Armor Feats: When to Take Them and Which are Best in D&D 5e

Analysing the 5 armor feat options in D&D 2014 and 2024.

What are the different armor feats?

There are 5 of these in total which I’ve listed below. The benefits of each are a little different between the 2 editions so I’ve listed them separately:

2024 versions

• Heavily armoured – Increase your constitution or strength by 1 and gain training with heavy armor. You must already have training with medium armor.
• Heavy armor master – Increase your strength or constitution by 1 and reduce bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage by your proficiency bonus while wearing heavy armor. Must have heavy armor training.
• Lightly armored – Increase your strength or dexterity by 1 and gain training with light armor and shields.
• Medium armor master – Increase your strength or dexterity by 1 and your maximum bonus to AC from your dexterity modifier becomes 3 instead of 2 when wearing medium armor. You must have medium armor training.
• Moderately armored – Increase your strength or dexterity by 1 and gain medium armor training. Must have light armor training.

2014 versions

• Heavily armoured – Increase your strength by 1 and gain proficiency with heavy armor. You must already have proficiency with medium armor.
• Heavy armor master – Increase your strength by 1 and reduce bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage from non-magical attacks by 3 while wearing heavy armor. Must have heavy armor proficiency.
• Lightly armored – Increase your strength or dexterity by 1 and gain proficiency with light armor.
• Medium armor master – Wearing medium armor doesn’t impose disadvantage on stealth checks and your maximum bonus to AC from your dexterity modifier becomes 3 instead of 2 when wearing medium armor. You must have medium armor proficiency.
• Moderately armored – Increase your strength or dexterity by 1 and gain medium armor and shield proficiency. Must have light armor proficiency.

Although the differences aren’t too significant, the main one to be aware of is that shield training shifts from the moderately armored feat into the lightly armored feat in the 2024 rules.

Which classes have training/proficiency with armor?

To help understand who might need additional armor proficiencies, I’ve popped together a table that shows which classes and subclasses have each type of armor training:

Class	Light Armor	Medium Armor	Heavy Armor	Shields
Artificer	✓	✓		✓
Barbarian	✓	✓		✓
Bard	✓
Cleric	✓	✓	2014 clerics get this with some subclasses. 2024 clerics must choose the protector option at level 1.	✓
Druid	✓	2014 druids get this as standard. 2024 druids must choose the warden option at level 1.		✓
Fighter	✓	✓	✓	✓
Monk
Paladin	✓	✓	✓	✓
Ranger	✓	✓		✓
Rogue	✓
Sorcerer
Warlock	✓
Wizard
Swords bard	✓	✓
Valor bard	✓	✓		✓
Armorer Artificer	✓	✓	✓	✓
Hexblade warlock	✓	✓		✓

When should you take armor feats?

We can separate the types of armor feats into 2 groups; those that provide more armor training and those that enhance current armor training.

At a basic level, you might consider an armor feat when you lack training with an armor type that would be very useful to have. You might also want to consider them when you want more protection from the armor proficiency you already have.

However, it’s a lot more nuanced than that and will vary from class to class and character to character whether this is actually worth it. I’ll break down each feat to show when it’s worth taking these feats.

Lightly armored

Who’s it’s for

Any class that has no armor proficiency. This is just sorcerers and wizards, both of which can grab mage armor which is more potent, but is temporary, eats into spell slots and your action economy if you’re not prepared.

If you’re using the 2024 rules, then it’s also for characters that lack shield proficiency but want to use a shield. Every class with medium armor training already has shield training so really were looking at classes with no armor training or only light armor training. This includes the likes of rogues, warlocks and bards (and sorcerers and wizards again). All of these classes can stand to benefit from having +2 AC, but it will prevent you from dual wielding, and you may need to be aware of things like spell components and weapons etc that you may need to hold as well.

Who is it not for?

Its not for any class that already has light armor and shield training. This includes; artificers, barbarians, clerics, druids, fighters, paladins and rangers.

It’s also not for monks. Armor gets in the way of their other features and they already have unarmored defense. It’s also not for dance bards or draconic sorcerers who have unarmored defense which doesn’t work with the use of shields.

Moderately armored

Who it’s for

Characters that already have light armor training, but don’t have the dexterity to capitalise on it. This can sometimes include the likes of bards and warlocks, though both are capable of a high dexterity.

Who it’s not for

Anyone that’s already got medium armor training or that has a high enough dexterity that light armor will be equal or better than medium armor. It’s also not for anyone that lacks light armor training either.

This means that rogues don’t really fit the bill here as they should be investing in dexterity enough that medium armor won’t be better for them. Druids technically don’t start with medium armor training, but can easily grab this at level 1 by picking the warden option so aren’t normally an option for this.

Its also not for; artificers, barbarians, Valor bards, clerics, fighters, paladins and rangers who already have this training. Dance bards also don’t need this as they have unarmored defense.

Heavily armored

Who it’s for

Characters that have medium armor proficiency, don’t already have heavy armor proficiency and lack a +2 or higher dexterity modifier.

This could include some druids (though 2014 druids can’t wear metal armor) and clerics. It also includes rangers and artificers (other than the armorer).

The challenge you have here is that some of these classes can just as easily invest in dexterity for attacks over strength. Where you want this is if you’re going for higher damage weapons (like two handed weapons). This could be the case for a ranger (but you lose a lot of your stealth capabilities this way).

Then again, clerics, druids and artificers often don’t rely on attacks (or for some artificers, use intelligence for this). The challenge you’ve still got is that for the best heavy armor, you’ll need to invest in at least 15 strength which can be a strain on your ability scores.

Who it’s not for

Barbarians are the noticeable absentee here as they are a strength-based class without heavy armor training. However, some of their features rely on not wearing heavy armor, and they already have unarmored defense which is potentially superior too.

It’s also no good for classes without medium armor training like bards, monks, rogues, sorcerers, warlocks and wizards.

It’s also no good for classes that already have heavy armor training like the armorer artificers, some clerics, fighters and paladins.

Medium armor master

There’s a very small niche of characters that are going to find this useful. Basically, you already have medium armor proficiency and you have at least 16 dexterity. This peaks at 18 AC (the same as full plate) with halfplate making it better than studded leather armor and 20 dexterity.

I can see this being useful for classes like artificers, barbarians, druids, clerics and rangers. Classes that already have heavy armor proficiency will likely want to go the strength route and just rely on heavy armor for this kind of AC, but dexterity fighters and paladins are options. Paladins usually struggle with a dexterity build though but fighters can make it work.

Heavy armor master

Anyone wearing heavy armor is going to enjoy using this for the reduced damage. The damage types are common enough that you should get a lot of extra protection out of it. This includes some clerics, fighters, paladins and the armorer artificer.

Overview

TO make this a bit easier to digest, I’ve put together a table that shows the different classes that might get use out of each feat. Just be aware that as always, this isn’t a recommendation for your character, just a possible good option based on what I’ve explained in the sections above.

Class	Lightly Armored	Moderately Armored	Heavily Armored	Medium Armor Master	Heavy Armor Master
Artificer			✓	✓
Barbarian				✓
Bard	✓	✓
Cleric			✓	✓	✓
Druid			✓	✓
Fighter				✓	✓
Monk
Paladin					✓
Ranger			✓	✓
Rogue	✓
Sorcerer	✓
Warlock	✓	✓
Wizard	✓
Swords bard				✓
Valor bard				✓
Armorer Artificer					✓
Hexblade warlock				✓

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Do you like using the armor feats? Which classes have you used them on? Let me know in the comments below.

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