How to unlock layered armor in Monster Hunter Wilds

Monster Hunter Wilds layered armor - Gemma
(Image credit: Capcom)

Unlocking layered armor was one of my biggest priorities in Monster Hunter Wilds. After all, who cares about slaying monsters if you can't also slay where it really matters: on the runway. Early game fashion is always a travesty in Monster Hunter as you equip whatever will give your meager stats a boost and end up with the most random riot of colours and cosmetics imaginable.

In many ways it's even worse in Wilds, since you can't change armor pigment until you unlock layered armor fully as well. So, if you're tired of looking like you walked through whatever the Forbidden Lands' equivalent of a charity shop is, here's how to unlock layered armor, change armor pigment, and how the whole process works.

Monster Hunter Wilds layered armor unlock

You can toggle armor, tweak its appearance, change armor pigment, and add pendants to your weapon (Image credit: Capcom)

While you can access the Equipment Appearance menu from your tent at all times to toggle off armor visibility and equip pre-order DLC cosmetics, you won't unlock layered armor fully until you enter High Rank. After you defeat the Yian Kut-Ku in the Scarlet Forest, you can speak to Gemma and she'll explain how the whole process works. Sadly, this does mean you'll have to fight your way through all of Low Rank with a mish mash of different colour armor pieces before you can sort your fashion out.

There is good news, however—all you need to do to create layered armor is craft High Rank armor normally. No more nonsense like in World and Rise, where you'd have to use a ticket to create layered armor. Whatever armor piece you craft will become layered armor you can then use whenever you want to buff those hunter fashion stats.

To equip layered armor—or toggle armor visibility—simply enter your tent, cycle across to the Appearance Menu on the far right, then choose Equipment Appearance. Here's a rundown of how it works:

  • The leftmost slot lets you choose and equip layered armor
  • The toggle in the centre changes whether armor is displayed and you can do this from the start of the game
  • The two pigment slots on the right let you change the colour of your displayed armour, though this unlocks alongside layered armor
  • The bottom two slots let you add pendants to your weapon

With that you've got everything you need to turn your hunter into the most fashionable monster slayer around.

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Sean Martin
Senior Guides Writer

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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