Armor calculation

This article explains how Armor calculation in Guild Wars works, offers some simple rules-of-thumb.

Basics

Categories

Armor bonuses and penalties are divided into 3 main categories:

• Core armor, consisting of:
  • Basic armor,
  • Insignia,
  • Mysticism,
  • Base Shield armor, and
  • Inscriptions (actual inscriptions, not inherent mods that can be reproduced with inscriptions).

• Bonus armor, consisting of:
  • All other weapon mods,
  • Inherent mods, including Unique (Green) item mods,
  • Non-skill effects (Consumables, Blessings and Titles), and
  • Almost all skills, with the exception of those in the Special armor category.
  • Any penalties from Cracked Armor.
  • The penalty from Anniversary Shield "Curtain" in PvP

• Special armor, consisting of:
  • Bonuses: "I Am Unstoppable!", Illusionary Weaponry and Mantra of Signets, and
  • Penalties: Critical hits, Barbed Arrows, Healing Signet, Shadowy Burden and the Flux effect Massive Damage.

Important wiki articles

Before you read the rest of this guide, you may want to brush up on the following mechanics and bugs:

General mechanics

• Armor rating
• Effect stacking

Bugs

• Cracked Armor, Anniversary Shield "Curtain"
• Elemental and Physical Resistance, Aggressive Refrain and Soldier's Fury
• "I Am Unstoppable!", Illusionary Weaponry and Mantra of Signets
• Barbed Arrows, Healing Signet and Shadowy Burden

Step-by-step calculations

Follow the steps below to calculate your effective armor rating:

Flow chart

Step 1: Core armor

Add everything from the Core category.

Step 2: Bonus armor

Calculate your net Bonus armor by adding all bonuses and subtracting all penalties from this category, including the penalty from Cracked Armor.

• If the net Bonus is 26 or above, add 25 armor or the highest flat bonus provided by a single effect (if higher than 25).
  • This mechanic results in the bug where armor reduction effects will be ignored when a single effect higher than +25 exists and the net bonus is calculated to be 26 or above.
• If the net Bonus is 25 or lower, add that value.
• If the net Bonus is negative, it can only decrease your armor to 60, or to your Core armor, if that is lower than 60.

Step 3: Armor Penetration

Armor penetration reduces the armor by a percentage. For instance, an attack with 10% armor penetration on a target with an armor rating of 100 against that damage type will deal damage as if the target had an armor rating of 90 instead. Armor penetration follows the formula:

The table below shows armor effectiveness for various levels of Armor Penetration:

Effect of Armor Penetration

Armor Level	0% Penetration	5% Penetration	10% Penetration	25% Penetration	50% Penetration
40	141%	146%	152%	168%	200%
50	119%	124%	130%	148%	183%
60	100%	105%	111%	130%	168%
70	84.1%	89.3%	94.9%	114%	154%
80	70.7%	75.8%	81.2%	100%	141%
90	59.5%	64.3%	69.5%	87.8%	130%
100	50%	54.5%	59.5%	77.1%	119%

Step 4: Special armor

Finally, add all the bonuses and subtract the penalties from the skills in the Special armor category. The result is your effective armor rating.

Examples

To raise familiarity with Armor Calculation, here are a few examples of different situations.

Example 1

A paragon with 9 Command, max armor with Centurion's Insignia, a Spear of Defense and a Command Forgotten Shield, under the effects of Soldier's Fury and "I Am Unstoppable!", is hit with Lightning Orb. What is the effective armor rating of the paragon? By looking at the list of armor effects by category and following the steps above, calculating this is pretty straightforward.

Step 1: Core armor

Add everything from the Core armor category:

• Basic armor: max paragon armor is 80
• Insignia: the Centurion's Insignia trigger under Soldier's Fury: 10
• Base Shield armor: the requirement for the Forgotten Shield is met: 16

Total Core armor: 106

Step 2: Bonus armor

Add all bonuses and subtract all penalties from the Bonus armor category:

• Bonuses:
  • Inherent mod from the Command Forgotten Shield (it triggers versus Lightning Orb's lightning damage): 10
  • Of Defense mod from the Spear: 5
• Penalties:
  • Soldier's Fury: 20
  • Cracked Armor (Lightning Orb inflicts Cracked Armor before doing its damage): 20

Net Bonus armor: –25

Because the net Bonus armor is lower than 26, add it to the Core armor: 106 – 25 = 81

Step 3: Armor Penetration

Apply the proper percentage of Armor Penetration.

Lightning Orb has 25% Armor Penetration: 81 × 0.75 = 60.75, rounded to 61

Step 4: Special armor

Finally, add the bonuses and subtract the penalties from the Special armor category:

• Bonuses:
  • "I Am Unstoppable!": 24

Effective armor rating: 85

Example 2

A mesmer with 9 Inspiration Magic, non-max armor with an armor rating of 30 with Sentry's Insignia, a 40/40 set, under the effects of Elemental Resistance and Illusionary Weaponry (with 4 other Illusion skills on the skill bar), is hit with an arrow.

Step 1: Core armor

Add everything from the Core armor category:

• Basic armor: non-max armor, in this case 30
• Insignia: the Sentry's Insignia trigger because of the stance: 10

Total Core armor: 40

Step 2: Bonus armor

Add all bonuses and subtract all penalties from the Bonus armor category:

• Penalties:
  • Elemental Resistance at 9 Inspiration Magic has a penalty versus physical damage: 17

Net Bonus armor: –17

Because the net Bonus armor is lower than 26, add it to the Core armor: 40 – 17 = 23

However, Bonus armor can only lower your armor to 60, or to your Core armor, if that is below 60. In this case, the Core armor is 40, and Bonus armor can only lower your armor to 40

Step 3: Armor Penetration

Apply the proper percentage of Armor Penetration.

In this case, there is no Armor Penetration, so this step is skipped.

Step 4: Special armor

Finally, add the bonuses and subtract the penalties from the Special armor category:

• Bonuses:
  • Illusionary Weaponry with 4 other Illusion skills: 25

Effective armor rating: 65

Example 3

An elementalist with 8 Earth Magic, max armor with Blessed Insignia, a Spear of Enchanting and a (13 armor, requirement 8) Strength Shield with the inscription "Riders on the Storm", under the effects of Armor of Earth and Armor of Salvation, is hit with Lightning Orb.

Step 1: Core armor

Add everything from the Core armor category:

• Basic armor: max elementalist armor is 60
• Insignia: the Blessed Insignia trigger under Armor of Earth: 10
• Inscription: "Riders on the Storm" triggers versus lightning damage: 10
• Base Shield armor: the requirement for the Strength Shield is not met: 8

Total Core armor: 88

Step 2: Bonus armor

Add all bonuses and subtract all penalties from the Bonus armor category:

• Bonuses:
  • Armor of Earth at 8 Earth Magic: 43
  • Armor of Salvation: 5
• Penalties:
  • Cracked Armor (like above, Lightning Orb inflicts Cracked Armor before doing its damage): 20

Net Bonus armor: 28

Because the net Bonus armor is over 25, check whether the highest Bonus armor bonus is higher than 25. Armor of Earth is, with 43.

Adding that value to the Core armor gives 131

Step 3: Armor Penetration

Apply the proper percentage of Armor Penetration.

Lightning Orb has 25% Armor Penetration: 131 × 0.75 = 98.25, rounded to 98

Step 4: Special armor

Finally, add the bonuses and subtract the penalties from the Special armor category. None are applicable in this case.

Effective armor rating: 98

Notes

• The actual effective armor rating after calculation may be one lower than expected if Armor Penetration is involved, because its exact mechanics are unknown.
• Since the introduction of the Flux effect Massive Damage, Special armor penalties (including the Flux effect) can lower your effective armor below 0.

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