Monster Hunter World Armor guide: every armor set, armor skills list, forging, upgrading and more

by RPG Site Staff on 30 August, 2018

The Monster Hunter series is as much about gear as it is about hunting savage beasts, and in Monster Hunter World armor is one of the most important and character-defining pieces of gear you can have.

Made up of five different pieces, the armor you have equipped can seriously change up your character's hardiness and even their ability in battle, in turn allowing you to embrace different gameplay styles. Alongside Monster Hunter World's 14 weapon classes, armor really serves to define your hunter, especially in co-op. It also looks really cool - there's nothing wrong with being a fashion hunter as well as a monster hunter.

There's quite a few systems around Armor in the game that impact what might be the best armor for you, so we figured we'd break some of them down in a post: forging, upgrading, elemental strengths and weaknesses and armor skills. Here's all that...

Need more Monster Hunter World assistance? Here's some more lovely guides for you:

Beginner's Guide: Tips & Tricks for new hunters

Weapons Guide - which of the 14 weapon classes is best for you?

How to Change Character Appearance after Character Creation

How to get the Horizon Zero Dawn Palico Watcher gear

Female Armor Sets: All Low Rank Female Armor Sets

All High Rank Female Armor Sets pictured

Monster Hunter World Armor Guide: how to get new armor, armor list, armor skills and more

Given that Monster Hunter is all about taking down monsters and looting resources from them, it of course follows that getting your hands on all-new armor is also tied to this simple little activity loop.

In basic terms, you'll mostly unlock the ability to forge new armor sets as you take down the associated monster. So to forge the Kestodon gear, for instance, you'll need to take down the associated monster. Once you've done that you'll loot the first items associated with that monster and unlock the ability to forge armor using some of those items.

Forging takes place at the blacksmith area in Astera, your main hub. Keep in mind that forging new armor will take up quite a few resources and quite often you'll need to hunt a monster quite a few times over in order to harvest the parts and loot you need to forge the armor.

Each armor set has up to five pieces, though some sets have less parts. You can mix and match parts from different sets to get a look that suits you, and each set carries with it different stats and bonuses - something we'll touch on a little more throughout this page.

Armor is split into Low Rank and High Rank - and this separates out stuff from the two ends of the game. For instance, we've got a page showing off all the Low Rank Armor for Female Hunters and one for all the High Rank Armor for Female Hunters - but they have a whole different set of high-rank armors too.

Forging and Upgrading Armor in Monster Hunter World: get the best armor possible

Once you own a piece of armor from forging it, you can upgrade it in the blacksmith in much the same manner and from the same NPC as when you forge new armor. While it all happens in the same place upgrading armor is a little more complicated, since it requires an additional resource - Armor Spheres.

Armor Spheres are rare items, and you'll actually be rewarded one for every main quest you complete. You might want to hold on to your armor spheres early on rather than spending them on the lower-end early-game armor before you know what you want to do armor-wise - it's better to struggle on with weaker armor and make a more informed decision later.

Some armor uses more Armor Spheres when you upgrade it than others, so you'll want to consider carefully and weigh up the strengths and weaknesses of each piece of armor. On that topic...

Monster Hunter World Armor Skills: every armor skill listed

Armor Skills are where armor can offer some really interesting and unique bonuses - different armor can carry with it different skills that when equipped will grant significant buffs to your character. There's an awful low of these in Monster Hunter World, and they all have greatly varying effects that are well worth studying to see if any particular one will mesh well with your weapon of choice or gameplay style.

Below you'll find a list of all the armor skills in the game that we've discovered so far, and we'll keep updating the list. Use it to plan ahead what skills you might want to try to have equipped to your hunter!

Adrenaline: Temporarily reduces stamina depletion when health is at 40% or lower.
Affinity Sliding: Sliding boosts your affinity for a short time (1 level).
Aquatic Expert: Improves mobility in water.
Artillery: Strengthens explosive attacks, such as gunlance shells, Wyvern’s Fire, and sticky ammo (3 levels).
Attack Boost: Increases attack power and improves affinity at higher levels (7 levels).
BBQ Master: Increases player skill at cooking meat.
Botanist: Increases the quantity of herbs and other consumable items you gather.
Cliffhanger: Decreases stamina depletion when evading while climbing ivy or walls.
Constitution: Decreases stamina loss when performing moves such as evading, attacking, running, etc (5 levels).
Critical Eye: Boosts affinity (7 levels).
Defense Boost: Increases defense. Level up to improve resistances as well (7 levels).
Earplugs: Decreases negative effect of large monster's roars (5 levels)
Effluvial Expert: Nullifies or reduces environmental damage in the Rotten Vale.
Entomologist: Decreases chance of destroying bodies of small insect monsters, allowing them to be carved.
Evade Extender: Increases evade distance (3 levels)
Evade Window: Extends the invulnerability period when evading (5 levels)
Fire Attack: Increases fire element attack power (3 levels)
Fire Resistance: Increases fire resistance. Also improves defense at higher levels. (3 levels)
Focus: Increases the fill rate for weapons with gauges and the charge rate for weapons with charge attacks
Fortify: Increases your attack and defense every time you fall in battle, up to two times
Guard: Reduces knockbacks and stamina depletion when guarding
Health Boost: Increases health (3 levels)
Heavy Artillery: Increases the firepower of ballistae and cannons.
Honey Hunter: Increases the quantity of honey you receive when gathering in the field
Horn Maestro: Increases the effect duration of hunting horn melodies
Hunger Resistance: Reduces maximum stamina depletion over time (5 levels)
Ice Attack: Increases ice element attack power (3 levels)
Ice Resistance: Increases ice resistance. Also improves defense at higher levels. (3 levels)
Intimidator: Reduces the chances small monsters will attack after spotting you
Item Prolonger: Extends the duration of some item effects
Jump Master: Prevents attacks from knocking you back during a jump
Marathon Runner: Slows down stamina depletion for actions which continuously drain stamina (such as dashing) (1 level)
Master Gatherer: Allows you to gather more quickly, and also prevents attacks from knocking you back while gathering (1 level)
Master Mounter: Makes it easier to mount monsters
Muck Resistance: Reduces impairment to mobility while stuck in monster muck (1 level)
Palico Rally: Powers up palicos
Paralysis Resistance: Reduces the duration of paralysis (3 levels)
Paraylsis Attack: Increases the duration of paralysis (3 levels)
Poison Attack: Increases the rate of poison build-up (3 levels)
Poison Resistance: Protects against the effects of poison (3 levels)
Pro Transporter: Increases your speed while transporting items and decreases the likelihood of dropping them
Quick Sheath: Increases the speed of sheathing
Recovery Speed: Speeds recovery from temporary damage (the red portion of the health gauge)
Recovery Up: Increases the amount recovered when restoring health
Scenthound– Increases your scoutflies’ gauge fill rate when you find tracks and other traces left by monsters
Scoutfly Range Up: Expands your scoutflies’ detection range
Slinger Capacity: Increases the loading capacity for slinger ammo obtained in the field
Slugger – Makes it easier to dizzy monsters
Special Ammo Boost: Increases the power of bowgun special ammo and Dragon Piercer (2 levels)
Speed Crawler: Increases your movement speed while crouching
Speed Eating: Increases meat-eating and item-consumption speed
Speed Sharpening: Speeds up weapon sharpening when you use a Wheatstone
Sporepuff Expert: Recover health when using sporepuffs
Stamina Surge: Speeds up stamina recovery
Stamina Thief: Increases certain attacks’ ability to exhaust monsters (1 level)
Stealth: Makes it easier for monsters to lose sight of you (3 levels)
Stun Restistance: Reduces stun duration (3 levels)
Thunder Attack: Increases thunder element attack power (3 levels)
Thunder Resistance: Increases thunder resistance. Also improves defense at higher levels. (3 levels)
Water Attack: Increases water element attack power (3 levels)
Water Resistance: Increases water resistance. Also improves defense at higher levels. (3 levels)
Wide Range: Allows the effects of certain items to also affect nearby allies (5 levels).
Windproof: Grants protection against wind pressure (5 levels)

Monster Hunter World Armor List: Every Armor Set in the game

So, how many different sets of armor can you expect to find in Monster Hunter World? If you want to see the sets in action check out our page of All Low Rank Female Armor Sets in Monster Hunter World, but otherwise here's a full list of all the armor sets you can find in the game:

Low Rank Armor Sets

Leather
Chainmail
Hunter's
Bone
Vespoid
Kestodon
Gajau
Jagras
Kulu
Alloy (not to be confused with the Horizon Zero Dawn Aloy armor)
Pukei
Barroth
Jyura
Kadachi
High Metal
Shamos
Hornetaur
Anja
Tzitzi
Lumu
Girros
Baan
Ingot
Legiana
Odogaron
Rathalos
Diablos

High Rank Armor Sets

Almost all armor sets also exist in a high rank variant - this features better stats, a different design and an 'Alpha' or 'Beta' name suffix - and the alpha and beta variants of each armor are actually quite different. Here they are in full - and remember you can see all the female high rank armor on our page dedicated to that.

Leather (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Chainmail (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Hunter’s (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Bone (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Alloy (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Butterfly (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Vespoid (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Hornetaur (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Mosswine Mask Alpha
Kestodon (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Gajau (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Shamos (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Jagras (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Kulu (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Tzitzi (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Pukei (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Barroth (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Anja (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Jyura (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Kadachi (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Lumu (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Rathian (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Rath Heart (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Baan (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Barnos (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Dodogama (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Zorah (Alpha & Beta Sets)
High Metal (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Ingot (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Brigade (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Faux Felyne Alpha
Strategist Alpha
Lavasioth (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Legiana (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Odogaron (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Rathalos (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Rath Soul (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Diablos (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Diablos Nero (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Uragaan (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Bazel (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Damascus (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Dober (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Death Stench (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Nergigante (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Teostra (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Kushala (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Vaal Hazak (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Kirin (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Xeno’jiiva (Alpha & Beta Sets)
Dragonking Alpha

Armor Elemental Strengths and Weaknesses in Monster Hunter World

There are a lot of different types of armor in Monster Hunter World, each with its own unique look and stats. One major thing to consider is that each armor set includes elemental strengths and weaknesses that can make a serious difference when you face down a monster with a particular elemental affinity.

Here's what some of the armor sets are good at. Keep in mind on the actual armor sets these are represented by numbers, so armor with only strengths will likely have low strength boosts while armor with weaknesses will have much more potent buffs but also debuffs along with it.

Leather: Resistance vs Fire
Chainmail: Resistance vs Water
Hunter's - Resistance vs Fire & Water
Bone - Resistance vs Fire, Thunder & Dragon
Vespoid: Resistance vs Dragon
Kestodon - Resistance vs Fire
Gajau: Resistance vs Water
Jagras: Resistance vs Water & Dragon / Weak vs Fire, Thunder & Ice
Kulu: Resistance vs Ice / Weak vs Water
Alloy: Resistance vs Water & Dragon / Weak vs Fire, Thunder & Ice
Pukei: Resistance vs Water & Dragon / Weak vs Thunder
Barroth: Resistance vs Thunder / Weak vs Fire, Water & Ice
Jyura: Resistance vs Water / Weak vs Fire & Thunder
Kadachi: Resistance vs Thunder / Weak vs Water
High Metal: Resistance vs Ice / Weak vs Water, Thunder
Butterfly: Resistance vs Thunder, Dragon / Weak vs Fire, Water
Shamos: Resistance vs Fire, Water / Weak vs Ice
Hornetaur: Resistance vs Dragon / Weak vs Fire, Water
Anja: Resistance vs Fire / Weak vs Water, Thunder, Ice
Rathian: Resistance vs Fire / Weak vs Thunder, Dragon
Tzitzi: Weak vs Thunder, Ice (but an good base defense stat)
Lumu: Resistance vs Water, Ice / Weak vs Fire
Girros: Resistance vs Thunder, Dragon / Weak vs Water
Baan: Resistance vs Water / Weak vs Ice, Dragon
Ingot: Resistance vs Thunder / Weak vs Fire, Ice
Death Stench: Resistance vs Fire, Water, Ice / Weak vs Thunder, Dragon
Brigade: Resistance vs Fire, Thunder, Dragon
Legiana: Resistance vs Water, Ice / Weak vs Fire, Thunder
Odogaron: Resistance vs Fire, Water / Weak vs Thunder, Ice
Rathalos: Resistance vs Fire, Water, Ice / Weak vs Thunder, Dragon
Diablos: Resistance vs Fire, Dragon / Weak vs Water, Ice
Kirin: Resistance vs Thunder, Dragon / Weak vs Fire, Water, Ice