In an RPG world densely populated with werewolves, terrifying sirens, and the Wild Hunt always one step behind us, a true Witcher keeps themselves protected. Armour is classed as light, medium, or heavy and each reflects different build types for us to play with. Tanks work best with heavier sets and can withstand torrents of blows before falling to the ground. Light armour keeps Geralt light on his feet, allowing him to pirouette through enemies and deal damage in small, quick slashes. Medium armour provides a careful balance between each.
This list brings us 10 of the best armours to use throughout the game. Towards the early stages, easily accessible armour like Temerian and Nilfgaardian chest pieces may be simple, but they help us overcome important level thresholds. As the game draws to a close, armour can be tinkered with, and we often find that one irreplaceable item.
10. Temerian Armour (Early)
Temerian Armour stats:
- 50 Armour
- +15% Resistance to piercing damage
- +15% Resistance to bludgeoning damage
- +20% Resistance to slashing damage
- +5% Resistance to damage from monsters
- +5% Resistance to elemental damage
- +10% Stamina regeneration
Mighty and experienced Temerian warriors wear the Temerian Armour Set into battle. Temerian Armour is one of the first recommended armour sets because of how early on it can be acquired and equipped. We can start using it as soon as Level 4 and as a scalable item, its defence stat increases as we level up.
Its resistance to piercing, bludgeoning, and slashing damage also adds that additional layer of defence when we’re vulnerable in the early game. By getting this armour as soon as possible, we can tear through most White Orchard beasts, specifically the notorious Noonwraith.
What Temerian Armour excels in:
Defending against most human enemy attacks early in the game because of its bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing resistance.
Stamina Regeneration provides a massive boost to our dodging in battle before we have skill points to upgrade.
It is arguably one of the most straightforward armour sets available due to being easily purchased.
While it may not be as effective at greater levels, such as 20 and above, this armour set is effective for getting us past the Level 15 threshold.
How to get Temerian Armour:
Temerian Armour can be purchased for 255 Crowns from Bram, the merchant whose cart was attacked by the griffin outside White Orchard.
9. Nilfgaardian Guardsman Armour (Early)
Nilfgaardian Armour stats:
- 35-39 (+5 per level)
- +450-600 Vitality
- +35% Resistance to piercing damage
- +30% Resistance to bludgeoning damage
- +40% Resistance to slashing damage
Nilfgaardian Guardsman Armour is a heavy armour worn by Nilfgaard’s Officers and tank soldiers. It is a relic tier of armour.
This armour can be likened to Temerian Armour except that it has double the resistance to human attacks. It’s a useful piece of armour for use in the early game specifically after level 16, when it becomes available.
During the earlier segment of our gameplay, having a set of Guardsman Armour is useful for players building Geralt into a battle-ready tank. What it lacks in boosts to agility, Stamina and attack speed, it balances out with its significant defence stats.
What Nilfgaardian Guardsman Armour excels in:
Tank builds due to its bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage with an added boost to vitality.
Focusing on vitality, this armour allows Geralt to take more damage before that dreaded game-over.
This armour can be acquired in several ways, even if you’re low on Crowns.
This armour remains effective as the player upgrades it until fairly well into the middle of the base game.
How to get Nilfgaardian Guardsman Armour:
It can be looted around Level 16 from guarded treasures or smugglers caches. Additionally, it can be crafted with the Nilfgaardian Guardsman Crafting Diagram obtained after defeating the third opponent in Fists of Fury: Skellige quest, looted, or bought at any Skellige and Toussaint Armourers. If those are furthest away from you, the merchant at the sawmill northeast of Rannvaig also sells the diagram and Armour piece.
8. Undvik Armour (Early)
Undvik Armour stats:
- 110 Armour Rating
- +35% Resistance to piercing damage
- +35% Resistance to bludgeoning damage
- +40% Resistance to slashing damage
- +10% Resistance to damage from monsters
- +10% Resistance to elemental damage
- -10% Stamina regeneration
Undvik armour is one of the best additions to the Witcher 3 from the Skellige Armor Set DLC. Inspired by Undvik craftsmanship, this heavy armour piece is another choice for early-game tank builds.
Apart from its numerous stat boosts, Undvik armour is also a magnificent relic. It features maroon and dark green fabric set against chainmail and golden metal guards giving it a powerful look and feel. In the way of protection, it is an upgrade over the Nilfgaardian Guardsman Armour as it resists damage against both human and monster attacks. However, its -10% stamina regeneration is terrible for tank builds who already have little stamina to spare.
What Undvik Armour Excels in:
Brute force defence against various attack styles due to its list of resistance boosts
Hybrid protection that protects against human enemies more while still offering a fair amount of protection against monster attacks.
Resistance to elemental damage, a boost that becomes essential against Wild Hunt enemies.
This armour excels over the Nilfgaardian armour for offering a better balance, therefore, it prepares you better for any encounter throughout the Witcher’s world. Additionally, we can acquire it effortlessly with enough Crowns.
How to get Undvik Armour:
Undvik Armour can be bought from the Kaer Trolde Citadel Armourer from Level 16.
7. Superior Griffin Armour (midgame)
Superior Griffin Armour stats:
- 165 Armour
- +15% Sign intensity
- +12% Resistance to piercing damage
- +12% Resistance to bludgeoning damage
- +18% Resistance to slashing damage
- +20% Resistance to damage from monsters
Griffin Armour is a piece of medium armour that is part of the Griffin School Gear set. It is the second improvement upon the base Griffin Armour. This armour, as with all Witcher Gear, can be dyed and it boasts a flexible yet strong style that reflects its medium protection.
As a Witcher Set, it’s a useful piece of armour in the base game for players who want to build a character with a balance between strength and agility. Griffin Armour increases the intensity of signs; this boost is impressively useful against all enemies in the Witcher world. Additionally, it focuses on giving greater resistance to damage from monsters instead of human attacks. This makes sense as we encounter more monsters than human enemies throughout the game.
At midgame, most players in their first playthrough are unable to choose between an absolute tank and a flexible, agile Witcher which leads them to strike a balance in skill points. Of all the armour sets available for this playstyle, Griffin armour is the most forgiving.
What Superior Griffin Armour excels in:
A 15% boost to sign intensity lets us focus on using our signs throughout the battle for enemies too fast for simple slashing
20% Resistance to damage from monsters sets this armour as a true piece of Witcher Gear that protects us against the creatures we face most often
It can be upgraded to Grandmaster Level for late game.
This set of armour is effective for players who want a balanced playthrough. Having Witcher Armour would always be ideal specifically in Witcher contracts. Masters of the Witcher Schools knew best.
How to get Superior Griffin Armour:
Acquired at Level 11, base Griffin Armour can be used or upgraded while wearing another set until midgame when it truly begins to excel. The Superior variant is crafted using enhanced Griffin armour, 3 cured draconid leather, 2 Dimeritium Plates, 1 Monster hide, and 2 Monster hearts around Level 28.
6. Viper Armour (midgame)
Viper Armour stats:
- 235 Armour
- +30% Resistance to piercing damage
- +50% Resistance to Poisoning
- +30% Resistance to slashing damage
- +28% Resistance to damage from monsters
- +40% Resistance to elemental damage
Introduced in the Hearts of Stone expansion, this sleek dark grey armour piece resembles Skyrim’s Nightingale Armour. It’s our second medium armour feature on this list which makes it another great choice for balanced playthroughs.
During midgame playthroughs, most of your time will already be spent grinding, so the easy-to-craft Viper armour will be a welcome pursuit. This armour set has a great armour rating for medium armour that gives us fair protection during battle. Furthermore, when used strategically, Viper armour is best used when fighting enemies that can deal poison damage.
What Viper Armour excels in:
Its 50% resistance against poisoning damage makes it effective against monsters that use poison against Geralt such as insectoids.
Its significant resistance against elemental damage is incredibly useful during midgame because of the sheer number of enemies who use elemental attacks.
Viper Armour is an improvement compared to Superior Griffin Armour as it has 8% higher resistance to damage from monsters.
Besides looking great, Viper armour lives up to its serpentine nature through its poison resistance. While this isn’t useful in every single battle, it is effective against lingering poison-based attacks at higher difficulties.
How to get Viper Armour:
This armour piece must be crafted with the Diagram obtained during the Open Sesame! Quest by buying it from Countess Mignole. Level 39 is the required level for using this armour, making it a mid to late-game item.
5. Mastercrafted Feline Armour (midgame)
Mastercrafted Feline Armour stats:
- 205 Armour
- +20% Attack Power
- +10% Resistance to piercing damage
- +15% Resistance to slashing damage
- +14% Resistance to damage from monsters
- +35% Resistance to elemental damage
The Witcher School of the Cat focused on honing feline agility, perception, and awareness of the battle environment. Feline armour, likewise, brings Geralt into this light-footed mindset. This light armour piece is the next enhancement after its Superior version.
It features classic monster resistance boosts with an addition to attack power. This is effective for light armour builds that allow us to focus more on sending out flurries of light attacks to prevent enemies from dealing unnecessary damage. Weighing at only 8.51, this Feline Armour is unbelievably useful at this phase of the game because this is when we tend to fill up our inventory with trophies, weapons, and sellable items.
What Mastercrafted Feline Armour excels in:
The 20% boost to attack power enables Geralt to deal a massive amount of damage between dodges.
The Witcher set of Resistance against various monsters and human damage is a welcome bonus.
This armour is light enough to free up space for important items.
As with all Witcher Gear, the Feline rendition of the classic schools of monster slaying depends entirely on your playstyle. Mastercrafted Feline Armour is only effective to those who keep Geralt dancing around the battlefield. Taking too much damage with this armour from high-level enemies will be fatal if you don’t adapt to it.
How to get Mastercrafted Feline armour:
This armour is crafted from Superior Feline armour using its Diagram and 3x Cured Draconid Leather, 2x Dimeritium Plates, 2x Monster Tongue, and Monster Hide.
4. Toussaint Armour (mid to late game)
Toussaint Armour stats:
- 235 Armour
- +450 Vitality
- +41% Resistance to piercing damage
- +41% Resistance to bludgeoning damage
- +41% Resistance to slashing damage
- +25% Resistance to Burning
This piece of heavy armour introduced in the Blood and Wine expansion either comes in relic or magic form. It is based on the Toussaint Soldier and Guardsman armour paraded around the main kingdom.
As far as armour goes towards this stage of the game, it is a strong piece of armour that can easily compete with Manticore and Grandmaster Ursine Armour. However, its only drawback is that it can’t be upgraded because it's not Witcher Armour.
What Toussaint Armour excels in:
This armour is powerful for tank builds because it gives Geralt a massive 450 increase to his health bar.
The 41% resistance to various human attacks is useful in the Blood and Wine expansion as most enemies here will be fought throughout the kingdom's cobbled streets.
A 25% Resistance to burning proves itself to be protective against fire-based enemies such as wyverns.
This scalable piece of armour is also effective towards the later game as it increases by 5 points of protection per level after being found.
How to get Toussaint Armour:
Toussaint Armour can only be looted in the Land of a Thousand Fables during the Beyond Hill and Dale… quest. This nifty armour is found alongside another beautiful weapon, Vitis.
3. Grandmaster Wolven Armour (late-game)
Grandmaster Wolven Armour stats:
- 240 Armour
- +22% (25% NG+) Adrenaline Point gain
- +19% (20% NG+) Resistance to piercing damage
- +17% Resistance to bludgeoning damage
- +24% Resistance to slashing damage
- +26% Resistance to damage from monsters
Grandmaster Wolven Armour is the final iteration of armour from the Wolf School, which was introduced in the Blood and Wine expansion. It is a striking crimson cuirass which offers medium armour protection and a fair amount of boosts towards the end of the game.
At this stage, being able to endure damage from multiple enemies at once is essential to progress into later questlines. However, not all builds focus on maximising vitality and so Wolven Armour sets us at a fair place between strength and agility. The Grandmaster variant brings an even higher level of armour than the Mastercrafted item in the base game. This is helpful when enemy attacks pack a greater punch while keeping adrenaline and agility available to use in battle.
Why Grandmaster Wolven Armour excels:
The 22% Adrenaline Point gain allows us to move around battle faster and perform more attacks before we must hold off.
Its 26% resistance to monster damage is moderately high at the late stage of the game.
A 240-armour rating for medium armour feels like we’re wearing a set of heavy armour without the unnecessary inventory weight.
Having a piece of Grandmaster Wolven Armour remains one of the best medium armour builds at this stage of the game. And it stays true to the Gray-One’s lore.
How to get Grandmaster Wolven Armour:
This armour piece is created using the Grandmaster Wolven Armour Diagram. Unlike all other variations from the base game, this armour doesn’t require Mastercrafted Wolven Armour to create the Grandmaster version.
2. Grandmaster Ursine Armour (late game)
Grandmaster Ursine Armour stats:
- 240 Armour
- +22% Adrenaline Point gain
- +26% Resistance to piercing damage
- +25% Resistance to bludgeoning damage
- +32% Resistance to slashing damage
- +32% Resistance to damage from monsters
The Grandmaster version of Ursine Armour is the ultimate tank. Inspired by the Bear School, it focuses on powerful, destructive attacks and major resistance to taking as many hits as possible before falling in battle.
Towards the end of the game, enemies become too powerful to sustain attacks from and so light armour is a death-wish unless you know how to use it. Having a heavy piece of armour for overpowered, quick-moving beasts and humanoids is incredibly useful. During my playthroughs, it can become difficult to continuously dodge without having to stop and plough through the pain.
What Grandmaster Ursine Armour excels in:
Being able to take destructive attacks during Geralt’s loading an attack.
The highest resistance boosts against enemy hits of all Witcher Gear.
As an easily upgradeable item, it can even be improved upon in NG + to Legendary levels!
How to get Mastercrafted Ursine Armour:
This armour can be crafted in the Blood and Wine expansion using the Mastercrafted Ursine Armour Diagram, found during the Scavenger Hunt: Grandmaster Ursine Gear quest. The components required are 2x Infused Slyzard Hide, 2x Enriched Dimeritium Plate, 1x Monster Essence, and 1x Monster Heart.
1. Manticore (late game)
Manticore Armour Stats:
- 240 Armour
- +5 Maximum Toxicity
- +19% Resistance to piercing damage
- +24% Resistance to slashing damage
- +28% Resistance to damage from monsters
- +25% Critical hit damage bonus
Introduced in the Blood and Wine Expansion, Manticore Armour belongs to the Manticore Witcher School. It is the best armour in the game for having the usual Witcher Damage Resistance Boosts with added stat boosts to damage.
Towards the end of the game, enemies come in greater numbers and focusing on pure agility or only strength becomes less effective. Most enemies are best defeated through agile dodging, brute force, and a few lighter hits. For a hybrid build that still boasts fair protection, Manticore Armour is hailed as the best in the game.
What Manticore Armour excels in:
The 25% Critical Hit Damage bonus knocks off fair chunks of an enemy vitality every few hits, especially useful for Witcher Contracts
Having higher toxicity allows Geralt to use a wide range of potions such as Ekhidna, Swallow, and Thunderbolt to enhance his battle-readiness.
+28% Resistance to Monster Damage allows us to focus on the bulk of the game’s enemies and avoid dying against them.
This armour piece is as effective as it gets. Towards the last leg of the Witcher 3 and DLC content, Manticore Armour maintains the level scaling that makes Witcher Sets worth using and it has the best ratio of damage resistance too.
How to get Manticore Armour:
Manticore armour is craftable from Level 40 when we acquire its Diagram in the Scavenger Hunt: Grandmaster Manticore Gear quest. We can easily craft it after this with the necessary parts.
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