The best God of War Ragnarok armor sets make for builds based around all forms of offense and defense, using various powers and stats to lean into certain gameplay strategies. Armor in God of War Ragnarok is either found or crafted via the Huldra brothers' shop, though even the latter option can mean having to hunt down or pay for certain rare crafting materials.
Regardless, if you want to play God of War Ragnarok with the best protection possible, we'll cover all the best choices in armor for both early and late game players, from the brutal Berserker set to the stalwart Steinbjorn set, as well as how you can get all this fantastic armor for yourself. Here are the best armor sets in God of War Ragnarok as well as how to get them all.
Best God of War Ragnarok armor sets
These are the best God of War Ragnarok armor sets, depending on build and priorities:
- Best overall/late game armor - Berserker Armor
- Best early-game armor - Nidavellir Armor
- Best mid-game armor - Lunda's Armor
- Best defensive armor - Steinbjorn Armor
- Best offensive armor - Guiding Light Armor
Wondering when the late game will actually be? Check out our answer to the question: How long is God of War Ragnarok?
Armor comes in many forms, and a single set usually has a very particular function and synergy - for example, in the Lunda set, the chest piece grants poison effects to Kratos' unarmed attacks, while the wrist and waist pieces increase damage done to poisoned enemies. Consequently, there's rarely any advantage to mixing up armor from different sets, as they're unlikely to pair as well together as armor specifically from the same set. In fact, armor synergy and the importance of specific builds is so essential we made it part of our God of War Ragnarok tips page.
With that in mind, we'll cover the best armor sets below, with options for each stage in the game and for specific builds, starting with the stand-out winner:
Best God of War Ragnarok armor: Berserker armor set
Perks and powers: The Berserker armor set is arguably the best in the game, as it makes Kratos a general powerhouse with excellent Strength and Defense in particular. In terms of perks, the Berserker set causes Kratos to temporarily gain increased melee damage after using a Relic ability while also taking increased damage. Furthermore, hitting enemies has a low Luck chance to cause a Soul Explosion, and taking damage, blocking, and parrying all have a moderate Luck chance to cause a Soul Explosion. These Soul Explosions are excellent as they deal damage and restore some of the cooldown timer for your currently equipped Relic, allowing you to spam some incredibly powerful abilities much more often.
However, we should say that, while this works for any Relic, the Berserker set is intended to be paired with the Hilt of Skofnung - an obscenely powerful Relic that causes 12 ghost swords to go absolutely wild on whichever enemies are unfortunate enough to be nearby. Although the major downside of the Berserker armor set is that it's available so late in the game. Many of these Berserkers can be a real challenge to fight, so you won't be able to get the armor by defeating them until you're almost fully levelled up already. Hopefully a New Game + mode is added in the future, as this is the ideal armor set for such a challenge, but it also makes many of the God of War Ragnarok Muspelheim Challenges much easier.
How to get it: Getting such a powerful armor set and Relic means you'll need to overcome an incredibly tough challenge. To get the Berserker armor set, you'll need to defeat Berserkers at Berserker Gravestones throughout the Realms. Thankfully you don't need to defeat all of them to get the armor, but you will need to defeat the final one found in King's Grave in Midgard to get the Hilt of Skofnung Relic, which we highly recommend.
Best God of War Ragnarok early-game armor: Nidavellir armor set
Perks and powers: Basically the first optional set you can get, the Dwarven Nidavellir set is designed to prove the value of doing sidequests and favors, and it does that nicely. A vitality and defense-boosting set, the armor chest piece grants health for stun-grabbing enemies, while the wrists and waist reduce the rate at which stun bars drain, making it much easier to enact these health-restoring finisher moves.
Try upgrading the Nidavellir armor set once you get past the God of War Ragnarok mine puzzles
How to get the Nidavellir armor: Unsurprisingly, this armor becomes accessible after getting past the God of War Ragnarok waterwheel block puzzle and Nidavellir in Svartalfheim. Mimir will have some dialogue prompting the start of the "In Service of Asgard" Favor, which has you clear three mining rigs of enemies and then destroy the rigs themselves (marked on the map above). Take the Nidavellir Ore that each rig drops back to the Huldra Brothers, and they can forge it into some shiny new armor for you.
Best God of War Ragnarok mid game armor: Lunda's armor set
Perks and powers: Lunda's armor is pretty great for a few reasons - first of all, you can get it pretty early on, but more importantly, it's a solid option for a multitude of reasons. The chestpiece has a high chance to inflict poison on unarmed attacks, parries and blocks, doing bonus damage and weakening enemy attacks, while the other two pieces increase all damage done to poisoned enemies. Plus the whole set nicely boosts strength and luck, among a few others. This'll even carry you comfortably into the late-game, if you're willing to upgrade it.
How to get Lunda's armor: This armor is a reward for the Lunda's Lost Armor labor, in which three damaged pieces of the armor need to be dug up around the Vanaheim River Delta. You can see the three locations marked on the map above, but we've got a more thorough guide on how to get the God of War Ragnarok Lunda armor that'll show you exactly what you need to do.
Best God of War Ragnarok Defensive armor: Steinbjorn armor set
Perks and powers: Because the Berserker armor is available so late in the game, the Steinbjorn armor acts as a great general-purpose set for the toughest challenges in the late game and final sequences of God of War Ragnarok. It makes for an incredibly resilient build that actually grants more Defense than the UI bar can even show, as well as granting lifesteal and stunning shockwaves when Kratos takes damage - which won't matter much, because your defense is so high. So not only will even the toughest bosses do piddling damage when they hit you, Kratos auto-retaliates and even gets that health back for hitting them, Bloodborne-style.
How to get the Steinbjorn armor: Once you have the Draupnir Spear (a key piece of God of War Ragnarok Special Equipment), head to the Lake of Nine in Midgard and at its Southern edge behind some breakable ice, you'll find the Mystical Heirloom, which can be used to awaken four trolls frozen as statues, in Midgard, Alfheim and Vanaheim. The Slumber Stones they drop can be turned in to any shop to craft this tanky armor. If you're having trouble finding them, check out the God of War Ragnarok Mystical Heirloom and Troll locations here!
While the Steinbjorn armor is ridiculously good, we also found the Raven Tears armor to be great for staying in the fight with decent healing and high Defense. You can collect this armor set from the chests under the Raven Tree in Niflheim, but you must have killed 18 of the 48 God of War Ragnarok Ravens to unlock the chests!
Best God of War Ragnarok offensive armor: Guiding Light armor set
Perks and powers: The Guiding Light armor set is associated with Tyr, and aside from boosting strength, it also puts luck-focused boosters on your attacks. All attacks you do have a moderate chance to boost strength, runic or luck, as well as having a chance to do critical-hit explosions on every attack you make. With fast-hitting combos like those the Blades of Chaos specialize in, you'll be getting these buffs and bursts constantly.
How to get the Guiding Light armor: The Guiding Light armor is, of course, found as part of the Guiding Light Favor in the Lake of Nine, where you find runes and messages left behind by Tyr on his destroyed statue. While not an official reward, right next to each message (marked above) is a buried treasure with one of the three armor pieces in, glinting gold to make sure you don't miss them.
