Armor Spheres come from quest rewards, smelting spare monster materials at Azuz, limited bounties and event quests. Harder hunts give better spheres, so the fastest way to upgrade is to hunt at the highest difficulty you can handle and smelt everything you don't need.
Every hunter hits the same wall sooner or later: the armor looks great, but the defense number doesn’t. Armor Spheres are how you push that number up, and you’ll need a lot of them. Here’s where they come from and how to get them faster.
What Armor Spheres do
Spheres are upgrade points for your armor. You hand them to Gemma at the Smithy, choose a forged piece and feed it spheres until it levels up. Each level adds defense. Armor upgrading opens in Azuz, in the Oilwell Basin, during Chapter 2.
Higher-rarity armor needs more points per level, while lower-rarity armor has more levels to fill. In practice, endgame armor eats spheres fast.
The five sphere tiers
| Sphere | Upgrade points |
|---|---|
| Armor Sphere | 10 |
| Armor Sphere+ | 50 |
| Advanced Armor Sphere | 200 |
| Hard Armor Sphere | 1,000 |
| Heavy Armor Sphere | 5,000 |
Spheres start dropping from 2★ quests, and harder hunts give the better tiers. One Heavy Armor Sphere is worth five hundred of the basic ones, which is why endgame farming focuses on high-difficulty content.
Since Ver. 1.020 (Title Update 2) the Smithy picks spheres for you automatically, and leftover points are turned back into spheres, so nothing is wasted.
Where to farm them
1. Quest rewards
Your steady income. Spheres show up on the reward screen after hunts, and the tier depends on how hard the quest is. Push your difficulty up as soon as your gear allows it.
2. Smelting at Azuz
Roqul at the Smelting Foundry in Azuz turns spare monster materials into spheres. Rarer and higher-rank materials give more points. Smelting opens in Chapter 2, after the fight with Nu Udra. Every hunt leaves you with materials you’ll never use, so smelt them.
Title Update 4 raised the smelting points for some monster materials, and limited Research Help bounties for monsters, fishing and endemic life now give more spheres.
3. Limited bounties
Bounties at the Support Desk can reward spheres. They need an online connection, and they rotate, so check them now and then.
4. Event quests
Event quests are usually the best source of high-tier spheres. Earlier events like “Tongue-Tied” (a Tempered Chatacabra) and “Wreaking Havoc in Wyveria” handed out Advanced and Hard Armor Spheres. Events rotate, so keep an eye on the current schedule. Title Update 4 added event quests that make Heavy Armor Spheres easier to get.
5. Tempered investigations
Save tempered investigations and run them again. They give spheres directly, and they also give rare parts you can smelt into more spheres.
The Support Ship doesn’t sell Armor Spheres. Santiago sells consumables, monster parts, tickets, eggs and weapons for Guild Points, but no spheres.
Transcendence: going past max level
Title Update 4 added Transcendence. At HR 100 and up you can transcend an armor piece at the Smithy. That raises its maximum level, so you can keep feeding it spheres for more defense. Rarity 5 and 6 armor also gets better decoration slots when transcended. It costs Hunter Symbols plus rare parts, the gem or plate type, from the armor’s own monster.
Ver. 1.021 raised the upgrade cap for Rarity 5+ armor. Ver. 1.041 added a shortcut between “Upgrade from Box” and “Transcending”.
A simple routine
- Hunt at the highest difficulty you can clear comfortably.
- Save tempered investigations you enjoy and repeat them.
- Smelt spare materials at Azuz after every few hunts.
- Pick up limited bounties and play the current event quests.
- Spend on the armor you’ll actually keep. Upgrading pieces you’ll replace soon is the classic way to waste spheres.