l am makeing a druid,and their main form is a dire wolf,and dire wolfs have a natural armor of 14,and my druid wears leather armor (11+dex). When in wildshape,how does the armor act? does it stack with the dire wolfs natural armor? if so,how? does my ac become 14+dex? 14+11+dex? 14+1+dex? how does it work? 

also,am l right in thinking l need to use the direwolfs dex for the AC (+2) or would that be included with the 14 natural armor?

EDIT 1:sorry for not clarifying:first off,my druid,in wild shape,uses the "barding" item,which is armor for animals,which is what,roll play wise,l am useing. second: as stated in the offical druid wildshape info box:You choose whether your equipment falls to the ground in your space, merges into your new form, or is worn by it. Worn equipment functions as normal, but the DM decides whether it is practical for the new form to wear a piece of equipment, based on the creature’s shape and size. as its leather armor,and meant to be barding (armor  specifically made for animals) l want to know how that would effect my dire wolfs stats. 3rd, i was useing my druid as  a example,as l might also have other animals l would want to give armor to. 4th,l am useing this homebrew subclass,which makes you permenatly a animal (like the above stated dire wolf.) so unless l for some reason need to wildshape back into a human,l dont really care if the armor can transform with me (in this one spesific characters case)

EDIT 2: thanks Cyb3rM1nd,thats what l thought,just wanted a second opinion.  So if i were to wear armor,it would be purely cosmetic unless it were a chain shirt or breast plate,and a druid can't wear either of those (unless dm makes a not metal armor that uses those stats)

A direwolfs AC is 14.  Full stop (unless you have barkskin active, then it’s 16).  Your armor as a Druid melds into the wild shape form but you gain no benefit from it while in that form.  Also, a creatures AC either already includes its Dex bonus, or is overridden (by natural armor, etc) so no adding Dex to your wildshape AC

The short version is, you don’t use your armor when you wildshape. (Unless your DM allows it)
even though you change shape, the armor is still designed and fitted for a humanoid, not a wolf, or whatever you change into. You can have it meld into the new form, but you don’t get the benefits from it. 

In the cases of some other items, like a ring, you might be better able to convince the DM you should be allowed to continue to benefit from it. Again, your DM may allow it, to But to my mind, armor is a no. 

You just use the stat block of the creature you change into, with the exception of saving throws, where you keep yours. But things like HP, AC, to hit and damage, you use the wolf’s stats. 

You cannot use your own armour in Wild Shape form. Your clothes, armour, equipment etc will, at your choice, drop to the floor or merge into your own form. You do have the option to keep wearing it but only if it is practical for the new form which, in vast majority of cases, will not be. Armour for a person is very different to armour for animals like wolves. You will not be able to wear armour for humanoids while in your wolf form. You would need to have separate armour specifically designed for the wolf form and drop this before changing so a party member could put it on you after you change. You can always ask your DM to see if there is a way to get armour with the magical ability to change its shape to fit your new form when you use Beast Shape.

Natural Armour for creatures works like like an override if their AC is otherwise lower. For example, a Dire Wolf would have an Unarmoured AC of 10 + Dex like everyone else which for them would be 12. However, they also have Natural Armour of 14, so their AC is 14. If you made armour for the dire wolf, say it was 13 + Dex (Max 2) medium armour and somehow the wolf was considered proficient then it would have an Armoured AC of 15, which is higher than its Natural Armour of 14, and thus it will use that AC 15.

A Natural Armour is calculated as 10 + Dex Mod + Bonus, the bonus will vary. For a Dire Wolf the bonus is 2, so it's Natural Armour is 10 + 2 + 2. This does count as an AC calculation so anything that stacks with AC calculation will stack with Natural Armour.

Natural Armour is basically like this: If AC > 14 use AC, if not use Natural Armour 14.

The Lizardfolk player Race has a Natural Armour feature, which helps to understand how Natural Armour works as it is better explained than it is in MM.

Natural Armor

You have tough, scaly skin. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield’s benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.

It literally says in the next sentence if the DM allows it you can wear and benefit from the equipment:

You choose whether your equipment falls to the ground in your space, merges into your new form, or is worn by it. Worn equipment functions as normal, but the DM decides whether it is practical for the new form to wear a piece of equipment, based on the creature’s shape and size. Your equipment doesn’t change size or shape to match the new form, and any equipment that the new form can’t wear must either fall to the ground or merge with it. Equipment that merges with the form has no effect until you leave the form.

Quote from hollowtpm >>

It literally says in the next sentence if the DM allows it you can wear and benefit from the equipment:

You choose whether your equipment falls to the ground in your space, merges into your new form, or is worn by it. Worn equipment functions as normal, but the DM decides whether it is practical for the new form to wear a piece of equipment, based on the creature’s shape and size. Your equipment doesn’t change size or shape to match the new form, and any equipment that the new form can’t wear must either fall to the ground or merge with it. Equipment that merges with the form has no effect until you leave the form.

 That would be a very lenient DM in this case.  A Direwolf is a size large creature with a completely different body morphology.  I certainly would not allow it (and if pressed, would likely say the armor is destroyed much like the a Hulk does to his pants)

Quote from iconarising >>

Quote from hollowtpm >>

It literally says in the next sentence if the DM allows it you can wear and benefit from the equipment:

You choose whether your equipment falls to the ground in your space, merges into your new form, or is worn by it. Worn equipment functions as normal, but the DM decides whether it is practical for the new form to wear a piece of equipment, based on the creature’s shape and size. Your equipment doesn’t change size or shape to match the new form, and any equipment that the new form can’t wear must either fall to the ground or merge with it. Equipment that merges with the form has no effect until you leave the form.

 That would be a very lenient DM in this case.  A Direwolf is a size large creature with a completely different body morphology.  I certainly would not allow it (and if pressed, would likely say the armor is destroyed much like the a Hulk does to his pants)

 And Cyber claimed that Xalthu was wrong the only poi t I was making.  Animals can wear certain equipment if the DM allows it.

I did not give my opinion on whether this was a good idea for a direwolf or not, merely correcting the miss information that Cyber stated when he said the wild shape can only drop or absorb equipment and not wear it.  I simply wanted to point out that Xalthu was correct that you can wear certain equipment if the DM allows it.

Quote from hollowtpm >>

And Cyber claimed that Xalthu was wrong the only poi t I was making.  Animals can wear certain equipment if the DM allows it.

I did not give my opinion on whether this was a good idea for a direwolf or not, merely correcting the miss information that Cyber stated when he said the wild shape can only drop or absorb equipment and not wear it.  I simply wanted to point out that Xalthu was correct that you can wear certain equipment if the DM allows it.

 
You might benefit from re-reading my post more carefully. But here, I'll help you out by quoting what I said after the sentence you mention:

Quote from Cyb3rM1nd >>

You do have the option to keep wearing it but only if it is practical for the new form which, in vast majority of cases, will not be.

 
I'll also correct you that my post was not as a correction to anyone else's and was not responding to anyone bu the Original Post since at the time of my typing it, there were no other posts to see. (I'm a slow typer).

The only thing that would be even close to working by RAW would be Glamoured Studded Leather, and even that wouldn't really work how you want it to.

1. It requires your bonus action to transform it, so it competes with your bonus action to Wild Shape if you're a Moon Druid.
   • If you're using your action to Wild Shape, you could then use your BA to transform the armor... except you can't speak the command word, and transforming something that's already been merged into your new form is a grey area
   • Doing it in advance seems like a no-go since you'd be a Humanoid squished into or squashed by Dire Wolf shaped armor
2. The armor retains bulk and weight, meaning the actual shape of the armor doesn't change at all... only the appearance.

Seems pretty clear to me that Wild Shape armor is not meant to be, but you could potentially use this item as a starting point for you and your DM to homebrew something. If your campaign is sticking to RAW, it's likely not possible.