If you’ve spent even a few hours running through Monster Hunter Wilds’ opening biomes, you’ve probably seen other hunters running around with the sleek, silver-plated guild knight monster hunter wilds set and wondered how to get your hands on it. I stumbled on the first piece halfway through my third Great Jaggi hunt, and spent the next three days grinding out the rest to test its perks against every early-game monster I could find. This set isn’t just a pretty cosmetic, either — it’s one of the most well-balanced low-rank gear options for players who swap between melee and ranged weapons regularly, and it comes with a few hidden perks most new players miss entirely.
How to Unlock the Full Guild Knight Monster Hunter Wilds Set
I thought I could get the full set just by grinding random monsters at first, but that’s not how it works. Every piece of the Guild Knight set is tied to specific guild delivery quests, not monster drops, which is why so many players miss it early on. You’ll unlock the first quest as soon as you hit Hunter Rank 2, but you can’t access the full set until you hit HR 4 and clear the first Kulu-Ya-Ku urgent quest. Each piece requires you to turn in a mix of common foraging materials and low-rank monster parts, so you don’t have to grind any rare drops to put it together.
If you’ve been exploring biomes thoroughly instead of just rushing through main quests, you probably already have most of the required materials sitting in your item box. I only had to farm three extra Jaggi claws to finish my set, and the whole process took less than 15 minutes total. The full material list for each piece is as follows:
- Guild Knight Helm: 2 Flooded Coast Palm Fronds, 3 Jaggi Claws, 100 Zenny
- Guild Knight Mail: 3 Iron Ore, 4 Aptonoth Hide, 150 Zenny
- Guild Knight Vambraces: 2 Bone Shards, 3 Wroggi Poison Sacs, 120 Zenny
- Guild Knight Coil: 3 River Stone, 2 Kelbi Horns, 120 Zenny
- Guild Knight Greaves: 4 Lizard Skin, 2 Jaggi Scales, 100 Zenny
You can turn all these materials in at the supply clerk next to the quest board in Serpent’s Root Outpost, no extra hunting required if you’ve been picking up materials as you explore. You don’t need to defeat any rare or end-game low rank monsters to unlock this set, so you can get it within 10 hours of starting a new save.
Core Perks of the Guild Knight Armor Set
The biggest draw of the Guild Knight set is its balanced skill lineup that works for almost every playstyle, no matter what weapon you main. At full set bonus, you get three points of Guard Up, two points of Item Prolonger, and one point of Wide-Range, which is almost unheard of for a low-rank armor set. I main switch axe usually, and the Guard Up skill let me block roars and charge attacks I would have had to dive out of before, which cut my hunt times by almost 20% on average. If you main a ranged weapon like bow or light bowgun, the Item Prolonger skill makes your dash juice and demon drug buffs last 30% longer, so you don’t have to stop mid-fight to reapply buffs as often.
The Wide-Range skill is especially useful for co-op hunts, since any healing items you use will also apply to nearby party members without you having to spec into support skills separately. I tested this during a random 4-player Rathian hunt last week, and I was able to keep my whole party alive through three consecutive fire breath attacks just by using regular potions. That saved us from carting twice, and we finished the hunt three minutes faster than my previous solo run.
It’s not perfect, though. The set has pretty low fire resistance, so you’ll want to swap it out if you’re hunting Rathian or Anjanath until you can slot in fire resist decorations later in low rank. Its base defense is also a bit lower than monster-specific low rank sets, but the tradeoff for the universal skill set is more than worth it for most players.
Best Weapons to Pair With the Guild Knight Set
You can use this set with any weapon, but there are a few combinations that make it even more effective. I tested it with every weapon type over a week of hunts, and these pairings stood out the most. First, the sword and shield is a perfect match, since the Guard Up skill stacks with the weapon’s natural blocking ability, and the Wide-Range skill lets you support your party while dealing consistent damage. You don’t have to carry a separate support set for co-op hunts if you run this combo, which saves a ton of inventory space.
For melee players who prefer heavier weapons, the charge blade works great too. The Guard Up skill lets you block even unblockable attacks like Diablos’ charge without losing phials, so you can keep your damage output high even during the monster’s most aggressive phases. I was able to land three full ampereed elemental discharges during my last Diablos hunt with this combo, which is more than I’ve ever landed with my regular Diablos armor set.
If you main ranged, the light bowgun is the best pick. The Item Prolonger skill makes your status ammo coatings last longer, and you can use Wide-Range to heal your party while you stay back and apply status effects from a safe distance. You don’t need to swap out any armor pieces for these pairings — the base set’s skills are already optimized for all three of these weapon types out of the box. If you main a weapon that doesn’t use blocking, like dual blades or insect glaive, you can slot in one stamina surge decoration to replace the Guard Up skill’s value, and the set will still work perfectly for your playstyle.
How to Optimize the Guild Knight Set for End of Low Rank
A lot of players ditch the Guild Knight set as soon as they hit HR 5, but you can upgrade it to hold its own all the way through the end of low rank, if you know what you’re doing. First, you’ll want to upgrade each piece to level 3 at the smithy, which only requires common iron ore and monster bone materials you’ll get from regular hunts. Upgrading it will boost its defense to 120 per piece, which is on par with most HR 5 armor sets, and you’ll unlock two extra decoration slots across the full set.
I used my two slots to add one point of fire resistance and one point of stamina surge, which fixed the set’s biggest weakness and made it work for my insect glaive build too. You can also swap out the vambraces for the Kulu-Ya-Ku vambraces if you want an extra point of Affinity, but I preferred keeping the full set bonus for the extra Guard Up point. I used this upgraded set all the way through my first Rathalos hunt, and I didn’t take any more damage than party members running higher-rank dedicated damage sets.
Upgrading the full set to level 3 costs less than 1,000 Zenny total, so it’s a way cheaper option than grinding for a whole new armor set when you hit HR 5. You can sell any extra monster parts you would have used for a new set to make extra Zenny for decorations or weapon upgrades instead. If you plan to play a lot of co-op, keep this set even when you get to high rank — the Wide-Range and Item Prolonger combo works great for dedicated support builds even in end-game content.
If you’re looking for a versatile, easy-to-unlock armor set that works for every playstyle, the guild knight monster hunter wilds set is one of the best options you’ll find in early and mid low rank. It doesn’t require any rare grind, it works for both solo and co-op play, and you can upgrade it to last all the way through your first few high rank hunts if you don’t want to grind for new gear right away. I still keep a fully upgraded version in my inventory for random co-op sessions, even after I unlocked my high rank Nargacuga set. It’s easy to sleep on this set since it’s tied to delivery quests instead of big monster hunts, but it’s worth taking 10 minutes to put together as soon as you hit HR 4.