Discover everything you need to know about the best armors to get early in Ghost of Yotei, including how to obtain it while progressing.
The Armor in Ghost of Yotei offers defensive capabilities to your character while fighting with the enemies in combat. Choosing the best armor can be challenging, as each offers unique perks. Armor of the Undying, Spider Lily Armor, Bounty Master Armor, Crimson Kimono, and Dragonfly Armor are the best armors to equip while progressing in Ghost of Yotei. You can get some very cool-looking armor sets early in Ghost of Yote that add some cool stealth moves to your arsenal, enhance the ranged play style, give you health back, and much more.
Onryo Armor is the solid early game armor, and its perks around “terrifying” enemies and wolf companion synergy are excellent. Choose the armor that suits your playstyle and complements your build. You can also upgrade your armor by using the resources to make it more effective. In this guide, we’ll discuss the best armors in Ghost of Yotei, including how to acquire them while exploring the world.
Best Early Armors in Ghost of Yotei
Below are the best armors you can get early in Ghost of Yotei.
1. Spider Lily Armor
- Enemies have a moderate chance to drop throwable weapons.
- Stagger damage inflicted by melee weapons increases by a moderate amount.
- Staggering an enemy has a moderate chance of dealing moderate Stagger damage to nearby enemies.
Spider Lily armor is named after the beautiful flowers that adorn the unique helmet of this set. As you might expect from the looks, this armor is best suited for open combat. It gives you a general increase to stagger damage and a chance to trigger a shock wave when you break an enemy’s guard that builds stagger on nearby opponents. Unfortunately, the AoE is not that big, and the buildup is not that much. It mostly just looks very cool. But the general increase in stagger damage is quite noticeable, so you’ll break through guards much quicker. The best buff, however, is the one that gives enemies a chance to drop a throwable weapon on a kill.
While there are other ways to trigger this, like a disarming strike with the spider lily set equipped. Any enemy you take out has a chance to leave their weapon behind. Throwable weapons are quick, often deal enough damage to take out a target instantly, and they cannot be blocked. It is a chance to drop, so your results will vary, but with a bit of luck on your side, this armor is absolutely amazing.
How to Get Spider Lily Armor
The quest you need to complete to get it is accessible in the first region of the map. Go to the mysterious gate to encounter the storyteller, Ugettsu, who will start the mythic tale that rewards the armor. You enter the grounds of a haunted estate and have to look for four keys here. They’re easy enough to find. The locks actually give you hints for where you need to look. However, I found that the labyrinth key can be a bit confusing.
You’ll enter into a maze of bamboo and need to pick the right path to progress, which is marked by a trail of spider lilies. Picking the correct path does not send you further into the maze, however. Instead, it adds a piece of bamboo to the stand in the central area. So, if a new one appears, you’ll know you did it right. Keep following the lilies until the key appears. Once you’ve collected the other three, return to the locked door to continue the quest and earn the armor.
2. Bounty Master Armor
- Perfect Parry and Perfect Dodge windows are increased by a major amount, but regular Parries are disabled.
You also want to pick up some early bounties, not only because they give you a nice amount of multi-span, but also to unlock the Bounty Master Armor. This is basically a reworked version of the Sarugami armor from Iki Island. This means it disables your ability to perform regular parries. However, it greatly increases the window for perfect parries and dodges. It also allows for additional follow-up attacks. These attacks bypass an enemy’s defenses and can also be directed to other nearby targets, but the combo will stop if no other combatants are in range.
While disabling regular parries makes the bounty master a bit of a risky armor to wear, do remember that you can still block. It’s only your regular parries that are disabled. That also means you want to pay special attention to attacks marked by a blue-gray glint, as these can only be countered by a parry. So, your timing needs to be on point for those.
Finally, this armor also grants you a big buff to spirit gain, so you’ll be able to heal yourself more often if you do get hit. While a regular assassination nets you just about half of a spirit orb, wearing this armor set pushes it to almost a full orb. So, a powerful boost for sure.
How to Get Bounty Master Armor
To get Bounty Master Armor, you simply need to accept and complete some bounties from the Bounty Board. You can immediately fast travel by selecting the Yotei’s Shadow Inn on the map. After completing multiple bounties, Kojiro will mention a special target that he wants you to take down, saying you’ll get to keep their armor if you do.
Once you have it, follow the quest to the end. If you get stuck on the cave door, just whip out your Shamasan and play the special song that appears. Other than that, this mission is very straightforward and gets you an amazing armor set in the end.
3. Crimson Kimono Armor
- Chain Assassinations can be performed with Kunai (max 2 Kunai thrown).
- Enemy detection is reduced by a massive amount.
- Kusarigama Assassinations can be unleashed from further away. The distance is increased by a major amount.
If you’re looking for something stealthy playstyle, then there’s really no better armor than the Crimson Kimono. One of the perks of this armor reduces enemy detection by a massive amount. This means that it is much harder for them to spot you. But the other two perks on it are even better and make you a true stealth killing machine. Wearing this armor significantly increases the distance at which you can perform the ranged Kusarigama Assassinations. This is a separate skill for the Kusarigama that you need to unlock first. You can see the max range with the armor on.
It gets even better as this kimono also allows you to chain assassinate targets with a kunai. These kunai assassinations are added on top of your regular chain, meaning you can potentially down five targets with a single streak. Do keep in mind that you actually need kunai ammo to use this perk, as well as have the Chain Assassination skill unlocked from the tree. Also, good to know is that the Kusarigama Assassination cannot chain into anything else. So if you want to trigger a chain, you have to get in close to your first target. These all make you a much deadlier assassin, and it’s not even that hard to get this armor.
How to Get Crimson Kimono Armor
The biggest hurdle is that you need access to Dashio Ridge, the region of the map where the Kitsune hides. But you can already do that early in the story by going over here on the map. Then simply head to the Sakura Forest to find Ugetsu with another tail over here in this spot. Then, you’ll need to find snow sculptures. Then follow swarms of bugs to important locations. However, the guiding winds will lead you close to your target anyway, so it’s pretty easy to figure it out. Upon completion of the tail, you are rewarded with the Crimson Kimono.
4. Armor of Undying
- If the weapon is aligned, Staggering enemies restores a major amount of Health.
The Armor of the Undying is the best in the game to help with survivability. The whole deal of this armor is that you can trigger various buffs if you align your weapons. Use the right weapon to counter the one your opponent is holding. So, katana versus katana, jewel blades versus spears, and so on. If you then stagger an enemy with this armor on, you will restore some health. While it is certainly not as strong as using spirit to heal, you can trigger this effect rather quickly and very often if you keep switching your weapons up.
To make the most out of this armor, you obviously want to have all weapons available. So, make sure to go after the weapon sensei quests as soon as they pop up. The second buff on the armor is also pretty good, increasing the window to perform perfect parries and dodges when your weapons are aligned. The final perk gives focus attacks a chance to inflict extra stagger damage.
In case you’re confused, focus attacks are your charged heavy attacks and any follow-up combos tied to these. However, this effect unfortunately does not seem to trigger very often. Still, the other two perks on this armor more than make up for it. This is the great get that you can already grab very early.
How to Get the Armor of Undying
Your first step to unlocking the armor of the undying is reaching the Ishikari plane. So, the region of the map where Odin resides. Then you need to meet up with Bugatu once again. You can find him in the southwest of White Deer Woodlands. After his story, you are tasked with collecting four windchimes to continue the quest.
While it might seem obvious, you really want to make sure you pick up the chime hanging from the tree close by. Once you have a chime, you can use the guiding winds to help guide you towards the next one. Other than that, simply turn until the chime starts ringing. You can also see the cloth underneath start to swirl in the wind and then follow it to collect the other chimes and complete the quest.
5. Dragonfly Armor
- Fully drawing your bow creates a brief, timed glint. Firing an arrow during the glint empowers your shot, majorly increasing its damage and range.
- Firing an empowered Arrow grants a moderate amount of Concentration.
- Increase Arrow reload speed by a major amount.
Ghost of Yotei offers another amazing-looking armor set called the dragonfly armor that you can grab early. It grants some amazing buffs to the bow. So, if you enjoy a ranged play style, this is the one for you. With the Dragonfly armor equipped, your arrows will show a blue glint once you fully draw the bow string. Firing an arrow while the glint is visible grants an increase to both damage and range. This means that there’s less drop off and it’s easier to hit your targets.
The damage increase is mostly nice for the short bow, as the long bow kills most things in one shot anyway. The glint is kind of hard to notice with how far the camera zooms in, but with the short bow, you can see it basically doubles the damage.
Firing empowered arrows also restores some concentration. This helps you both restore the ability quickly if it is on cooldown and prolong the ability while it is active, as long as you keep hitting the correct timing. Finally, the armor increases your arrow reload speed, which is noticeable, but it’s not a massive upgrade. You can draw your arrows fully to trigger the other two perks anyway, so you won’t be firing that fast regardless. These empowered arrows make your bows even stronger, so very much worth it to go out of your way and grab the armor.
How to Get Dragonfly Armor
This one starts in the Tekkashi range, which you visit later on for the story, but it is immediately accessible. So, you can go grab the dragonfly armor early by heading to the Karen Forks over here on the map. You’ll overhear some people talking, so join in on the conversation to start the quest. Simply follow the quest directions to grab the Dragonfly armor set.
