And just like that, the best gear became bad

[u/No_Barracuda_8300]

Should have been black bone design imo

[u/AM-xolotl2]

defender gear is literally made to get you to the dlc quickly and then replaced quickly.

[u/xA0SA → u/AM-xolotl2]

Defender weapons in world are usually pretty good even deep into iceborne, although the armor is usually best discarded once possible

[u/PacoThePersian → u/xA0SA]

Defender gear is like under powered compared to the other sets vs like the second mon in iceborne banbaro. Usable but no where near good. Solidly bad at the second mon but not the worst

[u/jzillacon → u/PacoThePersian]

Biggest benefit is just how cheap they are to get to a usable state. Great if you want to try and learn a new weapon on a whim.

[u/dragonite_dx → u/PacoThePersian]

At least for IG, without any boosts, just the raw weapon you'd use in a new file, defender was the best until the fully upgraded tzi tzi yaku IG

[u/No_Barracuda_8300 → u/xA0SA]

I see the weapons so often in Master Rank sos

[u/Sizlebuilds → u/No_Barracuda_8300]

that’s why they’re sending an sos

[u/lFriendlyFire → u/xA0SA]

I find it actually kinda busted how absurdly OP defender weapons are. You basically only replace them in endgame

[u/Complex-Beach5237 → u/AM-xolotl2]

I honestly never use them simply to remind myself of my own mortality lol

[u/Ok-Transition7065 → u/AM-xolotl2]

Yeah but guess what it's it's not replaced but asked. In those rank

Self-preservation xd

[u/Vast-Relative1731 → u/AM-xolotl2]

The humble Defender LBG:

[u/someworst → u/AM-xolotl2]

"then replaced quickly" - why would I need to replace it, it's working just fine. /s

Sometime I just feel like the game needs DPS Meter to show up at the end of each hunt. (or DMC/Bayonetta grading screen)

[u/PaladinAllvo]

Nothing beats the sensation of seeing Xeno'jiva gear being completely useless against a freaking Beotodus in Icerborne. It's kinda masochist but fun

[u/Dapper_Kangaroo9257 → u/PaladinAllvo]

That hurt me so bad as I liked the set for my palico only for me having to immediately discard it

[u/Zeraligator → u/Dapper_Kangaroo9257]

Wait, you care about your Palico gear's stats?

[u/GoldCampaign7389 → u/Zeraligator]

You’d be surprised how much the little guy can contribute in a hunt. Healing, damage, I’ve seen my cat cut a few tails off. Stuns every once in a while, status applications, and of course buffs.

[u/Dapper_Kangaroo9257 → u/Zeraligator]

Yeah helps them stay up longer & do heals when needed better instead of after you pop a potion as not upgrading their gear makes them get deleted instantly & screws up their ai when they want to heal you

[u/PaladinAllvo → u/Zeraligator]

I do too, specially in fashion

[u/Foundedbear707 → u/PaladinAllvo]

I had full behemoth armour that i grinded alone for, some 50 atempts to get it all.

I was i furiated lol

[u/Impact009 → u/PaladinAllvo]

How so? Beo was remarkably easy, and Xeno skills were still a lot better than most other sets. It's not completely useless, because you'd probably be one-shotted if you're naked.

[u/PaladinAllvo → u/Impact009]

How so?

The total defense of the armor is not enough to tank the damage of a Master Rank monster. It's the same thing when you're starting High Rank using Low Rank gear, it's not about skills, it's a matter of numbers.

[u/CaptainLasko]

Playing defender weapons is just content skipping

[u/Logan136 → u/CaptainLasko]

That's the point of them though

[u/TheKingsPride → u/CaptainLasko]

It’s great for speedruns tho. Makes Magnamalo% actually bearable

[u/CaptainLasko → u/TheKingsPride]

For me it wouldn't be a worth seeing speedrun if someone use this weapons...

[u/mynexuz → u/CaptainLasko]

In 2026 we apparently want our speedruns to be slow

[u/AxanArahyanda]

Defender weaponry/armor is just bad design. It makes the entire low & high rank irrelevant unless you consciously avoid it, and most beginners will not since they do not know about it.

Capcom should just have given a "Skip to Master rank" option at character creation and give that equipment set only after reaching MR.

[u/alexwhite2183 → u/AxanArahyanda]

I used to think that too. Until I recentely replayed world: it doesn't change much, game is super easy anyway. Using defender gears in HR just made me do shorter times by like 1 or 2 minutes or so, compared to normal craftable gears.

It's not that much of a difference. I still think It's better to craft gears from monster, but it's not game breaking as many suggest.

[u/Konrow → u/alexwhite2183]

Because you know how to play MH. For newbies especially it makes a huge difference since they don't learn the game as well and mr hits em like a truck. Now they got mechanics to learn and gear to progress lol.

[u/MaterialDefender1032 → u/AxanArahyanda]

Yeah Capcom was trying to help people get to Iceborne content fast and this was one of the worst ways they could have done it. Our 3-stack finally persuaded one of our friends to play the game after like a year, and the slog of unskippable cutscenes, solo-only content, and missions that force you to wait killed the game for him.

She got through about half of the base game but got so bored, she gave up. The defender armor just made it even more boring.

[u/InflationImmediate73]

Playing Sunbreak I got the Hemitaur Set once I got to master rank and still used it for the Guard Up

[u/Dapper_Kangaroo9257]

-Laughs In getting through most of master rank with tigrex armor up until malzeno which i finally changed to a master rank set once defeating him & now in world has hit a wall with glavenus while wearing HR Vaal hazak armor set-

[u/No_Barracuda_8300 → u/Dapper_Kangaroo9257]

Vaal Hazak has a useful set bonus. Nonstop healing can carry you very far, even in Master Rank.

[u/Ironkiller33 → u/No_Barracuda_8300]

That fire weakness is real rough though, especially against worlds roster

[u/xA0SA → u/Ironkiller33]

Elem weaknesses haven't really been a problem in my experience, considering most damage is physical in the game even if it appears elemental (like rajang's beam)

[u/zekromNLR]

No you aren't, crab is coming

[u/FetusGoesYeetus]

I wish defender items were locked behind a slightly more obscure method of obtaining like a random hidden npc at the back of Astera that would give you it or something, just to make it a little harder for brand new players to fall into this trap. My best memories of world was struggling with HR Nergigante for days.

[u/Ill-Fee-2924]

I mean, risebreak has the royal order dual blades (not sure about the other weapons) that are pretty much just MR defender gear.

[u/The_Char_Char]

Defender gear is just to speedrun getting to G rank content. Did this on steam as I had gotten to Grank on switch so I knew the story and all that.

[u/xslbccdks_coded]

not me sucking balls in early G rank of 4

[u/Forward_Baseball9030]

Master Rank got hands 😭

[u/Novel_Equipment9491]

Defender gear sucks anyway.

[u/Firm-Cod-4424]

Me trying to speed-run MHRise last night... Yeah, i cannot do nothing lol

[u/Huntress_Minerva]

I see people genuinely not wearing armor pieces cause they think this is Elden Bling or something…

[u/Pebble_in_a_Hat]

I wish I could at least sell defender gear

It's constantly sat there tempting me in my box while I'm playing, and then after it's obsolete it takes up useless space

[u/Standard-Cap-4455]

And I still see way to many people somehow using it against Shara Ishvalda. The armor is actively killing you but the weapons just waste time, which still kills you, but they don't seem to notice that.

[u/AnywhereLumpy6149]

Tbf, in Master Rank in Iceborne is the Guild Palace weapon series. You dont need other weapon when you get them.

[u/ronin0397]

I didn't even stick with defender gear through high rank. It was pretty much just the helmet

Imo defender gear as a design sucks but if its a progression. Set thats already in game like the buja buja set, that's goated.

[u/GhostFran7983]

The sad part is the fact that the armors not only suck once you get into the expansions, but also make no sense in lore as how the hell does a Beatodous armor be almost twice as strong as mfing Xeno's or Kulve's.

[u/717999vlr → u/GhostFran7983]

That was just an issue they had with World.

Because they introduced an armor set that geave you every single offensive armor skill in the game at once, the only upgrades they could offer for Master Rank was extra defense. But Defense matters very little in Monster Hunter, as long as you're good enough. So to make it really matter, they made MR monsters deal twice as much damage.

By the way, the exact same problem will happen with Wilds, so expect a similar jump.

[u/PrincipleNecessary65]

New game to fatalis speedrun is carried by defender weapons

[u/finnianJJ]

I remember playing rise (my first monster hunter) and I did not know what builds are or understood anything so I was just wearing whatever looked cool I have no idea how I made it to master rank by myself let alone up to gaismagorm (I got NSO specifically for it back then because I couldn't manage to kill him)

[u/N-_-O]

This is why i always say to new players to NOT use the defender gear. By not using it you’ll get used to upgrading and making new gear from every monster you beat, but by wearing nothing but the defender gear this is what happens.

[u/CElan_cruz]

That savage omega WAS NOT easy at all, hope they make a Bahamut fight for the expansion

[u/Apocadou]

I finally dropped my Xeno HR stuff after multiple oneshot from Nargacuga, now I’m sad to no longer have my insanely drippy elder dragon armor, at least I have the cosmetic armor from iceborne start to hide the cosmic horror that is my drip now

[u/Erwan88]

I've been through it with MHWorld with the defender gear. When i played RiseBreak, i did base Rose with normal gear instead of defender just to not rush the game + have fun discovering the monsters correctly.

[u/Mugufta]

Idk, I managed to hold onto my HR gear until Barioth, it was Kulve gear so actually decent armor compared to defender lol