Crafting Coal, Copper, and Lapis Armor Sets
Coal Armor
Craft Coal Helmet, Coal Chestplate, Coal Leggings, and Coal Boots using coal in the standard four armor shaped recipes. Coal is plentiful from mining, so this set is a practical step up from Stone armor without requiring smelting. Wear the full set while caving to reduce damage from early mobs.
Copper Armor
Craft Copper Helmet, Copper Chestplate, Copper Leggings, and Copper Boots from copper ingots. Use the same helmet, chestplate, leggings, and boots layouts you used for Coal armor. Copper is common in stone layers, making this a reliable mid-early set before you commit to iron.
Lapis Armor
Craft Lapis Helmet, Lapis Chestplate, Lapis Leggings, and Lapis Boots from lapis lazuli. Lapis comes from mining and from trading, so this set is easy to assemble once you have a steady supply. Because all four pieces use shaped recipes, you can craft them in any crafting table without special stations.
Order of Operations
Start with Coal armor for cheap protection, switch to Copper armor once you have ingots, then build Lapis armor if you have spare lapis. Each set uses the same four armor slots, so you can swap pieces as materials become available.