Summary
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla offers a massive open world with diverse locations and plenty of engaging activities for players.
- Players can collect and upgrade various armor sets with unique abilities and runes to enhance combat stats and survivability.
- Choosing the right combination of armor runes can significantly impact gameplay, offering different strategies for players in battle.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is one of the biggest open-world games, not only in Ubisoft's popular action series but among all action RPGs ever created. The developers ensured players always had something to do in Valhalla. The game features enormous locations, including Britain, Norway, Francia, and Ireland, alongside several mythical realms, tons of different loot to collect and upgrade, an array of exciting side quests and activities, and dozens of enemies to slay. This results in Assassin's Creed Valhalla being one of the best-selling games in the series to date, alongside Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla: 23 Best Armor Sets In The Game
Valhalla comes with plenty of different armor sets to choose from, even separated by type. Here are some of the best in the game.
In Assassin's Creed Valhalla, players can obtain many different armor sets of varying rarity, each providing a unique appearance and combat stats. Aside from leveling up gear using iron ore, leather, and other exotic materials, players can insert runes with various properties in every armor piece. These runes can be obtained by exploring the world, bought from merchants, or granted as rewards for quests or for defeating important targets. Moreover, unlike many other RPGs, players don't have to worry about wasting such runes, as they can be freely taken out of their sockets at any time and switched to better ones. Here are some of the best runes for armor that players can find in Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
Updated October 21, 2024 by Vlad Mazanko: Following the announcement that the upcoming Assassin's Creed Shadows won't arrive this year as expected, some players might want to revisit older titles like Valhalla.
The game's itemization and progression systems are among the strongest in the franchise, offering a flexible approach to various playstyles. This updated list includes additional powerful armor runes and their potential combinations for different character builds.
1 Brigandine Rune
Increase Speed When Surrounded By More Than Two Enemies
The Brigandine Rune is a rare diamond armor rune in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, granting additional speed whenever players fight more than one enemy. This is the most common combat scenario, making this rune particularly useful. With its notable speed increase, players will find it easier to dodge enemies' attacks and move quickly between targets.
Unfortunately, only one diamond rune can be socketed across all armor pieces in the game, making the choice difficult. The Brigandine Rune is one of the strongest options available, complementing almost every combat build and making life notably easier for players.
2 Mentor Rune
Increase Evasion After Each Hit
The purpose of armor is to ensure survivability, and for that matter, the Mentor Rune is one of the best choices in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. This rare diamond rune increases Eivor's evasion stat with each delivered hit, making them harder to hit and reducing damage from enemy attacks. For players who want to survive longer in every fight, it is an invaluable addition to their passive evasion skills and other defensive stats from their armor.
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Choosing between the Mentor Rune and the Brigandine Rune can be tricky. It is recommended to decide between a more aggressive playstyle to deal with enemies quickly, or a more defensive style to evade and outlive them.
3 Great Rune Of Life
+18.9 Health
In any action RPG, having more health is something many players will strive for, and Assassin's Creed Valhalla is no different. Aside from some passive perks in the skill tree, the Great Runes of Life are some of the easiest ways to become unkillable, as they significantly boost Eivor's health pool, allowing them to withstand more direct hits from enemies.
As one of the most common round runes in the game, Minor Runes of Life are pretty easy to get, but obtaining their Great variation isn't as trivial. Players are recommended to check vendors often for these runes to spawn in high-level areas.
4 Great Shell Rune
+5.0 Armor
As straightforward as it gets, the Great Shell Rune is the easiest way to make player armor in Assassin's Creed Valhalla more resistant. This common round rune can be socketed in any armor piece, making players more resistant to enemy and boss attacks, and to damage overall.
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While the majority of other common armor runes usually grant a specific minor resistance to something like poison, fire, or lightning, the Great Shell Rune's bonuses are always welcome for any combat build, making it a no-brainer to socket as many of these runes as players can find.
5 Life And Shell Rune
+11.0 Health, +4.0 Armor
Combining two strengths of one of the best armor runes mentioned above, the Life and Shell Rune is a hybrid round rune from The Siege of Paris expansion that gives players the best of both worlds with just a little compromise. Unlike many other hybrid runes from the DLC, this one's bonuses are very reasonable and just slightly inferior to the Great Shell and Life runes separately.
If players manage to find more than one Life and Shell Rune, it is recommended to socket them as soon as possible to make Eivor much harder to kill, even in the most intense combat scenarios in Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
6 Evasion And Feather Rune
+1.5 Evasion, -1.0 Weight
The Evasion and Feather Rune is another hybrid round rune from The Siege of Paris expansion, but unlike the Life and Shell Rune, this one isn't as versatile and is mostly used for specific combat builds in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. While players can get +2.0 Evasion and -1.5 Weight from the respective Great Runes, the two bonuses from this hybrid rune are just slightly inferior and will save players one extra socket for other armor runes.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla: 10 Best Weapon Runes
These powerful weapon runes, like Critical Spark or Chained Blunt runes, can enhance a wide range of combat builds in Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
Decreasing the weight of armor can be beneficial to some of Eivor's skills and perks, so if players aren't focused on getting the most protected character and instead focus on dealing maximum damage as quickly as possible, the Evasion and Feather Rune can be very handy.
7 Warrior And Safeguard Rune
+1.5 Melee Damage, +1.5 Range Resistance
Just like the previous rune, the Warrior and Safeguard Rune is a hybrid common rune only available in The Siege of Paris DLC, combining two great bonuses players might want to boost for their character. Additional melee damage is always a good thing, as well as more resistance to arrow damage, and the ability to enhance two of these at the price of just a single socket might be pretty tempting.
Arguably, players striving for increased damage in Assassin's Creed Valhalla are better off using such common runes as Warrior, Hunter, or Assassin Great Runes, but this hybrid rune can also prove beneficial in certain situations.
8 Reaper Rune
Restore Some Health After A Successful Assassination
The Reaper Rune is a particularly interesting major armor rune, especially useful for players tackling higher difficulties. Ideal for survivability, this rune becomes invaluable when players go into stealth mode after tough battles while low on health. With this rune equipped, assassinating a target will restore a small portion of health to Eivor, reducing the need to rely on valuable Ration supplies.
However, the Reaper Rune is less advantageous on lower difficulties, where Rations are easier to stockpile and restore more health. While Rations are generally abundant, players shouldn't overlook alternative healing methods to keep Eivor in fighting shape between intense combat encounters. Players also should remember to change the Reaper Rune whenever they play through sections where stealth isn't an option, including sieges, raids, or boss fights as it won't offer any advantage.
9 Great Aegis Rune
+2.3 Elite Resistance
The Great Aegis Rune is incredibly useful when facing bosses in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. It provides solid resistance to damage from elite enemies, including mini-bosses and regular bosses, some of which can be particularly tough to handle. While equipping armor with higher defense values is the most effective way to mitigate damage overall, the Great Aegis Rune serves as a situational tool to enhance Eivor's survivability during challenging fights.
A great feature of this rune is that players can stack multiple Great Aegis Runes across one or several armor pieces, further increasing resistance and reducing damage taken in some of the most intense battles. Given that the game doesn't feature level scaling for bosses, it's not uncommon for players to encounter optional elite enemies who are significantly higher in level. In these situations, the Great Aegis Runes can make these challenging fights more manageable earlier in the game.
10 Vinland Rune
Increase Assassination Damage When Close To Full Health
For players embracing their assassin instincts in Valhalla, the Vinland Rune is one of the most valuable runes for armor. It boosts Eivor's assassination stealth damage based on their remaining health. Since stealth players ideally avoid damage, they should typically have full health, making the Vinland Rune consistently effective.
When paired with other assassination-focused lesser runes and the right passive skills, the Vinland Rune allows players to reach impressive damage levels, making it possible to eliminate nearly any target with a single stealth attack — perfect for a true predator-style playthrough. Naturally, the Vinland Rune should be swapped out for a more suitable option when players are forced into open-combat scenarios, such as raids or sieges.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
- Released
- November 10, 2020
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Ubisoft
- Platform(s)
- Stadia, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
