5. Steinbjorn Set
Steinbjorn Plackart (base stats):
- Defense: 123
- Effect: After Significant damage is taken, Kratos’ attacks will restore some lost health for a time
Steinbjorn Gauntlets (base stats):
- Strength: 22
- Defense: 55
- Effect: Moderate LUCK chance to stagger and inflict stun damage to nearby enemies when damage is taken
Steinbjorn Waist Guard (base stats):
- Defense: 77
- Effect: Moderate LUCK chance to stagger and inflict stun damage to nearby enemies when damage is taken
The Steinbjorn armour set is one of the best defensive armour sets in the game. With an emphasis on defence and recovery after receiving damage, this is the best armour set for survivability.
The Steinbjorn armour effect triggers upon taking significant damage, which then activates an effect that lets you regain health on hits afterwards. This armour set is especially useful for fighting bosses because you take enough damage to basically trigger the effect after taking a hit. This armour set gives you a chance to have a more aggressive playstyle.
Steinbjorn Set Excels at:
- Aggressive playstyle: the armour set features high strength and defensive stats so you hit hard and take less damage, in addition to being able to restore health after being hit.
- Style: This is a stone-themed armour set, so for those who like a down-to-earth style, this is perfect.
- Auto-defence from the stagger effect: even during normal combat outside of boss fights, the stagger effect from taking damage helps if you find regular enemies challenging.
How to get the Steinbjorn set:
You need to get the Mystical Heirloom from Midgard; the item is hidden behind one of the breakable walls. After getting this item, you have to hunt out trolls across the realms to get their slumberstone (item drop).
- 1 Troll is at the Derelict outpost at Midgard
- 1 Troll is at the Forbidden Sands at Alfheim
- 1 Troll is at the Noatun’s Garden at Vanaheim
4. The Hunter’s Set
Hunter’s Plackart (base stats):
- Defense: 31
- Strength: 62
- Cooldown: 40
- Effect: Holding L2 for several seconds grants a buff increasing all Ranged attack damage for a short duration
Hunter’s Gauntlets (base stats):
- Strength: 58
- Cooldown: 25
- Effect: Increases the damage of all of Kratos’ Ranged Attacks and Abilities
Hunter’s Plackart (base stats):
- Defense: 41
- Strength: 17
- Cooldown: 25
- Effect: Increases the damage of all of Kratos’ Ranged Attacks and Abilities
The Hunter’s set is God of War Ragnarok’s ranged set. It’s an interesting armour set that works well with the new weapon, the Draupnir Spear.
This armour set allows you to effectively turn Kratos into a long-range rtilleryman. With the infinite spear-producing capabilities of the Draupnir, you’re in for an explosive time. The armour set also features a high cooldown stat, which combos well with the ranged enchantment set, which increases damage for ranged abilities based on the cooldown stat, so it has great synergy.
Hunter’s Set Excels at:
- Long-range playstyle: the armour set features high strength and cooldown stats, which are perfect for dishing out damage. The armour does have low defence, so it makes it a bit more dangerous to fight close-up.
- Style: This is a hunter style, so it features a more "wild" style, like a hunter!
- Long-range buff synergy: this armour set plays around going all in on long-range stats, which works surprisingly well. It makes attacking at range about as effective as fighting close-up, although on higher difficulties it’s not as effective as enemies can gain resistances to stun and abilities, and fighting at range puts you at risk of not being able to stun and break enemies in time when needed.
How to get the Hunter’s set:
You need to play the game until the crater is unlocked at Vanaheim. There’s a resource at the crater called "Hunter’s Brand," which you get by defeating mini-bosses in the area.
The three mini-bosses are:
Soul Eater boss – Favor: In Plain Sight
Flame Phantom – Favor: Nocturnal Predator
The Untamed Fury – Multiple spawn locations throughout the Crater
- 2 x near Sinkholes
- 1 x at the plains
- 2 x in the Jungle
3. Ares Set
Cuirass of Ares (base stats):
- Defense: 42
- Strength: 52
- Vitality: 31
- Luck: 31
- Effect: Rage hits have a Luck chance to drop a Healthstone. Healthstones now also grant Rage and all stones trigger bigger explosions
Gauntlet of Ares (base stats):
- Vitality: 20
- Strength: 59
- Luck: 20
- Effect: Activating Rage when the Rage Meter is full increases all damage done for a short duration
War Belt of Ares (base stats):
- Defense: 59
- Vitality: 20
- Luck: 20
- Effect: Activating Rage when the Rage Meter is full increases all damage done for a short duration
The War Belt of Ares is only available in New Game+, but it’s worth a mention since it’s a pretty fun and suiting armour set based around Kratos’s Rage ability, which is fitting for him as the angry god of war!
This armour set is specialized for health stone drops and rage, so it works best when built around collecting health stones and rage stones. There are enchantments such as the Stone Idol of Souls, which grants soul steal, health steal, and rage steal upon picking up a health or rage stone. There are also items like the Hilt of Gram, which grants a fixed amount of rage and stuns nearby enemies.
Ares Set excels at:
- Rage playstyle: the armour set features a damage boost when the rage meter is full, which is perfect for dishing out damage. It’s best for those who like using Rage and are constantly full of it.
- Style: This is an Ares armour set; it’s pretty much based on the God of War Ares from the early games!
- This armour set lets you play a bit more aggressively because, if built correctly with the relics and enchantments, Kratos becomes a very offensive and self-healing destructive machine. This build is good as long as you can land hits without getting hit too much because the effectiveness of the build is based on stealing health back from attacking and maintaining a high rage level for the damage boost.
How to get the Ares set:
- This is actually pretty easy to get; you just need to get to the Huldra Brother’s workshop in New Game+ in order to purchase the Ares set from them.
2. Surtr’s Scorched Set
Surtr’s Scorched Cuirass (base stats):
- Defense: 52
- Vitality: 36
- Strength: 62
- Effect: Kratos’ attacks that hit enemies during their attacks do bonus damage
Surtr’s Scorched Arm (base stats):
- Strength: 72
- Vitality: 23
- Effect: Kratos takes reduced damage and has increased stagger resistance during his basic attacks and skills
Surtr’s Scorched Girdle (base stats):
- Defense: 58
- Strength: 13
- Vitality: 23
- Effect: Kratos takes reduced damage and has increased stagger resistance during his basic attacks and skills
Surtr’s set is about relentlessly attacking, reducing damage taken while you dish out damage during enemy attacks. It’s a well-balanced set with stats in defence, strength, and vitality to make sure you’re beefy enough to take a few hits while also being able to hit hard.
This armour set is for those who enjoy trading hits with the enemy. Heavy attacks are difficult to land, and this set helps with hitting harder while taking less damage during charge-ups or melee chains. For higher difficulties, the increased resistance isn’t as apparent, as bosses will still deal a huge amount of damage, rendering the damage reduction on the gauntlets and belt relatively useless. However, the Cuirass is always useful at boosting Kratos’s damage-dealing potential, which is why it’s one of the best picks.
Surtr Set Excels at:
- Aggressive playstyle: the armour set gives you bonus damage for attacking during enemy attacks. It’s a hyper-aggressive armour set that makes it rewarding for high-stakes ameplay.
- The secondary effects of stagger resistance come in handy if you enjoy heavy attacks. Heavy attacks are always difficult to pull off, but this helps with landing them.
- God of War Ragnarok’s combat system allows you to combo fluidly while dodging, which makes this armour set perfect for those that can master the combat system.
How to get the Surtr set:
- This armour set can be earned as soon as you unlock the final challenges at Muspelheim. As to how soon you can actually unlock it, it will depend on your ability to complete the challenges. You’ll unlock the entire set once you complete all of them.
1. Berserker Set
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Berserker Cuirass (base stats):
- Defense: 14
- Strength: 36
- Vitality: 22
- Runic: 22
- Cooldown: 22
- Luck: 22
- Effect: Using a Relic massively increases the damage of Kratos’s Melee attacks, but also the damage received for a duration
Berserker Gauntlets (base stats):
- Strength: 41
- Vitality: 11
- Runic: 11
- Cooldown: 11
- Luck: 11
- Effect: Low Luck chance for successful hits to cause a Soul Explosion, dealing damage and restoring some cooldown of the relic
Berserker Waist Guard (base stats):
- Defense: 41
- Vitality: 11
- Runic: 11
- Cooldown: 11
- Luck: 11
- Effect: Taking damage, Blocking, and Parrying all have a moderate luck chance to cause a soul explosion, dealing damage and restoring some cooldown of the relic
The Berserker armour is perfect for someone who enjoys a 100% offensive armour set. The set is focused on reducing the cooldown of the relic; when the relic buff is active, you take significantly more damage, so bosses can easily destroy you in one or two hits (depending on the difficulty, experiences may vary).
This armour is great if you combine it with other cooldown reduction procs such as cooldown on skill triggers or cooldown on parry. It can turn a 200+ second cooldown relic into ready almost 50% faster (subject to your luck and soul explosion proc chance). If you enjoy spamming relics (there are some very strong relics in the game), then this is the set for you.
Berserker Set excels at:
- Relic-centric playstyle: the armour set features a damage boost after using a relic, significantly increasing the damage you take from enemies for a short time. This is a double-edged sword, which makes it really fun (subjective). You do a ton of damage, but you can also die really fast!
- Style: This kind of has a Viking style; there’s transmog in God of War Ragnarok, so the look isn’t really an issue, but I’ll give this armour set some style points just because of the green hue and fitting style.
- If you enjoy spamming runic attacks, this set is also great for that. The armour set has a very ell-spread-out stat set that you can easily adjust and supplement with other builds with enchantments. This is especially true in New Game+, when you also get access to other armour effects, so you can make some really crazy combos.
How to get the Berserker set:
- To get this armor set you have to beat three out of the twelve berserkers, and they’re no pushovers!
- Fraekni the Zealous – Near the Shores of Nine in Midgard
- Svipdagr the Cold & the Sisters of Illska – The Barrens in Alfheim
- Skjothendi the Unerring – Mistfields of Nifheim