Armor is a craftable equipment category in Grim Trials and part of the loadout you combine with weapons, Skill Tree choices and Blessings. Official materials confirm armor crafting, while demo-era information shows that gear stats and effect scaling were still being tuned before release.
How armor fits crafting
Materials collected in battle can be turned into armor with help from Academy mentors. This makes armor part of persistent preparation: instead of relying only on random mid-run bonuses, you can enter a run with a crafted baseline.
Armor is more than a defense number
Developer comments and demo updates indicate that equipment pieces can carry distinct effects and that gear scaling has been adjusted during testing. For launch-day comparison, armor pages should therefore record both raw stats and effect text rather than ranking pieces only by defense.
How to compare armor after launch
Useful criteria will include survivability, effect uptime, synergy with a chosen scythe or crossbow, material cost, unlock requirement, and whether the armor supports a specific Blessing or Skill Tree strategy.