God of War: Ragnarok — Best Early Game Armor

The early parts of God of War: Ragnarok are the most difficult because you have so few tools and so much low-quality equipment supplementing the few things you can do. With armor being the primary driver of early build crafting and ability acquisition, knowing what to upgrade to and when is crucial.

Thankfully, a couple of outstanding armor options available early in the game can give you an edge or at least help keep you alive long enough to learn a bit about what’s kicking in your teeth. Here are the best armor pieces available early in God of War: Ragnarok.

Nidavellir’s Finest Plackart and Set

Healing is at a premium early in a first playthrough of Ragnarok, and anything that can give you extra stats and some easy heals is ideal. Nidavellir’s set does just that, making it the best early-game armor set.

How to Get the Nidavellir Set

Shortly after you get to Svartalfheim, you’ll make your way to the Bay of Bounty, where Mimir will ask a Favor of you: the sidequest In Service of Asgard.

Your task is to destroy three mining towers across the Bay. Doing so awards you experience, currency, and crafting materials, including Nidavellir Ore. You can take the Ore to Sindri or Brok to craft the:

• Nidavellir’s Finest Plackart Chest Armor
• Nidavellir’s Finest Arm Guards
• Nidavellir’s Finest Waist Guard

We highly recommend completing the Favor and preparing the whole set.

The Plackart is the most important because with it equipped, your Stun Grabs (finishers activated by pressing the right R3 stick) activate a two-second Health Burst. It doesn’t matter if you kill the enemy with the grab or not; the burst happens either way.

The Nidavellir’s Wrist and Waist Guards reduce the rate at which an enemy’s Stun gauge degrades by 50% with one equipped or 100% with two. This pairs nicely with the chest-piece, giving you much more time to apply enough Stun status to let the grab occur.

Sol’s Spaulders of Courage

Melee — or fist — damage is one of the cores of combat in God of War: Ragnarok, and Sol’s Spaulders of Courage make it much more powerful. They also provide a significant boost to your Vitality stat, which directly governs the amount of health you have.

How to Get Sol’s Spaulders of Courage

You’ll have your chance to acquire Sol’s Spaulders once you reach Chapter 4: The Reckoning, which takes you to Vanaheim. Crafting them only takes 5,000 Hacksilver (if you need more, here’s how to get it), so if you’ve saved up a little, make them right away.

The Spaulders increase your melee damage based on how much Rage meter you have and will spend Rage rather than Health if taking damage would otherwise kill you. Paired with some upgraded Nidavellir’s Wrist and Waist Guards, you’ll not only be dealing tons of damage, your enemy Stun gauge will have a hard time depleting, making a quick finisher that much easier.

We recommend crafting those two armors early in God of War: Ragnarok and upgrading them if they suit your playstyle. There are plenty of other great options as you approach late and endgame, but if you’re looking for something consistent you can get within a few hours, these two sets are our picks. For much more on God of War: Ragnarok, including a zone-by-zone set of collectibles guides, check out our guides hub.