Armor found in Vagrant Story fall into one of four categories. There is no word in the English language for "piece of armor at a particular location on the body", so for the sake of this guide, the awkward but functional word 'Equipment' is used, as in, "A Rondanche and a Freiturnier are both equipped on the Arm Location, and are therefore both Equipments of the Glove type".
The levels of armor, from weak to strong, are called Tiers for the purpose of this guide. Armor Tiers, and therefore the individual pieces of armor within this Equipment category are arranged by Defense (STR), from weakest to strongest.
Note that while the values for Strength, Intelligence, and Agility are true for any Equipment by that name, the Type resistance values (Blunt, Edged, and Piercing) will be altered by crafting, and can all three be raised as high as 100 for any Equipment. Base values, before the bonuses for materials are added
Armor and Shields have Defense / STR, to protect against physical attacks, and Defense / INT, against magic.
Armor and Shields all 16 grades, or Tiers. They ascend in their degree of physical defense, but the early grades (Leather and Wood) offer superior magical protection for their level.
If the player watches the Affinity changes at all they can hardly have failed to notice green Light affinity gains when casting Heal, and the creeping tide of red Dark affinity losses as well, so it hardly need be said that this is an effective, if slow, way of gaining Light. Silver weapons will do the trick too, and there is no shortage of Quicksilver and Shrieker dolls around.
For Dark element, (be sure you can survive there, first and) Teleport to Sinner's Corner. Dispose of the skeletons, leaving the Dark Eye. Either pop a Mana Bulb or use the Siphon Soul Defense move to get half of the Dark Eye's power back each time it casts. The Dark Eye will run out of power to cast its damage spells, and turn to its innate ability, which does a tiny amount of damage but still gives Dark Affinity levelups fairly regularly. Dark Eyes give Phantom Class levelups much more frequently, so if that is counterindicated, try the Gremlins in Atone for Eternity (near a Heal Square) or Those who Fear the Light with their dark-damage Damascus weapons. Enemies have a RISK counter also, albeit a more generous one, so eventually the chosen would-be killer will discover for themselves the equation: high RISK equals high MISS rate, and the process of finding a new attacker will have to start over.
Materials Bonuses[]
See Main Article Materials
Two items of the same Design and Tier but of different Materials will have different Strength and Intelligence bonuses. Thus it can be seen that Strength and Intelligence are intrinsic properties of Material types. However, these stats are not uniform across all combinations of materials and armor Equipments, leading to discrepancies between guides as to the value for materials, as can be seen from the two charts below
| Armor Material | Strength | Intelligence |
|---|---|---|
| Wood | + 2 | + 8 |
| Leather | + 1 | + 7 |
| Bronze | + 3 | + 3 |
| Iron | + 5 | + 3 |
| Hagane | + 7 | + 4 |
| Silver | + 4 | + 3 |
| Damascus | + 9 | + 5 |
Less of an intrinsic property of materials is their Affinity and Class. Nonetheless, there is a preponderance towards set values for these properties.
| St | In | Ag | * | Hu | Be | Un | Ph | Dr | Ev | * | Ph | Ai | Fi | Ea | Wa | Li | Da | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WOOD | +5 | +8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -6 | 8 | 8 | -6 | -4 | -4 | ||
| LEATHER | +1 | +6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | -1 | -1 | -5 | -5 | ||
| BRONZE | +3 | +2 | -2 | -1 | -1 | 2 | -1 | -1 | -5 | 8 | -5 | -5 | 3 | 3 | -2 | -2 | ||
| IRON | +5 | +2 | -2 | 1 | 1 | -2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | -4 | -4 | 0 | -1 | -1 | ||
| HAGANE | +6 | +3 | -1 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 14 | 3 | 3 | -5 | -5 | -5 | -5 | ||
| SILVER | +4 | +2 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 15 | 0 | 5 | 5 | -5 | -5 | -5 | -5 | -5 | 20 | ||
| DAMASCUS | +9 | +4 | -1 | 10 | 10 | -2 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 20 | -5 | -5 | -5 | -5 | 20 | -20 |
Equipment[]
The values of Strength and Intelligence below have not been checked for accuracy. As materials affect these values, a baseline for armor below the bonuses added by materials must be established (the armor values minus what is added by materials). The system used for materials (a base value lower than Leather) will be applied to verified data. Together with the values for the Materials, the Defense bonuses of any piece of any Material can be determined. Heavier armor slows down the character somewhat, hence the minus to Agility.
Resistance to weapon Types is not an intrinsic quality of Materials, but of individual pieces, and that information is verified in any case.
Breast Armor[]
Base values, before the bonuses for materials are added.
Yes, it really is called Breast Armor in the game. An archaic usage of the word and thus evocative of the medieval era, when the King James Bible was written, with the famous phrase, 'the Bosom of Abraham', now used in various ways, but originally referring to the embrace of the afterlife. Or something to giggle at. Your choice.
| Strength | Intelligence | Agility | Blunt | Edged | Piercing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jerkin | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Hauberk | 5 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Wizard Robe | 3 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cuirass | 7 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Banded Mail | 8 | 8 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Ring Mail | 7 | 12 | -1 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Chain Mail | 9 | 12 | -1 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Breastplate | 11 | 12 | -2 | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| Strength | Intelligence | Agility | Blunt | Edged | Piercing | |
| Segmentata | 13 | 13 | -1 | 10 | 8 | 5 |
| Scale Armour | 15 | 15 | -1 | 0 | 5 | 10 |
| Brigandine | 17 | 17 | -2 | 5 | 10 | 0 |
| Plate Mail | 18 | 17 | -2 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Fluted Armour | 18 | 18 | -2 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Hoplite Armour | 18 | 22 | -3 | 20 | 8 | 0 |
| Jazeraint Armour | 19 | 20 | -3 | - | - | - |
| Dread Armour | 20 | 19 | -3 | - | - | - |
Type resistances anecdotal & Vagrant Story: Ultimate Armor FAQ and Vagrant Story: Item Stats, both by Samuel Riesterer
Tier and Progression[]
- Main article: Body Armor Combinations
Jerkin[]
None in game, other than the two Mullenkamp and one Ghoul enemies that never drop it
Hauberk[]
Ghoul in The Withered Spring; only before fighting the Lizardmen for the Lily Sigil. 16/255 chance.
Wizard Robe[]
19 drops, and one on Sydney and one on a Lich, that never drop
Cuirass[]
Banded Mail[]
Ring Mail[]
Chain Mail[]
Breastplate[]
- Main article: Breastplate
Segmentata[]
Decent and balanced Resists, and numerous; the only body armor with these characteristics in the first playthrough. Segmentata's Medium-Low 8/255 droprate is roughly the same as Missaglias and Tilt Gloves used to make Brigandine.
Scale Armour[]
Brigandine[]
Morphing Armet Helms out of Missaglia and Tilt Glove, and then Brigandine out of Armet and Tilt Glove, will result in much higher Resists. Morphing will not be much more difficult, with
Plate Mail[]
In a New Game Plus, DAMASCUS in a chest and two Blood Lizards in the Forgotten Pathway. Also two Lich Lords in Undercity West