She was armed with a main battery of four L/22 guns mounted in a pair of turrets placed on the centerline amidships. As built, the ship was also equipped with two L/25 guns as chase guns, one in the bow and one in the stern. "Grosser Kurfürst"s armor was made of wrought iron backed with teak. The armored belt was arrayed in two strakes. The upper strake was thick; the lower strake ranged in thickness from . Both were backed with of teak. The gun turrets were protected by armor on the sides, backed by 260 mm of teak.