Armor Mechanics
Players equip armor in two equipment slots, using a helmet for the head and a vest for the body. Every piece mitigates the hit damage received by whichever body parts fall under its coverage. Defensive reduction is determined by armor class, while the specific ammunition chambered in a firearm modifies how effective that defense remains. Greater damage mitigation is provided by higher armor classes.
Armor Tiers
Vest categories include Light, Medium, Heavy, and Super heavy, whereas helmets feature those identical four classes alongside Pilot and Tank. Bullet damage decreases according to the percentage value of the worn armor. Vest tiers mitigate incoming harm by four distinct ratings: Light offers 30%, Medium provides 40%, Heavy grants 50%, and Super heavy yields a 60% reduction. Six helmet varieties provide defensive mitigation: Light cuts 30%, Medium cuts 40%, Pilot cuts 30%, Heavy cuts 50%, Super heavy cuts 60%, and Tank cuts 55% reduction. When struck by an M4 in the upper torso for 27.3 damage, wearing a Heavy vest (50%) lowers that impact down to 13.6.
| Equipment Slot | Armor Class | Damage Reduction |
|---|---|---|
| Vest | Light | 30% |
| Vest | Medium | 40% |
| Vest | Heavy | 50% |
| Vest | Super heavy | 60% |
| Helmet | Light | 30% |
| Helmet | Medium | 40% |
| Helmet | Pilot | 30% |
| Helmet | Heavy | 50% |
| Helmet | Tank | 55% |
| Helmet | Super heavy | 60% |
Hit Zones
- Standard vests shield three sections of the body: upper, middle, and lower torso.
- Extended protection on the Super heavy vest additionally encompasses both the pelvis and the upper arm.
- Head protection is provided by wearing a helmet.
- Neck coverage is included specifically on Heavy, Super heavy, and Tank helmet models.
- Because helmets and vests never share overlapping bodily coverage, single locations receive mitigation from only one armor item at a time.
- No defensive armor protects the hands, feet, lower arms, thighs, or calves.
Defensive gear fails to shield against every landing blow. Landing a headshot on a target wearing only a vest inflicts unmitigated head damage, while arm strikes receive no defensive reduction.
Durability
Armor items possess an individual durability pool. Every strike depletes this durability, causing the gear to shatter completely once it reaches 0. Mitigation remains constant throughout wear, as identical protection percentages apply across all four durability stages.
M4 Thresholds
Recorded single-shot damage against the upper torso and head utilizing M4 full metal jacket ammunition:
| Armor Worn | Upper Torso Damage | Head Damage |
|---|---|---|
| None | 27.3 | 65.8 |
| Light | 19.1 | 46.1 |
| Medium | 16.4 | 39.5 |
| Heavy | 13.6 | 32.9 |
| Super heavy | 10.9 | 26.3 |
Total M4 shots required to eliminate a target across every armor tier:
| Armor Worn | Upper Torso Hits | Head Hits |
|---|---|---|
| None | 4 | 2 |
| Light | 6 | 3 |
| Medium | 7 | 3 |
| Heavy | 8 | 4 |
| Super heavy | 10 | 4 |
Eliminating an unarmored opponent via upper torso impacts requires 4 hits, increasing to 6 hits against Light, 7 against Medium, 8 against Heavy, and 10 against Super heavy.
Ghillie Suits
Neither protective reduction nor durability is provided by ghillie suits or matching headwear. Within the armor damage table their mitigation is listed as zero, though equipping both pieces activates a set bonus enhancing movement and aiming.
Ammo Interactions
Ballistic protection performance varies depending on ammunition choice. Defensive performance is dictated directly by the cartridge loaded into the firearm:
- Tracer rounds along with full metal jacket encounter the complete defense percentage.
- Against unarmored flesh, hollow point inflicts about twice as much damage compared to full metal jacket, but defensive armor resists it more severely, eliminating most of its advantage once any armor is equipped.
- While armor-piercing inflicts 20% less damage on unarmored flesh, it faces weaker mitigation from worn armor.
- This degradation correlates with the weapon arm class: armor maintains 70% reduction against small arms, 60% against medium arms, 50% against high arms, and 100% against special arms.
- Firearms possessing no assigned arm class retain 30% of the armor reduction.
Ammunition Choice
- When facing Light armor, full metal jacket serves as the optimal choice.
- In this matchup armor-piercing performs slightly weaker, whereas hollow point proves much weaker.
- Armor-piercing delivers superior damage when used against targets protected by Medium or heavier armor.
- Firing an M4 inflicts 16.6 using armor-piercing versus 16.4 with full metal jacket on a Medium vest, scaling to 14.0 compared to 10.9 on a Super heavy vest.
- Unarmored opponents represent the intended target for hollow point rounds.
- Compared to full metal jacket, hollow point damage drops significantly lower against any armored defense.
- This identical dynamic applies equally to handgun sidearms.
- Striking a Heavy vest with the GGX 17 deals 13.2 damage using armor-piercing compared to 12.7 with full metal jacket.
Sources
- Official WARDOGS Community Wiki: Armor (CC BY-SA 4.0)