There are no images in this guide so you can view it easily while in-game.

The purpose of this guide is to help you get some better armor sets than the starting one, right from the beginning, with useful skills and for dirt cheap. The minute you gain access to high rank materials, you'll be able to do the same. Gathering sets are included as well, but they may take a bit more farming to obtain.

Decorations are not discussed at length; this is for quick and dirty armor sets to help you progress. Decorations are a real pain in the butt to farm, so I won't consider them much in this guide, as you can't put a price on time spent.

Hopefully you pre-ordered the game and got the Fair Wind charm, because it's simply the best charm you'll have for a very long time.

Hunting in low rank should not be too difficult for you. Therefore, I see no reason in using any large monster materials to create a good starting armor set. If you're halfway decent at not getting hit, this set will carry you all the way to high rank. And remember, you can always upgrade each piece a bit with armor spheres.

Any weapon will do fine, just use a blademaster type if you want to get the full benefit of the skills (i.e. speed sharpening). All the parts are easily obtainable if you've spent maybe half an hour in the Ancient Forest.


Cost: 1600z

Note: Once you unlock charms (find the Third Fleet's research base), you can use an Attack I charm to get Attack Boost 2, which gives attack +6.


Note: With the Fair Wind charm, you will have Attack Boost 2 (attack +6) and Divine Blessing 1, which sometimes reduces the amount of damage taken. Also, the Entomologist 1 skill on the Bone Greaves can help farm Vespoids.

Gathering in low rank is essential to progression. You'll want to stock up on all sorts of materials because later on, you'll be needing a lot of them. Gathering in expeditions is also a great way to increase your research level on monsters by picking up their tracks. This set is cheap and provides some skills that give you a better gathering experience. All materials needed to craft the armor is easily obtained in the Ancient Forest.

Note: The next section of this guide contains a slightly improved low rank gathering set if you're a bit past the start of the game. You can make this set first, then move into the better one as you progress.

Any weapon will do fine. You're not expected to hunt much when gathering.


Cost: 1300z

Note: The chest and arms are placeholders until you gain access to more monsters. Look at the next section of this guide for the better gathering set.


Note: With the Fair Wind charm, you will have Attack Boost 2 (attack +6) and Divine Blessing 1, which sometimes reduces the amount of damage taken. Also, the Entomologist 1 skill on the Bone Greaves can help farm Vespoids.

This set is an improved version of the previous. Requires access to Kulu-Ya-Ku, Pukei-Pukei, Rathian, some arena quests and the Third Fleet's research base.

Any weapon will do fine. You're not expected to hunt much when gathering.


Cost: 6700z

Note: The Brigade Coil crafting ingredients can be obtained from Arena quests accepted in the gathering hub. Also, you can replace the Pukei Greaves with Vespoid Greaves or King Beetle/Butterfly legs depending on your gathering preferences. The Entomologist 1 skill on the Bone Greaves can help farm Vespoids.

Skills

Skill

Description

Master Gatherer

Gather items faster and you can't get knocked back

Botanist 3

One extra consumable herb, fruit, nut or seed, or insect item per gather

Pro Transporter

Faster movement speed when transporting an item (like an egg) and reduced downtime on landings

Geologist 1

One extra bonepile gather

Note: With the Fair Wind charm, you will have Attack Boost 1 (attack +3) and Divine Blessing 1, which sometimes reduces the amount of damage taken.

This set carried me through Nergigante and all the elder dragons. Play smart and you'll be fine. I'm not a gunner, so I won't give any advice on armor pieces for those weapons. Replace as you see fit.

I used the ore tree hammer through the entire game, making sure to upgrade it all the time. However, I was extremely cheap, so you could probably go for a weapon with elemental damage if you're willing to blow some cash.


Cost: 21500z

Note: You can replace the Alloy Greaves α with Alloy Greaves β for the gem slot, on which you can put an Attack Jewel 1, which I'm pretty sure is a guaranteed drop somewhere along the storyline. Also, if you don't want the wasted Slugger 1 skill on the Bone Vambraces, the Kestodon Vambraces α apply Affinity Sliding and Focus 1, which is useful for CB, LS, GS, etc.


Note: With the Fair Wind charm, you will have Attack Boost 4 (attack +12, affinity + 5%) and Divine Blessing 1, which sometimes reduces the amount of damage taken. Otherwise, make sure to spend some money on upgrading the Attack Charm! You can get it to level three (bringing your total to Attack Boost 6) pretty easily.

High rank opens up a lot of skill possibilities, so you can attain a pretty killer gathering set very quickly.

Note: The next section contains the best high rank gathering set.

As before, any weapon will do.


Cost: 26500z

Note: Remember, you can use some low rank pieces if you're really cheap. Otherwise, you'll have to farm some high rank monsters to get the sacs needed for the King Beetle/Butterfly armors. Also, the Entomologist 2 skill on the Bone Greaves α can help farm for monster broths.

This is one of the better gathering sets you can attain.

As before, any weapon will do.


Cost: 32500z


The Gatherer's Charm is also a great option. It allows you to replace the helmet with whatever you wish.

I hope you got something out of this. Please let me know if the guide is missing anything important, any information is incorrect or grammatical errors exist.

Happy hunting,
Psychobagger

08/15/2018 - Published guide
08/17/2018 - Edited guide intro
08/18/2018 - Edited HR Gathering Set+
08/20/2018 - Edited preface