[Top 10] Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Best Armor Sets (Early To Late Game)

Updated:

22 Feb 2024

There are thirty-six armor sets in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of The Kingdom. That’s double the amount of its predecessor, Breath of the Wild, and while certain sets have made a comeback, there is an abundance of new armor that is completely unique to Tears of the Kingdom.

Whether you want something with the best stats, most useful effect, or coolest design, this game has it all with many of the new armor directly relating to the storyline. With so many options, it can be hard to choose what you need, so here is our list of the best armor sets, when to use them, and how to find them.

10. Climbing Gear Set

Link in the Climbing Gear Set ready to explore the mountains.

Hyrule’s Surface on its own is incredible and vast, but with the addition of the Depths and Sky to discover, mobility is vital, especially if exploring is your favorite part of the game.While you can fast-travel and ascend, there are many parts of the game where good old-fashioned climbing is your only option. Because of this, we recommend finding this set early on.

Made up of the Climber’s Bandana, Climber’s Gear, and Climbing Boots, each piece adds +1 to climbing speed. When worn as a set, jumping uses less stamina.

What Makes the Climbing Gear Set Great?

Climbing can be fun, but sometimes you’re 648 Korok Seeds in and all you want is to reach the top. At times like this, increased climbing speed is indispensable.
You can escape enemies quickly. When you’ve gotten yourself into a bind, your weapons have all broken and you’re all out of bomb flowers, pop this set on and quickly climb out of reach of enemies.
You can travel farther and faster without the use of elixirs or food. Since this set saves on stamina, you’ll be able to reach places you might not otherwise have had the stamina for.

Armor Stats:

Base Defense: 9
Special Effects: Climb Speed Up
Set Bonus: Climbing Stamina Up

How to Get the Climbing Gear Set:

This set is pretty simple to find early on in your playthrough. You may come across Meeshy (you’ll know her by her iconic mushroom outfit), who will give you the coordinates to Misko’s treasure. One of those marks will be the Climber’s Gear chest piece. However, you do not need to talk to her to find the items.

Climber’s Bandana: This chest is found inside Polymus Mountain Cave. You will have to climb slick walls, so make sure you have some Sticky Lizard or Frog elixirs.

Climber’s Gear: This one is the easiest to get to. Found inside the North Hyrule Pain Cave near New Serenne Stable. The chest is found behind a waterfall at the back of the cave.

Climbing Boots: The Climbing boots are inside the Upland Zorana Byroad Cave southwest of Zora’s domain and are the most complicated to obtain. The chest is found under the stairs in a flooded room.

9. Glide Armor Set

Link living out his Rito fantasy in the Glide Armor Set. If only Revali were still around to see this.

In a game where half the story takes place flying around the sky, nothing is more useful than this armor. Since all you need is a bit of dexterity to obtain these items, they are relatively easy to get and a good option for early on.

Made up of the Glide Mask, the Glide Shirt, and the Glide Tights, this set is crafted with extra fabric that catches the air giving you a winged appearance that’ll have you fit right in with the Rito.

The wings allow increased motion range when diving for far more precision when gliding and landing. You will also glide much faster in the sky than when using a paraglider. Upgrade this armor to level two to entirely eliminate fall damage.

What Makes the Glide Armor Set Great?

You will no longer have to worry about opening your paraglider at just the right time as you will be completely safe falling from any distance.
Even seasoned players make mistakes and fall out of the sky. We’ve all seen the ragdoll clips on Reddit. With this armor, you can avoid those silly mistakes, unless, of course, you want to test out the physics on poor Link.
If you time it correctly, you can increase your speed with the paraglider. After diving, open your Glide Armor wings, then quickly open your paraglider. You will retain the momentum from the armor while gaining the distance of the paraglider.

Armor Stats:

Base Defense: 6
Special Effect: Skydive Mobility Up
Set Bonus: Impact Proof

How to Get the Glide Armor Set:

Each set is found on a sky island and is gifted as a reward for completing the Dive Ceremony challenge given by a construct.

Glide Mask- Found on Valor Island in the South Lanayru Sky Archipelago which can be reached from Mount Lanayru Skyview Tower.

Glide Shirt- Found on Courage Island which is north of Central Hyrule and can be reached from Lindor’s Brow Skyview Tower.

Glide Tights- Found on Bravery Island in the North Hyrule Sky Archipelago which can be reached from the Thyphlo Ruins Skyview Tower.

8. Mystic Set

Link in the Mystic Set, almost indistinguishable from the Lord of the Mountain himself.

The Mystic Set is one of the most beautiful armor sets in the game. With its soft light blue color, long white hair, and white markings, this set is modeled after the majestic Lord of the Mountain. It also bears a striking resemblance to Bubbulfrogs, and Blupees as well. When you consider the special effects of this armor, you will see that the similarities don’t end with appearance.

The amazing thing about the Mystic armor is that instead of taking damage and losing hearts while wearing it, you will lose rupees instead. Therefore, in theory, you could essentially live forever, so long as you have enough money.

Comprised of the Mystic Headpiece, Mystic Robe, and Mystic Trousers, this set is simple to obtain as you only need one thing: Bubbul Gems. We recommend finding this early on.

What Makes the Mystic Set Great?

If you have enough rupees you could basically live forever.
This armor looks rad. You can live out your magical little fella fantasy.
Finding Bubbul Gems is easy since there are Bubbulfrogs in nearly every cave across Hyrule, but you might feel bad shooting so many of them…
When you get Bubbul Gems, you will also get rupees so you’ll hit two birds with one frog.

Armor Stats:

Base Defense: 9
Special Effect: Rupee Padding
Set Bonus: None

How to Get the Mystic Set:

You will need to purchase each piece at Koltin’s Shop by trading Bubbul Gems. Koltin can be found outside of towns and settlements, but only at night. When you find him, he will offer various items consecutively, and you will have to buy each item before he offers the mystic items. So while the Mystic Headpiece may only cost 5 Bubbul gems on its own, you will spend a total of 45 gems.

Mystic Headpiece: 5 -> 45 gems

Mystic Robe: 3-> 7 gems

Mystic trousers: 4-> 20 gems

One thing to note is that before you can trade with Koltin, you will have to complete the “The Hunt for Bubbul Gems!” side quest.

7. Phantom Set

A phantom in the night.

The Phantom Set is a rare set of armor reminiscent of armored phantoms that terrorized great heroes. It is modeled after the phantom enemies that first appeared in Phantom Hourglass, who could kill Link in one swipe and had high defensive capabilities. They also had unique skills like the ability to walk through lava.

While you can’t walk through lava in this set (and survive) its defensive properties make it worthwhile. Comprised of the Phantom Helmet, Phantom Armor, and Phantom Grieves, each piece has a base defense of 8 for a total of 24, though you cannot upgrade this armor.

Get this armor early on when you don’t have a ton of materials, but still need a defense boost to protect against enemies much stronger than you.

What Makes the Phantom Set Great?

Each piece comes with an added attack bonus so defeating enemies will be easier.
The base defense is higher than the other armor you can find early on.
You get it as strong as it comes so you don’t have to go through the long process of upgrading it.

Armor Stats:

Base Defense: 24
Special Effect: Attack Up
Set Bonus: None

How to Get the Phantom Set:

Although this armor appears in Breath of the Wild, you can only get it through DLC, unlike Tears of the Kingdom where it can be found in caves across Hyrule.

Phantom Helmet- The Phantom Helmet is found in a chest inside Puffer Beach Overhead Cave.

Phantom Armor- The chest piece is found in the Tamio River Downstream Cave, which is at the end of the river in Tabantha Frontier. Open the chest behind the breakable wall.

Phantom Greaves- The greaves are found in the Eastern Barrens on the east side of Gerudo Desert. You will come across a field of sinkholes that lead down to the Ancient Altar Ruins. The middle sinkhole brings you to the chest.

6. Frostbite Set

Link looking dazzling in the Frostbite Set.

The Frostbite Set is one of three elemental armor sets modeled after each of the dragons found in Tears of the Kingdom. Without giving any spoilers, dragons play a huge role in the storyline and lore of Hyrule which makes these armors incredibly special.

This one is based on Naydra, the spirit of ice taken the form of a dragon, and was originally made for rituals and worship of her at the Spring of Wisdom.

By wearing the Frostbite armor, you will gain a cold-weather bonus in cold environments, each piece giving you plus one attack bonus. When worn as a set, you will gain the ability to produce a charged frost attack, similar to Naydra’s.

Something to note is that it does not provide protection against extreme cold so you may have to use a warming elixir while wearing it.

The Frostbite set is best to get mid-game as you will need a fair amount of materials to reach it.

What Makes the Frostbite Set Great?

First of all, it looks epic. Who doesn’t want to look like a dragon?
Elemental powers are super strong in battle. You can use your Cold Weather Charge to freeze enemies before landing the final blow.
You get to explore the greatest region in the game! The Hebra region is quiet and full of mysteries so it is nice to get a reward for exploring it.

Armor Stats:

Base Defense: 6
Special Effect: Cold Weather Attack
Set Bonus: Cold Weather Charge

How to Get the Frostbite Set:

Each piece is found in a chest at the back of a cave in the Hebra region. Be prepared to fight enemies and ensure you have the proper armor, elixirs, or food to handle the cold weather.

Frostbite Headdress: Found in the Lake Kilsie Cave near Hebra Mountains.

Frostbite Shirt: Found in the Brightcap Cave just south of Rito Village.

Frostbite Trousers: Found in the Hebra Headspring Cave which is northeast of the Rospro Pass Skyview Tower.

5. Ember Set

Link in the Ember Set pondering life's greatest questions.

This is the second set of elemental armor modeled after the three dragons, this one is based on Dinraal, who is the spirit of fire in the form of a dragon. It is made from heat-absorbing cloth that produces flame in high-temperature environments.

Similar to its sister, this armor heightens your attack in hot weather and gives you a charged flame attack when worn as a set. Getting the Ember set is a similar idea to the Frostbite set, so the order you get them is interchangeable. As for me, I prefer Hebra to Eldin, so I always go there first.

What Makes the Ember Set Great?

Like the other dragon armor, it looks so cool, in fact, it’s visually my favorite of the three. The two horns with the ruby embedded between them give Link a very princely appeal different from the other two which look more like religious ritual garb.
The flame blast is very powerful and does a fair amount of damage to enemies.
If you’re creative enough, you can find many uses for this set, like lighting fires with the flame attack to create updrafts.

Armor Stats:

Base Defense: 6
Special Effect: Hot Weather Attack
Set Bonus: Hot Weather Charge

How to Get the Ember Set:

Each item is found in the Eldin region, so prepare flame-resistant food and elixirs or wear the Flamebreaker armor.

Ember Headdress: Found inside a chest in the YunoboCo HQ South Cave in Eldin.

Ember Shirt: Found inside a chest in the Goronbi River Cave. There are monsters camped outside of this cave, so be prepared to fight.

Ember Trousers: Found inside a chest in the Cephla Lake Cave in Eldin Canyon. Entering this cave will automatically start the “Misko’s Cave of Chests” side quest.

4. Zonaite Set

Link in the Zonaite Set.

The Zonaite Set uses the Zonai tech that basically makes up the entire game. Per the name, it is made from Zonaite and imbued with magic that will improve the efficiency of Zonai devices by making your Energy Cells last significantly longer. Additionally, wearing the armor gives you a recharge boost bonus, so it will take your devices much less time to recharge.

With a base defense of 12 that maxes out at 84, this set has the best defense in the entire game. While it’s quite useful, each piece is scattered across the sky islands making them difficult to obtain, especially if you don’t have the proper materials. Therefore, it’s best to get this after you’ve collected a decent inventory of Zonai devices and other items.

What Makes the Zonaite Set Great?

Since there’s a Zonaite Device for pretty much everything in Tears of the Kingdom, you will get a lot of use out of this armor.
Energy Cells will last longer, meaning you can get more mileage out of whatever Zonaite Devices you are using.
It has the highest defense in the game, so you can become close to indestructible when wearing this armor.
The storyline is connected to the Zonai, so wearing this armor feels nostalgic in a way.

Armor Stats:

Base Defense: 12
Max Defense: 84
Special Effect: Energy Up
Set Bonus: Energy Recharge Up

How to get the Zonaite Set:

Each piece of this set is found on a different sky island. You will want to make sure you have plenty of Zonai Devices like rockets and wings to improve mobility once you’re up in the air. It will also be helpful to have the Zora Armor to ascend waterfalls to certain islands.

Zonaite Helm: Found on Lightcast Island over the Tabantha region. It will be freezing, so be prepared to stave off the cold. You must complete a puzzle to reach the chest that contains the Helm.

Zonaite Waistguard: Found on Zonaite Forge Island in the East Necluda Sky. Make sure you have the Glide Set to aid you through the wind tunnel and you will come to Yansamin Shrine. Place a hydrant in the lava behind the shrine and ascend to a hidden room containing the chest.

Zonaite Shin Guards: Found on a circular island near the Akkala Sky Mine in Akkala Sea Sky. Complete the puzzle and open the chest containing the shin guards.

3. Charged Set

Link in the Charged Set.

The Charged Set is the last elemental armor set modeled after a dragon and by far the most difficult to obtain. Based off of Farosh, the spirit of lightning that takes the form of a dragon, this armor grants lightning powers. It is made using conductive materials which can produce electricity.

Like the Frostbite Armor, you will gain an attack bonus and a lighting charged attack when worn in stormy weather.

The Charged set is more difficult to obtain than its younger sisters as you will have to play through quite a bit of story before this set is available. You must advance the main quest by completing all four of the “Regional Phenomena” quests and THEN the “Secret of the Ring Ruins” quest.

What Makes the Charged Set Great?

Like the other two dragon sets, you will look super cool!
Lightning has the highest base damage of the elemental powers, so your already formidable attacks will also have an attack bonus on them. Talk about power!
Thunderstorms can happen anywhere on the map, so you are not restricted by region like the other two elemental armors.

Armor Stats:

Base Defense: 9
Special Effect: Stormy Weather Attack
Set Bonus: Stormy Weather Charge

How to Get the Charged Set:

Again, you will have to complete a big chunk of the story before you can access the areas where these pieces are located, so come back here when you complete the “Regional Phenomena” and “Secret of the Ring Ruins” quests.

After that, here are the locations:

Charged Headdress: Near Dracozu Lake in the Faron Grasslands, this piece is found in a chest inside the blocked ruin of Dracozu River.

Charged Shirt: Near the Spring of Courage on the eastern coast of Dracozu Lake, you will find a lit passageway. Go up the stairs and open the chest that contains the shirt.

Charged Trousers: Near Damel Forest at the southern part of Dracozu Lake, destroy the rock wall and open the chest.

2. Evil Spirit Set

An unrecognizable Link in the Evil Spirit Set.

The Evil Spirit armor is one of the most difficult sets to obtain in the entire game as you will have to solve all three labyrinths, making this a late-game article, but the challenge is well worth it.

This armor boasts a stealth effect and increases attack damage when using bone weapons. Equipping the full set allows you to befriend Stal enemies and travel safely through the night.

Modeled after the Demon King himself, you will blend right in with monsters, malice, and gloom with this armor.

What Makes the Evil Spirit Set Great?

If you’ve ever wanted the chance to be the villain, you will certainly look the part in this set.
Traveling at night becomes much more convenient, gone are the days where you are unexpectedly interrupted by Stal enemies .
The stealth effect allows you to get close to enemies without them noticing, even during the day.
The bone weapon proficiency is great because bone weapons are super easy to make, meaning you can have a plethora of powerful weapons.

Armor Stats:

Base Defense: 12
Special Effect: Stealth Up
Set Bonus: Disguise + Bone Weapon Proficiency

How to get the Evil Spirit Set:

Evil Spirit Mask: Found in the South Lomei Depths Labyrinth, but first you must make it to the center of the labyrinth on the surface and complete the South Lomei Prophecy Side Quest.

Evil Spirit Armor: Found in the Lomei Depths Labyrinth, but first you will need to complete the Lomei Labyrinth Island Prophecy Side Quest which includes solving the labyrinth in the Sky, the Surface, and the Depths.

Evil Spirit Greaves: Found in the North Lomei Depths Labyrinth, but first you must make it to the center of the labyrinth on the surface and complete the North Lomei Prophecy Side Quest.

1. Ancient Hero’s Aspect

This single piece of armor is the most difficult and time-consuming piece to find in the entire game and that’s because it is your prize for completing every shrine. For that reason, it is the first on the list and the armor that you will only be able to get after you’ve put in many, many hours.

Modeled after the first ancient hero, this single piece of armor transforms Link into a Zonai-adjacent creature. It is said to contain the spirit of the ancient hero who once saved humanity from the calamity which refers to what could possibly be the very first incarnation of Link.

Although it is only one piece, it takes up all three armor slots so you cannot equip other types of armor while this one is equipped. With a base defense of 12 and a max of 84, this armor grants a Master Sword Beam Up set bonus.

What Makes the Ancient Hero’s Aspect Great?

The Master Sword Beam Up bonus creates a beam that is much stronger and goes farther.
Wearing this set will imbue you with a nostalgia for the ancient hero whom we have only heard about through stories.
You will gain this along with the pride of completing every shrine in the game.
The already powerful Sword that Seals the Darkness becomes even more powerful.

Armor Stats:

Base Defense: 12
Special Effect: None
Set Bonus: Master Sword Beam Up

How to Get the Ancient Hero’s Aspect:

After completing all 152 shrines in the game, Rauru’s disembodied voice will tell you to revisit the Temple of Time on the Great Sky Island where you will find a chest that contains this piece.

So there we have it! What armor are you most excited to try out and which armor is the most useful?