The Elden Ring armor you equip is a vital aspect of gameplay that will shape your experience – including how tough the going will get. Being a fundamental part of your character's build, you'll want to think twice before committing to any one set.
Your armor type, weight, and how nimble you are while wearing it are down to your Endurance stat. This little number dictates how much weight you can carry, which in Elden Ring affects your maneuverability in fights (especially your dodge roll). If you are wearing very light armor, you can dodge quickly. If you are wearing heavier armor with lower Endurance, your dodge roll becomes a lot more labored and thereby less effective.
However, there is more to consider than stats alone. You don’t want to just be protected when fighting monsters in the Lands Between, you'll want to look cool doing it.
It can be hard to settle on a specific armor set when you take all that into consideration. So we’re here to help.
We’ve collated some of the best Elden Ring armor sets that we suggest you test out, and then we sorted them into categories based on the playstyles they support.
With that out the way, it’s time to suit up.
Elden Ring armor
Elden Ring armor: how does Equip Load work?
The most important stat when it comes to armor is Endurance, which influences both your Stamina and the maximum weight of gear you can have equipped (your Maximum Equip Load). The difference between the weight of the gear you’re wearing and your maximum equip load determines what kind of dodge roll you will be able to perform.
There are three roll types and they break down like this:
- Fast Roll: 29.9% or lower of your total Maximum Equip Load. A quick roll that travels big distances.
- Medium Roll: between 30-69.99% of your total Maximum Equip Load. The 'standard' roll, which will be familiar to Dark Souls players.
- Heavy Roll: 70-100% of your total Maximum Equip Load. Still useful in combat, but more laborious than the other dodges and it will take getting used to.
If you go over your Maximum Equip Load, your character will struggle to move and will not be able to roll at all, so keep that in mind.
Different play styles will ask for different tools, so you should think about what you are trying to achieve with your armor when picking your equipment. If you are relying on magic, your armor won't need a lot of physical resistance, but it will benefit from resistance to ranged elemental attacks.
On the other end of the spectrum, if you want to get into a boss's face and tank a ton of physical damage while swinging around a huge weapon you may want to pick armor that has high physical resistance.
Here are some of our favorite armor sets for the most popular playstyles in Elden Ring.
Elden Ring armor: magic-wielders
If you are running a magic-wielding class, or prefer to be quick on your feet, you should consider a lighter armor set. These generally offer less physical protection, but often have good elemental resistances and let you use that fast roll.
If you are using magic, you should seek out the Sage armor set early in the game. This set is found in the Liurnia of the Lakes area, which opens just after you beat the first Elden Lord, Godrick the Grafted. It is located in the Stillwater Cave, which is the southernmost point of the lake.
Stillwater Cave is full of pits overgrown with poison flowers, so bring high resistance or poison cleansing items and be careful. The armor set is down a side passage that is in front of you as you make the jump across the first poison pool. It's guarded by two Servant of Rot enemies, who are the guys with big sticks hurling poison attacks at you. Head down the passage, and you will find the Sage armor on a body at the bottom. Be careful though, it's guarded by some Giant Bats.
Our other choice for those towards the end of the game is the Black Knife set which has very good defensive stats despite being so light. You can find this in the magical town of Ordina Liturgical Town which is in the Consecrated Snowfields. This is a secret area in the lower portions of the Mountaintops of the Giants. In order to reach it, you will have to have both the Haligtree Secret Medallion (Left) and the Haligtree Secret Medallion (Right).
Once you travel to the Ordina Liturgical Town Site of Grace, you just need to head to the North East side of the town where stairs will lead upwards into the mountains, and the set is underneath that path under an arch.
Elden Ring armor: all-rounder
You don’t have to specialize in Elden Ring, and playing the jack-of-all-trades is a great option. If you are playing a melee-focused class with decent Endurance, you should consider armors that are in the middle of the weight spectrum. If you have the Endurance to remain on a medium roll with it, it will often offer good physical protection.
The Knight Set is a great option here. It’s available to you once you can enter the Roundtable, which opens up to you after you beat Margit, the Fell Omen, the first major boss in Elden Ring. Once inside, take the first turning on the right and follow it until you meet the Twin Maiden Merchant. You can then buy the Knight Set from her for 13,500 runes.
Another great option is to get the set of the wolf-headed warrior, Blaidd. He is a recurring character as you journey through the Lands Between, and you can take his armor for your own. To do so, you need to start Ranni's questline, which is a lengthy endeavor that will take you all over the map. However, to get you started, you need to head to Main Caria Manor Gate located at the northmost point of the Liurnia of the Lakes section, and fight through it until you reach Seluvis's Rise. The quest starts at the top of the Ranni's Rise tower.
Once you progress through the quest, you will get Blaidd's set. However, if you'd like a taste of it early, you can get his striking wolf helmet in the same area you start the quest. Once in Seluvis's Rise, the mask is reached by jumping up the fallen part of the wall to the right of the tower's entrance.
Elden Ring Armor: Heavy Tank
Do you want to get into the thick of battle, take a ton of hits, and stay standing? There are beefy, tankier armors in the game which allow you to do that, but they come at the cost of high Equip Loads. However, if you have the Endurance to wear them, they're worth it.
One of the best sets you can get early in Elden Ring is the Leyndell Knight set, though you’ll have to do some farming. The set drops from the Gold Dragon Cult Knight, which can be found to the east of the Luirnia of Lakes. If you're traveling from the Lake Facing Cliffs Site of Grace, which is the first you come to after beating Godrick the Grafted, you need to head to your East. Along the cliff face, keep looking down for gravestones attached to the rocks that then lead safely to the area below.
Once here, head right until you reach a road. Travel north on the road until you see it fork and take the path to the right. Keep traveling up that way, including past the Tibia Mariner boss. Eventually, you will see the Knight you need to kill walking on the path, but don’t kill him just yet. Go past him and visit the Artist's Shack Site of Grace. Now return to the Knight, kill him, and fast travel back to the Artist's Shack. Now go back and do it all over again. He drops pieces of the armor set every couple of times you kill him. This requires luck and persistence, but it's a great set in the early game.
For when you’re a little later in Elden Ring, Lionel's set is an incredibly heavy set of armor, but one of the best armor sets if you’re looking for defense above all else. It’s located in the capital city of Leyndell. As you enter the capital from the East Capital Site of Grace, you need to head right and fight a ton of enemies. You will eventually hit a lift and you want to keep heading down. Eventually, you will pass a Gold Dragon Cult Knight, who you can kill or run past, but then turn right at a carriage. After that, take an immediate left into a fountain area, and then another left into a building with an elevator.
Take that down, and then follow the road until you see a sharp right where you'll see a skeleton with his arms in the air. Run past him then take an immediate right into the building and run through the doorway on the left. Take the right path instead of the stairs heading down and there will be a small ladder at the end of it. Once up, you just need to run into the building with the metal sigils for windows. The set is on the left on a bed next to the Deathbed Dress.
These are only some of the armors in Elden Ring, and finding the perfect one for you and your playstyle will take some experimentation. We hope these sets set you on the right path though, and that it makes your path through the Land Between jut a tiny bit safer.
