Armor Swap Calculator

Armor in PUBG does two things at once on every bullet that hits it: it blocks some of the damage going to you, and it takes a chunk of durability for itself. When durability runs out, the armor is broken — from that point on, every shot hits you at full strength.

So there are really two clocks running at the same time:

• The "how much it blocks" clock — a Level 3 piece blocks 55% of the damage, Level 2 blocks 40%, Level 1 blocks 30%. Higher tier = you take less damage per shot, even if the piece is nearly broken.
• The "how long it lasts" clock — durability runs down with every hit. A fresh piece has all of it. A damaged piece has less. Once it hits zero, the next shot lands at full damage.

That's the whole trade-off. A near-broken Spec-Ops vest still blocks more per shot than a fresh Military vest — but it might only block one or two more shots before it breaks. A fresh Military vest blocks less per shot, but it'll keep blocking for a lot longer. The calculator just simulates the fight under both options and tells you which one keeps you alive longer.

A few extra details it accounts for:

• Different bullets eat armor at different speeds. SMGs are gentle on armor, ARs are average, snipers chew through it fast.
• Snipers also hit harder to the chest than other classes (PUBG applies a 1.3× multiplier on chest shots), so vest math against snipers is much more punishing than it looks.
• Helmet mode uses head-shot damage — the weapon's base damage multiplied by its class head multiplier (around 2×–2.5×), which is why helmets break so much faster than vests.
• Everything is point-blank, no falloff. Long-range engagements deal a bit less damage, so any L3 keeps a slight edge for a little longer than the calculator shows.

All damage values come straight from the extracted PUBG game files. Armor wear rates are community-tested averages per weapon class and are accurate to within a hit or two — treat the crossover thresholds as a tight estimate, not a frame-perfect rule.