Final Fantasy/Armor

Armor not only affects how much damage an enemy can do, but also affects your evasion and speed. There are four types of armor: body, head, arms, and shields. Each character class can equip a different set of armor:

• Warriors and Knights use heavy body armor and helmets, and can equip large shields.
• Thieves and Ninjas use lighter, but can still equip helmets and small shields.
• Monks and Masters use only the lightest equipment and no shields.
• Red Mages and Wizards can use most of the same equipment as Thieves and Ninjas
• White and Black Mages/Wizards can use very little armor, and no shields.

Combat mechanics

Each character has an absorb and evade rating. Up to four pieces of armor may be equipped, each adding to the absorb rating and decreasing the evade rating. Thus higher absorb ratings are better while lower evade ratings are preferred. The strongest monsters will have high to-hit ratings however and will rarely be dodged, so absorb is more important than evade.

The base absorb rating of a character is 0, except for unarmored monks/masters which have absorb equal to their level. A bug in the NES version causes the monk/master to have their absorb reset to the unarmored level on leveling up, until the armor page is visited again to correctly set it.

The base evade rating of all characters is 48 plus their agility rating. Every extra point of evade generally decreases the character's chance to be hit by 0.5%. The weight of an armor reduces a character's ability to evade attack. Therefore, a Knight that equips Knight's Armor, the heaviest armor in the game, will be unlikely to avoid many attacks.

Armor types

Body

Body armor comes in several flavors. Heavy mail offers high protection at the small cost of reduced evasion, but can only be used by a few classes. Shirts or robes generally offer poor protection, and are intended for use by mages and wizards. Armlets offer varying levels of protection with good evasion and can be used by all classes, but at high cost.

Head

Helmets add more protection than body armor alone, but only the Warrior, Knight, and Ninja classes can equip more than the most basic helmet. The most worthwhile headgear in the game is the ribbon, which offers little physical protections, but makes the wearer immune to all status effects.

Arms

As with headgear, arm protection adds a small amount of defense, but only a few classes can equip the best kinds. The most useful piece is the protect ring which blocks instant death attacks (except Petrification).

Hand

Off-hand items, generally shields, not only give protection, but they can randomly block a physical attack, resulting in no damage to the wearer. Equip a character with shield if possible, no matter how weak it is since a block absorbs all damage. Since the protect cloak technically isn't a shield, it can be equiped by most characters that cannot use shields.

Armor details

See the class details chart below for a more detailed list of which classes can equip each piece of armor, and note that some armors have further explanation in the special weapons section.

Default sorting is by buying price. Items that cannot be bought in any shop (sold only) but found only are listed afterwards, as more valuable.

NES names are reported in a separate column because the PSX and GBA remakes are more popular today.

Body armor	NES Name	Gil	Def.	W.	Users	Buy	Find	Strong vs	Casts
Clothes	Shirt	10	1	2	all	Cornelia	several
Leather Armor	Wooden Armor	50	4	8	fKtNmMrR	Cornelia, Pravoka	-
Chain Mail	Chain Armor	80	15	15	fKNrR	Cornelia, Pravoka	-
Steel Plate	Iron Armor	800	24	23	fKN	Pravoka, Elfheim	Marsh Cave, Cornelia Castle
Copper Armlet	Copper Bracelet	1000	4	1	all	Elfheim	Marsh Cave
Silver Armlet	Silver Bracelet	5000	15	1	all	Melmond	Marsh Cave
Mythril Mail	Silver Armor	7500	18	8	fKNrR	Crescent Lake	Mt. Gulg
Ruby Armlet	Gold Bracelet	50000	24	1	all	Gaia	Citadel of Trials
Knight's Armor	Steel Armor	45000	34	33	fK	Melmond	-
Black Robe	Black Shirt	2	24	2	B	-	Flying Fortress		Ice2
White Robe	White Shirt	2	24	2	W	-	Flying Fortress		Invs2
Flame Armor	Flame Armor	30000	34	10	fKN	-	Mt. Gulg	Ice
Ice Armor	Ice Armor	30000	34	10	fKN	-	Ice Cavern	Fire
Diamond Armor	Opal Armor	60000	42	10	K	-	Sunken Shrine
Dragon Mail	Dragon Armor	60000	42	10	K	-	Tower of Mirage	All elements
Diamond Armlet	Opal Bracelet	65000	34	1	all	-	Sunken Shrine

Helms	NES Name	Gil	Def.	W.	Users	Buy	Find	Strong vs	Casts
Leather Cap	Cap	80	1	1	all	Elfheim	Temple of Chaos
Helmet	Wooden Helmet	100	3	3	fKN	Elfheim	Mt. Duergar
Grand Helm	Iron Helmet	450	5	5	fKN	Melmond	Mt. Duergar
Mythril Helm	Silver Helmet	2500	6	3	fKN	Crescent Lake	Mt. Gulg, Flying Fortress
Ribbon	Ribbon	2	1	1	all	-	Sunken Shrine, Waterfall Cave, Flying Fortress	Status ailments
Diamond Helm	Opal Helmet	1000	8	3	K	-	Sunken Shrine
Healing Helm	Heal Helmet	10000	6	3	KN	-	Tower of Mirage, Flying Fortress		Heal1

Gloves	NES Name	Gil	Def.	W.	Users	Buy	Find	Strong vs	Casts
Leather Gloves	Gloves	60	1	1	all	Pravoka	-
Bronze Gloves	Copper Gauntlets	200	2	3	fKN	Melmond	Elfheim Castle
Steel Gloves	Iron Gauntlets	750	4	5	fKN	Melmond	Western Keep, Citadel of Trials
Mythril Gloves	Silver Gauntlets	2500	6	3	fKN	Crescent Lake	Mt. Gulg, Ice Cavern
Protect Ring	ProRing	20000	8	1	all	Gaia	Flying Fortress, Temple of Chaos	Instant-death
Giant's Gloves	Power Gauntlets	10000	6	3	fKNR	-	Sunken Shrine		Saber
Diamond Gloves	Opal Gauntlets	20000	8	3	K	-	Sunken Shrine, Flying Fortress
Gauntlets	Zeus Gauntlets	-	6	3	KNR	-	Citadel of Trials		Bolt2

Shields	NES Name	Gil	Def.	W.	Users	Buy	Find	Strong vs	Casts
Leather Shield	Wooden Shield	15	2	0	fKN	Pravoka	Terra Cave
Iron Shield	Iron Shield	100	4	0	fKN	Pravoka, Elfheim	-
Buckler	Buckler	2500	2	0	fKtNrR	Crescent Lake	-
Mythril Shield	Silver Shield	2500	8	0	fKN	Crescent Lake	Terra Cave, Mt. Gulg
Flame Shield	Flame Shield	10000	12	0	fKN	-	Mt. Gulg	Ice
Ice Shield	Ice Shield	10000	12	0	fKN	-	Ice Cavern	Fire
Diamond Shield	Opal Shield	15000	16	0	K	-	Sunken Shrine, Flying Fortress
Protect Cloak	ProCape	20000	8	2	all but mM	-	Flying Fortress, Temple of Chaos
Aegis Shield	Aegis Shield	40000	16	0	K	-	Tower of Mirage	Petrify

Class details

Items are sorted as per the tables in the previous section. Items with special effect are highlighted in yellow.

Body armors	Warrior Knight	Thief Ninja	Monk Master	Red Mage Red Wizard	White Mage White Wizard	Black Mage Black Wizard
Clothes	Kn+Wa	Ni+Th	Ma+Mo	RW+RM	WW+WM	BW+BM
Leather Armor	Kn+Wa	Ni+Th	Ma+Mo	RW+RM	No	No
Chain Mail	Kn+Wa	Ni	No	RW+RM	No	No
Steel Plate	Kn+Wa	Ni	No	No	No	No
Copper Armlet	Kn+Wa	Ni+Th	Ma+Mo	RW+RM	WW+WM	BW+BM
Silver Armlet	Kn+Wa	Ni+Th	Ma+Mo	RW+RM	WW+WM	BW+BM
Mythril Mail	Kn+Wa	Ni	No	RW+RM	No	No
Ruby Armlet	Kn+Wa	Ni+Th	Ma+Mo	RW+RM	WW+WM	BW+BM
Knight's Armor	Kn+Wa	No	No	No	No	No
Black Robe	No	No	No	No	No	BW
White Robe	No	No	No	No	WW	No
Flame Armor	Kn+Wa	Ni	No	No	No	No
Ice Armor	Kn+Wa	Ni	No	No	No	No
Diamond Armor	Kn	No	No	No	No	No
Dragon Mail	Kn	No	No	No	No	No
Diamond Armlet	Kn+Wa	Ni+Th	Ma+Mo	RW+RM	WW+WM	BW+BM

Helms	Warrior Knight	Thief Ninja	Monk Master	Red Mage Red Wizard	White Mage White Wizard	Black Mage Black Wizard
Leather Cap	Kn+Wa	Ni+Th	Ma+Mo	RW+RM	WW+WM	BW+BM
Helmet	Kn+Wa	Ni	No	No	No	No
Grand Helm	Kn+Wa	Ni	No	No	No	No
Mythril Helm	Kn+Wa	Ni	No	No	No	No
Ribbon	Kn+Wa	Ni+Th	Ma+Mo	RW+RM	WW+WM	BW+BM
Diamond Helm	Kn	No	No	No	No	No
Healing Helm	Kn	Ni	No	No	No	No

Gloves	Warrior Knight	Thief Ninja	Monk Master	Red Mage Red Wizard	White Mage White Wizard	Black Mage Black Wizard
Leather Gloves	Kn+Wa	Ni+Th	Ma+Mo	RW+RM	WW+WM	BW+BM
Bronze Gloves	Kn+Wa	Ni	No	No	No	No
Steel Gloves	Kn+Wa	Ni	No	No	No	No
Mythril Gloves	Kn+Wa	Ni	No	RW	No	No
Protect Ring	Kn+Wa	Ni+Th	Ma+Mo	RW+RM	WW+WM	BW+BM
Giant's Gloves	Kn+Wa	Ni	No	RW	No	No
Diamond Gloves	Kn	No	No	No	No	No
Gauntlets	Kn	Ni	No	RW	No	No

Shields	Warrior Knight	Thief Ninja	Monk Master	Red Mage Red Wizard	White Mage White Wizard	Black Mage Black Wizard
Leather Shield	Kn+Wa	Ni	No	No	No	No
Iron Shield	Kn+Wa	Ni	No	No	No	No
Buckler	Kn+Wa	Ni+Th	No	RW+RM	No	No
Mythril Shield	Kn+Wa	Ni	No	No	No	No
Flame Shield	Kn+Wa	Ni	No	No	No	No
Ice Shield	Kn+Wa	Ni	No	No	No	No
Diamond Shield	Kn	No	No	No	No	No
Protect Cloak	Kn+Wa	Ni+Th	No	RW+RM	WW+WM	BW+BM
Aegis Shield	Kn	No	No	No	No	No