Weapon and Armor Augments (HR)

Feeling like your gear just can't compare to the monsters you're fighting in high rank? Maybe you need an upgrade. Keep reading to learn all about the weapon and armor augments you can do in high rank in Monster Hunter World (MHW)!

What is Augmenting?

A Way to Further Upgrade Your Weapons and Armor in High Rank

Reaching the end of a weapon tree or maxing out the upgrades on your armor is not the end. Augmentations are the next level in strengthening your equipment.

In high rank, you will start running into tempered monsters. Once you defeat them, you will earn rewards such as streamstones. You can use specific ones to augment your weapons and armor.

How to Unlock Augmentation

Reach HR30 and Get a Warrior Streamstone

Getting a Warrior Streamstone is what unlocks Augmentations at the Smithy. It is only available through Investigations of Tempered Monsters from Threat Levels 2–3. Tempered Monsters at those Threat Levels only appear at HR30 and HR50, respectively.

So ideally, you would be at HR50 before you start farming Tempered Monsters for the Streamstone. Sullied Streamstones and Shining Streamstones (which get appraised to Warrior's Streamstones and Hero's Streamstones, respectively) have a higher probability of appearing in Tempered Elder Dragon Investigations.

Monster Threat Levels

Weapon Augmentation

Different weapons will have a varying number of augmentation slots depending on their rarity (see below), so you can stack or mix and match augmentations.

Rarity 6	Rarity 7	Rarity 8
3	2	1

It should be noted that even though you can replace an existing augmentation with another one, the materials spent to create the first augmentation will not be recycled. Doing this will also cost 40,000z. So be careful which augmentation you choose!

Another important thing to note is that augmentations are only possible with weapons that have reached the end of their tree and reached the highest rarity possible.

List of Weapons

Weapon Augmentation List

Augmentation	Description
Attack Increase	Increases attack power. Stacks with other upgrades.
Affinity Increase	Increases affinity. Stacks with other upgrades.
Defense Upgrade	Increases defense and adds a chance to reduce damage taken each time you receive damage. Stacks with other upgrades.
Slot Upgrade	Adds an extra slot (for decorations). Stack with other upgrades to increase the slot's level.
Health Regen	Regain health as you land attacks. Stack with other upgrades to increase the amount of health regained.

Attack Increase Values per Weapon

If you plan on stacking Attack Increase Augmentations, you might want to take a look at how much it increases per stack first beforehand.

Great Sword	+24	Long Sword	+17
Sword and Shield	+7	Dual Blades	+7
Hammer	+26	Hunting Horn	+21
Lance	+12	Gunlance	+12
Switch Axe	+18	Charge Blade	+18
Insect Glaive	+16	Bow	+6
Heavy Bowgun	+8	Light Bowgun	+6

Materials Needed for Weapon Augmentations

Each augmentation for each weapon rarity needs three separate materials. Here is a list of all the materials you will need for your weapon augmentations.

Streamstone Material (Materials 1 & 2)

Rarity 6
Material 1	Warrior's Streamstone x1
Material 2	Streamstone Shard x3
Rarity 7
Material 1	Hero's Streamstone x2
Material 2	Streamstone x3
Rarity 8
Material 1	Hero's Streamstone x1
Material 2	Gleaming Streamstone x3

It should be noted that Warrior's Streamstones and Hero's Streamstones should be specific to the weapon you want to augment. For example, if you are wielding a Great Sword, you should be looking for Warrior's Streamstone: Sword.

Monster Material (Material 3)

	Rarity 6	Rarity 7	Rarity 8
Attack Increase	Rathalos Plate x2	Rathalos Ruby x1	Teostra Gem x1
Affinity Increase	Odogaron Plate x2	Odogaron Gem x1	Daora Gem x1
Defense Upgrade	Bird Wyvern Gem x1	Wyvern Gem x1	Elder Dragon Blood x2
Slot Upgrade	Legiana Plate x2	Legiana Gem x1	Vaal Hazak Gem x1
Health Regen	Anjanath Plate x2	Anjanath Gem x1	Nergigante Gem x1

Armor Augmentation

Augmenting armor will allow you to further upgrade your armor with armor spheres. It is not fancy and customizable like weapon augmentation, but it does give your armor's defense a flat upgrade as long as you have the zenny and the materials.

It should be noted that your armor also needs to be upgraded to the max level before the option for augmenting it appears.

List of Armor

Effect of Augmenting Armor

Unlike weapons, you can augment any armor piece regardless of rarity. They just need to be fully upgraded first. Check out how the defense stats of the starter Leather Armor Set progresses as you upgrade it.

Rarity 1 Armor Example

Armor Piece Name	Initial	Max.	Aug.
Leather Headgear	2	38	68
Leather Mail	2	38	68
Leather Gloves	2	38	68
Leather Belt	2	38	68
Leather Trousers	2	38	68
Total	10	190	340

Materials Needed for Armor Augmentations

Rarity	Required Materials	Cost
1–4	Streamstone Shard x1, Fucium Ore x3	3000z
5	Streamstone Shard x1, Dragonbone Relic x1	5000z
6	Streamstone Shard x1, Bird Wyvern Gem x1	10,000z
7	Streamstone x1, Wyvern Gem x1	20,000z
8	Gleaming Streamstone x1, Elder Dragon Bone x2	30,000z

Augmentations in Master Rank

Think high rank is beneath you? Don't worry; with Iceborne comes master rank augmentations. While the armor augmentations stays mostly the same, weapon augmentations are greatly expanded upon. They added a couple more augmentations (see below), and made it possible to install custom upgrades too.

It should be noted that weapons have to reach the end of their tree (meaning the highest possible rarity for that tree) for augmentation to be possible. Since Iceborne continues on from the same weapon tree from the base game, players have to upgrade to the end again to get the master rank augmentations.

High rank augmentations don't carry over once you upgrade the weapon to master rank rarities, so be careful!

Augmentation	Description
Extra Slots	Expands the number of slots for augmentations.
Attack Increase	Slightly increases the attack power of your equipment.
Affinity Increase	Slightly increases the affinity of your equipment.
Defense Upgrade	Slightly increases your defense, and very occasionally reduces damage.
Slot Upgrade	Adds a level 1 slot (for decorations) to your equipment.
Health Regen	Recovers a tiny bit of health in proportion to damage dealt to an enemy.
Element/Status Effect Up	Slightly increases the status and elemental effect damage of your ammo and equipment.

To unlock augmentations in master rank, you will need to finish Iceborne's main story, beat Shara Ishvalda, and unlock The Guiding Lands. Learn more about it in our article below!

The Guiding Lands Weapon and Armor Augments List

Monster Hunter World (MHW) Related Guides

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Story Walkthrough and How to Unlock Iceborne	Money Farming Guide
Food Guide and All Canteen Ingredients	Best Timing for Well-Done Steak
Best Weapons for Beginners	How to Pause Quests
How Do Quest Rewards Work?	How to Track Monsters
What is Critical Distance?	How to Use Wedge Beetles
How to Use the Chat Functions	Character Creation Guide
How to Use the Training Area	List of Crafting Recipes
List of Poogie Costumes	How to Break Rank Caps
Monster Threat Levels	How to Raise Hunter Rank Fast
Post-Game Content	How to Find ??? Rathian Tracks
Weapon and Armor Augments	Explanation of Each Status Effect
How To Capture Monsters	How To Hunt Monsters
How To Mount Monsters	Monster Parts and Weaknesses Guide
How to Join a Friend's Expedition	Monster Crown Size Guides
How to Get the Dragoon Jump Emote	Tailraider Safari Guide and Best Items to Get
Argosy Guide and Best Choices	How to Aim Cannons
Alpha or Beta Armor	Lucky Voucher Effects
Bowgun Special Ammo Guides	How to Equip Skills
Difference of Cut and Blunt Damage Type	Hunting Horn Notes and Effects
Unchangeable Features	Turf Wars and List of Matchups
List of Trophies and How to Unlock (MHW)	-

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