V Rising Armor Tier List

V Rising armor sets are progression-based. As you level up and learn new recipes, you’ll get increasingly better armor. That said, there are armor sets within each of these progression stages that we can rate based on effectiveness. Here’s my V Rising armor tier list.

Best V Rising Armor Tier List

The armor sets in V Rising are made from the following bases that don’t have special stats:

• Nightstalker Armor (Early game)
• Hollowfang Armor (Mid game)
• Dawnthorn Armor (Pre-Late game)

We’ll rate all armor sets within each of these three categories from early game to pre-late game. Furthermore, I’ll also rate the Dracula armor sets within their own special category as late-game armor. Since there are four armors per category, I’ll use a linear numbered list with “1.” being the best and “4.” being situational. Lastly, this list is mostly for PVE, but unlike our PVE Spell tier list, a lot of the arguments below should apply to PVP as well.

Nightstalker Armor Category (Early Game)

For the early game, you’ll craft your first four special armor sets from the Nightstalker Armor. Here are the best ones:

1. Grim Ranger Armor: I prefer the Grim Ranger armor out of all four because the Weapon Cooldown recovery rate it gives you is universally useful across all builds. Best of all, you just need 2 pieces of it.
2. Warlock Armor: The Warlock armor gives you Spell Leech, which is incredibly useful for spell damage builds early to get some extra HP from each cast. If you don’t want the extra gear, Level I would mix it with Grim Ranger with 2 armor pieces from both.
3. Shadewalker Armor: I’m not the biggest fan of the Shadewalker 2 Piece boost, but the 4 Piece boost to movement speed feels great.
4. Marauder Armor: Just a passive increase to HP that you won’t necessarily need once you get used to dodging and countering at the right time.

Besides research, you can buy the recipes for all of these at the Farbane Woods merchants. Their stock resets so check back often if they don’t sell the specific recipe you’re looking for.

Hollowfang Armor Category (Mid-Game)

As you start roaming around Dunley’s Farm, you’ll start picking up the Hollowfang Armor and crafting mid-game armor sets. Here are their ratings:

1. Dark Magus: The Dark Magus offers the best stats by far, with a Critical Strike Chance increase for spells. I find that Crit Chance is usually better than Crit Damage for sustained damage. Plus, at 4 Pieces, we’ll get some Spell Leech. Accompany this with a Spell Damage necklace and start blasting.
2. Blood Hunter Armor: This armor is in the second-best spot purely because of the Weapon Cooldown Recovery Rate increase. Firing off more skills and spells is a great way to increase your DPS. The damage reduction is a nice added bonus.
3. Duskwatcher Armor: The Duskwatcher armor gives you more mobility with a speed boost and better crits on 4 Pieces. I prefer it over the HP boosts from Crimson Templar in the mid-game.
4. Crimson Templar: The HP boost is decent, but you don’t want to be getting hit that much, so its value is questionable. That said, the Weapon Skill Leech is pretty good, but the other armor sets in this category outshine it.

You can buy recipes for these armors at the Dunley Farmland merchants by trading with them in Human form, hich you can get by defeating Bane the Shadowblade.

Dawnthorn Armor Category (Pre-Late Game)

The Dawnthorn-crafted armor sets are your best armor options before you get Dracula armor sets. The best ones are:

1. Dread Plate Armor: I put this one as the best due to the PVE co-op factor of late-game boss fights where you might be getting healed by Blood Magic from another player. This set will increase healing and boost your Weapon Skill cooldowns, which is incredibly valuable for DPS.
2. Maleficer Scholar Armor: This is the Spell Cooldown reduction armor of the bunch, and it’s valuable for the same reasons. Plus, you’ll get some HP off of your spells with the Spell Leech.
3. Shadowmoon Armor: I put this one third, but it’s essentially the same as the Maleficer armor if you’re going for a weapon-based build.
4. Grim Knight: Lastly, we have the Grim Knight armor, which I put lowest because I don’t put much value into Max Health increase. That said, the 1.2 boost to Physical and Spell damage is nice, though not as impactful as some of the upgrades above.

Dracula Armor Category (Late Game)

Finally, here are my ratings for Dracula armor sets:

1. Dracula’s Maleficer Armor: All of the stat bonuses of this armor are actively useful and universally optimal for spell and hybrid builds. You get Spell-based cooldown reduction, leech, and crit chance, all of which go toward greatly increasing your DPS after a Veil.
2. Dracula’s Dread Armor: I value Weapon Cooldown Reduction highly, so the Dread Armor takes the second spot. You’ll even get extra healing from self-heals and ally heals, plus a hefty damage boost to Veil attacks.
3. Dracula’s Shadow Armor: If you’re going for a Longbow build, then the Shadow Armor is incredible for burst damage from a fully charged shot after a Veil.
4. Dracula’s Grim Armor: This is your standardized armor set for non-specific builds. It’s not the greatest but it’ll suit a playstyle that doesn’t focus on spells or weapon attacks particularly.

That’s it for my best V Rising Armor tier list. For more V Rising guides, check out my best Necromancer build.