Armor

Armor are pieces of clothing and protective covering that Link can wear in. Each piece of Armor has a numeric rating that contributes to Link's overall Defense. The higher Link's Defense, the less damage he will take from enemy attacks.

Location and Uses
Armor serves a variety of purposes, primarily to provide Link with defensive padding, allowing him to endure more damage. Damage numbers are shown numerically in Breath of the Wild. Each number of damage normally deals a quarter of a Heart to Link. For example, an attack with a power of 4 will damage Link by one full Heart. By wearing Armor, Link can decrease the amount of damage he takes. Wearing Armor subtracts the attack's strength value by Link's total defense value. But no matter his defense, Link takes at least a quarter of a Heart of damage from any attack.

Certain pieces of Armor can also boost Link's attack, boost his movement speed on snow, sand, water or while climbing, boost his stealth capabilities, or protect him from the environment. Environmental hazards include lightning, fire, heat, ice, and the cold. Most clothing can be enhanced up to four times by the revived Great Fairies, with the number of available upgrades dependent on how many Great Fairies have been restored.

If Link has no armor on, some characters will comment on that.

Extra pieces of Armor were also added through the Expansion Pass DLC.

Set Bonuses
Upgrading all the pieces of a particular armor set to level 2 and wearing them all at the same time confers an additional bonus effect. As the Salvager Set and armor pieces introduced with The Master Trials and The Champions' Ballad cannot be upgraded, these sets simply confer the bonus when worn together without any need to first upgrade them. The Hylian, Soldier, and Phantom Sets lack a set bonus of any kind.