Is Xeno‘jiiva Armor Good in Monster Hunter World?

Absolutely – Xeno‘jiiva armor is easily one of the top 5 armor sets in Monster Hunter World, even after the Iceborne expansion. With its high defense, useful skills, slots, and flexibility, Xeno gear remains relevant for a variety of weapons and playstyles.

As a charge blade main with over 1000 hours played, I‘ve used Xeno armor extensively. In this guide from a gamer‘s perspective, let‘s dive into why it‘s so good:

An Overview of Xeno Armor Pieces and Skills

First, let‘s quickly recap the different Xeno armor pieces and the skills they offer:

The key skills worth highlighting are:

• Power Prolonger – Extends the duration of charge attacks
• Blight Resistance 3 – Complete immunity to elemental blights
• Flinch Free 2/3 – Super armor through attacks from allies

This alone makes it versatile for different weapons and multiplayer hunts. Then the set bonuses take it up a notch:

2 pieces: Bonus Skill Level 2
4 pieces: True Arcana Soul

That‘s just insane! You‘re essentially getting a free extra skill point and 20% affinity or attack.

Comparing Defense and Resistances

Now let‘s compare Xeno statistically to other popular armor sets:

A couple things stand out:

• Xeno has 3 star dragon resistance – useful against Elder Dragons
• Solid defense rating on par with endgame sets
• Better balanced resistances compared to Drachen

So while the defense values are a bit lower than Drachen, the resistances and slots give it an edge in versatility.

Effective Playstyles for Xeno Armor

Thanks to its balanced stats and skills, Xeno excels in a variety playstyles:

• Charge Blade & Gun Lance – Power Prolonger is perfect here
• Long Sword – Flinch free enables non-stop combos
• Bow & Bowguns – Extra coatings/ammo from helmet
• Any elemental weapons – Blight immunity enables aggressive play

And it works great for both raw and critical/status effect builds. With so much flexibility, the armor set really grows on you.

Crafting Xeno Armor – Materials Needed

To craft a full set, you‘ll need these key materials from Xeno‘jiiva:

• Xeno‘jiiva Claw x5
• Xeno‘jiiva Tail x3
• Xeno‘jiiva Hide+ x5
• Xeno‘jiiva Shell x8

The claws, hide, and shell are common drops. Tails are severed rewards. I recommend going with partbreaker skill to ease farming.

Augmenting and Upgrading Xeno Gear

Once you craft the base high rank Xeno‘jiiva α set, use armor spheres to upgrade defense.

Then continue hunting Arch-Tempered Xeno‘jiiva event quests. This unlocks material to upgrade into the γ+ variant with better skills and slots.

You can use Warrior‘s Streamstones to add augments like defense, decoration slots, or resistance. Work on augmenting chest and legs first.

Conclusion – Viable Even in Iceborne Expansion

While Master Rank armor has released with the Iceborne expansion, Xeno‘jiiva‘s armor is still perfectly viable:

• Skills complement most weapon and skill combos
• Easy to fully augment gear for endgame viability
• Provides a comfy, defensive setup for tough hunts

I still use a "mixed set" with Xeno chest and legs when helping friends in Master Rank. It just has a strong nostalgic value for many in the community and caps off an amazing base World experience!

So in summary – yes, Xeno‘jiiva armor is undoubtedly one of the best sets you can craft! Let me know if you have any other questions in the comments below!