How to upgrade armor in Monster Hunter Wilds

By Jesse Lennox Published March 2, 2025

Staying alive shouldn’t be a surprising tip or trick you need to learn in Monster Hunter Wilds. While upgrading your weapons comes down to forging new ones with Gemma, which is made all the easier with the wishlist feature, the early hours of Monster Hunter Wilds will force you to make new armor sets if you want to increase your defense. Once you get a bit further into the story, though, you will be able to upgrade your existing armor so you can keep all your favorite perks and skills associated with it. Here is when you can upgrade your armor and how it works.

How to upgrade armor

A hunter upgrading armor in Monster Hunter Wilds. — Capcom

You won’t be able to upgrade your armor until the early parts of Chapter 2. Once you reach the Oilwell Basin region and can access the forge again, Gemma will tell you about armor upgrades.

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To upgrade any piece of armor, enter the forge and got to the Forge/Upgrade Armor menu. Select the currently equipped armor you want to upgrade, and you can now select Upgrade. This will pop open a new menu where you need to spend Armor Spheres to add XP to an armor. Add enough Spheres that it levels up and it will get stronger.

Normal Armor Spheres will give 10 points, Armor Sphere + 50 points, and Advanced Armor Spheres 200 points toward leveling up. However, each piece of armor can only be leveled up so many times so don’t spend one of your more expensive Spheres on a piece of gear that will max out before using all the points.

Armor Spehres are earned as rewards from quests and assignments. You can see if a quest will give you any, and what kinds, by looking at the quest info before accepting it.

Jesse Lennox has been a writer at Digital Trends for over four years and has no plans of stopping. He covers all things…

Gaming

The best Monster Hunter Wilds mods

A hunter dodges a monster in Monster Hunter Wilds.

Monster Hunter Wildsis is packed with more content than any previous game at launch. There are more weapons, armors to upgrade, and, of course, monsters to hunt. It will take a new player more than a few hours to learn all the tips and tricks, but experienced hunters can rush through the campaign and into the High Ranks fairly quickly. Either way, eventually, there will be some rough edges or aspects of the game that feel like they could be improved. Or, it might just be time for some fun additions. Modders provide nearly endless amounts of options to polish, add, and enhance the core experience. With such a popular title, there are hundreds of mods to look through. These are the best Monster Hunter Wilds mods you should try.
Shop Tweaks

Odds are most players never visit the item shop in Monster Hunter Wilds. For those who have, they know how woefully barebones the selection is. Shop Tweaks is a simple mod that gives you three options to add a much wider stock to purchase, including everything, consumables, or materials. The only things not included are tools, specific gatherables that reward you with points, and gems. This doesn't make all these items free, so you will still need cash on hand, but it will make preparing for a hunt much easier.
MHWilds Overlay

Gaming

The best meals to eat in Monster Hunter Wilds

A hunter eating fish in Monster Hunter Wilds

Most of the tips and tricks you will see for Monster Hunter Wilds will focus on things like your weapons, upgrading your armor, or playing with friends. Those are all important, but a filling meal before a hunt shouldn't be ignored. This isn't an excuse to see some delicious looking food getting made in shocking detail, but it gives your hunter some excellent buffs depending on the meal. The game will recommend a few basic meals, but you can get far more out of this system if you put your chef's hat on yourself and start mixing and matching ingredients. If you need some inspiration on what meals to cook, here are a few of the best.
Best meals in Monster Hunter Wilds

Meals can be made either in your tent at the base camp or using the portable BBQ grill you get early on while out in the wild. Each meal has three parts: a ration, additional ingredients, and a finishing touch. That last part is optional but gives you extra buffs so it shouldn't be left out if you have the option.
Best attack meal
If you want to give your attack the biggest buff, here's a recipe that increases your attack stat +2, health +50, and stamina +150:

Gaming

Where to get Mystery Bones in Monster Hunter Wilds

Bonepile for Mystery Bones in Monster Hunter Wilds.

Mystery Bones will become a vital crafting material during your first few hours playing Monster Hunter Wilds. You can use them to craft early-game armor and weapons that are a decent upgrade from the equipment you start with.

Before you can create these equipment pieces, you'll need to collect enough Mystery Bones first. Their whereabouts can be a mystery in itself if you don't know where to look, so here are all the ways you can come across Mystery Bones in Monster Hunter Wilds.
How to find Mystery Bones in Monster Hunter Wilds
The easiest ways to come by Mystery Bones in Monster Hunter Wilds is by harvesting Bonepiles, collecting through quest rewards, and defeating small monsters. You'll most often be able to kill two birds with one stone by venturing on a hunting quest, which earns you Mystery Bones as a reward, while also finding Bonepiles near your hunting grounds.
Searching Bonepiles