Body armor
Body armor, sometimes referred to as a suit of armor, is a type of armor that appears in NetHack. It is one of three armor types worn on the torso, along with the shirt and cloak - as a result, body armor may also refer collectively to all three slots, with torso armor referring to this slot specifically.
Description
Body armor is generally the primary source of AC for the player character and monsters in the dungeon, and the more AC a piece of body armor provides, the more rare or heavy it usually is. Body armor is also one of two armor types to have any form of magic cancellation, with the other being cloaks.
List of body armor
| Name | Cost | Weight | AC | Weight/AC | Material | MC | Appearance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| leather jacket | 10 | 30 | 1 | 30 | leather | 0 | — |
| leather armor | 5 | 150 | 2 | 75 | leather | 1 | — |
| orcish ring mail | 80 | 250 | 2 | 125 | iron | 1 | crude ring mail |
| studded leather armor | 15 | 200 | 3 | 66.7 | leather | 1 | — |
| ring mail | 100 | 250 | 3 | 83.3 | iron | 1 | — |
| scale mail | 45 | 250 | 4 | 62.5 | iron | 1 | — |
| orcish chain mail | 75 | 300 | 4 | 75 | iron | 1 | crude chain mail |
| chain mail | 75 | 300 | 5 | 60 | iron | 1 | — |
| elven mithril-coat | 240 | 150 | 5 | 30 | mithril | 2 | — |
| splint mail | 80 | 400 | 6 | 66.7 | iron | 1 | — |
| banded mail | 90 | 350 | 6 | 58.3 | iron | 1 | — |
| dwarvish mithril-coat | 240 | 150 | 6 | 25 | mithril | 2 | — |
| bronze plate mail | 400 | 450 | 6 | 75 | bronze | 1 | — |
| plate mail | 600 | 450 | 7 | 64.3 | iron | 2 | — |
| crystal plate mail | 820 | 450 | 7 | 64.3 | glass | 2 | — |
| dragon scales | 500 | 40 | 3 | 13.3 | dragon hide | 0 | — |
| dragon scale mail | 900 | 40 | 9 | 4.4 | dragon hide | 0 | — |
Strategy
The two most valued varieties are the mithril-coats in the early game and dragon scale mail as part of an ascension kit. Neither of these can be corroded or otherwise damaged, and they provide an excellent AC reduction for their weight. The only problem with the mithril-coat is that it impedes spellcasting.
While body armor is often heavy, it can provide a significant boost to your AC. The most desirable body armor in the early game is a mithril-coat, which is relatively light and gives a good AC bonus.
History
Body armor is present as an armor slot in Jay Fenlason's Hack, as well as Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, and appears in Hack 1.0.
In NetHack 3.4.3 and previous versions, including some variants based on those versions, some types of body armor have different MC values:
Variants
Variants of NetHack often add new types of body armor.
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