Starfield: Best Armor Sets & How to Get Them

The best armor sets in Starfield provide a wide spectrum of powerful stats and unique abilities that are sure to satisfy spacefarers of all shapes and sizes.

Armor sets in Starfield consist of Spacesuits, Helmets, and Boostpacks that work together to provide you with the protection stats needed to survive the various bandits, pirates, and alien monsters you’ll encounter while exploring the galaxy.

They each provide something a little different, with some offering tantalizing legendary perks that add significant boosts to your character. Below, we’re going to go over the best armor sets in Starfield, including the best early, mid, and late game armor to get your hands on.

What Are the Best Armor Sets in Starfield?

At a glance, the best armor sets in Starfield are:

• Mantis Set – Best Early Game Armor
• Peacemaker – Best Combat Armor
• Bounty Hunter Set – Best ‘Common’ Armor
• Mark I Set – Best Mid Game Armor
• Experimental Nishina – Best Late Game Armor
• Starborn Set – Best End Game Armor

The above list includes a good mix of armor that provides fantastic defensive stats and powerful perks that significantly boost your offensive capabilities in Starfield.

However, some are easier to obtain than others. Below, we go over each armor set’s perks and stats, as well as how to get them in Starfield.

Best Early Game Armor

The best early game armor in Starfield is the Mantis I set. Here are its stats:

The Mantis armor set is likely the best Legendary armor you’ll come across in the early hours of Starfield. Its defensive stats are more than enough to carry you to the middle of the game, but the three modifiers on each armor piece are what really sets it apart.

These are picked at random and have the potential to enhance your build in a significant way.

How to Get the Mantis Armor in Starfield

To get the Mantis armor in Starfield you need to complete the “MANTIS” side quest. You will get it as a reward for clearing the Mantis Lair, which is located on the Denebola I-B planet in the Denebola system.

Here’s the plotted course from the Alpha Centauri system to the Denebola system on the star map:

Check out our guide on how to solve the Mantis puzzle for more info on how to get the Mantis armor and ship in Starfield!

Best Combat Armor

The best combat armor in Starfield is the Peacemaker set. Here are its stats:

In addition to its decent defensive stats, the armor’s biggest draw is its extra 10% boost to rifle damage. You also get this armor set for free after completing a specific questline in Starfield.

How to Get the Peacemaker Armor in Starfield

To get the Peacemaker armor in Starfield, you must complete the Peacemaker questline. You can begin the questline by landing on the Elios retreat area on the Ixll II planet in the Ixll system.

Here’s the plotted course from Alpha Centauri to the Ixyll system in the Starmap:

Once you have completed the four quests associated with the questline, you will travel to Akila City to talk with the retreat’s donor. She will give you the Peacemaker armor set and Peacemaker weapon as a reward for your troubles.

Best ‘Common’ Armor

The best ‘Common’ armor in Starfield is the Bounty Hunter set. Here are its stats:

‘Common’ armor in Starfield is the lowest rarity level of armor you can find in the game. It comes with no extra modifiers and only has base stats. For more info, check out our guide on weapon tiers and rarities in Starfield to help explain this further.

Despite this, the Bounty Armor set is a brilliant piece of armor that will more than see you through to the mid game of Starfield. It has great all-round defensive stats and can be acquired fairly easily.

How to Get the Bounty Hunter Armor in Starfield

There are three ways you can get the Bounty Hunter Armor in Starfield:

1. Purchasing from Zuri’s Essentials at the Key
   • The Key is the base for the Crimson Fleet faction and is located in the Kryx system – you may have to wait 48 hours to refresh the vendor’s stock if it doesn’t appear

2. Finding it in the Mantis Lair
   • The Mantis Lair is located on the Denebola I-B planet in the Denebola system
   • You’ll come across the Mantis Lair while embarking on the “MANTIS” side quest
   • You can find the Bounty Hunter Spacesuit midway through the lair in a room near a window and cot

3. Looting from Spacer enemies
   • You can find all three pieces of the Bounty Hunter armor set by looting defeated Spacer enemies you come across

Best Mid Game Armor

The best mid game armor in Starfield is the Mark I set. Here are its stats:

The Mark I armor set is an upgraded and enhanced version of the base Constellation set that you get after properly joining the lodge at the beginning of the game. It has really high-level damage reduction stats that you can make great use of very early on in your playthrough.

How to Get the Mark I Armor in Starfield

You can find the Mark I armor locked in a glass case in the basement of the Lodge in New Atlantis. To get it, you need to either have Rank 4 in the Lockpicking skill or take advantage of an exploit to loot it without having to unlock the glass case.

The Lodge is located in New Atlantis on the planet Jemison in the Alpha Centauri system. Here’s Alpha Centauri on Starfield’s Starmap:

The Mark I armor is an extremely powerful get early on in the game, as you can access the glass case it resides in without putting a single point in the Lockpicking skill. The exploit requires you to aim your cursor at the gap between the door and the case the armor is held in.

For more details, be sure to follow our extensive guide on how to get the Mark I armor for free in Starfield!

Best Late Game Armor

The best late game armor in Starfield is the Experimental Nishina set. Do note that the Nishina armor set does not include a Boostpack. Here are its stats:

The Experimental Nishina armor is one of the best sets you can get in the game. This is because of its extremely powerful modifiers that grant a 30% total damage reduction from aliens and a 10% damage increase to any scanned enemies.

As it’s very easy to pull out your scanner to scan your foes, this is pretty much a flat 10% damage buff to every weapon in the game.

How to Get the Experimental Nishina Armor in Starfield

To get the Experimental Nishina armor set, you must choose to save Director Patel’s universe in the “Entangled” main story mission to receive it as a reward.

To begin the “Entangled” quest, you need to reach that point in the story and head to the Freya III planet in the Freya system in Starfield. Here’s the plotted course from Alpha Centauri to the Freya system in the Starmap:

During a mission to get one of the final artifact pieces, you’ll encounter a mysterious laboratory that’s colliding with an alternate-universe version of itself on the Freya III planet. You can get the Experimental Nishina armor set by choosing to save the original universe.

Best End Game Armor

The best end game armor in Starfield is the Starborn set. It is a single armor piece, including the Helmet and Boostpack as part of the Spacesuit. Here are the stats of Starborn Spacesuit Astra:

It’s important to note that there are are total of ten variants of the Starborn armor set. You can unlock all versions by completing New Game+ a total of ten times.

Starborn Spacesuit Astra is the first Starborn armor after completing the game and starting New Game+ for the first time.

Even as the ‘base’ version, it already has the best defensive stats in the game, making most other armor sets obsolete.

What’s more, the Starborn set is a Legendary piece of armor, meaning that it’ll come with three random powerful modifiers.

How to Get the Starborn Armor in Starfield

To get the Starborn Armor in Starfield, you need to complete the main campaign at least once to unlock the first variant of the armor, the Starborn Spacesuit Astra.

You’ll be wearing it automatically the first time you enter the Unity and enter New Game+.

There are a further nine Starborn Spacesuits to unlock and discover by completing the game a further nine more times after this. The base stats will improve every single time, as well as a change in appearance with each upgrade.

All your hard work for completing the game a whopping ten times will result in receiving the Starborn Spacesuit Venator armor – the best armor in the whole game by a long shot. This is truly the end game grind!

The stats for the final Starborn Venator Spacesuit are:

Make sure to check out our extensive guide on all Starborn sets and how to get them in Starfield!