Monster Hunter: World
Monster Hunter: World

Armor Augmentations & Custom Upgrades — Monster Hunter: World Guide

Enhance your endgame builds in Monster Hunter: World with Armor Augmentations and Custom Upgrades. Boost defensive capabilities and survivability with these ad.

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Armor Augmentations & Custom Upgrades

Once you've reached the endgame of Monster Hunter: World, simply upgrading your armor with Armor Spheres will no longer be enough to maximize your defensive capabilities. This is where Armor Augmentations and Custom Upgrades come into play, offering powerful enhancements that can significantly boost your survivability and fine-tune your builds. These advanced modifications become available after reaching specific milestones and require rare materials.

Unlocking Armor Augmentations

Armor Augmentations are a crucial step in pushing your armor's defensive potential beyond its base limits. They allow you to increase the maximum upgrade level of a piece of armor, letting you pour even more Armor Spheres into it for higher defense values.

  • Requirement: To unlock Armor Augmentations, you must first reach Hunter Rank (HR) 50 and complete the Special Assignment quest "Thunderous Rumble in the Highlands," which pits you against the Tempered Kirin.
  • The Elder Melder: After completing this quest, speak to the Elder Melder in Astera. She will explain the augmentation process and unlock the option at the Smithy.
  • Augmentation Materials: The primary materials for augmenting armor are Streamstones. These rare items drop from Tempered Elder Dragons. The type of Streamstone required depends on the rarity of the armor piece you wish to augment:
    • Warrior's Streamstone (Armor): Used for augmenting Rarity 6 and Rarity 7 armor pieces.
    • Hero's Streamstone (Armor): Required for augmenting Rarity 8 armor pieces.
  • Where to Find Streamstones:
    • Tempered Elder Dragon Investigations: The most reliable source. Look for investigations with purple rewards. Higher threat level Tempered Elder Dragons (Threat Level 3, e.g., Tempered Nergigante, Teostra, Kushala Daora) have a higher chance of dropping Hero's Streamstones.
    • Arch-Tempered Elder Dragons: These even tougher variants offer a greater chance at rare Streamstones, including Hero's Streamstones.
    • Event Quests: Keep an eye out for specific event quests that reward Streamstones.
  • Augmentation Process:
    1. Visit the Smithy in Astera or Seliana.
    2. Select "Augment Armor."
    3. Choose the armor piece you wish to augment.
    4. Confirm the augmentation using the required Streamstones and a small fee of Zenny.
    5. Once augmented, the armor piece's maximum upgrade level will increase, allowing you to further enhance its defense with Armor Spheres.

Custom Upgrades (Iceborne Expansion)

For those who own the Iceborne expansion, Custom Upgrades take armor customization to an entirely new level, allowing you to add specific bonuses to your Master Rank armor pieces. This system is unlocked much later in the endgame and provides incredible flexibility for optimizing your builds.

  • Requirement: Custom Upgrades become available after completing the main story of Iceborne and reaching Master Rank (MR) 100. You'll then need to complete the Special Assignment quest "The New World" which involves facing the Ruiner Nergigante.
  • The Guiding Lands: The core of Custom Upgrades revolves around materials gathered exclusively from the Guiding Lands. Different regions in the Guiding Lands (Forest, Wildspire, Coral, Volcanic, Tundra) yield unique materials from their respective monsters.
  • Types of Custom Upgrades: Each armor piece can receive multiple Custom Upgrades, offering various benefits:
    • Defense Up: Increases the armor's base defense value. Requires materials like Spiritvein Slogbone and Tempered Hide from the Guiding Lands.
    • Element Resistance Up: Boosts resistance to a specific element (Fire, Water, Thunder, Ice, Dragon). Requires elemental materials from the Guiding Lands, e.g., Fulgurbug for Thunder Res, Coral Pukei-Pukei Fin for Water Res.
    • Health Augment: Adds a small amount of health regeneration to the armor. This is a highly sought-after upgrade. Requires materials like Tempered Dragonsblood and Spiritvein Solidbone.
    • Slot Upgrade: Increases the number of decoration slots on the armor piece or upgrades an existing slot to a higher level (e.g., from Level 1 to Level 2). Requires rare Guiding Lands materials such as Tempered Glimmerpelt or Great Spiritvein Gem.
    • Affinity Up: Grants a small boost to affinity (critical hit chance). Requires materials like Tempered Blastscale or Spiritvein Gem Shard.
  • Gathering Materials in the Guiding Lands:
    • Hunt Monsters: Each monster in the Guiding Lands drops specific materials. Higher region levels and Tempered monsters yield rarer materials.
    • Break Parts: Focus on breaking monster parts for additional material drops.
    • Gathering Nodes: Mining outcrops and bonepiles in the Guiding Lands also provide unique materials necessary for upgrades.
    • Lure Monsters: Use monster lures at the Handler to summon specific monsters you need materials from.
  • Custom Upgrade Process:
    1. Visit the Smithy in Seliana.
    2. Select "Custom Upgrades."
    3. Choose the Master Rank armor piece you wish to upgrade.
    4. Select the desired upgrade type. Note that each upgrade has a "cost" in terms of "upgrade points" and specific Guiding Lands materials.
    5. Confirm the upgrade. Each armor piece has a limited number of upgrade points, so choose wisely! You can reset upgrades, but you won't get materials back.

Mastering both Armor Augmentations and Custom Upgrades is essential for any serious hunter looking to conquer the most challenging content in Monster Hunter: World and Iceborne. Experiment with different upgrades to tailor your armor to your playstyle and the monsters you face!