Zelda: Breath of the Wild best armour - Ancient Armour, Robbies Research, and the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab

Ever wondered how to get the best armour in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? Or even just what the best armour actually is? Well, you're in the right place. If you'd like to don some of the best armour in real life, however, head over to our sister-site Jelly Deals and check out their roundup of the best Zelda merchandise and gifts, including some pretty nifty outfits.

The best armour in Breath of the Wild is the Ancient set - the Ancient Helm, Cuirass, and Greaves - and is only obtainable after you complete a specific side quest - Robbie's Research - and you've then collected the right materials to be traded in at the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab.

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It sounds like a bit of a slog, but in reality this is actually a fairly doable task, and is a fantastic means of prepping yourself for some of the game's toughest challenges, like Calamity Ganon or the more dificult combat Shrines.

The best armour in Zelda: Breath of the wild - how to get the Ancient armour set

The best armour in Breath of the Wild - speaking purely in terms of damage resistance provided in combat - is the Ancient Armour set of the Ancient Helm, Ancient Cuirass, and Ancient Grieves.

The set itself actually has the same base resistance as the Soldier's Armour set, at 4 defense per item, but it's the bonus effects that make it stand out: Guardian Resist is a base effect applied to any item you're wearing, giving you a resitance to damage from all Guardians, whilst wearing a full set will earn you the Ancient Proficiency set bonus that also increases your damage with Ancient Weapons and Guardian Weapons. With those already doing bonus damage to Guardians themselves, it's useful stuff!

You can get your hands on the Ancient Armour set by trading in certain items - usually those yielded from defeating or overturning Guardians - at the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab, after completing the Robbie's Research side quest.

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Where is the Lab and how do you complete the quest, you ask? Well...

Akkala Ancient Tech Lab location and Robbie's Research side quest

The Akkala Ancient Tech Lab is located up in the most north easterly part of the map, within the Akkala region - but in order to complete the quest you'll need to have completed another one first.

Before you set off to Akkala then, you need to speak to Purah back in the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab and get to the point where you show her a photo of yourself - we've a page on the quests required to do so over in our Hateno Ancient Tech Lab walkthrough for just that.

Thanks to a new update, it's now possible to play Zelda Breath of the Wild in VR. Want help with the main game? Our Zelda: Breath of the Wild walkthrough can help complete Divine Beasts Vah Ruta, Vah Rudiana, Vah Medoh and Vah Naboris and more. There's also how to get the Master Sword, Hylian Shield and all Zelda Captured Memories and Great Fairy Fountain locations, while our Shrines locations and Shrine maps hub explains where to find and solve every puzzle room, including dragon locations and Labyrinth solutions. We also have a DLC 1 guide and DLC 2 guide, including all Tingle, Majora's Mask, Phantom, Midna outfit locations.

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Once that's done, the Robbie's Research side quest will be available, and you can head on up the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab to speak to Robbie himself.

Once you're up there, he'll first ask you to identify yourself. The way to do so is to completely remove all of your clothing (we know...) and then talk to him again.

Once you talk to him with your clothes off, he'll identify you by the scars on your body from your previous battles, and then ask you to perform the same task you did when activating the fast travel point for the Hateno Lab: carrying the blue flame with a torch to light the furnace.

First up, grab the torch that's on the side in the Lab if you don't already have one, then head outside.

Note that, unlike the Hateno Lab's version of this mission, there are a huge number of enemies along the way, including a Guardian that you likely had to make it past in order to visit the Lab itself.

Seeing as you can't put away the torch without the blue flame going out, we highly recommend you head from the Lab to the source of the blue flames on foot - defeating every enemy on the way - so you have a clear path back to the Lab once you're carrying the torch.

The source of the flames itself is located at the top of a hill just to the east of the Tech Lab, the other side of a river. Light the torch there, and on the way back be sure to light every lantern as you go - if your flame is extinguished for any reason, like rain or accidentally sprinting, then you can just relight it from the nearest lantern rather than going back to the start.

Once you've finally walked your way back to the lab, light the furnace out the front with the blue flame, and then the Lab will be unlocked as a location for fast travel.

Head back inside and talk to Robbie again, and you'll now be able to purchase the Ancient Weapons and Armour from him, provided you have the Rupees and materials required.

That's it for the side quest here! For more detailed walkthroughs though, be sure to check out our main Zelda: Breath of the Wild walkthrough and guide hub, along with our Breath of the Wild Shrines and Trials hub, too!