When to drop Defender?

[Vedo]

So i have been using the defender equipment since the beginning and now i just got done killing Odogaron. My question is when is the time to actually start making armor? The Defender set you get with Iceborn is Defense 50 but you cant upgrade it. The best craftable armor i have atm is Rarity 4 which kicks off at Defense 30 but its upgradeable.
I dont quite understand how the upgrade system works because at the start i did try to upgrade bone armor but it only went up to level 4 before it says that it was maxed. The wiki says that bone set max level is 19 sooo... idk.

Basically would i be able to surpass the defender set stats with lets say the Odogaron set if i upgrade it?

[Seamus]

You're better off throwing away the defender armor and never looking back.

It's a poorly implemented crutch that should come with a giant warning label when you choose it at character creation.

Each upgrade on a piece of gear increases the defense by 2. Upgrade ranks are unlocked gradually as you progress through the story, so it's kinda hard to say what your current max def on the armor would be.

[Suzaku]

As you get further in the game, higher upgrade levels unlock, and even more unlock at the end-game with augmenting. I guess you can just keep playing until the base defense new armor gives you is equal or greater than the defender armor, and just work your way up from there.

[Vedo]

Originally posted by Seamus:

You're better off throwing away the defender armor and never looking back.

It's a poorly implemented crutch that should come with a giant warning label when you choose it at character creation.

Each upgrade on a piece of gear increases the defense by 2. Upgrade ranks are unlocked gradually as you progress through the story, so it's kinda hard to say what your current max def on the armor would be.

Originally posted by Suzaku:

As you get further in the game, higher upgrade levels unlock, and even more unlock at the end-game with augmenting. I guess you can just keep playing until the base defense new armor gives you is equal or greater than the defender armor, and just work your way up from there.

I might get the Odogaron set just because it looks nice even if it wouldnt be as good stat wise, defender armor is good but it looks like garbage compared to most of the craftable ones and im kind of tired of looking at it lol.
Hopefully i wont end up nerfing myself too much though.

[Nerevar]

once you hit master rank defender stuff is outclassed greatly basically instantly. highend high rank armors are also better. but you need to reach hr 16 in order to access alot of these. which means : beat the story of the maingame. once you did that you can also access master rank.

defender weapons shouldnt be used if you want the true experience tough. they are flat out better than anything you can make till about master rank 2 star quests. then they are outclassed.

[Thighs & Glasses]

go for it once you're in high rank, Vedi. That odogaron set has some nice utility skills I think you'll appreciate. And once you unlock it, try and nab yourself some Teostra armor. Once you hit Master Rank, though...hmm...try making something like from this video
https://youtu.be/uZkFEUH_0h4

Armor is a whole lot more than just a defense start, and actually a tremendous part of your offensive and utility kits. The defender armor is just there so that players can rush to Iceborne content with a sturdy and simple armor set.

[KitsuNoshi]

You can use the defender armor until you reach master rank. At first the defender armor may looks good with it's stats but the thing with monster hunter is that your armor gives you perks and the defender armor only has defensive perks. So the defender armor is good for learning the game without beieng punished for beeing bad. However the real game starts once you make yourself a build out of those different armor sets and later decoration. Read the perk discription to learn about the benefits about the different armor pieces, or It's never a bad thing if you make armor because you like the looks of it.

[mewlynx]

The time is now

[Dagný]

The defender set is the worst idea I've ever seen in a game.

[It me]

So I did the same thing, without realising what the purpose of the Defender armour actually was. I'm not sure where you are up to now, but I ditched the armour around 4 missions later. It feels like you're dropping an iron shield for a paper page in terms of defense, but honestly, once you see how much damage you take, you'll start to really study the monsters.
For me, I literally went out on expeditions, agro'd a monster and just dodged their attacks while studying their movesets.
Oh and yeah, defender armour design is such a bore