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Minecraft possesses varying grades of materials when it comes to crafting weapons and armor.
Gold is one of the more commonly-procurable materials in the game, but is gold armor worth the investment? To answer the question briefly, it depends on the situation a player is currently dealing with.
By the numbers, gold armor is the second-weakest equipable armor material in Minecraft, beating out leather armor. However, it is weaker in damage reduction than iron, diamond, Netherite, and chainmail armor sets.
Gold armor also features very low durability, as it is a soft metal. Many tools that use the material share its poor longevity.
Note: This article reflects the opinions of the writer
How to make gold armor more useful in Minecraft
While gold armor in Minecraft certainly has its drawbacks, there are ways to make it better.
The major aspects that make gold armor less than desirable are its durability and sub-standard value. Both issues can be addressed through the use of enchantments. A collection of different enchantments can provide the desired effects, though some are better than others when all things are considered.
To improve gold armor's durability in Minecraft, players can use either the Unbreaking or Mending enchantments.
Unbreaking provides a percentage chance that the armor will not lose durability when damage is sustained. Meanwhile, Mending allows players to repair the armor when they pick up experience orbs.
In the long run, Mending is the ideal enchantment for gold armor, as Unbreaking still requires players to repair their armor at some point. With Mending, as long as players are picking up experience orbs from crafting and defeating enemies, they can keep their armor in top shape.
To improve gold armor's defensive values in Minecraft, players will want to rely on the Protection enchantment. This enchantment provides bonus damage reduction to a given piece of armor. Players can stack the reduction when they apply it to a full suit of armor.
If the effect is applied to all four armor pieces in a suit of armor at the maximum enchantment rank of four, players can receive a 64% bonus to damage reduction overall. This makes gold armor significantly more viable to keep a player safe, even if it still falls short of the likes of diamond and Netherite armor.
If players are looking for more specified armor protection, they can also apply the variants of the Protection enchantment. Specifically, there are Protection enchantments for fire, explosions, and projectiles.
The standard Protection enchantment is for more general use, such as when players are being attacked in melee combat. Depending on the given situation, players can fine-tune their armor's protection value to keep them safe from multiple sources of damage.
While Protection is a fairly common enchantment to come by, Mending is considerably rarer. However, if players can apply both Protection and Mending to their gold armor, they can vastly improve its capabilities and make the armor type much more impressive.
