Fashion is always first in our mind when we’re exploring the intricate dungeons of Shadow of the Erdtree – and somehow, these developers keep making amazing new armor sets. You’d think they’d exhaust every iteration of dark fantasy armor by now, but some of the best outfits in the entire franchise are found in the latest Elden Ring expansion. Some of these outfits are also absurdly well-hidden, so we’re going to walk you through 10 of our favorites. Here are some of the most fashionable ensembles in the Realm of Shadow – and where to find them.
We’ve talked about some of our favorite sets and items elsewhere, but these are the definitive best. Whether it’s for the aesthetics or for the stats. We’ve selected one set of armor that’s literally the best for every weight class, and it’s almost unfair how weighted the armor sets are in favor of the Realm of Shadow. The base game armor just can’t compare to the efficiency of these ten costumes. And the first set on our list is both one of the best-looking and the flat-out best for insane berserkers looking for even more challenge.
#10 Rakshasa Set
Straight up, the Rakshasa Set is one of the sickest sets of armor in Elden Ring. The blood red armor is sleek and cruel – perfectly suited for graceful killers of all genders, and comes with a very important buff. While wearing the full Rakshasa Set you’ll deal more damage with all attacks. You’ll also take more damage. The effect isn’t quite as strong as I feared while trying out this armor for the first time. The armor still offers a lot of protection. Really, the armor only boosts your damage output by 8% if you’re wearing all four pieces, but that’s a noticeable difference when you’re trying to squeeze every last drop of damage out of a build.
To get the Rakshasa Set, you’ll need to defeat the Rakshasa boss in the Eastern Nameless Mausoleum. To reach this hidden area, go to the Shadow Keep and take the ladder down on the castle path to the right when facing the lift that normally leads to the Specimen Storehouse. Down the ladder, you’ll find a room with a painting. There’s an illusory wall to the right. Through the sewer path you’ll be able to ride a coffin down to the bottom of the falls.
This leads to the Recluse’s River Upstream Site of Grace. Look for the cemetery site full of enemies nearby – drop down to the streams below and follow the river to a dead end. There’s a mausoleum here with your opponent. Defeat him to claim a full set of extremely rad armor. His weapon is pretty impressive too and fights the set’s playstyle.
The next set in our list is also dropped from an optional boss – but this boss is a lot more optional.
#9 High Priest Set
This set of high-falutin garb drops from the resident pontiff of the Realm of Shadow. But actually getting the Pope-like clothes off him is going to take a lot more steps – if you’ve played the DLC, you can already guess. Count Ymir is the spooky preacher that resides in the Cathedral of Manus Metyr and he’s offering the biggest NPC quest in the expansion. Talking to him, he’ll send you to three different locations to ring three bells. We won’t get into the details of the quest – you can learn more on our Secret Boss Locations guide – but you’ll need to find the three Finger Ruins in the expansion with the help of three cryptic maps. Finding all the locations leads to an epic boss fight against Metyr, Mother of Fingers which is also another S-Tier battle that you really don’t want to miss.
And there’s another boss fight after that. Yes, there’s a totally secret boss fight – it isn’t as impressive as the Mother of Fingers, but all your hard work produces a second Mother of Fingers.Return to the Cathedral of Manus Metyr after beating the boss and take a look around. You might need to return a second time later – but eventually you’ll be ambushed. This leads to a fight against Ymir himself and he’s gone through some changes. He’s now bursting with new fingers and gives birth to spooky Finger Crawlers to help him fight you. This bizarre encounter won’t last as long as the actual boss, obviously Ymir hasn’t got all those weirdo fingers under control just yet.
Defeating him lets you claim his religious outfit. This is the perfect set for high level wizards and warlocks, but we really like it just because it’s so hard to find.
#8 Death Knight Set
And speaking of hard-to-find, here’s a set every regular knight will want to get their hands on. The Death Knight Set turns your Tarnished into an undead warrior with a gleaming bronze halo. That’s a very metal look, and it’s a versatile set of armor that’s useful for almost anyone. Even if you don’t use the full set, the helmet alone is great for dark fantasy fashion accessorizing. Too bad it’s also another one of the most hidden armor sets in the game.
The set is located in the Darklight Catacombs – one of the spookiest locations in the game. You’ll find the catacombs entrance further down from Recluse’s River, the same area you’ll need to explore to get the Rakshasa Set. Taking the lowest road down the waterfalls, you’ll find the dimly lit optional dungeon at the bottom. The gimmick of this place is that it’s normally pitch black. You’ll need to find a switch to turn on the lights and make exploration possible.
Reach the second floor of the dungeon and you’ll cross stairs leading down. On the stairs look for a broken railing – there’s a spot below you can drop down to. In the hidden room below you’ll find a corpse carrying this set of armor. It looks cool and it’s pretty well hidden. You won’t want to miss out.
#7 Gravebird Set
Time to talk about some of the actual best armor sets in the expansion. The first set has limited utility for how most bog-standard knights actually play Elden Ring, but if you’re looking for light armor with low requirements that has pound-for-pound more protection than anything else in its weight class, the Gravebird Set is one of the best in the game. The full set is both light and stylish, with an awesome stone beak mask that gives your Tarnished an otherworldly look.
This is also another difficult set to collect. Each piece has a different drop location – so let’s go through all of them.
- The Gravebird Helm is located at the very end of the DLC in Enir-Ilim. Progress to the Spiral Rise Site of Grace and reach the giant lift. Riding the lift up, there’s a platform you can jump onto mid-ride. Do it and you’ll find the helmet piece.
- The Gravebird Blackquill Armor is found north of Temple Town – this is an area in the Rauh Base. Ride north of Temple Town and look for Gravebird statues and graves. There’s an area you can loot with this armor.
- The Gravebird Bracelets are found on Scadu Altus near the Pillar Path Waypoint Site of Grace. Ride south and look for a corpse near an altar to grab this piece.
- The Gravebird Anklets are found in the swampy area north of Moorth Ruins. From the ruins, ride north and to the small lake. There’s a cave marked by a statue. Cross it and enter the swamp on the other side. The anklets are located beneath a large stone arch.
That’s all four pieces. A huge pain to collect, but if you’re looking for the lightest set that also provides the best protection, this is easily the most efficient for its weight.
#6 Iron Rivet Set
We’re going from a full set to an individual hat – and like another set on our list, you’ll need to defeat the boss of a Nameless Mausoleum to get it. To fully complete your set of Bear Armor, you’ll need to get the Pelt of Ralva. With this bear-head hat and wild berserker armor, you’ll be roaring and pouncing on prey with the best of them. And all the pieces are located in the Rauh Base region of the map. We’ve talked about the area in previous entries, so here’s a more in-depth explanation of how to get there.
Go north from Moorth Ruins and through the cave at the small lake. You’ll reach the swamp where the Gravebird Anklets were located, then go left and out of the underground to reach Rauh Base. Now we can go south to find a Spiritspring and launch up to a Nameless Mausoleum. There’s an NPC boss here that’ll drop the Iron Rivet Set, but we’re really after that sick bear-themed headgear.
To get the Pelt of Ralva, go northeast of Highroad Cross. Defeat Ralva, the Great Red Bear boss in the forest area to the right of the military camp to claim the big bear’s Pelt of Ralva helmet. The pelt is the best piece, giving you the natural look of a crazed mountain man. You can test your confidence nearby by traveling up the ravine north of Temple Town to encounter a unique variant field boss of the Rune Bears.
#5 Fire Knight Set
Another set of armor that’s surprisingly good – and unlock all the other sets, this one requires a whole lot of grinding. If you want to get yourself a fancy set of Fire Knight armor you’ll need to grind on the Fire Knight enemies that populate the Shadow Keep area. The Specimen Storehouse upper levels are full of Fire Knights you can pick off for a chance they’ll drop one of their rare armor pieces. And this armor is also one of the best in the entire game. The Fire Knight Armor is both light and functional – it’s also really cool looking, so if you want a set, here’s how to get it.
The Fire Knight Set is a random drop from the Fire Knights. These guys are all over the Shadow Keep, but you can find even more in the Specimen Storehouse. To farm for the Fire Knight Set, I recommend starting from the Golden Hippopotamus arena and running through the shortcut door to the right. There’s a Fire Knight with a greatsword past the gang of poison-throwing enemies. These enemies will ignore you if you sprint past them.
Defeat the Fire Knight guarding the lift to the Specimen Storehouse. This is the easiest Fire Knight to access that has a chance to drop the Fire Knight Greatsword – there’s also a chance he’ll drop each piece of his armor set. The Greatsword is much more rare, so you’re likely to get all the armor set pieces way before he drops a Greatsword.
#4 Greatjar Helmet
Here’s another piece we’ve talked about before, but it’s still one of my favorites. The Greatjar Helmet is a big ol’ jar you can slap on your head to emulate the Living Jars found all over the Realm of Shadow. One of our favorite characters from Elden Ring, Alexander, happens to be a big friendly jar man. In the Realm of Shadow, the jars are a lot less friendly – and a lot more disgusting – but we’re going to ignore that and just enjoy our funny jar helmet accessory. If you want one too, here’s how to get it.
Travel west of the Castle Ensis Front Gate to find the Belarut Gaol dungeon far beneath the settlement legacy dungeon. Inside, progress past the crumbling stairs and through the large storehouse room full of jars. Reach the room where three meat men emerge from jars after hopping the small gap over a bottomless pit. Defeat the monsters then look to the right of the jump. There’s a hanging jar below you can drop onto. Landing on this jar will activate it, raising it up like a lift to an alternate path. Follow this new path to a giant jar altar with this helmet.
#3 Black Knight Set
If you’re looking for a more traditional set of armor, the Black Knight Set is one of the best in Elden Ring for its weight. If you’re an average knight that doesn’t need the heaviest armor sets in the game – which is most of us – the Black Knight Set is a perfect outfit to keep for the rest of the DLC. And you can get it early in Castle Ensis. To farm a complete set, reach the castle to the north of the Gravesite Plains and look for the big knights.
The easiest Black Knight to farm is below the Castle-Lord’s Chamber Site of Grace, the checkpoint before the progression boss in this area. Take the lift down and backstab him for a much easier kill. Send the lift back up and reset to safely farm all four pieces of the set. This is still one of the most versatile and straight-up best stat spreads for armor in all of Elden Ring, but it isn’t quite the very best. There’s one more set you’ll want to get once you’re ridiculously high level.
#2 Night Set
If you’re feeling like a Dark Lord – imagine Sauron or maybe a medieval Sith – then the Night Set is the evil set of armor for you. This black, spooky armor outfit is also extremely well-hidden in another jail mini-dungeon.
To get the Night Set, travel to Bonny Gaol near Bonny Village – that’s the village full of bloody pots and butchers with giant knives. Enter the jail and reach the final room before the boss fight. There’s a hanging pot you’ll need to step onto that takes you down to the stairs below. Don’t step off that pot! Instead, ride the pot back up to an even higher location. Jump off to an optional ledge you can’t reach anywhere else.
From this ledge, wipe out the enemies guarding the torture device with the glowing item. Grab it to enjoy your very own Night Set.
#1 Verdigris Set
And finally we’ve reached the best armor set in Elden Ring – well, only the best for a certain subset of players looking for the best protection possible. The ultra heavy Verdigris Set is both heavy and functional as armor that’ll keep you alive the longest. You’ll need high Endurance to deal with the Equip Load requirements, but that’s easy when you’re pushing the limits of the level system and enjoying Level 250 or higher.
There are multiple ways to earn the Verdigris Set at different points of the story. You can complete his quest by collecting a full set of the Forager Cookbooks, or by defeating the Scarlet Rot infected pests found in multiple areas of the expansion. The simplest way to get his set is by defeating him after he’s summoned by Needle Knight Leda near the end of the Enir-Ilim legacy dungeon, right before the final boss of the DLC.
While we weren’t able to complete his quest, doing the quest can get you the Verdigris Set earlier – and it’s especially simple if you wait until Miquella’s Great Rune is broken. Find him and tell him to be ‘Sad Forever’ and he’ll just die. You’ll find his body to the north of the Church of the Crusade. We weren’t able to do that one, but if you’re eager to get the Verdigris Set before the end of the DLC, you might want to give it a try.
And those are our picks for the best armor sets in Shadow of the Erdtree. There are so many more amazing sets – including the Dancer’s Set that drops from yet another Nameless Mausoleum that’s perfect for spinning Backhand Blade users.
