Monster Hunter Now Best Gear – Recommendations For Each Slot!

What is the Monster Hunter Now best gear? Whenever you start a new RPG, this is the question that’s often on your lips. In this guide, I aim to help you determine that. Given that this is pretty subjective, and is often determined by your choice of weapon, it’s tough to provide a definitive answer. So, what I’ll do, is take a look at the skills available on the gear and point towards the most helpful. I’ll also detail what gear is best with what weapon.

Monster Hunter Now is the latest adventure by Niantic, the location-based masters behind Pokémon GO and Pikmin Bloom. This time around, Niantic is drawing inspiration from Monster Hunter. You explore your neighbourhood, battling monsters, looting materials, and making new friends.

You can grab Monster Hunter Now from Google Play. I’ve also put together Monster Hunter Now different weapons, Monster Hunter Now pre-registration rewards, and Monster Hunter Now joystick guides.

Monster Hunter Now Best Gear

Now, let’s take a look at what I consider to be the Monster Hunter Now best gear.

Best Weapon

This is subjective, as the weapon you choose depends on how you want to play. Here’s a breakdown of what we consider to be the styles of each weapon:

• Sword and Shield:
  • Defense-focused
  • Excellent blocks
  • Fast attacks
• Great Sword:
  • Offense-focused
  • Slow attacks
  • Hard hitting
  • Great sever ability
• Long Sword:
  • Greater mobility than Great Sword
  • Solid damage
  • Long combos
• Hammer:
  • Highest damage
  • Charge attacks
  • High breaking potential
  • Stuns
• Bow:
  • Ranged attacks
  • Fast attacks
  • Elemental attacks
• Light Bowgun:
  • Great mobility
  • Fast reloads
  • Different bullets

So, you choose the weapon based on your preferred style. If you favour mobility, melee options include Long Sword and Sword and Shield, while both ranged options work out fine. For maximum damage, the Hammer and Great Sword are your best bets.

Best Weapons Within Each Type

If we’re talking best weapon within each type, like best Great Sword or Bow, that’s a little easier to answer. First off, you want to use a weapon that’s strong against your monster’s weakness. This will deal much more damage than any other weapon.

So, in that sense, the best weapon is the one that triggers an elemental weakness first. After that, the weapons are broadly the same, aside from their ‘Equipment Skills’, which differ per weapon. Some don’t even have an equipment skill.

This is subjective, though I’d argue that you want to focus on equipment skills that boost your damage potential. For example, the Great Sword ‘Blooming Blade’ gains a massive 30% damage bonus when attacking a monster from behind.

The equipment skills are the same for each weapon crafted from the same monster, so here’s what we consider to be the best monster weapons in Monster Hunter Now:

• Pukei-Pukei – Increased damage when attacking from behind
• Great Girros – Increased damage when attacking from behind
• Jyuratodus – Increased damage and defence when beneath 15% HP
• Anjanath – Increases damage and defence as the hunt timer runs out

Best Armour

What about the best armour sets in Monster Hunter Now? Well, this is far less subjective than weapons, given the sheer number of skills you can unlock for each piece.

First off though, bear in mind that using a set that’s strong against a particular monster’s element should be the first priority. This will provide a huge defensive boost, helping you to survive.

After that, it’s a case of looking at the gear pieces and determining what pieces are most valuable to you. Again, I’d recommend focusing on maximising your damage potential, as the best defence is a good offence, after all.

Here’s what I consider to be the best armour pieces in the game:

• Headgear:
  • Leather Headgear: Critical Eye
  • Kulu Headpiece: Lock On / Critical Eye
  • Pukei Hood: Focus
  • Barroth Helm: Offensive Guard
  • Lumu Hat: Concentration
  • Jyura Helm: Last Stand
  • Anja Helm: Fire Attack
  • Rathian Helm: Poison Attack
  • Legiana Helm: Ice Attack
  • Diablos Helm: Heroics x2
  • Rathalos Helm: Fire Attack / Attack Boost
• Mail:
  • Leather Mail: Attack Boost
  • Jagras Mail: Rising Tide
  • Pukei Mail: Focus
  • Barroth Mail: Offensive Guard x2
  • Jyura Mail: Water Attack / Last Stand
  • Anja Mail: Special Boost x2
  • Rathian Mail: Poison Attack x2
  • Diablos Mail: Slugger / Heroics
  • Rathalos Mail: Weakness Exploit x2
• Gloves:
  • Jagras Vambraces: Water Attack
  • Kulu Vambraces: Last Stand / Critical Eye
  • Pukei Vambraces: Poison Attack
  • Girros Vambraces: Sneak Attack
  • Lumu Vambraces: Concentration
  • Jyura Vambraces: Water Attack x2
  • Anja Vambraces: Fire Attack x2
  • Rathian Vambraces: Lock On / Burst x2
  • Diablos Vambraces: Heroics / Partbreaker
  • Rathalos Vambraces: Attack Boost
• Belt:
  • Jagras Coil: Fortify x2 / Rising Tide
  • Kulu Coil: Last Stand
  • Pukei Coil: Poison Attack x2
  • Girros Coil: Paralysis Attack
  • Anja Coil: Special Boost
  • Rathian Coil: Burst
  • Legiana Coil: Ice Attack
  • Diablos Coil: Partbreaker / Offensive Guard
  • Rathalos Coil: Focus / Fire Attack
• Trousers
  • Jagras Greaves: Water Attack x2
  • Kulu Greaves: Critical Eye x2
  • Girros Greaves: Paralysis Attack
  • Jyura Greaves: Focus x2 / Last Stand
  • Diablos Greaves: Slugger / Partbreaker
  • Rathalos Greaves: Weakness Exploit

Best Armour Piece For Each Slot

So, with the above in mind, here are what I consider to be the best parts when not taking into account elemental bonuses:

• Headgear:
  • Kulu Headpiece
  • Diablos Helm
• Mail:
  • Anja Mail
  • Rathalos Mail
• Gloves:
  • Kulu Vambraces
  • Rathian Vambraces
  • Diablos Vambraces
• Belt: Jagras Coil
• Trousers:
  • Kulu Greaves
  • Jyura Greaves
  • Diablos Greaves

There are better parts to use if you use specific weapons, but we can go into more detail in separate build guides.