Armored Titan - Attack on Titan
The Armored Titan is one of the Nine Titans (a term used to refer to special Titans like the Attack Titan, the Female Titan, and the Colossal Titan). It is first seen when it rams itself through Wall Maria and creates a hole that lets many other Titans into the city (Season 1, Episode 2). With its armor-like skin protecting vulnerable areas, it has an incredible amount of destructive potential, especially after gaining momentum and speed.
Appearance
Like the other Nine Titans, with the exception of the Colossal Titan, the Armored Titan stands at around 15 meters tall. In the anime, its skin-like armor is depicted as yellowish-brown plates that cover various parts of its body, including the arms, chest, face, and legs. There are also two pieces of this armor covering the back of its neck that protect its weak spot. The armor on the Armored Titan’s face is split into two parts, allowing it to open its mouth when needed. Red muscle can be seen in between the individual pieces of armor and are especially prevalent in the front side of its neck. Although minor aspects of a Titan’s appearance depends on the person controlling the Titan, the current Armored Titan has short, white hair.
Abilities
The Armored Titan has a metal like skin that can easily deflect military-grade weapons like cannons and blades. Although it is not nearly as big as the Colossus Titan, it is terrifying due to its battering power, which is proven to be extremely effective against Wall Maria in the Battle of Shiganshina. Even though the wall was thought to be nearly impenetrable, the Armored Titan manages to break right through it just by body slamming into it after getting a running start. Although the Armored Titan’s armor gives it strength and defense, it comes at the expense of speed. The Armored Titan loses a considerable amount of speed and agility with its increased armor. That said, the user can choose to shed this armor if they wish, which increases mobility once again, but makes them much more vulnerable to attacks. The Armored Titan also has some control over how it sheds its armor as well, as it is seen discarding specific sections of its armor-like skin to increase flexibility and movement in certain sections of its body while keeping other parts covered in armor.
Origins
The Armored Titan originates from Ymir Fritz, the woman that first gained the powers of the Founding Titan. After Ymir’s death, the power of the Founding Titan was divided into the Nine Titans and passed down to a number of successors until the present day. Currently, Reiner Braun holds the power to transform into the Armored Titan.
In the year 845, the Marley nation selects and deploys Reiner (holder of the Armored Titan), Bertolt (former holder of the Colossal Titan), and Annie Leonhart (holder of the Female Titan) to Paradis Island in an operation to reclaim the power of the Founding Titan and exterminate the people within the walls. This plan took five years to execute, as it required the trio to infiltrate into the military and find the person that held the power they needed.
Taking Down the Armored Titan
In Season 3, Episode 14, a new technology developed by the interior police is introduced to counter the Armored Titan’s thick, hard skin, as all other conventional methods like blades and cannons were useless. This technology was given the name “Thunder Spear” and was the main characters’ last resort to fight the Armored Titan. Titan expert Hange Zoe claimed that the only effective means of effectively challenging the Armored Titan previously was Eren’s joint locks (learned from training) and a Titan’s punch that was reinforced with a hardening ability. However, even though these Thunder Spears were wielded by normal humans, they should theoretically be able to take the Armored Titan down due to the sheer amount of power the weapons exhibited in the testing trials.
Later, in Season 3, Episode 17, they execute a three-man attack with Jean, Connie and Sasha. This attack begins with Jean Kirstein acting as a decoy, attacking with only his blade in the front. It is later followed by Connie Springer and Sasha Blouse aiming at the Armored Titan’s jaws with Thunder Spears from both sides. If successful, the Armored Titan's jaw would break and expose Reiner, leaving him vulnerable for extraction.
While Connie’s Thunder Spear hits his target and explodes right on the Armored Titan’s jaw, it reacts quickly with a counterattack and, as a result, Sasha is badly hurt by flying debris and shrapnel. Her Thunder Spear misses, causing the attack to fail. Connie saves her by quickly grabbing her mid-air, though the Armored Titan is still left standing.
Fortunately, an injured Hange comes in to the rescue to use her Thunder Spear and manages to break its jaw open. In a swift turn of events, Mikasa Ackermann, acts quickly and uses her Thunder Spear to blast Reiner out of his Titan.