Is Netherite armor better than diamond armor in Minecraft?

Formed by upgrading diamond armor with Netherite ingots in Minecraft, Netherite armor is incredibly powerful and durable in the face of oncoming damage.

At the moment, vanilla Minecraft's strongest armor set is full Netherite armor. Diamond armor was the top set for a very long time, but this is no longer the case.

Some players are likely curious as to how much better Netherite armor is over its predecessor. If players don't consider the upgrade worth it, they may want to save their Netherite ingots for tools or weapons instead.

Note: This article reflects the opinions of the writer

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Why Netherite armor is superior to diamond armor in Minecraft

A player fully encased in Netherite armor (Image via Mojang)

Although their stats are somewhat similar compared to other armor types in Minecraft, Netherite and diamond armor sets still have a sizable difference between them.

Diamond and Netherite armor sets both give the same direct armor point value of 20 (measured by 10 armor icons).

Despite this fact, Netherite has improved stats over diamond armor in different facets. For example, there is an attribute of armor known as armor toughness. This stat measures how much damage the armor is capable of mitigating when struck with a strong attack.

Only diamond and Netherite armor possess a toughness stat. However, Netherite's toughness is nominally higher than diamond. Each piece of diamond armor provides two toughness points for a total of eight, while Netherite sports three points per armor piece for a grand total of 12. This makes Netherite armor more capable of enduring strong attacks than its diamond counterpart.

Netherite armor also possesses knockback protection in Minecraft. This keeps players from being knocked a distance away when struck by an attack. Knockback protection can mean the difference between surviving and falling to an unfortunate death.

Enchantment friendliness is another factor to consider. Each armor type has an enchantment value based on what material it is made from. Depending on this value, the armor has a better chance of receiving high-level enchantments at the enchanting table.

Netherite armor beats diamond armor in this regard, as it sports a higher enchantment value. While Netherite doesn't have the highest enchantment value in the game (gold armor gets that honor), it's still five points higher than diamond, giving it an edge.

The difference between diamond armor and Netherite armor isn't as large as the difference between diamond armor and previous armor types. However, it might still be worth upgrading to Netherite armor at some point.