Armor sets in Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection aren’t there for just purely defensive purposes, as they actually define your character in most situations. In addition to mere defense values, armor sets grant crucial elemental resistances, skills for healing and damage boosting.

That’s why it’s so important to seek out only the best armor sets for your character, as it will have a huge impact on your gameplay experience. This guide will provide you with a list of the best armors in MHS3 and tips on how to get them.

Rath Heart Armor

Rath Heart armor is one of the best armor sets in the game due to high base defense, excellent Fire resistance, and self-sustain skills like Self-Heal, which heals you at the end of the turn, and Crit-Heal, which heals your character on critical hits. This makes it a strong survival option, reducing potion use. Here’s how to get it:

1. Unlock the recipe by defeating a Pink Rathian monster, which appears in the Sunpetal Plains area of Azuria near invasive Yian Garuga dens.
2. Since Pink Rathian is weak to the Thunder element, bring Thunder monsties like Tobi-Kadachi or Zinogre and equip Thunder weapons.
3. Use Pink Rathian materials to forge the Rath Heart armor.

Nerscylla Armor

Base Nerscylla armor offers you an Insomniac perk, which grants sleep resistance; Inflict Rate Up, which boosts your status infliction like poison, paralysis, or sleep on attacks; and Anti 1-Hit KO, granting you a chance to survive lethal hits at 1 HP. The upgraded Nerscylla Uadds Panacea for healing, evasion, and critical damage.

1. You must defeat the Nerscylla monster at least once, which can be found at Sunpetal Plains or Blightstone Woods.
2. Nerscylla inflicts Sleep and other status effects, so bring status cures and awaken effects.
3. This monster is weak to Fire and Thunder elements, so use monsties like Rathalos for Fire or Zinogre for Thunder.

Ranger Armor

Here’s the best starter armor, which doesn’t require any unlocking, as it’s available by default. It has the Den Protector skill, which increases the chance of monsters retreating, and that’s super useful for egg farming in dens, increasing your odds without the unnecessary kills.

It also has no elemental weaknesses, making it a safe, neutral choice when exploring new areas or facing unknown monster types. Of course, be sure to upgrade it as soon as you can using the Ludroth materials from the shallow waters in Azuria.

Damascus Armor

If you’re looking for a special armor that requires no monster parts, then Damascus armor would be a great option. This set offers excellent raw defense without elemental weaknesses, making it perfect for feral monster hunting. Here’s how to get it:

1. Travel to the Serathis region and head to the northwest of a feral monster spawn.
2. Cross the bridge to encounter Deviljho blocking the path.
3. Use Flash Bombs for knockdowns and Thunder or Dragon element weapons to defeat the monster.
4. After defeating the Deviljho, find a treasure chest containing the Damascus armor recipe.

Sinister Armor

Lastly, an armor that’ll be a bit harder to get but definitely worth it. This set excels in fast Kinship gauge filling and devastating Kinship attacks, while Fortify turns defense into offense during prolonged fights. It also has HtH Master skill with massive boost to close-range attacks and Blightproof, granting resistance to Hellfire status.

1. This armor unlocks from hunting Magnamalo outside of the main story boss fight.
2. Look out for it in regions like corrupted zones of Dragonreach Mountain, Ashen Pass, and Death’s Maw.
3. Magnamalo is weak to Water and Ice elements, but watch out for its Hellfire explosions.
4. Use Flash Bombs and break its Hellfire orbs to weaken and defeat it.