Armor

Armor is any in-game Item that mitigates damage and protects the character from harm. It works by absorbing a portion of incoming damage in place of the character's Health. Note that an armor's Durability is decreased every time it blocks damage.

Calculations
When the character is wearing both chest armor and head armor, the total received damage would be distributed as follows (armor absorption does not stack in DST):


 * 1) Initial damage is absorbed by the primary armor.
 * 2) Leftover damage is absorbed by the secondary armor.
 * 3) Unabsorbed damage is then subtracted from the character's.

It is difficult to tell without getting hit first or using a mod which item is designated as primary or secondary armor. Re-equipping them or reloading the game can change this order. The damage subtracted from the character's is the same despite the order.

Example: Attack damage of a Spider Queen (80) to a character equipped with a (primary armor) and a (secondary armor) will be distributed as follows:
 * 80 &times; 0.6 = 48 damage is absorbed by the
 * (80 &minus; 48) &times; 0.8 = 25.6 damage is absorbed by the
 * 80 &minus; 48 &minus; 25.6 = 6.4 damage is subtracted from the character's

Calculation can be simplified to: 80 &times; (1 &minus; 0.6) &times; (1 &minus; 0.8) = 6.4

Primary & secondary armor
The game itself does not distinguish any sort of pre-defined priorities of armor, instead takes them on the fly. While it might be hard to keep track of what armor receives the most damage, it is manageable.

Primary armor, i.e. the armor that absorbs the most damage, is always the last equipped. In order to save one's helmet, they would equip the helmet first, then the suit. If a suit is hot switched (replaced right away) it keeps its position. However, if there is any moment in which the helmet slot is empty (occurs when a helmet breaks, even if the player has a replacement in their inventory), the helmet assumes the primary slot and the suit has to be re-equipped.

It has been reported that reloading the game could change the positions. If not sure what armor is primary, just unequip your suit and equip it again, and the suit will become the primary.

Keep in mind that even the most beaten up log/grass suit still retains its original fuel value, therefore does not have to be used up. Instead of heading into the battle with an armor with low durability, risking the helmet assuming primary slot mid-fight, try equipping the shiny new suit and leaving the old one for when the night comes.

Don't Starve Together changes
Armor has less durability (by 30%) and can no longer be multiplicatively stacked as it could before; the game now uses the better armor's absorption, then divides the damage absorbed between the two worn armors weighted by their absorption (Although testing points more to a 50/50 distribution).

EXAMPLE: Taking a 100 damage attack while wearing a Football Helmet and a Log Suit (80% absorption each) causes 20 damage to the player and 80 damage split among the armors. If a Grass Suit (60% absorption) is worn with the Football Helmet, the player will take the same 20 damage (because the higher 80% absorption takes priority), but the durability damage will be divided differently using an unknown formula (after personal testing, it looks to be 50/50 and not weighted by absorption).