Long Sword Armor Sets
The long sword’s long reach and wide swings make it an excellent choice for landing hits on monster weak points. Skills that increase affinity and attack power, especially weakness exploit, are the best skills to focus on. Maintaining your spirit gauge charge should be your next priority as you come up against tougher monsters in high rank quests. This can be achieved with skills like focus and power prolonger.
Recommended Skills
| Skill | Effect |
|---|---|
| Weakness Exploit | Increases affinity when attacking monster weak points. |
| Maximum Might | Increases affinity when attacking at full stamina. Works well with long swords that do not expend stamina when attacking. |
| Agitator | Increases affinity when a monster is enraged. |
| Handicraft | Increases weapon sharpness for more damage. |
| Critical Boost | Increases critical hit damage. Synergizes well with weakness, exploit, maximum might, and critical eye skills. |
| Focus | Increases spirit gauge accumulation for the long sword. |
Rarity 3
| Equipment | Skill | Decorations | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Head | Bone Helm | Health Boost (Level 1) | – |
| Chest | Bone Mail | Attack Boost (Level 1) | – |
| Arms | Kadachi Vambraces | Evade Extender (Level 1) | – |
| Waist | Jagras Coil | Fortify (Level 1) | – |
| Legs | Alloy Greaves | Speed Sharpening (Level 1) | – |
Activated Skills
| Skills | ||
|---|---|---|
| Attack Boost (Level 1) | Health Boost (Level 1) | Fortify (Level 1) |
| Evade Extender (Level 1) | Speed Sharpening (Level 1) | |
Basic equipment set that offers good survivability for the early game. Fortify is a good skill to have as it increases attack power and defense each time you faint.
Rarity 5
| Equipment | Skill | Decorations | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Head | Rathian Helm | Health Boost (Level 1) | – |
| Chest | Rathalos Mail | Weakness Exploit (Level 1) | – |
| Arms | Ingot Vambraces | Health Boost (Level 1) | – |
| Waist | Odogaron Coil | Critical Eye (Level 1) | – |
| Legs | Rathian Greaves | Recovery Up (Level 1) | – |
Activated Skills
| Skills | ||
|---|---|---|
| Health Boost (Level 2) | Weakness Exploit (Level 1) | Critical Eye (Level 1) |
| Recovery Up (Level 1) | ||
A decent upgrade from the previous armor set in terms of staying alive. Critical eye and weakness exploit also offer a modest increase in critical hit rate for better damage potential.
Rarity 7
| Equipment | Skill | Decorations | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Head | Rathalos Helm β | Attack Boost (Level 2) | Health Jewel (1) |
| Chest | Rathalos Mail β | Weakness Exploit (Level 2) | Protection Jewel (1) |
| Arms | Ingot Vambraces β | Health Boost (Level 2) | Protection Jewel (1) |
| Waist | Odogaron Coil β | Critical Eye (Level 2) | Protection Jewel (1) |
| Legs | Rathalos Greaves α | Jump Master, Weakness Exploit (Level 1) | – |
| Charm | Attack Charm II | Attack Boost (Level 2) | – |
Activated Skills
| Skills | ||
|---|---|---|
| Attack Boost (Level 4) | Weakness Exploit (Level 3) | Health Boost (Level 3) |
| Divine Protection (Level 3) | Critical Eye (Level 2) | Jump Master |
A set that strikes a good balance between attack and defense. Incoming damage is mitigated by divine protection while health boost improves overall survivability. Offense has not been overlooked, with critical eye and attack boost increasing damage dealt, especially on monster weak points.
Rarity 8
| Equipment | Skill | Decorations | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Head | Nergigante Helm α | Maximum Might (Level 2), Attack Boost (Level 1) | Attack Jewel (1) |
| Chest | Kushala Cista β | Handicraft (Level 2) | Health Jewel (1) |
| Arms | Kaiser Vambraces α | Weakness Exploit (Level 2) | Health Jewel (1) |
| Waist | Nergigante Coil β | Attack Boost (Level 2) | Health Jewel (1) |
| Legs | Nergigante Greaves α | Maximum Might (Level 1) | Exploiter Jewel (2) |
| Charm | Attack Charm III | Attack Boost (Level 3) | – |
Activated Skills
| Skills | ||
|---|---|---|
| Attack Boost (Level 7) | Weakness Exploit (Level 3) | Maximum Might (Level 3) |
| Health Boost (Level 3) | Handicraft (Level 2) | Nergigante Hunter (Set Bonus) |
Armor set consisting of pieces made from materials from three different elder dragons. Mostly focuses on attack skills such as weakness exploit, maximum might, and attack boost with three Nergigante armor pieces. Landing hits on monsters lets you absorb health to minimize the use of healing items in battle.
End Game
| Equipment | Skill | Decorations | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Tarroth Fire Sword | Elementless Jewel (2) | |
| Head | Gala Suit Top Hat α | Critical Boost (Level 1) | Exploiter Jewel (1), Health Boost (1), Health Boost (1) |
| Chest | Drachen Mail α | Critical Eye (Level 2), Critical Boost (Level 1) | Attack Jewel (1) |
| Arms | Drachen Vambraces α | Critical Eye (Level 2), Attack Boost (Level 2) | Exploiter Jewel (2), Exploiter Jewel (2) |
| Waist | Drachen Coil α | Critical Eye (Level 2), Power Prolonger (Level 1) | Critical Eye Jewel (1) |
| Legs | Drachen Greaves α | Attack Boost (Level 2), Critical Boost (Level 1) | Enhancer Jewel (2) |
| Charm | Attack Charm III | Handicraft (Level 3) |
Activated Skills
| Skills | ||
|---|---|---|
| Attack Boost (Level 7) | Critical Eye (Level 7) | Health Boost (Level 3) |
| Critical Boost (Level 3) | Weakness Exploit (Level 2) | Power Prolonger (Level 2) |
| Non-elemental Boost | Soul of the Dragoon (Set Bonus) | |
The entire Drachen armor set α minus the headgear. This prioritizes attack power while also able to maintain the spirit gauge’s charge for longer periods with power prolonger. Handicraft extends weapon sharpness. The skill synergizes well with the Drachen armor set bonus to reduce the time it takes for your weapon to dull.
“Iceborne” But your armor recommendations never even touch rarity 9 and over. Have you ever played?