In Depth Tier List of Armors for Hardmode

All armors in the game, ranked based on Efficiency. Also includes hybrid armor potential.

Introduction

While Pre Hardmode's armor progression is nothing special, Hardmode opens up a lot of variety in armor sets, with some being more viable than others due to their special set bonuses, or the raw stats they provide. This guide will cover every armor available and rank them based on their viability.

The Different ranks are:

S Rank: Overshadows everything else available, this armor should be nerfed in its current state because it is going to be.
A Rank: Very solid, but far from broken. This is the armor you should usually aim for.
B Rank: Not exactly bad, but there should be something better available than this.
C Rank: Mediocre, you should not be aiming to use let alone craft this set.
F Rank: Completely useless. Pretend it doesn't exist.

Note that Hybrid Sets made from the combination of different armor segments exist and are usually better than the full armor sets. This guide won't cover these hybrid builds, but if an armor has a particularly good piece for mixing it will have a "#" next to its rank and a brief description of why the specific piece is used.

It should be obvious that each armor will be ranked relative to other sets in its current stage of progression. There is also no way you will agree with my full list, so you are perfectly free to criticize the hell out of it if you disagree with me.

Pre-Mechanical Boss

Pearlwood Armor
Stats:
+8 Defense.
Rank: F

Well, duh. Should this even be on the list?


Cobalt Armor
Stats:
+27 Defense, +3% Crit chance, +27% Melee speed, +17% Movement Speed (Melee)
+19 Defense, +10% Ranged damage, +9% Ranged Crit Chance, +10% Movement Speed, +20% chance not to consume ammo (Ranged)
+17 Defense, +12% Magic Crit chance, +40 Max Mana, -14% Mana usage, +10% Movement Speed (Magic)
Rank: F

Imagine being worse than Pre-Hardmode armors. At least Pearlwood has the excuse of never being meant to be good to begin with. This is basically the Hardmode equivalent of Copper/Tin armor, and you should never make it for the exact same reasons you should never craft Copper/Tin armor.



Palladium Armor
Stats:
+32 Defense, +13% Melee damage, +3% Melee Crit chance, +12% Melee speed (Melee)
+23 Defense, +14% Ranged damage, +12% Ranged Crit Chance (Ranged)
+21 Defense, +12% Magic Damage, +10% Magic Crit Chance, +60 Max Mana (Magic)
Set bonus: Gain Rapid Healing (+3 HP/sec) when in combat.
Rank: A

Slightly below average stats, but the Rapid Healing buff more than makes up for it. A very easily made armor set that remains solid all the way up to Plantera. This is an example of high regeneration being better than raw stats.


Mythril Armor
Stats:
+37 Defense, +15% Melee damage, +13% Melee Crit chance (Melee)
+27 Defense, +17% Ranged damage, +10% Ranged Crit Chance, 20% chance not to consume ammo (Ranged)
+24 Defense, +15% Magic Damage, +3% Magic Crit Chance, +60 Max Mana -17% Mana usage (Magic)
Rank: C

It doesn't have low stats, but they are not high either. It doesn't take too long to get, but it's not as easily obtained as Cobalt/Palladium either. It doesn't even have an interesting design, why is everything made with Mythril so flat?


Orichalcum Armor
Stats:
+42 Defense, +7% Melee damage, +6% Crit chance, +7% Melee Speed, +18% Movement Speed (Melee)
+30 Defense, +21% Ranged Crit Chance, +19% Movement Speed (Ranged)
+27 Defense, +24% Magic Crit Chance, +80 Max Mana +11% Movement Speed (Magic)
Set Bonus: After hitting an enemy, a piercing petal with 30 base damage and a 1 second cooldown appears from the edge of the screen.
Rank: A/B*

Very, very underrated. Acceptable stats, and an excellent set bonus for crowd control that is also a flat +30 DPS increase, which by Pre Mech weapon standards allows it to compete with Adamantite armor on single target DPS. With good matchups against Skeletron Prime, Plantera Phase 2 and especially Destroyer I'm surprised this doesn't get used more often.

* The stat bonuses for the Melee Helmet are so bad that it'd only be good for crowd control.


Adamantite Armor
Stats:
+50 Defense, +20% Melee damage, +11% Melee Crit chance, +18% Melee Speed, +23% Movement speed (Melee)
+36 Defense, +20% Ranged damage, +12% Ranged Crit Chance, 25% chance not to consume ammo, +5% Movement speed (Ranged)
+32 Defense, +17% Magic Damage, +15% Magic Crit Chance, +80 Max Mana, -19% Mana usage, +5% Movement speed (Magic)
Rank: B

A decent package of raw stats. There isn't much more to say about this; 1.1 sets really haven't aged too well.


Titanium Armor
Stats:
+49 Defense, +15% Melee Damage, +14% Crit Chance, +8% Melee Speed, +6% Movement Speed (Melee)
+34 Defense, +21% Ranged Damage, +13% Ranged Crit Chance, +6% Movement Speed (Ranged)
+30 Defense, +23% Magic Damage, +13% Magic Crit Chance, +100 Max Mana, +6% Movement Speed (Magic)
Set Bonus: While in combat, grants the Shadow Dodge buff every 30 seconds, which will guarantee you to not take damage from the next attack.
Rank: S

You probably noticed that the 1.2 ore sets were designed with somewhat below average stats with a very good set bonus to compensate. This not only breaks the rule by having very good stats, it also has an insane set bonus. The Shadow Dodge is so powerful that it can be used all the way up to Moon Lord, it's that good.


Frost Armor
Stats:
+43 Defense, +16% Melee and Ranged Damage, +11% Melee and Ranged Crit Chance, +7% Melee Speed, +8% Movement Speed
Set bonus: Melee and Ranged attacks inflict Frostburn (8 Damage over time)
Rank: C#

The flashy set bonus and the fact it is made with Adamantite/Titanium Bars work together to hide the fact that this is nothing more than a Mythril armor set trying to convince you it's doing a bit more. 8 DoT from Frostburn is unlikely to change anything starting from this point in the game, so it's basically QoL in caves with a minimum effect in combat. That Frost Chestplate (+11% Melee and Ranged Crit) is pretty nice for mixed sets, though.


Forbidden Armor
Stats:
+26 Defense, +15% Magic and Minion damage, +80 Max Mana, +2 Minion slots.
Set bonus: Double tapping down Summons an Ancient at the Cursor's location, with 20 base Minion and Magic damage (Meaning it benefits from buffs to both)
Rank: B#

Very low stats for both Magic and Summoner, but two bads make a good when you add minions to your magic attacks. The main selling point is its excellent set bonus, which is basically a Nimbus Rod Cloud, except that it's much wider and significantly easier to spam and take advantage of. Stats are still below average though, and the set bonus isn't too amazing when you realize how poorly it combines with Spiders and your Nimbus Rods.

The Forbidden Treads give +2 minion slots, which makes this insane for pure hybrid builds, especially once the Xeno Staff and Stardust Dragon are available.


Spider Armor
Stats:
+20 Defense, +4 Minion slots, +28% Minion damage
Rank: C

The only viable Summoner armor. The problem lies in the fact that summoners are very weak at this point in the game, so as fun as this can be it's not good enough to justify playing Summoner over any other class.

Pre-Plantera

Hallowed Armor
Stats:
+50 Defense, +17% Melee Damage, +17% Melee Crit chance, +29% Melee Speed, +27% Movement Speed (Melee)
+35 Defense, +22% Ranged Damage, +15% Ranged Crit Chance, 25% chance not to consume ammo, +8% Movement Speed (Ranged)
+31 Defense, +19% Magic Damage, +19% Magic Crit Chance, +100 Max Mana, -20% Mana usage, +8% Movement Speed (Magic)
Rank: A#

Sometimes you just can't beat a bunch of raw stats. May be worse than the Tavernkeep's armors in Pre Plantera, but scales better into the Post Golem tier in comparison. Special mention to the Magic variant, as it is arguably the best fully offensive set in the game for a Mage.

About half of the stats come from the Hallowed Helmets, which makes them all very solid when hybridizing.


Squire Armor
Stats:
+56 Defense, +15% Melee Damage, +30% Minion Damage, +20% Melee Crit chance, +2 Sentry Slots, +4 HP/sec.
Set Bonus: You get the Ballista Panic! buff when hit, doubling Ballistas' attack speed for 5 seconds.
Rank: S#

Totally busted. Great offensive stats, insane defensive ones with 4 HP/sec regeneration and 56 defense, and tons of Minion damage and Sentry slots for all your Mini Twins and Queen Spiders. With a Set Bonus that will be very useful once you have to deal with OOA Tier 3. It also comes with not one but two great pieces for hybrid armors: Squire's Great Helm with its amazing regen and Squire's Greaves with 20% Melee crit chance and 15% Minion damage.


Monk Armor
Stats:
+46 Defense, +20% Melee Damage, +30% Minion Damage, +10% Melee Crit chance, +2 Sentry Slots, +20% Melee Speed and Movement Speed.
Set Bonus: Lightning Auras attack faster and gain a set 25% Crit Chance.
Rank: A#

I'm not too sure what was exactly the point of giving Melee two Tavernkeep sets, especially when one of them is worse than the other in every way. I suppose that this is the alternative to Squire armor if you don't want to use busted items. While it has the most significant out of all the OOA sets, Lightning Auras are still worse than the Queen Spider at this tier.

The Monk's Shirt is also the strongest Melee Chest piece in the game, with a massive 20% damage increase for all your hybridizing needs.


Apprentice armor
Stats:
+32 defense, +10% Magic Damage, +30% Minion Damage, +2 Sentry slots, +20% Magic Crit chance, -10% Mana usage.
Set Bonus: Flameburst Sentries gain greatly increased range.
Rank: B#

The 3 sentry slots and 30% Minion damage are still amazing, but the rest of this armor is not. Those stats are simply too low to be good. I don't know and I don't care about how much the Set Bonus improves Flameburst sentries because they are still worse than the Queen Spider and range is nothing significant when you use them again in Tier 3. The Apprentice Leggings give an unlisted 20% Magic Crit Chance, making it much better than it may look on your hybrid builds.


Huntress armor
Stats:
+36 defense, +20% Ranged Damage, +30% Minion Damage, +10% Ranged Crit chance, +2 extra sentry slots, +20% Movement Speed.
Set Bonus: Explosive Traps inflict the Oiled debuff, making enemies take 2 extra DoT from fire Debuffs.
Rank: A#

Literally Monk Armor for Ranged, everything I said about it applies to this as well. The Huntress' Jerkin is identical to Monk's Shirt and also very solid for hybrid sets.

Special mention to the fact that this armor has the undisputed worst Set Bonus in the entire game that only affects the undisputed worst Sentry in the entire game by making it inflict the undisputed worst Debuff in the entire game which only slightly improves the undisputed worst way of dealing damage in the entire game.


Chlorophyte Armor
Stats:
+56 Defense, +21% Melee Damage, +21% Melee Crit chance, +5% Movement Dpeed (Melee)
+44 Defense, +21% Ranged Damage, +15% Ranged Crit Chance, +5% Movement Dpeed (Ranged)
+38 Defense, +21% Magic Damage, +15% Magic Crit Chance, +80 Max Mana, -17% Mana usage, +5% Movement Speed (Magic)
Set Bonus: Summons a Leaf Crystal, which shoots a single projectile with 100 base damage every 0,85 seconds.
Rank: A#

A clone of Hallowed armor, sacrificing some secondary stats such as Melee Speed and Mana for a Passive attack. While the Crystal can be useful, it's also dumb and inaccurate, and at the end of the day crafting this set is a massive waste of time and Chlorophyte since you'll replace it with a Post Plantera armor immediately after.

The Chlorophyte Mask is the best Melee Helmet in the game, losing only Melee speed compared to the Hallowed Helmet. The Chlorophyte Plate Mail is also the best chest slot a Mages can get for a hybrid set.


Turtle Armor
Stats:
+65 Defense, +14% Melee Damage, +12% Melee Crit chance, Enemies are more likely to target you.
Set bonus: When you take contact damage, your attacker gets hit just as hard.
Rank: C#

That's a nice defense stat, but that's not enough to make up for the fact that this is below Mythril armor offensively, with a Set Bonus that is one of those things in Terraria that you can multiply by 10 and still wouldn't be any good. That Turtle Scale Mail is very good for melee hybrid sets however, even if it's outclassed by Monk's Shirt.

Post-Plantera

Tiki Armor
Stats:
+30 Defense, +30% Minion Damage, +4 Minion Slots
Rank: C/A

Just like Spider Armor, this is the only viable summoner armor at this point, and since Summoners are still a weak class this isn't very strong. Until you get a Xeno Staff, that is. Then everything changes and suddenly Summoner becomes an insane class, and things only get better once you gain access to the Stardust Dragon Staff.


Spooky Armor
Stats:
+27 Defense, +56% Minion Damage, +3 Minion Slots.
Rank: A

Despite losing a Minion Slot, this is still better than Tiki armor. Except that you are never going to actually wear this outside of summoning sessions, after which you'll switch back to Tiki for the extra minion.


Beetle Armor
Stats:
+61 Defense, +44% Melee Damage, +8% Melee Crit Chance, +42% Melee Speed, +12% Movement Speed. (Scale Mail)
+73 Defense, Up to +45% Damage reduction, +11% Melee Damage, +5% Melee Crit Chance, +6% Melee Speed, +6 Movement Speed. (Shell)
Rank: A

Because a mass of raw stats just can't be beaten. Whether you want to be offensive or defensive, this armor comes with the best for each playstyle.


Spectre Armor
+42 Defense, +20% Magic Damage, +12% Magic Crit Chance, +60 Max Mana, -13% Mana usage, +8% Movement Speed (Mask)
+30 Defense, -25% Magic Damage, +8% Magic Crit Chance, +60 Max Mana, +8% Movement Speed (Hood)
Set Bonus: Enemy hits spawn homing magic orbs that deal 50% of the hit's damage, not counting crits (Mask)/Enemy hits spawn healing orbs that heal by 20% of the hit's damage.
Rank: B/S

Little known fact, the orbs spawned with the Mask each have an individual cooldown. This means that with something that hits very rapidly you will initially get a massive burst of Spectral Balls in one burst... and then very disappointing DPS. "Something that hits very rapidly" is how you'd describe every good Post Plantera weapon, so this a worse choice than Hallowed armor in practice

Spectre Hood sits at S rank because immortality with lifesteal is as good as it is cheap.


Shroomite Armor
+51 Defense, +15% Damage for Arrows, Bullets or Rockets, +13% Ranged damage, +25% Ranged Crit Chance, +20% chance not to consume ammo, +12% movement speed.
Set Bonus: Standing completely still makes you go into stealth mode, giving up to +60% Damage, +10% Crit chance, and +50% Knockback.
Rank: A#

Once again, Raw stats are the way to go. The damage increase from the helmets is applied after all other damage buffs, meaning that unless you have no setup at all it will be much more than +15%. This has the best Ranged Helmet and second best Ranged Chest slot for hybridizing, and you should probably do that since the Shroomite Leggings and the set bonus are nothing special.


Dark Artist Armor
Stats:
+42 defense, +25% Magic Damage and Crit Chance, +60% Minion Damage, +3 extra sentry slots.
Set Bonus: Greatly increases Flameburst Sentry range.
Rank: A#

Hallowed may be a better set for a pure mage, but the massive +60% minion damage increase makes this a much better armor to use with your Xeno Staff and then the Stardust Dragon. Even if Flameburst sentries are a bit weak, they still help a decent amount against Pillars.

It also comes with the best Magic leg slot in the game, with a massive +25% crit chance.


Shinobi Infiltrator Armor
Stats:
+54 defense, +20% Melee damage, Crit Chance, Melee and Movement Speed, +60% Minion Damage, +3 extra sentry slots.
Set bonus: Lightning Auras hit 20% faster and gain a set 25% crit chance.
Rank: B#

The combination of solid stats for pure Melee, a 60% damage increase for your Dragon, and a very efficient set bonus that enhances what is arguably the most efficient sentry would make this the best offensive armor in the game against the Pillars and Moon Lord. The keyword there is "would", because both the Auras and the Dragon make a ton of Iframes and there is currently no endgame melee weapon that doesn't pierce*, so you will never get to use this armor to its max potential. It's still very decent with a Xeno/Stardust Cell Staff though, so it's not the end of the world.

Shinobi Infiltrator's Helmet may be a weaker for melee bonuses than the Chlorophyte Mask, but the 20% minion damage increase compensates.

*As wrong as it may sound, Daybreak is a piercing projectile. Not that it's a good weapon anyways.


Red Riding Armor
Stats:
+48 defense, +25% Ranged Damage +10% Ranged Crit Chance, +60% Minion Damage, +3 extra sentry slots, +20% Movement Speed
Set Bonus: Explosive Traps inflict Oiled!, making enemies take 2 more DoT from fire debuffs.
Rank: B#

Again, a +60% Dragon is insane. The thing is, the Vortex Beater and the Phantasm are both so strong for the Pillars and Moon Lord respectively than going full Shroomite to max out their damage instead is better. And yes, Explosive Traps are still bad and the Set Bonus still rivals the Obsidian Rose for utility.

When hybridizing, the Red Riding Dress may be a tiny bit weaker than the Shroomite Chest, but that doesn't matter since it comes with a massive 25% Minion damage increase as well.


Valhalla Knight Armor
Stats:
+64 defense, +8 HP/sec, +20% Melee Crit Chance, +60% Minion Damage, +3 extra sentry slots, +20% Movement Speed.
Set Bonus: Getting hit doubles all Ballistas' attack speed for 5 seconds.
Rank: C#

Completely carried by the broken Chestplate. That's the one good thing about this armor, since 60% minion damage doesn't matter when you don't get anything else and the sentry this supports suffers from being slow, dumb and inaccurate, and the set bonus only temporarily fixes the "Slow" aspect.

But even if the Valhalla Knight Armor isn't good, the Valhalla Chestplate is so ridiculously broken that every single Hybrid armor set that wants to stand a chance against Moon Lord wants it. The Leggings also comes with 20% Crit chance for Melee, which is nice.

Post-Moon Lord ​Armors

TLDR: They are all S rank except for Nebula Armor, which is on a tier of its own since it's so grossly broken even among the overpowered.

I mean, these sets were literally designed to be broken. Is there any reason to go In depth about them considering the only thing you do with them is show off on previous challenges?

[410N50]

repiolo wey

[Nettu]

To make the game more interesting i try to set my own rules, when it comes to things like the celestial armours. If i'm wearing any of those sets, i can't have any life fruits or a demon heart consumed on the character. This makes earlier sets viable to play with, allowing for more choice.

[TARANTINO]

CGC

[Peter the Great]

Nice guide! I could look back on this on the next playthrough for some quick tips.