Baldur's Gate 3 BEST HEAVY ARMOR Tier List

Here are the BEST Heavy Armors ranked in Baldur's Gate 3 on a tier list. There's some really great options on here, and I will be covering the benefits of each, and talking a bit about how each of these looks. The nice part about heavy armor is you don't have to worry about dexterity to get bonuses to your armor class so these work well on spell casters and classes that focus on high strength. There's some pretty great options here that I cover in the video S. Let me know we're favorite heavy armors are in Baldur's Gate 3!
Leave a comment with what tier list you would like to see next for BG3!
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[@JasonDunna]

Here are all the legendary and very rare armors in BG3 on a tier list: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJWUpJpnq9dpqqs

[@LunarEntity]

Adamantine Splint Mail, my boy. Can be worn forever. Being free from the threat of crits is so nice in every Act. Also, I think Force Mail should be A. It can reduce quite a bit of physical damage from Force Conduit stacks.

[@JasonDunna]

Agreed! Plus the reeling can trigger other things like the Boots of Stormy Clamour giving 2 stacks reverberation

[@sephikong8323]

Adamantine Armor is so good on an AC stacking build since it removes the one thing that can bypass your AC entirely. I am still impressed that they gave this effect to armor pieces thaat can be found in Act 1 (that and Grym's helmet as well, though this one doesn't fare as good since you can use the armor instead which is better and Heavy Armor has less competition than Helmets anyway, but still cool to protect several party members from crit if you want)

[@AirLancer]

@@sephikong8323 Does it cause an opponent rolling a nat 20 to be treated as if they just got 20 normally so they don't hit you if you have more AC? I'd assumed it just made it so even if they did roll a crit, it'd just do normal damage.

[@Azriel884]

​@@AirLancer exactly. It turns it into a normal hit. I love the medium adamantine armor for my ranger character.

[@markwg1035]

Points for style. It is always better to look good than feel good.

[@JasonDunna]

Exactly!!

[@MrNinja543]

What about “look good play good”

[@SwedePotato314]

I remember slogging through act 1 with my poor sorcerer only having the bracers of defence because I couldnt find anything relevant. Then all of a sudden, between Grymforge and the first half of act 2, every single party member had dope armor of every weight and sorcerer had dope robes. I really dig the armor of devotion on Shadowheart. Amazing stats AND it looks incredible.

[@JasonDunna]

Cleradin Shadowheart in the armor of devotion with smites and spirit guardians 🔥

[@SwedePotato314]

@@JasonDunna she my little Bey Blade 🩵

[@JasonDunna]

@@SwedePotato314 give her a radiating orb build stacking balls of light with spirit guardians and divine smite! It’s unstoppable

[@nathanbarnhart7823]

Always went luminous armor on SH

[@JasonDunna]

That’s what I do too, that armor is busted

[@weyncivrilli9780]

adamantine splint armor is very op in the early game and probably my favorite

[@JasonDunna]

I really like it and the shield! You can send enemies reeling and stack that with radiating orbs / reverberation

[@slaminjaminotter7286]

I don’t understand why they put the plain ring mail in the game. Is it to trick us? Pretty much any character that could use it starts the game with better AC 💀

[@JasonDunna]

Hahahaha unarmored barbarian is higher The armor has -10 aura too its so ugly compared to all the nice looking armor sets in the game

[@slaminjaminotter7286]

@@JasonDunna FR LOLL armor has NO aura

[@JasonDunna]

Should come with a minus -2 charisma too

[@AirLancer]

It's for NPCs.

[@Jamisen22]

Rippling mail is one of my favs to use on a tank character bc the lower AC encourages the AI to attack them, but triggers the resistances to damage. Pair with Adamantine shield for all that lovely reeling (and stormy clamor boots) and you've got a solid defense with a "soft" aggro

[@JasonDunna]

Ahhh yeah that’s a good point about the lower AC drawing aggro better Reeling and reverberation is a lot of fun

[@willdevine8266]

Adamantine splint mail my beloved. Effectively BiS until you get something better midway through act 3 and obtainable very early on (around level 4-5 if you cheese the fight a bit). If you 're taking into consideration availability it is easily the best heavy armor in the game since you essentially use it for half of act 1, all of act 2, half of act 3 . You can even make 2 of them if you want!

[@JasonDunna]

It’s seriously so good, reeling is a nice condition that can set up other things like reverberation. It’s so useful for majority of the game, and you could even use it to beat the game if you wanted l

[@-Xerces]

You just earned my like 6 seconds into this video… well done sir

[@JasonDunna]

@@-Xerces hahahaha thought it was a clever intro

[@CamJ95]

My favourite looks wise is definitely Ketheric Thorms, I love how it looks on Laezel.

[@JasonDunna]

@@CamJ95 I think it looks really good on her or Minthara but I don’t really like it on other characters I’m not sure why

[@CamJ95]

@@JasonDunnayeah I tried it on Karlach but hated it 😂 I’m yet to use Minthara in a play through, I always recruit her but always favour playing with Laezel or Karlach over her.

[@JasonDunna]

@@CamJ95 Minthara is awesome!! Her personality is like a more brutal Lae’zel. The voice actor did an amazing job, she also has a pretty deep story with Orin

[@sephikong8323]

My main gripe with it is that it's not possible to put the stone back in it, it looks empty without it. If we could it would be S tier just for style alone as it does look cold af

[@JasonDunna]

Yeah that’s my problem with it too! I say it in the video too because it just feels like it’s lacking something

[@magister343]

The Flaed Helldusk armor looks a lot better than the true Helldusk Armor. The Cerebral Citadel Armor is the best looking armor on Minthara. It looks rather awkward on muscular male body types but is quite flattering to bodies with feminine curves. I wish its bonuses were enough to justify wearing it more.

[@JasonDunna]

Yeah the flawed looks incredible on Karlach too! Helldusk giving proficiency is just so OP I haven’t tried the cerebral citadel armor on Minthara I’ll have to give it a shot

[@magister343]

I just modded the Cerebral Citadel Armor so that it allows the wearer to use Illithid powers without using up either actions or bonus actions. I think the powers all have cooldowns (some short rest, some long rest, some per turn) so it shouldn't let you abuse them too much, but using the powers as a free action is still a great boost for someone who embraces Illithid powers the way Minthara does. I also decided to increase the AC to 20, give physic resistance, and a bonus to intimidation. In my games this armor will now definitely be S tier. new entry "MAG_Illithid_Carapace_Armor" type "Armor" using "ARM_Plate_Body" data "RootTemplate" "ee3c78be-d33b-4d1b-b433-2634a39f50aa" data "ValueUUID" "240eb257-ef20-4877-89bd-6956b4b7c41a" data "Rarity" "Rare" data "ArmorClass" "20" data "Boosts" "Resistance(Psychic, Resistant);Skill(Intimidation,1)" data "PassivesOnEquip" "MAG_Frightened_Immunity_Passive;MAG_Illithid_CarapaceArmor_Passive" data "Unique" "1" new entry "MAG_Illithid_CarapaceArmor_Passive" type "PassiveData" data "DisplayName" "h54e52ebcgbd26g43f2gb994g3060f49c37c4;2" data "Description" "h7ebcfa2dge1b6g437bgb885g14c621aea2f7;3" data "DescriptionParams" "1" data "BoostContext" "OnCreate" data "BoostConditions" "Tagged('ILLITHID', context.Source)" data "Boosts" "RollBonus(SavingThrow,1, Intelligence);RollBonus(SavingThrow,1, Wisdom);RollBonus(SavingThrow,1, Charisma);UnlockSpellVariant(IsTadpolePower(),ModifyUseCosts(Replace,ActionPoint,0,0,ActionPoint));UnlockSpellVariant(IsTadpolePower(),ModifyUseCosts(Replace,BonusActionPoint,0,0,BonusActionPoint))"

[@JasonDunna]

Oh wow I like the adjustments thanks so much for sharing that!

[@MikeHawk04]

THE HEAVIEST OF THE HEAVIES!

[@JasonDunna]

@@MikeHawk04 hahahah your @ made me lol

[@ConnieSlasher]

Reaper's Rigidity is a passive you can enable and disable if you anticipate someone using a dex-save spell

[@MulderHiggins]

Raphael's Helldusk armour is the best in the game, although Dammon's flawed Helldusk armour looks cooler. Dude, the armours have such a big affect on the character's vibe I think this is the most viable for a drip tier! Armour of Agility and the other one i dont remember the name are the best as well.There's also this one armour that doesn't have much of a special ability, i think it's resistence to slashing damage, but it looks SO COOL. It's this shogun-looking armour, and it's literally so cool, Lae'zel HAD to wear it! Adamantine splint armour is >>>>>

[@JasonDunna]

Helldusk armor having free proficiency and the highest AC makes it the best technically, but armor of persistence gives better damage reduction (although you probably don’t get it much with the evil playthroughs hahahaha) Some of the best armors have the best appearances which is awesome. I will do a drip tier list eventually and armor of agility is up there for me too!

[@MulderHiggins]

@@JasonDunna armor of persistence is the one I forgot the name! Yes yes, some of the best armours in the game are also the best looking, but that doesn't stop some of the worse ones looking super cool too....Helldusk armor is still one of my favourites. If you don't have heavy armour profieciency it doesn't matter! Put it on your wizard, they'll be finnnneee

[@marcosdheleno]

i said this before, for classes that want a fighter or paladin for the heavy armor, but early on, you shouldnt bother with heavy armor. as they dont offer enough to make them good. they only start to get good, around the time you unlock respec, so unless you are doing a no respec challenge, its better to focus on the other class first, and then reset when you finally find a heavy armor worth using.

[@JasonDunna]

Great point! Medium armors with dexterity are pretty good early on. Even late game the armor of agility is extremely useful

[@zoefezius6615]

ah, you missed protective plate from house of healing region... necrotic resistance and the only one not giving disadvantage on stealth checks (other than legendary) makes it a... as a plate armour plus... at least C ... situational S... so A more likely B?

[@JasonDunna]

@@zoefezius6615 ah yes that’s the one I missed! Necrotic damage is common in act 2 so decently useful there! No disadvantage to stealth is great too

[@magister343]

Protective Plate would be great if you could get it before entering the Shadow Cursed Lands, but considering that you probably would not be able to reach it before getting a Moonlantern, Pixie Blessing, and/or Selûne's Blessing (which also gives Necrotic Resistance), it is pretty meh.

[@VidiverseExplorer]

Armor of Persistence is the goat, I agree.

[@JasonDunna]

And it looks so good too

[@someguy3987]

I have nothing to say but I'll comment to increase ENGAGEMENT

[@JasonDunna]

Thank you 🙏🙏

[@Benji-zf3ee]

Rippling force mail actually better at reduce most of the physical dmg than other high ac in act 2 due to force conduit will reduce blunt piece slash by 1 per stack which when combine with heavy armor master you will get reduce damage taken by another 3 and force conduit can stack to 7 which mean you can negate physical damage up to 10 and magic up to 3 which is insane in act2 to beginning of the act3, also you can pair it with skinburster halberd that when you attack with it you get 2 turn of force conduit so you can stack it faster and with low ac it will make you get more aggro while taking little dmg

[@tonymartos2922]

I think the only point of getting that cheap shitty 14 armor class ring mail early in the game is to sell it off as junk, for it is junk. lol! Keep up the great work! I haven’t been playing a lot of BG lately, I left off with my forest gnome light urge in Gymeforge. I’ll likely get back to it again tonight. College football, just had to give it a go for a bit.

[@JasonDunna]

@@tonymartos2922 yea exactly the crappy ring mail armor is just pure junk! Thanks man appreciate it! College football getting a game release again was huge, hope you’re having fun with it!

[@trentstander4066]

Impossible to miss. I literally forgot to loot him after picking up the netherstone 😅 anyway loving these tier vids, do you have a shield tier list yet?

[@JasonDunna]

@@trentstander4066 You didn’t loot Ketheric?? 😱 dang , at least act 3 has a ton of great choices

[@trentstander4066]

Yea felt really dumb 😂

[@magister343]

I had one playthrough where I was unable to loot Ketheric because he remained in the Apostle of Myrkul form after his final death. That was because I was using a mod to level up faster and my Oathbreaker Paladin had enough levels to successfully cast Control Undead on him. He killed all his minions for me to end the battle, and then did not fight back as I killed him without reentering turn based mode, but then that game got soft locked as he never dropped his netherstone so I couldn't proceed to Act 3. I did get the Scythe of Murkul from his corpse though.

[@trentstander4066]

@magister343 that's rough but also epic how you got there lol

[@magister343]

@@trentstander4066 After save scumming that game, proceeding to Act 3, and reaching level 20 (the mod that made me level up faster was one to increase the level cap to the DnD standard through multiclassing), I was also able to use Control Undead on Ansur. It had less than a 20% chance of working but my Gale had enough levels of Wild Magic Sorcerer that his Bend Luck ability just barely pushed us to exactly the roll I needed to get a pet undead dragon. The Ansur under my command had 0 movement speed through. He would follow me though the waypoints to Rivington or the South Span of Wyrm's Crossing, but would not follow me to the site of any combat encounters and would not change regions to visit the lower city.

[@thomasrosendahl2783]

The female characters have +2 bonus to wisdom, strength and intelligence saving throws, or maybe it was only in early access version.

[@JasonDunna]

Only in early access, you can freely allocate attribute bonuses now too

[@marcduhamel-guitar1985]

Adamantine Splint FTW!!🐉

[@JasonDunna]

Yessirrr!!! So powerful and works with so many builds

[@scoobydoom]

Agree, Armor of persistence is the best heavy armor and thankfully not uggo.

[@JasonDunna]

It looks so good on pretty much any build!

[@dacksonflux]

I like how you just straight up call it D tier. Bad armor is bad armor, no amount of RP fixes that.

[@JasonDunna]

Some of them are just straight up bad hahaha. And they usually are kinda ugly too so 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@02091992able]

The adamantine weapons the only good factor of them other than looks are they ignore resistance. But are outclassed very quickly. Pretty much as soon as you enter act 2. The game really could benefit from some way to upgrade the weapons to make them more viable for longer. Swords I like to use are Phalar Aluv, Sword of Oppressed Souls. But if you are a mage class and have proficiency in scimitars the Thorm blade is pretty good. With other gear to stack damage sources, you can do more damage with it than a longsword. Strange conduit ring works well with it, concentrate on a spell and boom your weapon does a total of 2D8 Damage combined between poison and psycic and with the flawed helldusk gloves another 1D4 Fire. Wish the game had more Drow armor styles.

[@seanwang7239]

Hot take but i think reapers embrace should be in c tier. I feel like it is straight-up worse than the adamantine splint mail which you can literally get act1 whereas you get reapers embrace at the end of act2. Classes that wear heavy armour usually have high saving throws against spells that can displace you so the passive is pretty useless, not to mention it gives disadvantages to dexterity saving throw, the most common saving throw😂. Armour of persistence is definitely the best heavy armour for characters with proficiency, but in general i think helldusk armour is still the best armour since you can put it on a mage which is pretty game changing.

[@JasonDunna]

Yeah I agree with your hot take on the reapers embrace! If you could tell I was a bit reluctant putting it high because personally I don’t love it but it’s easy to get Agree with how game hanging helldusk can be for a glass canon like Gale, instantly gives so much survivability

[@Emma-se5wm]

But that drip!!! (....i lowkey agree)

[@AntonMbr]

Ringmail Armor +2 you can get very early, like level 4 or 3 before getting the Adamantine Heavy Armour to my Fighter i always use it.

[@Thecurseofsanity]

I think armor of perseverance is the best, then adamantine, and then Helldusk

[@JasonDunna]

Armor of Persistence is my favorite armor in the game, I think it’s by far the best Adamantine with reeling is great too

[@beansfursheen7538]

0:01 now what do you mean by that?😂

[@JasonDunna]

Everyone likes heavy armor!

[@michaeljajan2571]

I dunna, I'm a medium guy myself lol ;)

[@JasonDunna]

Armor of agility is my favorite medium armor but you’re right size doesn’t matter hahaha

[@michaelonak3356]

Dwarven splint with the plus 2 to constitution

[@JasonDunna]

@@michaelonak3356 yesssir it’s in S tier

[@michaelonak3356]

@@JasonDunna as it should be. Just wanted to state my favorite armor. Even though my druid never wears it. My storm child shadowheart and my laebae always rock this armor.

[@JasonDunna]

@@michaelonak3356 I always have the constitution amulet on my main character so I don’t use the armor but it goes so well on tempest s’heart, Lae’zel or Minthara

[@jasonbrawn8347]

Ring mail is f tier. I put it on my paladin and had a lower ac than the default medium. It was plus 1 ring mail also.

[@JasonDunna]

Yeah exactly hahaha it’s garbage

[@Jayceiscool]

great vid with great info! why do you pronounce so many words wrong, are you canadian?

[@JasonDunna]

Hahaha yeah I’m Canadian. I grew up learning French too which impacts a lot of that. Thanks for being polite about it though not too many are hahahaha

[@Jayceiscool]

@@JasonDunna the canadian pass is the only valid one! those guys suck, sorry.

[@SUSeARC]

Does anyone know if the ADAMANTINE SPLINT ARMOUR -2 damage stack with heavey armor masterys -3 dmg?

[@JasonDunna]

It does!

[@marionell1514]

Please put some time stamps in the video 🫡

[@JasonDunna]

Everytime that I do people watch it way less and the video gets no views :/ I’m trying to incorporate the game into these tier lists more so it can be a bit more engaging

[@sackara]

I don't think an armor tier list makes sense if you don't consider when they are available. For example the plate male only is available late into act 3, making the scale mail +1 the best in slot for most of act 1 and regular scale male the best in slot for the beginning (from lvl 4 forward).

[@JasonDunna]

Yea I see your point but it’s not that serious, I did take into consideration when you get specific armor - like the adamantine armor is one of the best act 1 armors

[@Sir_master_jay]

🤌🏾

[@JasonDunna]

I hope you enjoy fellow Jay!

[@AirLancer]

Really? I think the ring mail +2 is some of the best looking armor in the game. Shame that the stats are subpar.

[@JasonDunna]

Yeah the stats are rough but I think there’s some other armor sets that look pretty cool!

[@taylorniall5756]

Why is your mouth lagging

[@JasonDunna]

I need to sync audio thank you for that

[@taylorniall5756]

​@@JasonDunna 😂. Good video anyway. I liked it

[@jessefrank9564]

They should have had matching gloves and boots with armor sets because the mix matching is tacky and sucks.

[@JasonDunna]

I agree it would look great combining set pieces