How do armor weight classes work in Grounded?

Armor comes in Light, Medium and Heavy. Light gives about 10% damage reduction with only a small stamina penalty; Heavy gives about 30% damage reduction but a 25% stamina cost increase. You get a set bonus only when all three pieces are from the same set.

🛡️ Grounded · Build Guide

Grounded Best Armor — Tier List by Build

Q: What is the best armor in Grounded?

It depends on your build. Roly Poly is the best pure tank set (its bonus draws aggro), Assassin's Armor is the best for a crit damage build, Widow Armor is the best aggressive poison/attack-speed set, and Antlion Armor is the best for archers. There's no single best set — match the set bonus to how you fight.

There's no single best armor in Grounded — the right set is the one whose set bonus matches how you fight. Here are the strongest picks for tanking, damage, ranged and parry builds, plus how the weight classes work. (Original Grounded — for the sequel see our Grounded 2 guides.)

Verified vs. the Grounded wiki · original Grounded (1.0+) · June 2026

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Weight Classes First

Before the sets, the trade-off that governs all of them:

Light — ~10% damage reduction, only a small (+5%) stamina-cost penalty. For dodge/crit/ranged builds.
Medium — the middle ground on both.
Heavy — ~30% damage reduction but +25% stamina cost. For tanks who block, not dodge.
Set bonus only applies when all three pieces are from the same set — mixing pieces loses it.

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Best Sets by Build

Tank / defensive

Set	Weight	Set bonus
Roly Poly	Heavy	Taunting Gaze — draws enemy aggro. The premier tank set; pieces add block stun.
Ladybug	Heavy	Scarlet Embrace — blocking grants health regen. Block-sustain tank.
Mother Demon	Heavy	Poison Nova — melee can trigger a poison AoE. Frontline poison-bruiser.
Black Ox	Medium	Stunning Charger — +25 stun on charged attacks. Stun-lock bruiser.

Damage / offense

Set	Weight	Set bonus
Assassin's	Light	Critical Chain — +2.5% crit per crit (stacks). The crit-build core; pair with Scythe of Blossoms or daggers.
Widow	Light	Death's Impetus — +15% attack speed & +15 HP/s for 10s after a kill. Aggressive poison/speed DPS.
Fire Ant	Medium	Acidic Splash — 10% chance for +25 acid damage that ignores defense.
Black Ant	Medium	Pincushion — reflects damage to attackers. Reflection/tank hybrid.

Ranged & parry / utility

Set	Weight	Set bonus
Antlion	Medium	Quickdraw — +40% bow/crossbow reload for 3s after a ranged hit. The archer set.
Bee	Light	Pollen Shot — ranged hits trigger stun-pollen clouds. Early/mid ranged.
Koi Scale	Light	Dazzling Riposte — perfect block → −20% enemy defense for 10s. Parry build.
Acorn	Heavy	Uncrackable — +15% block-stun gauge. Best early-game tank set.

Match the trio. Pick a weapon, mutation and armor that point the same way — e.g. Scythe of Blossoms + Assassin (mutation) + Assassin's Armor for crits, or a club + Barbarian + Roly Poly to tank-and-bonk. The set bonus is what makes a build, not the raw defense number.

Grounded Best Armor FAQ

What is the best armor in Grounded?

By build: Roly Poly (tank), Assassin's (crit DPS), Widow (poison/speed), Antlion (ranged). There's no single best — match the set bonus to your playstyle.

How do weight classes work?

Light ≈ 10% damage reduction (small stamina penalty), Heavy ≈ 30% (but +25% stamina cost), Medium in between. The set bonus needs all three pieces matching.

What's the best early-game armor?

Acorn Armor (Heavy) is the standout early tank set thanks to its block-stun bonus; Bee Armor is a solid early ranged option.