–36%) | Padded Vest (60) + Sallet (120) = −10 → 20% reduction, 180 armor |
| 11–14 | Weak (~4–16%) | Reinforced Leather (100) + Sallet (120) = −14 → 4% reduction, 220 armor |
| 15+ | Zero — Nimble does nothing | Leather Lamellar (95) + Sallet (120) = −15 → go Battle Forged instead |
The Sallet (120 armor, only −5 Fatigue, zero vision penalty) is the single best Nimble helmet — pair it with the lightest viable body to keep combined Fatigue in the single digits.
How much armor Fatigue can you actually carry?
Work backwards from recovery. A brother recovers a flat +15 Fatigue at the start of each turn (12 if Asthmatic, 18 with Iron Lungs). Every attack spends Fatigue, so the number that matters is usable Fatigue = max Fatigue − every gear penalty (body + helmet + shield + the weapon's Max-Fatigue cost). Keep it high enough to act every turn.
- Endgame target: ~75 usable Fatigue after all gear. That covers the +15/turn tick plus a heavy swing, so the brother never stalls.
- Floor: enough for one main attack each turn on top of the +15 recovery. Most attacks cost 10–25 Fatigue; drop below that and he wastes turns catching his breath.
- Brawny is what makes heavy armor wearable — it cuts the body+helmet penalty by 30% and is close to mandatory on Battle Forged plate-wearers (it does not reduce weapon or shield Fatigue, and does nothing for Nimble).
Base Fatigue 130. Coat of Plates (−42) + Full Helm (−20) = −62 from armor; a Greatsword adds −12. Raw, that leaves only ~56 usable. Add Brawny and the −62 armor becomes ~−43, so usable Fatigue climbs to about 75 — right in the sweet spot. That's why heavy hitters want a high base Fatigue and Brawny: without it, a Coat of Plates leaves them too winded to swing.
Quick gut check by base (no-armor) Fatigue: under ~100 → stay light and go Nimble · ~110–125 → mid plate with Brawny · 130+ → full Coat-of-Plates Battle Forged. Archers and Nimble duelists ignore all of this and simply keep combined body+helmet Fatigue at −10 or lower whenever possible.
Quick "who wears what" cheat sheet
| The brother | Body | Head | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frontline tank (Battle Forged) | Heaviest you can carry (Coat of Plates tier) | Heavy closed helm | Holds the line; armor + Battle Forged = near-immunity to chip damage. |
| Two-hander (Reaper) | High mid-weight, leave Fatigue for swings | Solid helm, mind vision | Needs Fatigue to AoE every turn; don't over-armor. |
| Nimble duelist / dagger | Light (under the Nimble cap) | Light/medium helm | Nimble + Dodge survival scales with being light. |
| Archer / crossbow | Lightest viable | Zero-vision-penalty helm | Keeps Fatigue for shots and full sight range to fire far. |
| Polearm backliner | Light–mid | Light helm | Sits in row two; trades armor for the Fatigue to attack at range 2. |
Sources & further reading
Stats are facts drawn from the Battle Brothers Wiki and cross-checked in-game; the analysis is our own.
Battle Brothers Wiki — Armor · Shields · Attributes & Fatigue