What is the difference in armor on minecraft?

Answer 1

Armor durability is different for each armor type. That is basically the gist of it. If you wear a full set of leather armor, you are protected from the same amount of damage you would receive if you wore full diamonds armor instead. If you have 10 armor points, which are the little icons to the right of your health, then you will receive 80% protection from any damage.

Now, the key to all materials in minecraft is durability. A full set of leather armor can protect you for the same amount as a diamond set at full 10 points, but the leather armor degrades very rapidly, unlike the diamond armor.

Below is a list of the armor types and their durabilities.

LeatherGoldChainmailIronDiamondHelmet346867136272Chestplate499696192384Leggings469292184368Boots408079160320

Now, say you jump off a cliff and get hit for 5 hearts of damage. Now if you wore armor at 10 armor points, that reduces the hit you take by 80%. So you only lose 1 heart. Now, the way durability is deducted is by taking the base hit, which is 5, and doubling it. We then take 10 durability points from each piece of armor we wore. So if you were wearing full leather, you are now reduced to a 24 helmet, a 39 chestplate, a 36 leggings, and a 30 boots. Now your total armor points are 7.6, which gets rounded down to 7.5. Now the next hit you take worth 5 hearts will only protect you for 60%. The next jump will hurt you for 2 hearts. Every armor point reduces damage by 8%, half points 4%. So

As you can see, the most beneficial armor is going to be the one that holds the highest armor points for the longest, aka Diamond armor.

Answer 2

Armour comes in the form of helms, chestplates, leggings and boots.

The materials you can use are leather, iron ingots, gold ingots, or diamonds.

In creative mode there is a chainmail material too. This is made using 'fire' blocks, and can't be replicated in regular survival mode.

Answer 3

It is an item that you add to your armor slots. It reduces damage that you take. The 5 types are:

Leather

Iron

Gold

Diamond

Chain (unobtainable in survival)

each set has a helmet, chestplate, leggings, and boots

Answer 4

Leather,Iron,Chainmail (Only availible in creative mode or by hacks), gold and diamond

Answer 5

As of v0.6.0 Alpha there is armor.