Best Armor in Project Zomboid (B42) by Body Part
Wear a Riot Helmet, a Ice Hockey Neck Guard, Football Shoulderpads, Ice Hockey Gloves, Hockey Goalie Shinpad and Boots: every piece can be picked up off the map, and head, neck, torso and feet reach the script maximum of bite 100.
- Best headBite 100Nuclear Biochemical Mask
- Best bootsBite 100Boots
- Best crafted headBullet 20Crude Metal Helmet
- Protective items435182 you can find
292 of the 435 protective items in the files have a bite defence. Here is the best of them for every part of the body.
On this page
How we ranked them
- Bite, scratch, bullet: the three defence fields of the item script, highest first.
- Speed penalty: RunSpeedModifier and CombatSpeedModifier break a tie.
- Source: "found" means the map's item finder lists rooms that can spawn it; "crafted" means a recipe makes it.
What the files cannot tell you
Hit chance by body part and how fast armor wears down are code, not script fields.
Head and neck
The Nuclear Biochemical Mask has bite 100 and scratch 100 (no speed penalty). Where: old army, laboratory. Find it on the map. The Riot Helmet matches it on bite and scratch with combat speed ×0.95. Where: police gun storage, prison storage. Find it on the map.
To stop bullets too, forge a Crude Metal Helmet (bite 100, scratch 100, bullet 20). For the neck, the Ice Hockey Neck Guard (bite 100, scratch 100) is the best you can find; Metal Neck Guard is the crafted one (bite 100, scratch 100, bullet 15).
Torso and arms
The Football Shoulderpads reach bite 100 (combat speed ×0.95). Where: sport store, closet. Find it on the map. Crafted: Spiked Football Shoulderpads (On Top) (bite 100, scratch 100).
Arms are the thin spot among found items: the best is Elbow Pad (bite 30, scratch 50). Craft Full Metal Forearm Armor (bite 100, scratch 100, bullet 20) for the full value.
Legs and groin
Hockey Goalie Shinpad: bite 80, scratch 100, run speed ×0.75. Where: closet, storage unit. Find it on the map. The crafted option is Articulated Metal Thigh Armor (bite 80, scratch 90, bullet 20).
The Athletic Cup covers the groin at bite 100, scratch 100. Where: sport store, closet. Find it on the map.
Hands and feet
Boots, Hiking Boots and Military Boots all reach bite 100 and scratch 100 with run speed ×0.9. Where: clothes store, shoe store. Find it on the map.
For hands, Ice Hockey Gloves: bite 80, scratch 100, combat speed ×0.9. Where: sport store. Find it on the map.
The set, piece by piece
One found piece per part, with the numbers above.
| Piece | Part | Bite | Scratch |
|---|---|---|---|
 Riot Helmet | Head | 100 | 100 |
 Ice Hockey Neck Guard | Neck | 100 | 100 |
 Football Shoulderpads | Torso | 100 | 100 |
 Ice Hockey Gloves | Hands | 80 | 100 |
 Hockey Goalie Shinpad | Legs | 80 | 100 |
 Boots | Feet | 100 | 100 |
Does any of it stop bullets?
68 items have a bullet defence, led by Bulletproof Vest - Civilian, Bulletproof Vest - Military and Bulletproof Vest - Police at 100. They are crafted metal pieces, not loot.
Common mistakes
Judging by the name. A scarf has scratch 10 and no bite defence at all.
Ignoring the penalty. Hockey Goalie Shinpad slow you to ×0.75; boots only ×0.9.
Counting variants. Colour variants have the same numbers; the list shows each once.
More picks per part
The next best found and crafted pieces for every part.
Open the full short list
| Part | Piece | Bite | Scratch | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Head | Nuclear Biochemical Mask | 100 | 100 | found |
| Head | Riot Helmet | 100 | 100 | found |
| Head | Crude Metal Helmet | 100 | 100 | crafted |
| Neck | Ice Hockey Neck Guard | 100 | 100 | found |
| Neck | Scarf | 0 | 10 | found |
| Neck | Metal Neck Guard | 100 | 100 | crafted |
| Torso | Football Shoulderpads | 100 | 100 | found |
| Torso | Ice Hockey Shoulderpads | 100 | 100 | found |
| Torso | Spiked Football Shoulderpads (On Top) | 100 | 100 | crafted |
| Arms | Elbow Pad | 30 | 50 | found |
| Arms | Full Metal Forearm Armor | 100 | 100 | crafted |
| Hands | Ice Hockey Gloves | 80 | 100 | found |
| Hands | Leather Gloves | 15 | 30 | found |
| Hands | Fingerless Gloves - Metal | 70 | 80 | crafted |
| Legs | Hockey Goalie Shinpad | 80 | 100 | found |
| Legs | Thigh Guard | 80 | 90 | found |
| Legs | Articulated Metal Thigh Armor | 80 | 90 | crafted |
| Groin | Athletic Cup | 100 | 100 | found |
| Groin | Leather Codpiece | 100 | 100 | found |
| Groin | Metal Codpiece | 100 | 100 | crafted |
| Feet | Boots | 100 | 100 | found |
| Feet | Hiking Boots | 100 | 100 | found |
| Feet | Hide Boots | 40 | 80 | crafted |
Pages to keep open
Related pages
Sources
Thanks to The Indie Stone for making Project Zomboid. PinDrop is fan-made and not affiliated with The Indie Stone.