God of War Ragnarök’s best armor (and where to get it)

Kratos’ impressive physique can only weather so much damage

By Diego Nicolás Argüello@diegoarguello66 Updated Nov 23, 2022, 11:01am EST

Kratos gazes longingly into the distaince in Svartalfheim while wearing God of War Ragnarok’s best armor.

Part of God of War Ragnarök guides and walkthroughs

The Ghost of Sparta is in damn decent shape, but there’s only so much his pecs and abs can withstand on their own. Like its predecessor, God of War Ragnarök features a slew of armor that Kratos can wear into combat. It is tough to choose the best; there are, quite frankly, too many options to choose from — Kratos can be a slow-ass fortress, a speedy warrior, or a jack-of-all-trades depending on what you pick.

There’s also another wrinkle to armor in God of War Ragnarök: As we noted in our beginner’s guide, all sets of armor can be leveled up entirely. This stuff is supposed to stick with you for the entire game. It’s up to you to prioritize what you want to max out based on the stats and perks that fit your playstyle.

What follows is a guide to the best armor in God of War Ragnarök, partitioned out by various stages of the game (early, middle, and endgame, with some honorable mentions to boot). Rely on these, and Atreus won’t have to do all the heavy lifting while his father rushes to pick up healthstones around the battlefield every two seconds.

God of War Ragnarök Best Armor Build (Ranks 2 to 4)

The first armor build we recommend for God of War Ragnarök consists of two different sets. The purpose of the combination is to grant Kratos as much healing as often as possible. At the same time, the build also increases the strength, defense, luck, and vitality stats — at the early stage of the game, building a solid foundation that targets the basics of the character is key.

Here are the armor pieces you’ll need, their starting stats, and where to find them:

Kratos wears the Nidavellir’s Finest Plackart as one of Go of War Ragnarok’s best armor sets.

Nidavellir’s Finest Plackart (Chest Armor)

Skill: The “Stunning Restoration” skill grants a health burst (which restores Kratos’ health for a few seconds) whenever you stun grab an enemy with R3.
Starting stats: The armor starts at rank 2 with 10 strength, 10 defense, and 10 vitality points.
How to get: You can get the Nidavellir’s Finest Plackart chest armor from storefronts in Svartalfheim. This is around the time when the armor set is going to become available at the shop. You’ll need Forged Iron and Dwarven Steel to craft and upgrade it later, for which I recommend tackling the “In Service of Asgard” favor, which can be started with the dwarf playing the instrument in the tavern as you’re looking for Durlin.

Kratos wear the Bracers of Raven Tears in a menu showing God of War Ragnarok’s best armor sets.

Bracers of Raven Tears (Wrist Armor)

Skill: The “Healing Efficacy II” skill increases the healing from all sources, whether it’s picking up healthstones, using rage abilities, or relying on an armor perk. You’ll get a 15% increase if you wear one piece of the set (either wrist or waist), and 30% if you wear both.
Starting stats: The armor starts at rank 3 with 19 strength, 10 defense, and 9 luck points.
How to get: You can get the Bracers of Raven Tears wrist armor as a reward for eliminating six of Odin’s Ravens. Once that’s done, head over to Niflheim and open the first chest on the left side of the tree.

Kratos wears the Girdle of Raven Tears in a menu showing off the best God of War Ragnarok armor sets.

Girdle of Raven Tears (Waist Armor)

Skill: The “Healing Efficacy II” skill increases the healing from all sources, whether it’s picking up healthstones, using rage abilities, or relying on an armor perk. You’ll get a 15% increase if you wear one piece of the set (either wrist or waist), and 30% if you wear both.
Starting stats: The armor starts at Rank 3 with 29 defense and 9 luck points.
How to get: You can get the Girdle of Raven Tears waist armor as a reward for eliminating 12 of Odin’s Ravens. Once that’s done, head over to Niflheim and open the second chest on the left side of the tree.

As you can see, combining the Bracers of Raven Tears with the Girdle of Raven Tears is a no-brainer, as we want to aim for that 30% increase to your healing. As for Nidavellir’s Finest Plackart, the boost to vitality is more than welcome in the early stages of the game. Plus, Stun-Grabbing is an action you’ll be doing often against early-game enemies, so the health burst is a great pair.

The chest armor’s skill acts similarly to Doom’s glory kills, in a way, leading you to always stay in movement without having to stop to grab healthstones all the time. But yet again, whenever you do need a pick-me-up from the ground, you’ll have increased healing from it — the same goes with using your rage whenever it’s available.

This armor build should have you covered from rank 2 to at least rank 4 which, depending on where you’re in the main story, should be the stage to start looking for a new set. But in the meantime, focus on upgrading the pieces above when you can.

God of War Ragnarök Best Armor Build (Ranks 4 to 7)

The second armor build we recommend for God of War Ragnarök consists of one full set. Without diving into spoiler territory, it consists of three pieces from a character called Lúnda who are scattered around the River Delta area in Vanaheim. If you wear all three pieces, the build leans heavily on poison — the chest piece has a chance to inflict the ailment with certain actions, while the wrist and waist pieces increase the damage you deal to poisoned enemies. It might take some time to get used to, but the upside is that you’ll also gains tons of stat points that increase your strength, defense, runic, and luck.

Here are the armor pieces you’ll need, their starting stats, and where to find them:

Kratos wears Lunda’s lost cuirass in the best armor menu for God of War Ragnarok.

Lúnda’s Lost Cuirass (Chest Armor)

Skill: The “Vanir Poison” skill makes it so bare-handed attacks, parries, and blocks have a high luck chance to deal bonus damage and poison enemies
Starting stats: The armor starts at rank 5 with 36 strength, 29 defense, 14 runic, and 29 luck points.
How to get: You can get the Lúnda’s Lost Cuirass chest armor from inside a chest Vanaheim. Once you have access to the River Delta area, you’ll eventually stumble upon Nóatún’s Garden. This area is located on the eastern riverside, to the right of the “hub” spot with the Mystic Gateway and the blacksmith shop. As you explore it, look for a door that you can open with your new “key” — there are two troll statues to each side, so it’s hard to miss. The chest is inside that room.

Kratos wears Lunda’s lost bracers in the best armor menu for God of War Ragnarok.

Lúnda’s Lost Bracers (Wrist Armor)

Skill: The “Prey Upon Poison II” skill grants increased damage to melee attacks against poisoned enemies. You’ll get a 20% increase if you wear one piece of the set (either wrist or waist), and 40% if you wear both.
Starting stats: The armor starts at rank 5 with 41 strength, 9 runic, and 18 luck points.
How to get: After you gain access to the River Delta area, you’ll eventually stumble upon The Veiled Passage. If you’re doing the “Freya’s Missing Peace” favor, you can get to The Veiled Passage by turning left as you’re heading towards the shrine on your boat. Once inside, head all the way to the dead end on the opposite side of the cavern, where you’ll see a small chest surrounded by spores. The chest with the armor piece is right next to this spot, inside the broken wall behind the plants.

Kratos wears Lunda’s lost belt in the best armor menu for God of War Ragnarok.

Lúnda’s Lost Belt (Waist Armor)

Skill: The “Prey Upon Poison II” skill grants increased damage to melee attacks against poisoned enemies. You’ll get a 20% increase if you wear one piece of the set (either wrist or waist), and 40% if you wear both.
Starting stats: The armor starts at rank 5 with 41 defense, 9 runic, and 22 luck points.
How to get: After you gain access to the River Delta area, you’ll eventually stumble upon the Cliffside Ruins. Climb to the left side, which leads to the bridge-like pathways, and head inside the broken wall found on the path that leads to the lifted bridge. Watch out for those exploding flowers, but aside from them, just go ahead and grab the armor piece from inside the chest.

Starting with the main downside, the build won’t let you inflict poison with each and every action. It would be unbalanced (and extremely fun) otherwise, so your playstyle will basically dictate how often you might poison foes. But even if you’re not trying to block or parry all the time like I do, I recommend adjusting yourself slightly to at least deal a few punches to enemies.

Once an encounter begins, throw your axe at any enemy and immediately follow up with bare-handed attacks. Doing so, at least in my experience, led to the “Vanir Poison” skill activating much faster. You can strategize around this in different ways, focusing on tougher enemies only or multiple smaller ones instead. Just remember that parrying and blocking also apply to the skill — again, it will all come down to your own playstyle.

Even if you ignore all three actions completely, enemies can still get poisoned by other sources, so the damage bonus will apply regardless. Plus, the stats are quite decent, and you should be covered until around rank 7, which is when you should start looking for a new set to prepare yourself for the late game.

God of War Ragnarök Best Armor Build (Ranks 7 to 9)

If you’re looking for the best armor build to tackle God of War Ragnarök’s endgame, this one focuses on dealing damage. By combining two parts of the Dragon Scaled set with one part of the Berserker set, you’ll give Kratos a buff to strength and defense after each successful block or parry. In essence, you won’t have to parry every time, but it will definitely be beneficial, as all shield damage is increased as well.

Kratos wears the Dragon Scaled Breastplate in the armor menu for God of War Ragnarok.

Dragon Scaled Breastplate (Chest Armor)

Skill: The “Dragon’s Fury” skill makes it so blocks and parries with your shield grant a buff of increasing strength and defense with each stack — up to Dragon’s Fury III. The effect lasts six seconds, so as long as you don’t take damage during that period, you can continue improving the buff’s effect by successfully repeating either action. Of course, the timer resets itself once you do.
Starting stats: The armor starts at rank 6 with 62 strength and 62 defense.
How to get: Once you gain access to the “Scent of Survival” favor (which happens automatically after your second visit to Vanaheim in the main story), completing the side mission is going to lead you to the Crater. Here, you can complete “For Vanaheim,” a side quest a favor that pits against a dragon. Looting its corpse will make it so you can craft the Dragon Scaled set at Brok’s or Sindri’s shop. You should have enough resources from this first fight to craft this armor piece, but in order to upgrade it all the way to rank 9, you’ll have to hunt the other remaining dragons in the area.

Kratos wears the Dragon Scaled Bracers in the armor menu for God of War Ragnarok.

Dragon Scaled Bracers (Wrist Armor)

Skill: The “Dragon’s Rebuke I” skill increases all shield damage. In addition, all successful blocks or parries will now deal shield damage to nearby enemies as well.
Starting stats: The armor starts at rank 6 with 60 strength and 17 defense.
How to get: Same steps as the Dragon Scaled Breastplate.

Kratos wears the Berserker waist guard while standing in the armor menu for God of War Ragnarok.

Berserker Waist Guard (Waist Armor)

Skill: The “Soulless Rebuke” skill makes it so each time you take damage, and either block or parry an attack, there’s a moderate luck chance to cause a Soul Explosion. This not only deals damage, but also restores a bit of cooldown of the relic.
Starting stats: The armor starts at rank 6 with 41 defense, 11 runic, 11 vitality, 11 cooldown, and 11 luck points.
How to get: You’ll get your hands on the Berserker Waist Guard armor piece after completing the Berserker Grave encounter in Midgard, as you follow the “Fit For a King” favor.

The key with this set is to block or parry as many attacks as possible. Doing so once already sets the buff active, but if you’re able to sustain one or two more attacks, the effect will be much better. In practice, it’s likely that you’ll be hitting back after defending yourself once, which is also valid. Just remember that if things fail and you do get hurt, you’ll also have a chance of setting off Soulless Rebuke from the Berserker Waist Guard.

There are a few ways to make the build even better and hit stronger. For the choice of relic, I went with the Talisman of Meign. This activates the “Gift of Strength” skill, which increases melee damage for 10 seconds. There are weapon attachments that also grant this same effect after you stun grab an enemy, such as the Pommels of Brutal Might. Since it’s a different buff, it can coexist with Dragon’s Fury for for an interesting combination.

Now, the biggest downside of the build is it doesn’t do much for Kratos’ vitality. In order to mitigate this and ensure that he can actually stand his ground, I recommend choosing Valor as your Spartan Rage ability. Pair this up with the Rönd of Aggravation for your shield, which has a high luck chance to grant a Minor Rage Burst when parrying, and you’ll be much safer in return. Plus, remember that if you time Valor so it negates an incoming attack, you’ll not only get an extra burst of healing, but also yet another melee attack bonus.

While the armor pieces start at a fairly low level for the later instance of the game, they’ll start making a huge difference at ranks 7 and 8. If you can afford it later, the Stone Idol of Souls enchantment can be another good pair for the build — with it, using a healthstone or ragestone will grant Soulsteal, which restores a small amount of health and rage when striking enemies for a few seconds. Again, you won’t have to worry about damage, this is all just to keep your healing capabilities in check. If you happen to be struggling with a specific encounter, switching the waist armor for the Girdle of Raven Tears should be of help. But all in all, keep your finger at the ready to block or parry incoming attacks, and retaliate without mercy.

God of War Ragnarök Best Armor - Honorable Mentions

If you’ve been largely focusing on the main story, there’s a ton to do in God of War Ragnarök’s endgame. Whether it is hunting for any pending Artifacts or Nornir Chests, you’re bound to revisit Svartalfheim, Vanaheim, and beyond.

If you’re looking for a decent armor set, all of the sets mentioned in this guide can be leveled up to rank 9 — as such, depending on your playstyle, you may already have found the perfect one.

However, if you’re looking for more options around the best armor in God of War Ragnarök, or just want to experiment with a new build, below are a few individual pieces that are versatile enough to work for most situations. Each armor piece behaves quite differently, and the final result can vary greatly depending on how you combine the full set.

Kratos wears the Hunters Pauldron while standing in the armor menu for God of War Ragnarok.

Hunter’s Pauldron (Chest Armor)

If you’re usually inclined to keep your distance, the Hunter’s Pauldron is a great chest piece. Its skill only takes two seconds to activate: By holding down the aim button, it grants increased ranged damage for five seconds afterwards. If you want to lean on that aspect even further, wearing either the waist or wrist armor of the same set increases damage of all of Kratos’ ranged attacks and abilities. You can either go for all three pieces or combine either of the latter with another set.

Skill: The “Empowered Range” skill increases all ranged attack damage for five seconds by holding down L2 (aim button by default) for two seconds.
Starting stats: The armor starts at rank 6 with 62 strength, 31 defense, and 40 cooldown points.
How to get: Found in the Crater area in Vanaheim. In order to craft the armor piece, you’re going to need two Hunter’s Brands, which is a material obtained by completing the Nocturnal Predator, In Plain Sight, and The Untamed Fury favors in the area. If you want to craft it as soon as possible, the first two favors are far shorter. For both, make sure to set the time of day to nighttime. The first is started in eastern side of the Plains — just look for any of the wisps around the center of the open field that are feeding on animals, and use the R2 ability of your blades to take care of the enemy and kickstart the favor. The second can be started in the western side of the Plains by interacting with a fallen animal close to the southeastern corner of that part of the map. Once you’re done with the side missions, go ahead and craft the armor.

Kratos stands wearing Surtr’s Scorched Cuirass in the best armor menu for God of War Ragnarok.

Surtr’s Scorched Cuirass (Chest Armor)

If you aren’t afraid to get up close and personal to enemies, then Surtr’s Scorched Cuirass is a good option. Basically, every time you attack an enemy while they’re in the midst of an attack themselves, that hit will deal increased damage. Of course, exposing yourself comes with a huge risk, but either the wrist or waist piece of the set can help with this with the “Aggressor’s Resolve” skill. In essence, you’re going to take reduced damage and have some extra stagger resistance during both basic attacks and abilities.

Skill: The “Preemptive Strike” skill grants bonus damage to attacks that hit enemies during their own attacks.
Starting stats: The armor starts at rank 7 with 62 strength, 52 defense, and 36 vitality points.
How to get: Once you’ve gathered the Muspelheim seeds and gained access to The Crucible favor, you’ll have to complete all six available challenges in the arena. Then, return to the center of the area and open the chest, which is going to kickstart The Final Challenges favor. The one you have to focus on is the Endurance challenge, which can be accessed by completing a challenge from the sword on the left, and then another one from the sword in the middle. Once you’re done, head back to the starting point and interact with the sword to find the challenge. You’ll need to take down 99 enemies, then the Surtr’s Scorched Cuirass chest armor will be yours — as well as a ton of materials.

Kratos wears the Steinbjorn Plackart while standing in the armor menu for God of War Ragnarok.

Steinbjörn Plackart (Chest Armor)

The Steinbjörn armor set is one of the best in the game, and definitely worth the time commitment needed to round up its pieces. By far, the go-to piece is the chest armor, as it grants a ton of defense and a skill that lets you restore health by dealing damage. You may want to opt for other sets when it comes to the wrist and waist pairings for this one, targeting other stats, increasing the regenerated health, and so on.

Skill: The “Bloodthirsty Retaliation” skill makes it so Kratos’ attacks will restore some lost health for five seconds after he takes “significant” damage — in our experience, however, this happens fairly frequently from around 75% of his health bar and downwards.
Starting stats: The armor starts at rank 6 with 123 defense points.
How to get: You’ll need Slumber Stones to craft this armor, which are the reward for completing troll encounters. If you’re only interested in the chest piece, focus on the troll location in Noatún’s Garden, as the encounter rewards two Slumber Stones.

Kratos stands in God of War Ragnarok’s armor menu wearing the Breastplate of Guiding Light.

Breastplate of Guiding Light (Chest Armor)

Here is an interesting one. The Breastplate of Guiding Light can be easily obtained just by exploring the Lake of Nine in Midgard and picking it up as loot. Its skill, “Weapon Blessing,” has a luck chance on any hit to increase the strength, runic, and luck of a weapon. The funny part is that the weapon’s choice is randomized each time. This is going to force you to switch weapons often, which can be a fun challenge on its own, but the skill itself is worth the trouble.

Skill: The “Weapon Blessing” skill adds a moderate luck chance on any hit to increase the strength, runic, and luck of one of Kratos’ weapons at random for around 11 seconds — the buff itself names the weapon that got the buff.
Starting stats: The armor starts at rank 5 with 36 strength, 29 defense, and 36 luck points.

How to get: Once you have free roam access to the Lake of Nine in Midgard, look for Tyr’s helmet next to its temple — the helmet is massive so it’s hard to miss, but you can follow the smoke signal if you need an extra reference. Once there, reading the lore prompt will kickstart the Guiding Light favor. But the Breastplate of Guiding Light is buried in the snow, signalized as a glowing prompt on the ground inside the helmet.