Ghost of Tsushima: Best Armor and How to Get All Armor Sets

Looking for the best armor and how to get all armor sets in Ghost of Tsushima and Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut? There are certainly some powerful armor sets to seek out across Jin's open world adventure. In this Ghost of Tsushima guide, we're going to detail every armor set in the game. We'll go over how to get it, what it does, and why we think it's useful.

For further reading on how to enhance Jin's abilities as effectively as possible, check out the following guides: Ghost of Tsushima: Best Charms and Where to Find Them and Ghost of Tsushima: All Techniques and Best Techniques to Learn.

What Is the Best Armour and How Do You Get All Armor Sets in Ghost of Tsushima?

Below you'll find a list of all the armor available in the main Ghost of Tsushima campaign.

Be warned, though: this guide features screenshots of each armor set. If you don't want to be spoiled, please keep that in mind.

Broken Armor

Location: Jin begins the game with this armor set.

Perks

• None

Usefulness: Useless, unless you want to make the game as challenging as possible.

Jin's Broken Armor, is, well, broken, and it has no perks. As such, it's immediately outclassed by any other armor that you find. And as the item description says, it's broken beyond repair — there's no way to restore its power.

Traveller's Attire

Location: Given to Jin by the first merchant that you talk to out in the open world.

Perks

• Track Artefacts with the Guiding Wind
• Travelling clears additional fog of war on the map
• Controller vibrates when near an artefact's location

Usefulness: Perfect for exploration, but no combat perks.

The Traveller's Attire isn't built for combat. Its perks are designed to help with your exploration of the open world. It's best used when you're either tracking down pesky artefacts or other collectibles. It's also worth equipping if you're eager to find hidden locations, as its fog of war perk reveals more of the map as you wander around. Just make sure you have something more suitable equipped for battle.

Samurai Clan Armor

Location: Talk to the armorer at the Golden Temple during Lady Masako's first Tale. You'll be given the Samurai Clan Armor for free.

Perks

• Reduces all incoming damage
• Increases health
• Taking damage grants additional Resolve

Usefulness: Best defensive armor in the game.

The Samurai Clan Armor is made available very early in the game, and it can continue to be extremely useful throughout Jin's adventure. It's the game's best defensive armor, significantly increasing Jin's survivability — especially once it's been upgraded.

Because the Samurai Clan Armor doesn't have any stealth-related perks, it's built for direct combat. Its ability to restore additional Resolve whenever Jin takes damage can be a huge help during difficult fights, allowing Jin to stock up on heals even after he's taken a beaten.

Because of these defensive perks, the Samurai Clan Armor is a great choice for one-on-one boss fights, where outlasting your opponent allows you to get a better idea of their attack patterns.

Ronin Attire

Location: Given to Jin automatically during the main story mission 'Blood on the Grass'.

Perks

• Reduces enemy detection speed
• Increase to melee damage
• After leaving long grass while crouched, enemies will be slower to detect you

Usefulness: Great for stealthy playstyles, but outclassed by other armor in some areas.

The Ronin Attire is a useful set of armor if you prefer to approach enemies using stealth. Slower detection speed combines well with the armor's long grass perk, meaning that enemies can take an age to actually spot you.

Its increase to melee damage also makes Jin more deadly in direct combat, but its lack of any defensive perks means that you'll have to fight wisely.

Tadayori's Armor

Location: Complete the Mythic Tale 'The Legend of Tadayori'.

Check out the following guide for information on Mythic Tales: Ghost of Tsushima: All Mythic Tales and Rewards.

Perks

• Increases knocking and reload speed
• Increases total Concentration time
• Headshots partly restore the Concentration meter

Usefulness: Best armor for ranged combat.

Tadayori's Armor is geared entirely towards ranged combat. All of its perks help make Jin a peerless archer, either with the half bow or the longbow. Its Concentration perks in particular are extremely powerful if you're an accurate shot, allowing you to aim in slow motion for a huge amount of time as long as you keep getting headshots.

Used correctly, Tadayori's Armor lets you take out whole groups of enemies before they can even get close to Jin. This makes it one of the most effective armor sets in game for particularly skilled players. Just remember to stock up on arrows when necessary.

Gosaku's Armor

Location: Complete the Mythic Tale 'The Unbreakable Gosaku'.

Check out the following guide for information on Mythic Tales: Ghost of Tsushima: All Mythic Tales and Rewards.

Perks

• Increase to health
  
• Increase to stagger damage
  
• Killing a staggered enemy restores health

Usefulness: Arguably the best offensive armor set in the game.

Gosaku's Armor can make very short work of enemies when engaged in direct combat. An increase to stagger damage means that Jin can break through an opponent's defensive stance much, much more quickly, opening them up to a flurry of fatal attacks. This perk alone makes Gosaku's Armor one of the best sets in the game for aggressive playstyles.

What's more, regaining lost health every time you kill a staggered enemy can be a huge help during battles where you're surrounded by multiple foes. Combine this with increased stagger damage, and Jin becomes much harder to kill as long as you keep your opponents pinned with heavy strikes.

Kensei Armor

Location: Complete the Mythic Tale 'The Six Blades of Kojiro'.

Check out the following guide for information on Mythic Tales: Ghost of Tsushima: All Mythic Tales and Rewards.

Perks

• Increase to Resolve gains
• Ghost Weapons deal more damage
• Striking an enemy with a Ghost Weapon causes that enemy to deal less damage and receive more damage

Usefulness: Arguably the best armor in the game when used correctly, against regular opponents.

The Kensei Armor is immensely powerful when you make proper use of its perks, to the point where it's arguably the most effective armor set in the entire game — at least, outside of boss fights. Although it lacks defensive perks, it grants additional Resolve gains for every action that Jin performs in combat. These gains can rack up very quickly, allowing for more heals and more special attacks across lengthy battles.

But what really makes the Kensei Armor so good is its Ghost Weapon perks. Ghost Weapons like kunai and sticky bombs are already excellent tools to have — simply throwing them out during a tough fight can change the tide completely. But add extra damage alongside significant nerfs to your enemy's offence and defence, and you're borderline invincible as long as you have enough Ghost Weapons in your inventory.

The only time the Kensei Armor's incredibly powerful perks aren't of use is during one-on-one boss fights, where Ghost Weapons aren't available. But even then, the increase to resolve gains can still provide you with a noticeable advantage.

Sakai Clan Armor

Location: Acquired during the main story quest 'Ghosts from the Past'.

Perks

• Increase to melee damage
• Increase to health
• Increase the amount of opponents you can kill in a Standoff. Winning a Standoff has a chance to Terrify nearby enemies

Usefulness: Good all-round armor, but it's outclassed by other sets.

The Sakai Clan Armor is well rounded, granting both increased melee damage and increased health. However, its lack of nuance means that other armor sets outclass it in specific areas.

The only unique thing the Sakai Clan Armor has going for it is its Standoff perk. When paired with the Standoff techniques that Jin can unlock (see Ghost of Tsushima: All Techniques and Best Techniques to Learn), the armor lets you cut down up to five enemies in one Standoff — assuming that your timing is on point. This means that you can take out whole groups of enemies without actually having to fight, although this is obviously situational. Not all enemies can be approached with a Standoff, and the perk is useless during boss fights, and story missions where your allies charge into battle ahead of you.

Ghost Armor

Location: Acquired during the main story quest 'From the Darkness'.

Perks

• Reduces enemy detection speed
• Reduces number of kills needed to enter the Ghost Stance
• Kills have a chance to Terrify a nearby enemy

Usefulness: Excellent armor for more experienced players, but its perks are situational.

The Ghost Armor can be extremely effective in the hands of more experienced players. In order to enter Ghost Stance — essentially Jin's most powerful ability — you need to kill a certain number of enemies without being hit, which can be asking a lot during more difficult or bigger battles. The Ghost Armor reduces the number of kills that you need, making it a lot easier to activate Ghost Stance.

Stealth kills also count towards Ghost Stance, so in a way, the Ghost Armor is arguably the best stealth-based set in the game. When wiping out a Mongol camp, stay out of sight while assassinating its residents, and then face the remaining soldiers. Enter Ghost Stance and finish them off without fear of retaliation. Easy peasy.

The armor's Terrify perk shouldn't be ignored, either. During tougher fights, having some foes drop their weapons and run can be a big help.

Mongol Commander's Armor

Location: Complete the Tale 'Fit for a Khan' in Act III.

Perks

• Increase to health
• Reduces all damage
• Disguises you while out of combat, massively reducing Mongol detection speed

Usefulness: Great for getting the jump on Mongol patrols, but outclassed by other sets in combat and in stealth.

The Mongol Commander's Armor is a unique set that basically works as a disguise for Jin. Mongols will have a very hard time detecting Jin while he's wearing this, but it still lacks the useful stealth-based perks of other armor sets. In that sense, the Mongol Commander's Armor is a bit of a gimmick. Still, its defensive perks aren't bad.

The kicker here, though, is that the Mongol Commander's Armor cannot be upgraded — what you see is what you get. As such, it's only really useful if you've missed out on other armor sets scattered throughout the game.

Fundoshi

Location: A reward for finding all the Hot Springs in Ghost of Tsushima.

For a guide on where to find all of the Hot Springs in the game, try this: Ghost of Tsushima: All Hot Spring Locations.

Perks

• Running and sprinting no longer create noise.

Usefulness: Obviously outclassed by other armor sets, but it's still pretty funny.

The Fundoshi is Ghost of Tsushima's 'joke' armor set, although its silent running and sprinting perk isn't without its uses. Wearing the Fundoshi, you can usually run past Mongol patrols and dash through stealthy areas without being detected, as long as you keep out of sight.

Ghost of Tsushima: All Armor in New Game+

The following armor can only be found in a New Game+ playthrough.

Deadly Rival's Attire

Location: Only available in New Game+ . Can be bought from Baku the Voiceless for 25 Ghost Flowers (Ghost Flowers are obtained by completing quests and activities in New Game+).

Perks

• Increase to health
• Increase to melee damage
• Ghost Weapons deal more damage

Usefulness: A solid all-round outfit that looks really cool.

The Deadly Rival's Attire cannot be upgraded, but its perks are still pretty good. It's a solid all-round option, boasting increased health and damage. Obviously it's not as specialised as most of the other armor that you have at your disposal in New Game+, but if you're looking for a standard outfit for Jin that doesn't rely on a specific playstyle, it's not bad.

Archery Master's Attire

Location: Only available in New Game+. Can be bought from Baku the Voiceless for 25 Ghost Flowers (Ghost Flowers are obtained by completing quests and activities in New Game+).

Perks

• Increases knocking and reload speed for bows
• Increases Concentration time
• Headshots restore Concentration meter

Usefulness: The Archery Master's Attire has the exact same perks as Tadayori's Armor. However, the Archery Master's Attire actually makes Tadayori's Armor redundant, since all of its perks have bigger bonuses.

Tadayori's Armor can be brought up to speed by upgrading it to its final form (only available in New Game+), but even then, the perks are evenly matched. At that point, you can just go with whatever you think looks best.

In short, the Archery Master's Attire is the joint best armor in the game for those who live by the bow.

What Is the Best Armor and How Do You Get All Armor Sets in Ghost of Tsushima's Iki Island Expansion?

The following armor can only be found in the Iki Island expansion, which is part of Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut.

Sarugami Armor

Location: Complete the Mythic Tale 'The Legend of Black Hand Riku' on Iki Island.

Check out the following guide for information on Mythic Tales: Ghost of Tsushima: All Mythic Tales and Rewards.

Perks

• Regular Parry is disabled, Perfect Parry becomes a chain of 2 attacks, and Perfect Dodge also damages nearby enemies
• All Resolve gains are increased
• Perfect Parry and Perfect Dodge windows are increased

Usefulness: The deadliest armor in the game for skilled players.

The Sarugami Armor rewards skilled players with utterly devastating new attacks. The obvious drawback here is that you won't be able to perform a normal parry, which can make certain enemies more of a pain to deal with — but the payoff is unprecedented. Both Perfect Parries and Perfect Dodges are easier to pull off — to a noticeable degree — and when it works, Jin can unleash utter destruction.

Simply being able to retaliate with not one, but two, uninterrupted counterattacks after a Perfect Parry is huge, and it'll often be enough to kill lesser enemies outright. Meanwhile, performing a Perfect Dodge lets you use an all-new spinning attack that deals massive damage and catches nearby opponents, which is great for crowds.

Again, a truly devastating armor set in the right hands — and the best part is that it can be fully upgraded to increase its effects.

Did you find this page on the best armor and how to get all armor sets in Ghost of Tsushima helpful? Dress to impress in the comments section below, and be sure to check out our massive Ghost of Tsushima guide for more help with the game.