Minecraft is reaching its prime in terms of customization, and your armor is receiving the most benefits with the next major update. With Minecraft 1.20, you get the ability to color, design, and add patterns (or trims) to your armor in thousands of unique ways. All you need is the right method and the right equipment. So, without wasting any time, let’s learn how to customize your armor in Minecraft.
Note: At the moment, Armor Trim Smithing Templates are only a part of Minecraft 1.20 Snapshot 23W04A. They are subject to functional and cosmetic changes until the final release.
How Armor Customization Works in MinecraftWhat is an Armor Trim and How to Find ItHow to Use Armor Trim Smithing Templates
Items Required to Customize ArmorUse Armor Trims to Customize Minecraft ArmorHow to Customize Leather Armor in Minecraft
Items Required to Dye a Leather ArmorHow to Dye Leather Armor in Java EditionHow to Dye Leather Armor in Bedrock Edition
Items Required to Customize ArmorUse Armor Trims to Customize Minecraft Armor
Items Required to Dye a Leather ArmorHow to Dye Leather Armor in Java EditionHow to Dye Leather Armor in Bedrock Edition
How Armor Customization Works in Minecraft
The customization of armor in Minecraft refers to changing its physical appearance, color, and design. It doesn’t affect the abilities of the armor. There are two main methods to customize your armor in Minecraft:
Please keep in mind that you need to apply the best armor enchantments to the armor if you want to add special abilities to it. In terms of appearance, the enchantments only add a subtle glint to the armor but their supernatural abilities are game-changing.
A part of the Minecraft 1.20 update, Armor Trims are a type of Smithing templates in the game that allows you to add various patterns to your armor. At the moment, there are 11 unique Armor Trims in Minecraft, and each one of them can be used with 9 distinct colors for each piece of armor, including the helmet, chest plate, leggings, and boots. Since there are five armor materials in the game, you can create over 400,000 unique combinations of armor.
But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, you’ll need to find and collect armor trim smithing templates in-game. They spawn throughout the world of Minecraft inside the chest of various in-game structures. While most of such structures spawn in the overworld, you can also find them in the Nether and the End dimension. To start your search, explore our dedicated guide all Armor Trim locations in Minecraft.
Items Required to Customize Armor
You need the following items to trim and customize your armor in Minecraft 1.20:
For the trimming colors, you can use a several different materials, including iron, copper, gold, lapis lazuli, emerald, diamond, Netherite, Redstone, amethyst, and quartz. Just make sure your armor is not made of the same material that you are using to color its trim.
Follow the steps below to customize your armor with the help of Armor Trim Smithing Templates:
Next, place the Armor Trim Smithing Template in the leftmost cell of the Smithing table’s UI.
Then, place a piece of armor in the slot to the right of the template (middle slot).
Finally, place the color material in the rightmost cell of the Smithing Table UI. Make sure it’s not the same material that your armor is made up of.
How to Customize Leather Armor in Minecraft
Items Required to Dye a Leather Armor
You need the following items to color and customize a leather armor in Minecraft:
You can use any of the 16 in-game dye colors, including white, red, orange, pink, yellow, lime, green, light blue, cyan, blue, magenta, purple, brown, gray, light gray, and black.
How to Dye Leather Armor in Java Edition
Follow these steps to dye and customize leather armor in Minecraft Java Edition:
Then, place one piece of leather armor in any slot in the crafting area. You can only dye one piece of armor at a time.
Finally, place the dye of your choice in any other slot in the crafting area. You can even place two dyes to create a new color by combining them.
How to Dye Leather Armor in Bedrock Edition
Unlike the Java edition, you have to put in slightly more effort to dye your leather armor. Here’s how to color and customize your leather armor in Minecraft:
First, place down a cauldron on any solid surface.
Then, empty a bucket of water into the cauldron by right-clicking or using the secondary action key.
Next, use any dye of your choice on the cauldron’s water. The color of the water will change based on the dye you add. You can use more than one dye to create new colors.
Finally, use the piece of leather armor on the cauldron to make it absorb the color. Even though this process takes longer than the Java edition, you can use one piece of dye to customize multiple pieces of leather armor.
