In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, there are only four items in the Equipment section. Those are Helmet, Kevlar vest, stun gun, and defuse kit. So, as you can see, half of the gear is occupied by armor. CS.MONEY is here today to tell you everything there is to know about armor!
Kevlar & Helmet
You can buy a Kevlar for $650, and a Kevlar + Helmet set for $1,000. If the vest wasn’t damaged, you can buy a helmet separately for $350 at the beginning of the round. Otherwise, armor must be bought again and at full price.
Kevlar + Helmet perform their functions regardless of the remaining armor value, whether it’s 30 or 100. Armor will always absorb the same percentage of damage.
How Does Armor Absorb Damage?
Unlike other online shooters, in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, armor doesn’t work as a magical shield. It only absorbs a certain percentage of the damage received, and this percentage depends on the weapon that was fired. Each unit of damage absorbed reduces the armor value. When the value reaches zero, the armor disappears.
In addition to bullets, armor reduces damage from explosions and other damage sources, such as, for instance, a knife. Fun fact: armor also reduces damage from a direct grenade hit or a C4 explosion!
What Else Can Armor Do?
The main advantage of armor is not damage absorption, but the reduction of the crosshair “bounce” when an enemy hits you. The helmet removes this effect completely, while the vest reduces it to a mere fraction. This sight bouncing is called aimpunch.
The helmet also provides effective protection against headshots. Only 12 guns out of 34 can kill with a single headshot through a helmet. And only eight can do it at a distance exceeding some couple of meters.
What Can’t It Do?
Armor is completely useless when you receive damage from the SG 553 or incendiary grenades. These weapons always deal the maximum damage possible. In addition, armor has no impact on the speed movement penalty when you get hit by bullets or when a grenade explodes nearby.
Furthermore, armor doesn’t affect other parameters in any way. It doesn’t reduce running speed, jump distance, recoil, or the appearance of the character’s model.
When Should I Buy Armor and When Shouldn’t I?
To re-buy armor, you have to spend the full amount, but note that damaged armor is as effective as intact armor. Does it mean you don’t actually need to re-buy armor? More often than not, it does indeed. As long as there’s at least one-third of the armor value left, there’s no point in renewing it — it’s a waste of money.
You should buy armor at the first opportunity. For full buy rounds in defense, a vest would do, but in attack, you need a helmet as well. The thing is, while the main attack weapon, the AK-47, is able to kill with a headshot even through a helmet, the M4 only does non-lethal damage in this case.
That said, buying only armor without weapons is useless too. On eco rounds, it’s better not to invest in that. In contrast, on force buy or full buy rounds, armor is highly desirable.
To sum up, the Kevlar gives effective protection from almost all sources of damage, and the Helmet protects against head hits from most of the weapons in Global Offensive. The main trick of armor is that it works equally well regardless of its condition. Therefore, you can save a lot of money in not having to re-buy the armor.
