Knowing what the best Rimworld Clothing are can be the difference between life and death in the rim.
If you’ve ever played Rimworld, you know that keeping a colony alive is hardly ever easy. Many things need to be considered, like food, shelter, if that bear near your base is hungry enough to attack your colonists and why Engie keeps botching the construction of that steel door. The player needs to pay attention to so much stuff, that they sometimes overlook some details, like clothing.
Clothing helps your colonists to both not freeze to death and not die of a heat stroke. It also helps with damage resistance, affecting the different armor attributes - Sharp, Blunt and Heat - in different ways.
What influences these attributes, however, is the material they’re made of. In this guide, I’ll list the top 3 clothing items that you should likely use in every situation, and the ideal material options for them. Remember that you need to take into account many aspects when choosing what to wear, so results may vary.
3 - Button-down shirt
Get those electric tailoring benches working to make some button-down shirts.
Always go with button-down shirts for upper body clothing. You should never make T-shirts unless your material supply is extremely low. It offers lower insulation compared to the button-down shirt and also doesn’t protect your arms from the clubs and shivs of those tribal raids. Oh, and button-down shirts make you look good when hauling the bodies of your fellow colonists who died in the last attack. Style points!
What’s good about it?
It beats the other option of upper body clothing for the combination of insulation and armor. It gives 26% cold insulation, which is more than the T-shirt’s 20%.
The tribalwear gives better cold and hot insulation and the same armor rate, but it covers less body parts and doesn’t allow you to wear pants. I don’t know about you, but I like to wear pants.
So, in summary:
- It’s the better choice regarding protection for the upper-body slot.
- Has a decent insulation that can be complemented by other clothing items.
- Makes you look good.
Hyperweave is always the best material for clothes, but for the likely scenario where you don’t have access to it, you should use materials with a higher armor rate. Devilstrand is the best one that is relatively easy to get but Rhinoceros leather and heavy fur should also work for you.
Usefulness Rating: 80/100
2 - Tuque/Cowboy Hat
Tuques and cowboy hats will keep you warm or cool.
Is it cheating if I choose two different hats for second place?
Like a lot of things in Rimworld, this choice is very situational. The hat you should choose will depend on the climate of the region you land on. Cowboy hats are better for hotter regions while Tuques are recommended in colder biomes.
What’s good about it?
The temperature resistance is what makes these headwears the best. Tuque has a 50% cold insulation while the Cowboy Hat has a 50% hot insulation. Their armor modifiers are essentially the same, and depending on the material, they could even replace simple helmets.
Besides, the cowboy hat has a 10% bonus for social interactions, but you could always make a Bowler Hat that will have a 15% bonus on this aspect, and equip it when needed.
Overall:
- They give good enough insulation for most weather.
- Covers and protects headparts from damage, even if only a little.
- If made of Hyperweave, could replace a simple helmet.
- +10% social impact for cowboy hat, if you don’t want to micromanage what your colonists wear.
Again, if you can, make them out of Hyperweave.
For good armor, you should go with leather, specially Rhinoceros leather or Devilstrand. These will also be good enough for hot weather, but if you’re worried about cold weather, you can use Muffalo Wool or Chinchilla fur for when winter comes.
Usefulness Rating: 85/100
1 - Duster
Colonists fighting and wearing dusters.
This is hands-down the best clothing item in all of Rimworld. It has a balanced cold and heat insulation, it has the best armor rating in all clothing and also covers a lot of your body.
Oh, and cowboys are really cool.
What’s good about it?
This is not the best clothing item when it comes to cold insulation. Parkas and Jackets are better in this aspect. But Parkas have very little when it comes to armor and Jackets won’t cover much of your body. These are both good starting items, but the Duster will give you enough insulation for most hot and cold biomes and the best armor available in its category.
The advantages are:
- Best armor rating of every clothing item in the base game.
- Excellent hot insulation and enough cold insulation for most biomes.
- Covers a lot of body parts.
- Cowboys.
You have probably guessed by now that you should use Hyperweave for this one too.
If weather is not much of a worry, you should use Rhinoceros leather, Heavy Fur or Devilstrand to really take advantage of that armor. If it is though, you should make it out of Alpaca Wool, Chinchilla fur or even Thrumbofur if you can.
This should be your main insulation piece of clothing, so use it to keep your colonists in a comfortable temperature, and use the rest of the clothing as armor.
Usefulness Rating: 100/100
These are the clothes I usually go for when playing Rimworld. Pants are important as well, but I’d rather focus on protecting more vital body parts first, and then make better pants later.
But hey, this is all very situational. Sometimes you won’t have access to necessary tech to make the better pieces, or materials won’t be enough for all your colonists. With experience comes better judgement, and you’ll know the best course of action for most situations.
I hope this guide was useful to you, have safe trips at the edge of space!
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