Valheim’s very linear upgradeability system is reflective of the items you make in the game, including armor. In tandem with the food you make, the armor is the thing that helps you take less damage and can mean the difference between life and death. this list achieves. Despite Hearth and Home’s changes to many aspects of the game, the list and values on the armor remain unchanged, so now, all we have to do is sort out when in the game it is most useful.
Given that when you start the game you are open to taking the full brunt of the damage, having armor to reduce that is a priority, which is why the question of what is the best armor I can get in the early game is what
As with all Valheim lists, this was written at the time of the games’ latest version (Hearth and Home Update, version 0.203.10) with the premise of the early game being the period of the start of the game up to exploring the Black Forest.
4. Rag Tunic and Pants
We start the list with by far the weakest of the bunch. It’s the armor that you carry around when you start (or rather half of it) the game. Offering little to no resistance, this only serves as a baseline for your armor stats. Given how this is still a craftable item in the game, we will still include this in the list for formality.
In my opinion, with or without these, you’re still getting all of the damage you’ll receive, so in short, this is a hard pass for any starting item, but it is something.
If you want to learn what this particular armor set gives in stat form and how to make it, check the bullet points below:
Rag Tunic and Pants Details:
- Armor Gained (Set): 2
- Weight (Set): 2
- Additional Effects Gained: N/A
- Speed Penalty: 0%
- Key Materials Needed: Leather Scraps
What’s Good About Rag Tunic and Pants?
- Makes you less naked
- You already have ½ of the set immediately
- A freebie if you kill boars for food.
- Again, “better than nothing”
How to Make It
To be able to make it, you’ll need to do the following:
- Hunt boar and obtain Leather Scraps
- Press Tab and select the chosen component and press ‘Craft’
3. Leather Armor Set
Now we begin with actually helpful armor sets via the Leather Armor Set. This is what most beginners in the game will aim to get first to protect themselves a little better, while also being more visually clothed. It’s not that hard to get once you start getting the hang of the combat system and kiting enemies away, but do note that it could be a bit tedious, time-wise.
Going towards my take on Leather Armor is that it’s not the best but it is easy and when you go into the unknown of how clumped up enemy spawns are to one another, it’s best to take every bit of precaution you’d want in terms of protection. The only hard materials to farm up as a beginner in my opinion is Bone Fragments, as Skeletons at this point in the game can kill you in about 2 swings, and even less if you have low HP from the food you ate. The other component you must also get is Deer Hide, and since deers run away from you if you get too close, you shouldn’t have an issue of getting damaged by it. Hunting them however is straightforward as long as you have a bow and arrows, and decent amounts of stamina to kill them from far away.
If you want to learn what this particular armor set gives in stat form and how to make it, check the bullet points below:
Leather Armor Details:
- Armor Gained (Set): 7
- Weight (Set): 15
- Additional Effects Gained: N/A
- Speed Penalty: 0%
- Key Materials Needed: Deer Hide, Bone Fragment
What’s Good About Leather Armor?
- A bit more armor than the rag set
- Gives a bit more safety against smaller enemies when food hunting
- Materials needed are relatively easy to obtain
How to Make It
To be able to make it, you’ll need to do the following:
- Hunt deer and obtain Deer Hide
- Kill Skeletons or find their remains near the Black Forest to get Bone Fragments
- Create a Workbench and create it
2. Troll Set
From armors with negligible stat increase to meaningful ones with bonus ability, the Troll Set is an armor set that over-delivers in what it can accomplish for somewhat reasonable requirements. The only given difficulty is killing Trolls, which we’ll get to later, but other than that, it shares the same Bone Fragment core item as the Leather Set.
This in my opinion is the best armor for those needing to be stealthy to hunt food on. As I said earlier, the Trolls are tough to kill, simply because they are big, they hit back harder, and can very easily remove the stamina you have by dodging its attacks. Trolls in the early game should be a 2-person job, so with that in mind, you’ll be ending up needing to kill more Trolls to achieve the set, but once you do, put it on as its unassuming armor amount can help you negate some small foes that roam around you. As for the thing you get from completing the set, which is Sneak, helps so much when taming some creatures and killing things like the deer when you don‘t have access to ranged attacks. Overall, this is the set you should rush, so you can freely get the best early game armor in the list, which we’ll get to next.
If you want to learn what this particular armor set gives in stat form and how to make it, check the bullet points below:
Troll Set Details:
- Armor Gained (Set): 19
- Weight (Set): 15
- Additional Effects Gained: Sneak (25%)
- Speed Penalty: 0%
- Key Materials Needed: Troll Hide, Bone Fragment
What’s Good About Troll Set?
- Kill Trolls to obtain Troll Hide
- Kill Skeletons or find their remains near the Black Forest to get Bone Fragments
- Create a Workbench and create it
How to Make It
To be able to make it, you’ll need to do the following:
- Hunt Trolls and obtain Troll Hide
- Kill Skeletons or find their remains near the Black Forest to get Bone Fragments
- Create a Workbench and create it
1. Bronze Armor Set
Last up, we have the first metal armor you’ll be able to craft in the game, which coincidentally is the first armor you’ll truly aim to get to the cap of your early game and be able to progress to the mid-game, the Bronze Set. This is the armor to get in terms of protections towards the first biomes you’ll encounter, mainly Meadows and the Black Forest, with the latter playing host to the location of the second boss, Elder. Speaking of which, the biome in which it resides is host to the previous mobs you’ve come across at this point (Trolls, Skeletons, etc.), and having this much armor can allow you to take up an extra hit or two before feeling the need to run away to recover.
Personally, another no-brainer armor set to get as Bronze also extends its use to the weapons you craft and, in tandem with the armor, gives you plenty of survivability in the areas you face and beyond. To quickly touch on the mid game, it’s the only armor that can help you when you come across the Swamp biome, and anything less will be a tough one as one swing from the enemies in the area could spell disaster to your Viking. Again, given metals uses here, this is absolutely a rush need as not only are you protected from foes but also the aforementioned weapons that will aid you in combat.
If you want to learn what this particular armor set gives in stat form and how to make it, check the bullet points below:
Bronze Armor Details:
- Armor Gained (Set): 24
- Weight (Set): 23
- Additional Effects Gained: N/A
- Speed Penalty: -10%
- Key Materials Needed: Bronze (Copper, Tin), Deer Hide
What’s Good About Bronze Armor?
- Good armor for longer exploration runs
- Bronze in itself is great for many small to medium threat mobs.
- Has good weapon sets along with it
How to Make It
To be able to make it, you’ll need to do the following:
- Hunt deer and obtain Deer Hide
- Using an antler pickaxe, find copper deposit in the Black Forest biome to get copper ore
- Also using the pickaxe, find tin deposits near the shore of the Black Forest to get tin ore
- At your base, create a Smelter and Charcoal Kiln via the Hammer within the area of the Workbench
- Add Wood to the Charcoal Kiln and wait for it to turn to Coal
- Gather the Coal and the ores and place in the Smelter
- Wait for the ingots to be made and combine them in your Forge to make Bronze and in turn, the armor
