Monster Hunter Wilds best armor list: Starter, Low Rank, and endgame

Monster Hunter Wilds best armor - A group of hunters posing

(Image credit: Capcom)

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Best starting set
Best low rank
Best endgame

Finding the best armor in Monster Hunter Wilds is a challenging process, especially after this game's big change from past Monster Hunters in splitting armor and weapon skills into two separate categories. In some ways it's a nice change, allowing you to switch between weapons at will without it nuking your build, but it has made it harder to distinguish what makes a great armor set.

Gone, as well, are the days when you could simply stack attack or crit jewels on your outfit and call it a day—the new armor and weapon skill split means you have to really focus down what you want your build to do. The new set bonus and group skill mechanics—which provide a buff when you wear pieces from the same set—do make this a little easier with their inbuilt synergy between set and skill, but it's still a tricky task. No matter what kind of build you're aiming for, one thing remains the same as always: you're going to have to roll up your sleeves and kill a whole bunch of monsters to craft the best armor in Monster Hunter Wilds.

To help you prioritise your hunting I've laid out my favourite armor sets for Low Rank, for the endgame, and for anyone new to the series I've also included a starting armor recommendation—since you can now tweak the exact armour you begin the game with, mix and matching between the Hope, Leather, and Chainmail sets.

Looking for more hunting tips? Check out our Monster Hunter Wilds guide hub for all the G-Rank advice we've crafted so far.

Monster Hunter Wilds: Best starting armor

Monster Hunter Wilds best armor - Starting set — (Image credit: Capcom)

While you'll be changing your armor set again before too long, especially as you're hunting lots of new monsters, here's what I recommend for starting armor:

Chainmail Headgear
Chainmail Vest
Chainmail Gloves
Leather Belt
Hope Greaves

This armor combo will give you the following skills: Geologist (level three), Botanist (level one), and Divine Blessing (level one).

This will grant you an extra item when you harvest bonepiles, mining outcrops, special item nodes, and herbs—which you'll be doing a lot early on for crafting and building up your consumable stockpile—while still having a little damage reduction in the form of level one Divine Blessing.

Nothing early on in the game hits so hard that you need to worry about having level three Divine Blessing, but if you're worried about getting your ass kicked, you could always take Hope Mail, vambraces, and greaves for three levels of Divine Blessing and go for Chainmail Headgear and Leather Belt for one level of Geologist and Botanist respectively.

Equally, you could just go for what looks the coolest—it's only the early game and you'll be upgrading before too long.

Monster Hunter Wilds: Best low rank armor

Here are my favorite picks for low rank based on their skills and set bonuses.

Balahara

Evade Extender offers great survivability
Good group skill for mounting

The Balahara set is a great early option in Wilds for one primary reason: Evade Extender. In a game where so much of your survivability relies on dodging out of the way of a monster's attacks, getting a little extra oomph in your evade does a lot. It also has the Master Mounter group skill which is great if you like clambering onto creatures to open up wounds. If you want a somewhat similar set later in Low Rank, keep an eye out for the Hirabami armor.

Ajarakan

Partbreaker is an even stronger skill in Wilds

Early access to three levels of Partbreaker is the reason the Ajarakan set shines, especially since this perk is more powerful in Wilds. In previous games it buffed damage to monster parts, but here it also boosts wound break damage when you use a Focus Strike, something you're doing a lot if you're playing into the new mechanics correctly.

Bombardier also adds a nice little bonus to any barrel bombs you hurl at a monster or plant down when they're sleeping.

Rey Dau

Latent Power reduces stamina consumption and buffs affinity
The skill's duration is increased by the set bonus

My personal favorite set of Low Rank, the Rey Dau armor is perfect for early crit builds using high stamina weapons like Dual Blades or Insect Glaive. Constitution reduces stamina consumption, Latent Power reduces stamina consumption and buffs affinity, while the set bonus skill, Rey Dau's Voltage, prolongs the duration of Latent Power, giving you more uptime on those effects provided you have two or four pieces equipped.

Guardian Rathalos

Weakness Exploit is a strong skill
Rathalos set bonus boosts fire damage

This is an excellent early set for anyone favouring fire weapons. Weakness Exploit is a very handy skill that grants extra affinity against weak points and wounds, while the set bonus skill Rathalos's Flare has a chance to deal additional fire damage when you land an attack as long as you have two or four pieces equipped.

Guardian Ebony Odagaron

Monster Hunter Wilds best armor - Guardian Ebony set — (Image credit: Capcom)

Burst is a great damage skill for fast weapons
The set bonus boosts the skill's damage and duration

The Guardian Ebony set is strong for fast-hitting weapons like Dual Blades and Insect Glaive since it offers the Burst skill, providing a stat boost when you hit five times successively. This is easy to keep up and its Ebony Odagaron's Power set bonus skill means Burst lasts longer and you get extra attack as long as you have two or four pieces equipped. The High Rank version of this armor is also very good due to the distribution of skills on its A and B sets.

Guardian Arkveld

Flayer is a fantastic perk that creates wounds more easily
The set bonus heals you when you break wounds

Admittedly there's not all that much point crafting a full set of Arkveld armor right before you enter High Rank, but this set is very good nonetheless. Flayer makes it easier to inflict wounds and deal extra non-elemental damage, while the set bonus skill Guardian Arkveld's Vitality restores health when you break a wound on a monster, with two to four pieces equipped.

Monster Hunter Wilds: Best endgame armor

There are lots of sets to experiment with in High Rank, but these are my favorite from the highest rarities.

Gore Magala

Monster Hunter Wilds best armor - Gore set — (Image credit: Capcom)

Strong perks in Evade Window and Constitution
Self-contained synergy that afflicts Frenzy and gives buffs when you cure it

Even though it isn't quite into the max rarity 8, the Gore set has a strong selection of perks. Top level Evade Window grants massively increased survivability while dodging, Constitution reduces stamina consumption, and Flinch Free stops you getting knocked about as much.

This set also has a fun little self-contained mechanic; the Gore Magala's Tyranny set bonus skill infects you with Frenzy when facing large monsters, but if you cure yourself you'll get a buff to elemental damage and status buildup through Coalescence, and buffed recovery rate and affinity through Antivirus.

Guardian Arkveld and Arkveld

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Monster Hunter Wilds best armor - Guardian Arkveld set (high rank) — (Image credit: Capcom)

Incredible damage perks
Massive healing when you have four pieces equipped and break a wound

As in Low Rank, the Guardian Arkveld set is one of the best in the game, and not only because it's one of the few rarity 8 sets that even exist at this point. It comes with three amazing damage skills in the form of Flayer, Weakness Exploit, and Partbreaker, while Elemental Absorption buffs elemental attack and resistances when you get hit by said element. Finally, it's got that incredible Guardian Arkveld's Vitality set bonus that recovers health when you break a wound.

The regular high rank Arkveld set is also pretty good, but it has the Convert Element skill, which deals extra dragon damage, and its Arkveld's Hunger set bonus recovers health on successive hits, a little like Malzeno's armor skill in Sunbreak.

Guild Ace

Straightforward skills that benefit poison or paralysis
Five level three decoration slots

For any build using sleep or paralysis, I'm a massive fan of the Guild Ace set. It gives you max level Constitution for big stamina use reduction, max level Peak Performance for a big damage buff at full health, and top level Foray grants another big attack and affinity buff against monsters affected by paralysis and poison. It also has a level three decoration slot on every piece.

Honestly, there are plenty of ways to apply poison to a monster, such as through items or your Palico, so you don't necessarily have to even take a poison or paralysis weapon to benefit from Foray's buffs.

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Sean's first PC games were Full Throttle and Total Annihilation and his taste has stayed much the same since. When not scouring games for secrets or bashing his head against puzzles, you'll find him revisiting old Total War campaigns, agonizing over his Destiny 2 fit, or still trying to finish the Horus Heresy. Sean has also written for EDGE, Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, EGMNOW, and Inverse.

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