Expanded Armory
by qwasdf
Expanded Armory, a datapack by qwasdf, replaces how shields are crafted and how armor sets are built, adding ten new shield types across six material tiers.
What it does
The datapack swaps the vanilla shield recipe for a set of new shields. Wooden shields behave much like regular shields in durability, while higher tiers gain more durability. Netherite shields are the heaviest and give a large boost in strength, and gold and diamond shields are the lightest. Some shields slow the player down by varying degrees, and their tier sets the damage cap for what they can block.
Shield coverage differs by type: most cover 120 degrees, while a few cover 180 degrees. Blocking depends on the attacker. Shields block sword attacks of their tier, projectiles, and explosion damage, with some types taking different amounts of time before they are ready to block again. Three Magic Shields, made from amethyst, lapis and emerald, can block magic damage that regular shields cannot, and the emerald shield blocks two types of magic damage.
Armor is reworked too. Chainmail armor recipes change, iron armor recipes become more expensive, and gold armor chains are made cheaper, so armor progression becomes slightly harder at iron and easier at gold. Armor sets gain varied bonuses besides armor points and toughness. Expanded Armory is a datapack, so it is applied through a world or server data folder rather than a mod loader.
Key features
Ten new shield types
The shield recipe is replaced with ten new shield types, across six material tiers from wooden to netherite.
Magic Shields
Three shields made from amethyst, lapis and emerald block magic damage in addition to the three damage types that vanilla shields block.
Varied shield timing
Each shield takes a different amount of time before it is ready to block after use, depending on its type and material.
Reworked armor recipes
Chainmail, iron and gold armor recipes change, making iron armor costlier and gold armor cheaper to craft.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
How it compares
Vanilla Extensive Recipes+ is a server-required mod for Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt covering 1.21.2 – 1.21.4, and it is not open source. Mo-Combat is also server-required, covers 1.21.4 – 1.21.9 across the same four loaders, and is not open source. Level Z - Armory is a client-required mod for Fabric only, released under the MIT License for 1.21.1, so it needs a player install where Expanded Armory does not.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expanded Armory | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.21.5 – 1.21.8 | Server required, client optional | 2025-08-14 |
| Vanilla Extensive Recipes+ | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.21.2 – 1.21.4 | Server required, client optional | 2025-06-22 |
| Mo-Combat | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.21.4 – 1.21.9 | Server required, client optional | 2025-09-30 |
| Level Z - Armory | Fabric | 1.21.1 | Client required, server optional | 2026-08-25 |
Questions
Does Expanded Armory need a mod loader?
Does Expanded Armory have to be installed on clients?
Which game versions does Expanded Armory support?
In the catalog
Expanded Armory is one of 17,631 Equipment mods on ModsFinder, and one of 8,894 Equipment mods for Fabric. 17,695 mods support Minecraft 1.21.8.
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What the author says
Expanded armory is a simple datapack that reworks the armor and shield systems to enhance combat and gameplay variety. For how cheap it is, the shield seemed pretty unbalanced in combat, so this datapack replaces the shield crafting recipe entirely with 10 new types of shields. Similarly, the way armor worked was too…
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/expanded-armory
- Owner
- qwasdf
- Published
- 2025-08-14
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2025-08-14
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15