How to Upgrade Armor Skills
There are multiple ways to upgrade armor skills. In summary:
If you wear multiple pieces of armor, combined with Talismans and Decorations that have the same armor skill, it will increase the level of the overall skill and provide you with an extra buff. The levels for each of these armor skills occasionally do different things and don't just scale. Armor Skills are also capped, so check the max level of an Armor Skill before committing to max it out.
If you equip three or more pieces from the same armor set, then your hunter will receive an additional bonus to all resistance stats!
Here's how to upgrade armor skills in more detail:
1. Equip More Armor Pieces
This is a simple way to increase your skill levels you can do even in Low Rank. Head to the Smithy, and after finding a skill you like, press Y to to enter the sub-menu and choose "Search/Sort" to search by skills. Then, you can see every piece of Armor (that you've unlocked so far) that has a particular skill. For example, if you put on three pieces of armor that each have one level of an Armor Skill, that skill will now be at level 3.
Some armor, especially High Rank Armor, will have multiple levels of a skill on a single piece of armor. Choose these if they're your most important skill, or a skill that requires a lot of levels to be most effective.
3. Equip Decorations
Once you've reached Hunter Rank 4, which is considered High Rank, some high rank pieces of armor or weapons will have "slots" where you can equip a Decoration. Decorations are jewels that contain a skill - for example, Evasion Jewel grants one level of Evade Window. If your weapons or armor have slots, you can decorate them with jewels, increasing your skill levels.
Once you're far along enough in the story, you'll be able to craft these with different materials gained from mining and quests and monster materials. See How to Unlock and Use Decorations for more information.
3. Equip a Talisman
Once you're far along enough in the story, you'll unlock the ability to meld Talismans, which are treated like a standalone piece of armor and can hold up to two skills and even more levels. You can only equip one Talisman at a time, but it could make all the difference - especially if a skill has only one level. See How to Get Talismans and Charms for more information.
