The armor's power comes with significant drawbacks, the most important of which is associated with the od that gives the armor its power. In one instance, the Berserker Armor has displayed the ability to impart unto its current wearer a "blood memory" seeped into it of a previous wearer's final moments.
When the armor is active, the helm's eye sockets glow red and Guts' face is completely obstructed if in control of himself, however, the swordsman's face is partially visible and the helm's eye sockets stop emitting their red glow, instead showing his real eye. In Guts' case, the helmet and bevor are shaped like the Beast of Darkness able to function as a mouth capable of biting enemies. Upon inducing a berserker rage, the armor's helm takes on a distinct appearance. The armor can also repair itself if damaged. For instance, a broken arm will be pieced together by the armor injecting thin spines from itself into the broken bones, returning them to their proper places and restoring the limb's functionality. The armor also temporarily repairs debilitating injuries in the heat of battle. It also invokes a tremendous bloodlust in the wearer, amplifying negative emotions like hate, fear, and anger that enable the wearer to fight harder. The armor does this by eliminating the distress caused by pain the wearer can still feel pain as a sensation, but the mind does not interpret the pain as being a problem, allowing for it to simply be ignored. The result is a significant augmentation of the wearer's physicality, increasing strength and speed to previously unimaginable levels. The primary function of the Berserker Armor, by way of its od, is to suppress the physiological and subconscious systems of the human body which would normally prevent a person from exerting enough force to injure themselves. Abilities īerserkers possess preternatural strength and agility in battle. In spite of Grunbeld's immense strength, even after his fire dragon transformation, Guts easily withstands his attacks after donning the Berserker Armor and overwhelms the apostle in their clash.
It is later entrusted to Guts after Flora's spirit tree mansion is invaded by apostles of Griffith's reborn Band of the Falcon. Eventually, he entrusted the dangerous artifact to his friend, the witch Flora. The armor was eventually donned by the man who became the Skull Knight, used by him to combat demonkind. At an unknown point in time, the Berserker Armor was forged by the dwarf blacksmith Hanarr, who imbued it with a violent od purposed for drawing out and manifesting its wearer's negative emotions particularly fear and rage.