5. Banuk Sickness Eater Heavy

Now, this armour is by no means the most powerful, but you’ll find it indispensable during your playthrough due to its resistance to Corruption. It’s not hard to find, tradeable with merchants for just 760 shards and 1 grazer heart (finally an excuse to raid the small butcher’s shop you’re carrying about). Light & medium options are available, but the Heavy outfit comes with extra mod slots (2 instead of 1) and a 50 Resist Corruption stat. I found myself wearing it for the majority of my story playthrough.

Stats:

• +50 Resist Corruption
• 2 mod slots

Good for:

• Corruptors
• Corrupted zones

4. Nora Silent Hunter Medium

One of my favourite things about Horizon is how strategy and stealth are essential to the game’s combat. This armour should be the absolute first thing you trade for, for just 200 shards and 1 Watcher Lens, available with all merchants. It comes with 1 mod slot and a 20 boost to Aloy’s stealth, helps you camouflage and reduces sound from your movements. It’s a bargain, and a must-have for new players to the game.

Stats:

+20 Stealth boost

1 mod slot

Good for:

Beginners

3. Oseram Arrow Breaker Heavy

Although mastering stealth will dispatch most of the more common enemies, the late game tanks pack a serious punch. For that reason, a lot of those fights mean holding back and inflicting damage from afar. This armour gives Aloy +30 Resistance to ranged damage, and 2 mod slots, but it’ll cost you - 1,100 shards and 1 Crystal Braiding. You can only get the Crystal Braiding from the larger machines in the game that this armour helps take down, so I hope you’ve got good dodging skills until then…

Stats:

+30 Resist ranged damage

2 mod slots

Good for:

Mid-large machines (Sawtooths, Snapmaws, Broadheads)

2. Shadow Stalwart Heavy

The Shadow Stalwart Light armour is automatically given to Aloy after completing the quest The Terror of the Sun, and is essential to safely navigate Shadow Carja territory. But, as soon as you can, head back to Sunfall and ditch the Light version for the Heavy, by trading 680 shards and 1 Stalker Lens. Doing so nets you 3 mod slots (!!), and immunity from any sonic and blinding effects of machines. Plus, it looks badass.

Stats:

Immunity from sonic effects

Immunity from blinding effects

3 mod slots

Good for:

Endgame

Crafty machines (Stalkers, Longlegs, Glinthawks, Bandits)

1. Shield Weaver

Quite simply the best armour in the game, and quite simply the hardest to obtain. To unlock it, you have to complete the time-consuming Ancient Armory side quest First, make sure you pick up the 5 hidden Power Cells throughout the game. These are then used to unlock the Bunker, a secret location hidden inside the Nora Sacred Lands. Oh, and there’s a puzzle to solve before the door opens too. Still interested? You should be, as this armour grants Aloy complete invulnerability to all damage while the shield is active. Some of the DLC has taken its power down slightly, but it’s still the strongest armour out there, and the only thing you should consider wearing when taking on that Rockbreaker who’s been driving you mad.

Stats:

Temporary invulnerability

No mod slots

Good for:

Everything. Especially the huge monsters (Bellowbacks, Rockbreakers, Thunderjaws)

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