Early Game Armors[]
- While early game zones mostly feature gray/purple zombies with low damage and slow moment speed, early game armors are nonetheless useful for surviving surprise hits from fast zombies, and gaining Agility/Endurance boosts.
- Non-Strength Armours are preferable at this stage due to their lack of Strength requirement and innate speed boost.
Level 1-21[]
- Sports Armour (20 Durability/20% Absorption)
- Zylon Vest (40 Durability/25% Absorption)
- Kevlar Vest (60 Durability/30% Absorption)
These armors will let a base 25 Endurance character survive 1 Blood Hound attack. The first 2 will leave the character at Critical and thus needing immediate heal, while the Kevlar Vest does not.
Level 21-41[]
- Mesh SLX (80 Durability/40% Absorption)
- Mesh RX-2 (100 Durability/45% Absorption)
- Exterminator Mesh (120 Durability/50% Absorption)
- Exterminator Mesh GT (140 Durability/55% Absorption)
- SN-42 (100 Durability/50% Absorption/40 Strength)
Any of these armors will provide decent protection against Fort zombies/mutants, with the exception of Tendrils. As the Meshes can be looted by SB players, high MC copies of them can be found relatively easily on the Marketplace at a reasonable price.
Mid Game Armors[]
- Secronom Bunker and beyond features merciless zombies with high movement speed and damage, making powerful armors vital for survival.
- Players can opt to bring multiple backup armors along with medical items (such as Nerotonin 5A) during long trips. This practice can greatly extend a character's survivability, as well as reduce armor cost (Ex: Multiple copies of Exterminator Reactive XT are cheaper than one Tatakau Reactive, and provide more total durability points)
Level 41-100+[]
- Nomad Mesh (180 Durability/60% Absorption)
- Shinobu Mesh (260 Durability/70% Absorption)
- Exterminator Reactive XT (220 Durability/85% Absorption/100 Strength)
- Bio Reactive (280 Durability/85% Absorption/100 Strength)
- Tatakau Reactive (390 Durability/85% Absorption/100 Strength)
High Strength characters at this point can take full advantage of Strength Armours, which have massively increased Durability/Absorption compared to their non-strength counterpart.
End Game[]
- X-Terminator Mesh (380 Durability/80% Absorption)
- X-Terminator Reactive (535 Durability/90% Absorption/100 Strength)
These end-game armors are important for resisting the high power level of South Eastern Zone/Wastelands zombies. X-Terminator Mesh are more suited for the looting-focused SEZ due to its speed boost, while X-Terminator Reactive are more useful for surviving Wastelands.
- Vengeance Guard (800 Durability/95% Absorption/100 Strength)
The strongest non-LE piece of armor in existence. With a premium price tag of 5000c, the Vengeance Guard thus can only be seen wielded by the most endgame players in DF1.