IRON CHESTPLATE

Whatever else you skip on the Armorer's list, the Chestplate is the piece worth the emeralds. It covers the biggest single chunk of your armor value, and he prices it as such: 9 emeralds, the most expensive of the four iron pieces he sells at novice.

That price tracks the recipe. Crafting one costs 8 iron ingots, more than any other piece of iron armor, which is most of a stack of raw ore once you count the smelting. If you have a mine going, this is the one worth crafting yourself before the other three even if you buy the rest.

Like the rest of the set, it keeps whatever colour it spawns with. No dye, no biome variation, just plain iron either way you get it.

The Armorer sells it at novice for 9 emeralds, the priciest of the four iron pieces on his sheet, ahead of the Leggings, the Helmet and the Boots in that order.

Iron Chestplate sells for as little as 9 emeralds, from the Armorer at the Novice tier, and 8 of the other 13 cost less. The price is fixed rather than rolled, so a second Armorer will quote you exactly the same.

The Armorer at its novice tier asks 9 emeralds for an iron chestplate. 8 of the 72 villagers that pay emeralds, emptied out:

9 lava buckets against 288 rotten flesh for the same 9 emeralds, 32 times the carrying, and the shortest wait is the Butcher at 5.6 real minutes of shelf, gathering not counted.

A furnace next to an unemployed villager makes him an Armorer straight into novice, so the Chestplate is on offer from the very first trade, no levelling required beforehand. Buying one pays him 1 experience, which pushes him toward whatever comes after this tier on his sheet.

Keep the furnace in place once he has claimed the job. Breaking it before he settles in resets the profession and any experience gained so far.

The offer allows 12 purchases before locking, and a restock takes 2 real minutes. A 20 minute Minecraft day covers two restocks, so one Armorer can move 24 chestplates in a single day of trading.

Given the price, most players only ever need one. The restock ceiling only becomes relevant if you are supplying chestplates for a whole group at once.

At 9 emeralds this is the biggest single purchase on the Armorer's list, so curing him first is worth considering: see how curing works for the mechanic. Sell coal to fund it if emeralds are tight.

The same villager often carries spare Iron Ingot and a Bell. Further up his list, past this tier, sit Chainmail Leggings, Chainmail Boots and Chainmail Helmet, none of which can be crafted, so a levelled-up Armorer is the closest thing to a reliable source for that material. Keep a Lava Bucket burning if you would rather smelt eight ingots yourself.

The chestplate absorbs more than any other piece, so it is the one worth having in the best material you can reach. Eight iron ingots is a full stack of ore turned into the single biggest jump in survivability the early game offers.

Buying it made rather than smelting it is a trade of emeralds for iron, and iron is the metal every other project also wants: rails, hoppers, buckets, anvils. Handing a villager emeralds for the armour leaves the ore for the machinery.

Iron is also the material worth enchanting first. Diamond is better and slower to find, and an iron chestplate with Protection is worth more than a bare diamond one you are still waiting for.