7 Days To Die: Best Armor, Ranked

Highlights

• Armor is crucial in 7 Days to Die for survival – choose sets based on utility, bonuses, and protection levels.
• The Rogue set is great for early game stealth and looting advantages, while the Preacher set focuses on combat and healing benefits.
• The Assassin set is perfect for mid-game stealth kills, and the Commando set excels in combat situations with healing support.

Updated July 27, 2024 by Lucas Simons: When it comes to open-world survival games, 7 Days to Die is the go-to game for a lot of people. Fans of zombies get to experience life in an undead-infested post-apocalyptic world from the safety of their computers. For fans of survival games, 7 Days to Die grants an open-world sandbox experience where they and a group of friends can work together to try and stay alive for as long as they can under some of the harshest of conditions.

One of the things that’s important for players to get to ensure that they at least make it through the first week, is getting armor. Where other items like weapons, medical supplies, and food are also necessary, having body armor will help players survive the perils of Navezgane. With the launch of 1.0, 7 Days To Die has added a new armor system with sets specialized for each gameplay style. Here are the best sets to equip based on utility, bonuses, and protection levels.

6 Rogue Set (Light Armor)

One Of The Best Early Game Armor Sets

• Head Bonus: Loot Stage Bonus (2% – 20%)
• Body Bonus: Noise Reduction + Crouch Speed (2% – 20%)
• Gloves Bonus: Lockpick Speed + Break Chance Reduction (2% – 20%)
• Boots Bonus: Safe Fall Distance Increase (1 m – 6 m)
• Full Set Bonus: Cash + Dukes Found In Loot Increase (5% – 30%)

The Rogue armor set is arguably the best early game set, with access to many great bonuses to avoid being detected and sneaking while looting, and also, a focus on increasing loot gained and boosted chances to open strongboxes and locked containers. The Loot Stage bonus is one of the best in the game (alongside the Scavenger Set), and it directly influences the quality of the items players in containers.

Finally, for those occasions where players need to run, the Safe Fall Distance Increase combines perfectly with the Acrobatics perk from the Agility stat sheet, ensuring they can avoid breaking their legs or getting a sprain when running away from high-tier danger zones.

5 Preacher Set (Light Armor)

The Best Of The Light Armor

• Head Bonus: Buy Prices Discount (2% – 20%)
• Body Bonus: Zombie Damage Resist (2% – 20%)
• Gloves Bonus: Damage Caused to Zombies (10 % – 60 %)
• Boots Bonus: Wounds Treatment Time Reduction (2% – 20%)
• Full Set Bonus: Critical Wounds Resistance (5% – 40%)

The Preacher Set is one of the best armor sets in the game. It is not only useful for combat purposes since it increases the damage caused to zombies, but it also provides bonuses to bargaining, reduces damage from zombies, and decreases the time the character needs to heal from critical wounds when treated.

It’s an overall great set for all purposes and stages of the game since the extra damage caused to Zombies and reduction of incoming damage will always come in handy, especially during the Blood Moons. Since its light armor, it doesn’t offer too much protection against explosions or acid, so watch out for Vultures, Zombie Cops, and Demolishers.

4 Assassins Set (Medium Armor)

Lots Of Stealth Bonuses, Great At Mid Game

• Head Bonus: Sneak Damage Increase (10 % – 60 %)
• Body Bonus: Sneak Effectiveness (2% – 20%)
• Gloves Bonus: Knife Attack Speed + Pistol Reload Speed (2% – 20%)
• Boots Bonus: Noise Reduction (100% In all tiers)
• Full Set Bonus: Enemy Search Time Reduction (15% – 99%)

The Assassin set is the best investment in the mid-stages, more so if players are using an Agility build that relies on Sneak Attacks and Sneak Effectiveness. Every bonus is directed to turn their characters into a lethal stealth killer and is especially useful for Infected Clearing missions where they need to eliminate several strong zombies.

Its full set bonus is incredibly broken. Once players are at a safe distance and crouch, a timer will activate, and the zombies will lose track of them. At Tier 6, this bonus is at a whopping 99%, meaning that 2 seconds after they lose sight of their prey, players can become “invisible” almost immediately. This also means that the Sneak Attack Cooldown will be refreshed, allowing players to effectively Sneak Attack several times from a safe distance using this tactic. Note on that: Bring a Silencer.

3 Commando Set (Medium Armor)

The Best Medium Armor Set For Combat

• Head Bonus: Stun Resistance (2% – 20%)
• Body Bonus: Critical Wounds Heal Time Reduction (2% – 20%)
• Gloves Bonus: Ranged Damage (5 % – 50 %)
• Boots Bonus: Maximum Run Speed (2% – 20%)
• Full Set Bonus: Healing Item Use Speed (5 % – 50 %)

The Commando Set is all about engaging, resisting, and running from crowded spaces. The ideal set to fend off waves during Blood Moons with ranged weapons. It combines greatly with the Fortitude attribute perk tree, especially with the Machine Gunner perk. Additionally, this set becomes some sort of support set thanks to its Healing Item Use speed bonus, since this also means players can heal their allies faster.

Critical wounds cease to be a concern in the middle of a wave, or even going against enemy players, since combining the Commando Set with the Healing Factor (Fortitude) and Physician (Intelligence) perks players can reach 80-90% healing time reduction.

2 Nerd Set (Heavy Armor)

The Best Utility, Increased Exp, And Fast Learning

• Head Bonus: Experience Gain (2 % – 20 %)
• Body Bonus: Chance Of Extra Point From Magazines (5 % – 50 %)
• Gloves Bonus: Stun Baton Damage (10 % – 50 %)
• Boots Bonus: Safe Fall Distance Increase (1 m – 6 m)
• Full Set Bonus: Weapon/Tool Degradation Decrease (20 % – 45 %)

The best Heavy Set for Intelligence attribute builds, with an emphasis on leveling up fast, and acquiring recipes even faster. This high protection set is clunky and offers more damage reduction than others, but its true charm resides in the powerful 50 % (At Tier 6) damage boost to the Stun Baton, a weapon that became tremendously OP since A21 version and is arguably the best melee weapon in the game.

Combine a good Stun Baton with the correct mods, like Repulsor, and the effect from Nerd Tats (Candy Sold In Vending Machine) to get a powerful electric area blast that will blast away any zombie in the game. Plus, it is really fun to play.

1 Raider Set (Heavy Armor)

The Strongest Armor In The Game

• Head Bonus: Stun Resistance (10% – 100%)
• Body Bonus: Critical Wounds Heal Speed (5 % – 50 %)
• Gloves Bonus: Melee Damage Increase (10 % – 50 %)
• Boots Bonus: Safe Fall Distance Increase (1 m – 6 m)
• Full Set Bonus: Critical Damage Resistance (20 % – 45 %)

The tank set by excellence, with the Raider heavy armor, players won’t have to worry about being hurt, and they’ll be able to clear out hundreds of zombies at melee range using bats, batons, or even their fists. Combining its intrinsic damage reduction (the highest of all Heavy Armor sets) with its Stun Resistance and Critical Damage Resistance, this set can turn every player into a zombie-killing machine.

The ideal build to accompany this is a mixture of Fortitude perks like Healing Factor, Pain Tolerance, And Rule 1: Cardio, with the Heavy Armor from the Strength attribute sheet. With this, players don’t have to worry about the Blood Moon, they just need to hit hard and laugh in their zombified faces.