Conan Exiles Armor Plating Guide

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Emily has thousands of hours clocked in survival games, from ARK: Survival Evolved to 7 Days to Die; she loves the diversity of the genre. Initially skeptical about the theme of Conan Exiles, she quickly became addicted to the game and now recommends it to every survival fanatic she meets. Right now, she's probably in the Tundra on a seemingly endless quest to find a Baby Sabertooth.

Armor Plating Overview

Armor Plating increases the armor rating of gear
It does not affect any other stats aside from a decrease in durability
Bulked Armor Plating is the only kind that does not decrease durability
Not all upgrades are called plating; other armor upgrades affect non-armor stats
The only way to learn equipment upgrades is in the base knowledges or at Warmaker’s Sanctuary

Types of Armor Plating in Conan Exiles

Armor Plating is an item in Conan Exiles. But that’s only one of the five types of armor plating you can use to add armor to your gear. In general, it’s a tier system you can slowly start upgrading with.

Thin Armor Plating

Knowledge – Apprentice Armorsmith (lvl 26)
Ingredients – 10 Plant Fiber, 5 Twine
Armor Increase – 4
Durability Decrease – 25% reduction

Armor Plating

Knowledge – Armorsmith (lvl 38)
Ingredients – 10 Leather, 5 Twine
Armor Increase – 8
Durability Decrease – 25% reduction

Thick Armor Plating

Knowledge – Master Armorsmith (lvl 51)
Ingredients – 10 Thick Leather, 5 Twine
Armor Increase – 12
Durability Decrease – 25% reduction

Master Armor Plating

Knowledge – Grandmaster Armorsmith (lvl 0)
Ingredients – 7 Star Metal Bars, 15 Layered Fur
Armor Increase – 15
Durability Decrease – 25% reduction

This is so good. To learn the knowledge, you have to go to The Warmaker’s Sanctuary, which you may notice is a common trend in top-tier equipment upgrades. No other stele teaches them.

Bulked Armor Plating

Knowledge – Grandmaster Armorsmith (lvl 0)
Ingredients – 7 Star Metal Bars, 15 Layered Fur
Armor Increase – 25
Durability Decrease – 0%
Weight Increase – 3

You can learn this from The Warmaker’s Sanctuary as well. It cost the same but has different stats. It is much better overall but does add weight to each piece. This doesn’t sound like much, but if you add one to each armor piece, that’s 15 extra weight.

I still think it’s worth it because an extra 125 armor without any durability decrease is insane.

Steps to Making Armor Plating

Making Armor Plating is easy, but it took me a while to learn how because I didn’t look it up. I had to learn the knowledge, which showed me where to make it. From there, I unlocked the appropriate bench.

Tinkerer’s Bench

Materials – 100 Wood, 25 Iron Bars
Required Knowledge – Armorer, Blacksmith, Iron Tools

The Tinkerer’s Bench is where you will make all equipment upgrades and repair/patch kits. So you should make one even if you don’t plan on upgrading because, with a Temperwright, you can repair your Legendary Armor and Weapons.

Knowledge (Armorsmith)

The first three Armor Plating knowledges can be learned in your standard knowledge after you’re the right level. You do have to learn them in order because the previous tier is required for the next one.

For the first one though, you need Armorer, which you need Weaver and Stone Tools for. So it’s all pretty basic, but it’s not an instant learn if you don’t have the knowledge points for all of these.

For the top two tiers, you have to head to the Warmaker’s Sancutary and interact with the stele to the left of the exit in the Champion of the Warmaker’s room.

Crafting Armor Plating

To craft armor plating, just open up your Tinker’s Bench and get to work. You don’t need a thrall for any equipment upgrades, so you should just make it yourself. You only need a thrall for tier 5; all of the upgrades are tier 4 and below. It will take 10 to 30 seconds per upgrade.

Other Types of Equipment Upgrades

If you don’t want to increase your armor but still want better gear, there are plenty of options in Conan Exiles. These items are all made in the Tinker’s Bench and are known as Equipment Upgrades.

Equipment Upgrades will increase a stat in either armor or weapons and can be attached to the gear by dragging the upgrade onto the item as if loading arrows onto a bow. It will have a small icon of the upgrade when it is attached.

Damage

Damage only works for weapons because you can’t add damage to your armor; it doesn’t make sense unless it’s reflective damage, which would be cool but it is not a Conan Exiles specialty.

Unfortunately, they don’t work on percentages, so these kits are only useful early on. Some of the kits are super straightforward and need no further context than the information below; damage is one of them.

Simple Weapon Damage Kit

Ingredients – 10 Iron Bars, 5 Oil
Knowledge – Apprentice Weaponsmith
Increase – 2
Durability – 25% reduction

Weapon Damage Kit

Ingredients – 10 Steel Bars, 10 Oil
Knowledge – Weaponsmith
Increase – 4
Durability – 25% reduction

Advanced Weapon Damage Kit

Ingredients – 10 Hardened Steel Bars
Knowledge – Master Weaponsmith
Increase – 6
Durability – 32.5% reduction

Fencer Weapon Fitting

Ingredients – 8 Star Metal Bars
Knowledge – Grandmaster Weaponsmith
Increase – 10
Durability – 25% reduction

Concussive

Concussive damage affects how easy it is to knock someone out. So when you use a truncheon, adding concussive damage will ensure it takes fewer hits to knock out thralls you are trying to capture. You can add these fittings to weapons that didn’t do concussive damage previously.

Simple Blunted Weapon Fitting

Ingredients – 10 Iron Bars
Knowledge – Apprentice Weaponsmith
Increase – 10 light attacks, 20 heavy
Durability – 25% reduction

To put this into perspective, the basic truncheon does 15 light concussive damage and 20 heavy concussive damage. So adding this will double the concussive damage making knocking enemies out twice as fast.

Blunted Weapon Fitting

Ingredients – 10 Steel Bars
Knowledge – Weaponsmith
Increase – 20 light, 40 heavy
Durability – 25% reduction

This will add around the same amount of concussive damage to a weapon as the Iron Trunceon has, only with even more heavy concussive damage. So it’s perfect for adding to any truncheon.

Advanced Blunted Weapon Fitting

Ingredients – 10 Hardened Steel Bars
Knowledge – Master Weaponsmith
Increase – 30 light, 60 heavy
Durability – 25% reduction

Advanced Blunted Weapon Fittings add around the same concussive damage as a light steel truncheon attack and more heavy concussive damage than any truncheon in the game. So yeah, it’s overpowered.

Penetration

Master Weapon Fitting

Ingredients – 8 Star Metal Bars
Knowledge – Grandmaster Weaponsmith
Increase – 12%
Durability – 50% reduction

Not only does this increase armor penetration, but it also increases damage with regular weapons by 5, making it between the Weapon Damage Kit and Advanced Weapon Damage Kit in power.

Spiked Weapon Fitting

Ingredients – 10 Hardened Steel Bars
Knowledge – Master Weaponsmith
Increase – 10%
Durability – 25% reduction

Spiked Weapon Fittings are an easy option for increasing armor penetration. However, I only recommend adding armor penetration if you are fighting a specific armored enemy, otherwise, I’d go with another upgrade.

Tool Efficiency

These are for tools alone, increasing the number of resources you gain per swing. A common problem with these is that people use them on non-repaired tools, which will not work. So repair your tools first.

Simple Tool Upgrade Kit

Ingredients – 10 Iron Bars
Knowledge – Apprentice Weaponsmith
Increase – 1
Durability – 25% reduction

Tool Upgrade Kit

Ingredients – 10 Steel Bars
Knowledge – Weaponsmith
Increase – 2
Durability – 25% reduction

Advanced Tool Upgrade Kit

Ingredients – 10 Hardened Steel Bars
Knowledge – Master Weaponsmith
Increase – 3
Durability – 25% reduction

Stamina Reduction

Stamina Reduction will decrease the amount of stamina you use. Depending on the item, they can be used on armor or weapons to make you able to use the weapon longer or climb further.

Simple Armor Flexibility Kit

Ingredients – 10 Iron Bars, 10 Plant Fiber
Knowledge – Apprentice Armorsmith
Increase – 5% reduction
Durability – 25% reduction

Using this on heavy armor would be pointless because it makes climbing easier, but not as easy as taking the armor off. Of course, it won’t make up for the elements, but it’s not worth it when you could use a better upgrade.

Armor Flexibility Kit

Ingredients – 10 Steel Bars, 10 Leather
Knowledge – Armorsmith
Increase – 10% reduction
Durability – 25% reduction

This can work for any type of armor with a maximum of 50% stamina reduction when used for all pieces. Again, I don’t recommend it, but if you have light armor and want to climb the highest peak, it can work.

Advanced Armor Flexibility Kit

Ingredients – 10 Hardened Steel Bars, 10 Thick Leather
Knowledge – Master Armorsmith
Increase – 15% reduction
Durability – 25% reduction

Advanced Armor Flexibility Kits can have a max reduction of 75% for all armor pieces together. This is finally significant and is worth it on even medium armor, though I still don’t like stamina reduction upgrades.

Gliding Joints

Ingredients – 6 Star Metal Bars, 15 Layered Fur
Knowledge – Grandmaster Armorsmith
Increase – 40% reduction
Durability – 25% reduction

Gliding Joints must be learned via the stele at Warmaker’s Sanctuary. Because there is a stamina reduction cap of 90%, only two pieces are worth it. Otherwise, you’re wasting an upgrade.

Balanced Weapon Fitting

Ingredients – 10 Hardened Steel Bars
Knowledge – Master Weaponsmith
Increase – 30% reduction per swing
Durability – 25% reduction

Balanced Weapon Fitting is the only upgrade that you can use to decrease stamina use for weapons. So it’s not a bad choice since you only need one and is my number one recommendation for tools.

Weight

Reducing the weight of your armor will increase how much you can carry in your inventory. This is super useful when you go to gather materials or raid an easy dungeon that may have a lot of gear.

Armor Reduction Kit

Ingredients – 10 Plant Fiber, 5 Twine
Knowledge – Apprentice Armorsmith
Increase – 60% reduction
Durability – 25% reduction

Armor Reduction Kit is the best way to reduce the weight of your armor. For light armor, this is quite useless, but for heavy armor, you can free up over 100 carry weight for a set.

Paring Blade

Ingredients – 10 Stone, 5 Oil
Knowledge – Apprentice Weaponsmith
Increase – 40% reduction
Durability – 25% reduction

The Parid Blade equipment upgrade is the way to make your weapons lighter rather than your armor, like the Armor Reduction Kit. Weapons aren’t usually that heavy, but for strength weapons, it can come in handy.

Durability

Most Equipment Upgrades reduce the durability of armor and weapons. But there are a select few that actually increase the durability.

Simple Reinforcement Kit

Ingredients – 10 Iron Bars
Knowledge – Apprentice Weaponsmith
Durability – 50

Simple Weapon Reinforcement Kits increase the durability of an item substantially for a tier 1 upgrade. However, I don’t find them worth it unless they are cheaper than repairing the gear.

Reinforcement Kit

Ingredients – 10 Steel Bars
Knowledge – Weaponsmith
Durability – 100

Another good choice if you are level 39 and have excess steel. Thankfully, these kits can be used for both, armor and weapons, so you don’t have to make separate items for each.

Advanced Reinforcement Kit

Ingredients – 10 Hardened Steel Bars
Knowledge – Master Weaponsmith
Durability – 150

I actually prefer the regular Reinforcement Kits to these because of the difference between steel and hardened steel compared to the durability increase. But if you’re up in the snow already, then go for it.

Master Reinforcement Kit

Ingredients – 8 Star Metal Bars
Knowledge – Grandmaster Weaponsmith
Durability – 100%

Master Reinforcement Kit can be learned at Warmaker’s Sanctuary. It works differently than the other kits because it increases by percentage rather than set number, so the durability must be at least 150 to be worth it. It also increases the weight of the item by 150%.

FAQs

Question: Can You Add More Than One Equipment Upgrade?

Answer: No. Only one equipment upgrade can be added to each piece of equipment. So you can’t add multiple platings or a plating and a reinforcement kit to increase the durability.

Question: Do You Have to Defeat Arena Champion or Get Grandmaster Armorsmith?

Answer: No. You can just rush in and get it. However, you will have to fight the standard Inner Sanctum bosses to get this far because the stele is at the very end of the dungeon.

Question: What is the Best Armor Plating in Conan Exiles?

Answer: Bulked Plating is the best if you don’t mind the extra weight. Otherwise, Master Armor Plating is the way to go, which will still pay off if you just want the extra boost to your tankiness.

To Plate or Not to Plate in Conan Exiles

Because plating your armor is cheap, I recommend it, even if you don’t have the ideal set yet. Increasing armor value by the simple four via the level 26 Apprentice Armorsmith set is worth it.

Once you get the best armor set you’re going to get, put Thick Armor Plating on each piece for an insane amount of extra armor. I think it’s worth it, even with the reduced durability.