As a beginner, it can be difficult to choose armor if you don’t know what to look for among the many options available. For this list, we’ve focused on increasing damage while providing defense. The old saying “A good offense is the best defense” is basically the motto for Monster Hunter since higher damage means less time for the monster to hurt you. These armor pieces will help most people lay down the hurt on monsters regardless of your weapon of choice!

5. Alloy Vambraces Arm Armor (Best for increasing affinity)

Monster Hunter Rise ALL ARMOR! Low Rank & High Rank Armor Look and Skills for MH Rise

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There is no reason why you shouldn’t craft these vambraces early on in Monster Hunter Rise. They have decent defense and almost non-existent negative resistances with good armor skills to boot. You can easily get all the ore you need for crafting early on - even in village quests!

• Very easy to craft with simple gathering node materials
• The negative resistances are too small to worry about early game
• Boost the defense by using armor spheres if you are worried about defense still
• Early game Ore armor
• 10 initial defense, -1 Fire, Thunder, and Ice resistances
• Natural Critical Eye level 1 to increase affinity

4. Izuchi Coil Waist Armor (Best for general damage increases)

Monster Hunter Rise ALL ARMOR! Low Rank & High Rank Armor Look and Skills for MH Rise

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Of course, most of the early game armor isn’t great because the game wants you to get excited about the later options - but the Izuchi armor hits different. Three of the five armor pieces provide the Critical Eye armor skill, which is essential even at high levels of gameplay later on.

• Simple crafting materials required are easy to obtain when fighting Great Izuchi
• Extra Fire resistance is good since it’s the most common elemental damage coming from monsters
• Pair with other armor pieces on this list for extra damage early on
• Early game Great Izuchi armor
• 10 initial defense, +2 Fire, -1 Water, and -2 Thunder resistances
• Affinity boosting level 1 Critical Eye armor skill

3. Izuchi Helm Head Armor (Best for maximizing critical hit rate)

Monster Hunter Rise ALL ARMOR! Low Rank & High Rank Armor Look and Skills for MH Rise

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The Izuchi Helm is another Izuchi armor piece that makes the whole set stand out from the crowd of Low-Rank armor. Sometimes there are better options but the vast majority of players will benefit from the stats and Critical Eye skill of this helmet.

• Required crafting materials can often be gathered in a single quest hunting Great Izuchi
• Thunder weakness is not a downside since you should be upgrading your armor once you start encountering Thunder element monsters anyway
• Boosting affinity means more critical hits which means dead monsters faster
• Early game Great Izuchi armor
• 10 initial defense, +2 Fire, -1 Water, and -2 Thunder resistances
• Combine with other similar armor pieces to make the most of the Critical Eye level 1 armor skill

2. Izuchi Mail Chest Armor (Best mix of comfort and damage)

Monster Hunter Rise ALL ARMOR! Low Rank & High Rank Armor Look and Skills for MH Rise

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This is the best of the Izuchi armor pieces to craft because it gives you something a little extra - Recovery Speed. This means you’ll heal back the red portion of your health bar after getting hit faster than normal. You’ll use fewer healing items that you may need later in the game, and you’ll be able to focus on the fun of fighting the monster!

• Easy to craft with materials likely obtained in a single Great Izuchi hunt
• Boosting your damage with Critical Eye will make the game easier early on
• Having a little bit of extra Recovery Speed means you don’t have to heal as often
• Early game Great Izuchi armor
• 10 initial defense, +2 Fire, -1 Water, and -2 Thunder resistances
• Critical Eye and Recovery Speed level 1 for some damage and some comfort

1. Ingot Greaves Leg Armor (Best for raw damage)

Monster Hunter Rise ALL ARMOR! Low Rank & High Rank Armor Look and Skills for MH Rise

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Arguably the best Low-Rank armor piece in the existence of Monster Hunter Rise. This provides good defense without crazy elemental weaknesses and some of the best straight damage-boosting skills out there. You may need to change up your other armor pieces to fit your weapon playstyle better but this is a must-have armor piece.

• The hardest material to get to craft this armor is still relatively easy to gather
• Mostly neutral elemental resistances make this a good armor piece going further into the game
• Not only are you increasing your affinity with this armor, but you are also getting a raw damage boost as well
• Early Game Ore armor
• 18 initial defense, -1 in Fire and Water, +1 Thunder resistances
• Critical Eye and Attack Boost level 1 give a great boost to damage early on

You may also be interested in:

• Monster Hunter Rise Best Beginner Armor Pieces (And How To Get Them)
• Monster Hunter Rise Best Beginner Weapons (And How To Get Them)
• Monster Hunter Rise Best Longswords (And How To Get Them)
• Monster Hunter Rise Best Armor for Early, Middle, and Late Game
• Monster Hunter Rise Best Weapons for Early, Middle, and Late Game