what is guardian armour?

[DeadJericho]

just started playing and ive got leather, chainmail and guardian (with a little symbol next to it) armour choices

game recommends guardian armour

is that the recommended armour for new players?

[Zarod]

If you want to speedrun the game a bit faster use it

It upgrades as you complete milestone, so it is NOT at full MR power from the start

You'll be grinding the same exact monsters later anyway for all eternity ... wo you mught as well use it and " maybe " experience the story a little bit faster, so it makes more sense, and you don't forget the chatacters

[Soribus]

guardian armor is stronger than every other armor until lategame.
it was made to cheat through the story to proceed faster to endgame.
Feel free to ignore all guardian equipment if you are new to the game.

[DeadJericho]

i guess it makes sense that established players would want to get to endgame/iceborne content quicker

i can switch armour at any time right? im not locked in?

[Zarod]

Originally posted by DeadJericho:

i guess it makes sense that established players would want to get to endgame/iceborne content quicker

i can switch armour at any time right? im not locked in?

yes, while you prpgress you can easily just go for an armor piece and upgrade it quickly if you like its skills ... i remember the tigrex belt being awesome, kr anjanath parts for slugger

[Soribus]

Originally posted by DeadJericho:

i guess it makes sense that established players would want to get to endgame/iceborne content quicker

i can switch armour at any time right? im not locked in?

You can equip every armor and every weapon in the game. There is no restriction.

[N.GinWorks]

Originally posted by DeadJericho:

i guess it makes sense that established players would want to get to endgame/iceborne content quicker

i can switch armour at any time right? im not locked in?

Yes you can.

To be honest I'm not sure why that armor exist to help people speedrun to DLC when the game did offered option to actually skip to Iceborne DLC right from the start when making new saves (citation needed). Why bother speedrun the game when there's a skip button, don't you think?

[DeadJericho]

ive got the iceborne dlc but i did not see any option to skip to it
unless you have to talk to a specific npc or something

[Tanktyr]

Cant skip to it, have to do world first

[Farrel]

Originally posted by DeadJericho:

ive got the iceborne dlc but i did not see any option to skip to it
unless you have to talk to a specific npc or something

You can't skip to it exactly, but guardian / defender stuff will help you get there much more quickly if that's what you're after. You're right in your previous assessment in that it's intended for folks to catch up more quickly if that's what they want.

If you're new to monster hunter in general, I'd recommend avoiding it for a first play through.

If you're a returning player and just want to get to master rank quickly? (and are confident you'll be able to survive there?) Go for it.

Of course, just a recommendation ;) Do as you will.

[Dragoth]

The biggest issue you'll have with this armor is that you'll be an unlikable tank for a big chunk of core game.

Once you'll find yourself in need for better one, you will realise that you cannot handle strong monsters because you never bothered about blocking or dodging.

My advice is to not use it at all, unless it's your second character.

[Ironheart]

Guardian armour and weapons are there primarily to speed your progression along so you can reach Ice-borne in relatively decent time instead of slogging through hours of hunts/investigations for parts and materials.

The Problem that arises is what it does to new players all they see is super op end game armour available(its barely considered high rank gear the struggle starts with the elder dragons). As a result the gear causes a very large gap in the learning experience on handling monsters, stamina management, boost usage, weapon tricks, abilities, when or how to dodge, when to use the clutch claw or even basic evasion and then we get into armour bonus affects.
The weapons utilise blast affliction which has only 2 monsters immune to it as of 2025 AFAIK. Because they are so cheap to craft though you can use them to settle your weapon preferences. Then discard them for weapons tailored to the beast you have chosen to hunt.