Useless armor?

[Knusperwichtel]

I never understood that you get later in the game armor which is inferior then your actual armor. For example the Vespoid armor has 4 defense but Lala Barina 8. So why even bothering crafting this armor? I had the same experience in Monster Hunter Stories 2 where can craft armor or weapons with weaker stats.

[Dray]

The main point of sets that are considered "worse" are either useful skills or set bonuses The Vespoid set in particular increases the honey you get from gathering with the set bonus.

[Xenix]

It's not just about the stats, the skills associated with the armor matters too.

Some armor provide skills that are useful in certain situation so you would wear that armor in that situation.

There are armors for gathering as well, so you would craft those with Botanist Skills or Geologist skills to gather more materials and save time there.

[Jaasrg]

Fashion.

[BEEP!]

It's skills and fashion not everything is about armor because what good is armor if you don't get hit in the first place while your skill will always be there helping you along the entire way even when not getting hit.

[丸山汽修厂]

Sometimes those skills are more important. Although too less defense is critical in some time, having your favorite skills are usually more helpful.

[Bug Enthusiast]

As people said before, it's for the skills. Otherwise, you can keep older armor for fashion. Once you get to high rank, crafting the armor also unlocks it to be used as layered armor.

[Big_E']

it's called progression also lol

[Rena Ichigawa]

Armor can also be upgraded with armor spheres that can make all armors the same level of defese. Its literally just preference what skills, and set bonuses you want.

[Knusperwichtel]

Thanks pals!

[Rawrsty]

im using ray dau set on lower tier cause it has the best crit boosts. its overall the best set yet for dmg i think. i lose 150 armor cause i dont use higher tier set. Im just waiting for ray dau 6 Star. Its ugly so i go for beta set.

[SirusTheMadDJ]

What are Skills?

Oh, sorry, this isn't Jeopardy. So, as well as a flat defence and elemental resistances, each armour set also comes with it's own list of Skills.

Before it was altered, this also used to be pluses AND negatives, but ultimately you always had the choices to use decorations to increase what the armour has on it, or add and work around those skills in order to complete your build. So, Free Eating, Wide Range and other options to boost healing items turn you into a Healer for the group, for instance. Or adding Draw speed and crit boosts for a Greatsword build, where you should be sheathing the weapon when you're not attacking to increase your mobility.

It's very mush downplayed from what I've seen in Wilds, which is disappointing from a build crafting point of view, but it's "ok" from a casual's perspective. I also think splitting weapon and armour skills is just because of the ability to hot swap weapons on the fly, and you can just run two different versions of the same weapon if you need to (Like hunting horns with different song lists, or bowguns with different mags and so on), but it's still a bit of a step back, and one of the more valid points to make.

One thing to mention. Previously, you needed to craft a different set for Layered armour. ANY high rank set you make, you can set as what you're visually wearing. Like me knicking one of the bug glasses for instance.

[Emerald Lance]

People are saying that you might sometimes craft a worse piece of armor for the skills. I'll do you one better and double down on that sentiment: skills are the ONLY thing that matters. The order of importance in armor crafting is

skills > deco slots > elemental defense > defense

The defense number is next to meaningless, and it can be pushed higher with armor spheres anyway. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that lower defense armor is worse, since the defense number is the least important thing about the armor anyway. At least once you get to high rank, anyway.

[Mr2Thumbs]

Originally posted by Emerald Lance:

People are saying that you might sometimes craft a worse piece of armor for the skills. I'll do you one better and double down on that sentiment: skills are the ONLY thing that matters. The order of importance in armor crafting is

skills > deco slots > elemental defense > defense

The defense number is next to meaningless, and it can be pushed higher with armor spheres anyway. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that lower defense armor is worse, since the defense number is the least important thing about the armor anyway. At least once you get to high rank, anyway.

Nah, it goes FASHION > skills > deco slots > elemental defense > defense.

[SirusTheMadDJ]

Originally posted by Emerald Lance:

I'll do you one better and double down on that sentiment: skills are the ONLY thing that matters.

Don't tell them they can use food buffs for extra defences and resistances instead if they don't have the orbs to use. That's our secret

[Rastan100]

I'd say the vespid helm and chest are better than some of the higher armor pieces for low tier due to the item bonuses esp for certain weapons. It seems to be subtle but builds are certainly there and make some difference. They definitely want you to run the side content to get the mats for the better single bonuses. Take a look again. Might find some interesting builds.