The New World in Monster Hunter World is no place for the meek and feeble. It's a jungle out there, hunters, and a jungle is bound to have predators. Some of them fly, some swim, some breathe fire, but all of them can make you obliterate that game controller in an infantile fit of rage. It might be unforgiving, but not knowing when to adapt is a straight path to defeat. After all, your character is a mere human in the land of titans.

Thankfully, you can ease the blow of your predators by wearing armor made out of their body parts both as a reward and to spite them. The fun begins once you get the hang of it and pretty soon you'll start looking like all the monsters you've hunted. There are so many armors in this game, but some are worth your time more than others. Here are ten of them to make you a more proficient hunter. Bear in mind that mixing and matching armor sets is better, but if you really want that full set bonus, then you still can't go wrong with wearing these as a set.

Updated December 27, 2023 by Quinton O'Connor: If you thought Monster Hunter World's popularity had waned into relative obscurity, think again! Even with Monster Hunter Rise several years old and counting, World still commands a presence, and we'll still be updating our old lists for the game to help you on your way.

14 Bone Set

You're in the New World, so forget about all the flashy metal plate armor or the professional-looking leather straps. Upgrading your armor in Monster Hunter World requires limited but replenishable resources, and you don't want to spend those on subpar metal or leather armor. No, you will want the Bone Armor Set as your long-term starter gear - something that will carry you until stronger days.

Tossing Beginners A Bone

Actually, the Bone Set might even be more stylish than early metal or leather armors and that's just a bonus. What makes the Bone Set shine is its well-rounded defenses. Other armor types and sets trade one or two damage resistances for another; the Bone Set trades nothing, and you can wear it against any type of monster attack, regardless of the element.

13 Rathalos Set

Once you get past those beginner steps and are ready to ditch the Bone Set or whatever beginner armor you chose, make sure to keep an eye out for any Rathalos flying about. You'll want what you can make out of their toenails, scales, and teardrops: the Rathalos Armor Set. Apart from being stylish too, it has one of the best skills in the Monster Hunter World: Weakness Exploit.

This skill allows you to deal bigger and considerable chunks of damage to monsters whenever you hit their weak spots. Do keep in mind that the lightning resistance of the Rathalos Set is negative (awful). Still, you can easily fix this with food buffs and while retaining Weakness Exploit. This armor can also teach you to rely more on your dodging skills as a defense rather than just tanking the hits, an excellent way to approach late-game monster fights.

12 Kirin Set

Anyone who tells you that wearing this armor set for its protective bonuses is lying. There are only a few reasons why people choose the Kirin armor for their hunter in Monster Hunter World: it looks cute and it has often been used as a poster armor for previous Monster Hunter games. You can acquire it by hunting Kirin, of course.

Fashion Is The True Endgame

Apart from aesthetic reasons, there really isn't much point in choosing the Kirin Set over other better armor which can be acquired earlier. It does come with a neat skill which lets you use elemental weapons, but its poor resistance to some of the most common monster damage types is quite painful for your hunter. That really shouldn't matter much if you're already skilled while wearing it, though fashion is a big part of the Monster Hunter endgame.

11 Odogaron Set

Do you want to deal great damage? Do you want decent resistance to damage types? Do you want to look like a ninja? Or do you just like looking sexy in a Monster Hunter game? Look no further than the Odogaron Armor Set. It has everything you'll ever want before you start fighting Elder Dragons in Monster Hunter World: Utility, style, and skills.

Dog Days

Make sure you can get this armor as soon as you encounter Odogaron (the big red skinless doggo). It can be a difficult fight though; it's pretty agile, but practice makes perfect, and you can always capture this monster instead of slaying it, making the fight easier and quicker. It's quite special too; it's one of the few armors in the game you can wear as a set and not lose much.

10 Vaal Hazak Set

For many, Vaal Hazak can be considered as one of the easiest Elder Dragons to slay. It's essentially a slow and weak walking spot compared to the other monsters of its kind. The fight with Vaal Hazak only seems difficult because you can constantly lose health if you're not prepared for the miasma attacks.

Ow, The Edge

Despite the easy fight with Vaal Hazak and its easy-to-dodge morning breath, the reward is rather satisfactory. You'll be greeted with one of the edgiest armor sets in the game, which, as you might have guessed, is called the Vaal Hazak Armor Set. It looks cool and has the added bonus of giving you a skill which lets you recover health your better. This makes the Vaal Hazak set an ideal go-to for tanky builds which don't have to look like literal tanks.

9 Xeno'jiva Set

Xeno'jiiva is the de facto final boss of the game and is also one of the biggest Elder Dragons in Monster Hunter World. It's also quite new, and the armor set you can make from slaying it over and over again like a heartless scum is both a badge of honor and a fashion statement. It says you beat the game (sort of) and are ready for the real endgame from that point on.

Xenoblade And Bow

Additionally, the Xeno'jiiva Armor is also quite good for most builds in the game. Melee weapon users can get more mileage out of their weapon sharpness, while bowgun users can benefit from the ammo skill. All in all, do craft the Xeno'jiiva armor for fashion at the very least.

8 Kulve Taroth Set

The Kulve Taroth Armor Set is, hands down, the most elegant armor in the game and, for that matter, the most stylish. It doesn't matter whether you're wearing the male or female hunter variant of the Kulve Taroth armor, you'll look like you're among the top 0.1 percent of all the hunters in the game (even if you're not). It can be acquired by successfully completing the Kulve Taroth raid several times, easier said than done.

Shiny

It's not just for show too, you can wear the full Kulve Taroth Armor Set without many repercussions or drawbacks as it lets you play a jack-of-all-trades character. You can give support, do damage, and tank a bit with the innate stun resistance. More than anything, however, it's the beauty of the Kulve Taroth armor set which makes it worth considering over more powerful or more useful armor.

7 Fulgur Anja Set

If the regular Anjanath Armor Set left you wanting, then the Fulgur Anja Set from the Iceborn expansion surely won't. It's a Master Rank armor you can obtain from killing Fulgur Anjanath over and over again. It's a lot more stylish than the regular Anjanath armor and has a different strength, mainly resisting Thunder instead of Fire.

Variety Is The Spice Of Armor

The main attraction in the Fulgur Anja set, whether it's Alpha or Beta, would be the Weakness Exploit skill it provides. The helmet and the waist pieces both provide one level of the DPS-boosting skill and can help you make quick work of any monster you're hunting. Should you decide to go with the full set instead of mixing and matching, you'll enjoy a variety of offensive and defensive skills.

6 Nergigante Set

The best defense is always a good offense and this also holds true for Monster Hunter World. Whittling down the monster's health before it can wear you down instead is the optimal way to fight it (just ask any speedrunner). If your playstyle favors that, and you love melee weapons like the majority of the Monster Hunter World player base, then the Nergigante Set is a must; it's often a baseline requirement for most damage-per-second (DPS) builds.

Monster Hunter Strikers

The armor favors hunters who want to attack relentlessly and don't want to spend a big chunk of the hunt running away from the monster. It's a fitting armor set from Nergigante, of course-- the Elder Dragon usually won't let you breathe the very first time you fight it. Once you have his full armor, however, you're now ready for the endgame content and can mix and match it with other armor for maximum potential.

5 Glavenus Set

Maximum Might has always been a staple DPS skill and one of the most sought-after in armor pieces by many veteran players. Glavenus Set, regardless of whether it's Beta or Alpha, provides Maximum Might in spades, which is great, since decorations containing that skill can be a pain to farm over and over again. Of course, you can get it by slaying Glavenus repeatedly.

Maximum Might

The Glavenus torso, gauntlet, and waist pieces can even ensure that you get all five levels of Maximum Might while also getting the set bonus where you get another bonus level for Maximum Might. It's also a great skill for weapons with sharpness as the helmet and boots will give you handicraft, definitely a worthy replacement for the Nergigante Set.

4 Nargacuga Beta+ Set

The Nargacuga Beta Set is considered as a great mid-Master Rank gear as it allows many players in that period in the game to comfortably progress through the story without suffering too much frustration through deaths. The Nargacuga set allows you some respectable amount of defense with Evade Window while still having a decent DPS with Peak Performance.

Well, That's Handy

Meanwhile, the set bonus also acts as a pseudo Handicraft skill, since Nargacuga essence reduces sharpness loss and can sometimes preserve ammunition for ranged weapons. Farming Nargacuga for his parts, however, can get rather perilous since the monster is fast and will surely surprise non-veterans.

3 Drachen Alpha+ Set

If you're no newbie (or even if you are), part of the reason you're probably here is to look for the best attainable armor set the game has for you. So here it is, the Drachen Armor Set. It makes the Nergigante Set look like training wheels by comparison. The Drachen Armor is necessary for a top-tier build speedrunner or DPS build for melee hunters and probably for ranged ones too, outside Master Rank.

Do Not Combine

Wearing it as a full set, however, is not advisable since it's only top-tier when paired with other armor sets (though the majority might still be Drachen). If you're already skilled, then the Drachen Armor builds will essentially trivialize monsters (even Elder Dragons) that were made for solo hunts. Acquiring it will not be easy, though; you'll have to defeat the most difficult monster in the game, Behemoth where your wits and maturity will be tested like never before.

2 Yian Garuga Beta+ Set

We don't recommend wearing the whole Yian Garuga Beta+ Set, especially if you're in the latter stages of your Master Rank progression, but there's no shame in wearing it all. Do note that you won't get any set bonus, though, since the set doesn't come with one innately. With that out of the way, it's still worth farming for some of the parts of the Yian Garuga set, namely the boots (prioritize getting those).

Metagaming

That's because the Yian Garuga Beta+ boots are instrumental to building your perfect Master Rank hunter; by perfect, we mean tailored to the speedrunning meta in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. It's all due to the Critical Eye +2 innate bonuses of the boots. As for which armor you should be pairing Yian Garuga Beta+ set with, behold...

1 Teostra Beta+ Set

When it comes to Master Rank, Teostra Beta+ Set simply dethrones the Drachen Set because of how Latent Power works. You also get Critical Eye and Weakness Exploit. The chest piece is optional for some builds, it's preferable if you replace it with something that has Attack Boost or Critical Eye like the Kirin Alpha+ or the Brute Tigrex Beta+ chest.

Combo Breaker

Pair all of them with the Yian Garuga Beta+ boots and one of the top DPS melee weapons, and you can have the most optimal melee build in-game. As it is, melee weapons are generally the most used weapon in Monster Hunter World. You will have to adjust for ranged builds, of course, but with the same DPS philosophy and adherence, you shouldn't have a problem.