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How armor works in Avowed
VULKK’s guide distinguishes chest armor from clothing: armor is the defensive, upgradeable outfit piece, while gloves and boots occupy clothing slots and do not provide armor’s defensive stats. Armor’s damage reduction is balanced against penalties to maximum Stamina and Essence. A higher reduction can therefore make abilities or resource-heavy play harder to sustain.
VULKK reports that upgrading armor adds flat damage reduction without changing its percentage reduction or Stamina and Essence penalties. The Pillars of Eternity Wiki names five armor quality levels—Common, Fine, Exceptional, Superb, and Legendary—and says higher quality increases additional damage reduction. These mechanics are guide- and wiki-reported; later game updates may affect current values. VULKK’s armor guide and the Pillars of Eternity Wiki category provide the underlying descriptions.
Armor types and reported tradeoffs
The following profiles are values reported in VULKK’s guide, updated March 14, 2025. Damage reduction is a percentage; Stamina and Essence values are penalties to their maximums.
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- Welcome to the Living Lands, a mysterious island filled with adventure and danger.
- Set in the fictional world of Eora that was first introduced to players in the Pillars of Eternity franchise, Avowed is a first-person fantasy action RPG from the award-winning team at Obsidian Entertainment.
- Explore an island home to many different environments and landscapes, each with their own unique ecosystem
- Mix and match swords, spells, guns, and shields to fight your way
- Companions from a spread of species will fight alongside you, with their own unique set of abilities.
| Weight and type | Damage reduction | Stamina penalty | Essence penalty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light robe | 5% | -20 | -10 |
| Light gambeson | 8% | -15 | -20 |
| Light cuirass | 10% | -20 | -20 |
| Medium scale | 15% | -25 | -35 |
| Medium breastplate | 18% | -35 | -30 |
| Medium mail | 20% | -35 | -35 |
| Heavy brigandine | 25% | -45 | -45 |
| Heavy plate | 30% | -50 | -50 |
These are not a universal ranking of named pieces: compare an item’s type and resource cost with its unique effect, upgrade quality, and the build you actually use. VULKK recommends Arcanist’s light armor for Wizard builds and Steel Garrote heavy armor for Fighter builds; treat those as that guide’s suggestions, not mandatory choices.
Where to find notable unique armor
Named armor can come from exploration, merchants, or quest rewards. These example routes are described in VULKK’s guide, updated March 14, 2025; check the relevant quest state and region as you follow them.
Rank #2
- Requires base game, Game Pass Ultimate, or PC Game Pass Membership (Sold Separately)
- Premium Upgrade includes: Premium Skin Packs: 2 sets of bonus skins for your companions, and access to Avowed Digital Artbook & Original Soundtrack
- Set in the fictional world of Eora that was first introduced to players in the Pillars of Eternity franchise, Avowed is a first-person fantasy action RPG from the award-winning team at Obsidian Entertainment.
- Explore an island home to many different environments and landscapes, each with their own unique ecosystem.
- Mix and match swords, spells, guns, and shields to fight your way.
- Arcanist’s Gambeson: Search the chest at Yellowband Camp in Dawnshore. VULKK associates this light armor with Wizard builds.
- Blackwing Armor: Loot Ygwulf’s corpse in the Cistern beneath the Temple of Ondra.
- Wayfarer’s Armor: Buy it from a merchant at Militia Headquarters in Paradis Hightown.
- Stormdancer’s Set: Awarded for specific choices during the Heart of Valor quest in Shatterscarp.
- Wildwalker Armor: Search the chest at the Godless Shrine in the Garden.
For another vendor example, Game8’s checklist, reported updated February 18, 2026, lists Animancer’s Swallowtail as light armor sold by Lluisa Melcer for 5,250 Coins. That price and availability are reported by the guide, not independently checked here. See Game8’s unique armor list.
Do matching armor pieces give a set bonus?
VULKK says named pieces that share a set name can have complementary effects, but Avowed has no set bonuses. Evaluate each piece’s individual effect and costs rather than equipping a matching name solely to complete a set.
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Rank #3
- Premium Edition includes: Avowed base game, Premium Skin Packs: 2 sets of bonus skins for each of your companions, and access to Avowed Digital Artbook & Original Soundtrack
- Set in the fictional world of Eora that was first introduced to players in the Pillars of Eternity franchise, Avowed is a first-person fantasy action RPG from the award-winning team at Obsidian Entertainment.
- Explore an island home to many different environments and landscapes, each with their own unique ecosystem.
- Mix and match swords, spells, guns, and shields to fight your way.
- Companions from a spread of species will fight alongside you, with their own unique set of abilities.
How complete are the available armor lists?
The Pillars of Eternity Wiki category currently reports 36 pages under Avowed unique armor. That is a mutable community-wiki category count, not confirmation that the game has exactly 36 obtainable unique pieces. Game8’s list is organized by light, medium, and heavy armor, but no official complete item database is established by the sources cited here. Values or acquisition details may also differ after updates.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- What's in the box: Xbox Series X console, 1 Xbox Wireless Controller - Carbon Black, Ultra High Speed HDMI cable, Power cord.
- Equipped with AMD's Zen 2 and RDNA 2 architectures, DirectX ray tracing delivers true-to-life lighting, shadows and accurate reflections to create dynamic, living worlds.
- Memory: 16GB GDDR6 w/320 bit-wide bus; Memory Bandwidth: 10 GB @ 560 GB/s, 6 GB @ 336 GB/s; Internal Storage: 1TB Custom NVME SSD
- Gaming Resolution: True 4K; Performance Target: Up to 120 FPS; High Dynamic Range: Up to 8K HDR; Optical Drive: 4K UHD Blu-Ray; HDMI Features: Auto Low Latency Mode, HDMI Variable Refresh Rate, AMD FreeSync.
- Bundled with HDMI_Cable
Rank #4
- L'édition Premium SteelBook comprend: le jeu de base Avowed, jusqu'à 5 jours d'accès anticipé, le SteelBook Avowed, la carte des Terres Vivantes, deux packs de skins Premium et l'accès à l'Artbook numérique Avowed et à la bande-son originale
- Vous êtes l'envoyé d'Aedyr, une terre lointaine, missionné pour enquêter sur les rumeurs selon lesquelles une épidémie se propagerait dans les Terres Vivantes, une île pleine de mystères et de secrets, de dangers et d'aventures, de choix et de conséconsés. quences, et d'une nature sauvage
- Explorez une île qui abrite de nombreux environnements et paysages différents, chacun avec son propre écosystème unique
- Mélangez et associez des épées, des sorts, des armes et des boucliers pour vous frayer un chemin
- The compagnons d'un large éventail d'espèces se battront à vos côtés, avec leurs propres capacités uniques
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