If you’ve spent any time scrolling through Ghost of Yotei community forums or TikTok clips lately, you’ve almost certainly seen clips of players melting bosses or outplaying entire PvP lobbies using the nine tails armor Ghost of Yotei. It’s consistently ranked as one of the top 3 most powerful medium armor sets in the entire game, but most players have no idea how to get their hands on it, or how to use it to its full potential. I spent 13 hours grinding for this set last month, and made every possible mistake along the way, so I’ve put together everything you need to know to skip the frustration and start using the set right away. Whether you’re a PvE main who wants to clear raids faster or a PvP player who wants to climb the ranked ladder, this guide covers every detail you won’t find in the game’s official tooltips.
How to Unlock the Nine Tails Armor Ghost of Yotei Step-by-Step
First, you need to tick off a few non-negotiable prerequisites before the quest to unlock the armor even becomes available. A lot of players skip these steps and waste hours wandering the Mount Yotei peak looking for the boss, only to find it never spawns, so don’t skip this part. The full list of requirements you need to meet first is below:
- Completed the full main story campaign on at least Hard difficulty
- Collected all 7 scattered Kitsune tail relics across Yotei’s open world
- Reached reputation level 7 with the Kitsune Refugee camp NPC faction
- Unlocked the Frost Resonance charm to survive the peak’s permanent blizzard
Once you’ve checked all those boxes, head to the hidden Kitsune shrine in the northern bamboo forest, and interact with the cracked fox statue to trigger the “Vow of the Fallen Nine Tails” side quest. The quest will send you to fight the Corrupted Nine Tails Spirit at the very top of Mount Yotei, which has around 2.3 million health on hard mode, so come prepared with plenty of healing items and a weapon with high spirit damage. The 7 tail relics have fixed spawns but reset every 48 in-game hours, so mark each one on your map as soon as you find it to avoid having to search for them all over again if you log out before finishing the quest.
Core Stats and Hidden Perks of the Nine Tails Armor Set
At first glance, the nine tails armor’s base stats look solid but not mind-blowing: 220 physical defense, 185 frost defense, and 140 fire defense, which puts it on par with most late-game medium armor sets. The real power of the set comes from its hidden passive perks, which are not listed anywhere in the in-game item description, and most players don’t discover them until they’ve worn the set for weeks. The full set grants a 35% damage boost to all kitsune-themed weapon abilities, which stacks with other damage buffs from charms and food consumables to turn even basic light attacks into heavy hitters.
Another hidden perk activates when your health drops below 20%: you summon three spectral foxes that attack nearby enemies for 10 seconds, dealing spirit damage that ignores 70% of enemy defense. That perk alone has saved me from dozens of otherwise guaranteed deaths during raid boss enrage phases and 1v3 PvP fights. The only major downside to the set is its low fire defense, which is 30% lower than the volcanic Smoldering Samurai armor set, so you don’t want to wear it when exploring the southern volcanic zones or fighting fire-based bosses like the Magma Wyrm. I learned that lesson the hard way when I got one-shot by the Wyrm’s fire breath during my first run with the armor, so save yourself the repair cost and swap sets for those encounters.
Best Build Combos to Pair With the Nine Tails Armor
The nine tails armor is extremely versatile, but it shines brightest when paired with kitsune-themed gear that triggers its damage boost passive. For PvE main builds, the best combo is pairing the full armor set with the Kitsune Katana and Fox Summon ninjutsu, which gives you a total of 60% extra damage to all your abilities, enough to melt most elite enemies in 2 to 3 hits. This combo works especially well for solo players who want to clear open-world content quickly without needing a party to back them up.
For support builds, pair the armor with the Group Heal charm to extend the spectral fox buff to all your party members, so everyone gets the 3 spirit foxes when their health drops low during raids. This turns the armor from a personal damage boost into a full party support tool that can cut raid clear times by up to 20% according to my own testing with my clan. For PvP ranked play, pair the armor with the Smoke Bomb and Swift Step abilities, so you can reposition and heal while the spectral foxes distract your opponent if you get low on health. You don’t want to pair this armor with heavy melee weapons like the Odachi, though, because the armor’s passive only boosts light and medium weapon attack speed, so heavy weapons will feel sluggish and unresponsive when you’re wearing the full set.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Using the Nine Tails Armor
Even after you unlock the armor, it’s easy to make mistakes that stop you from getting its full value, and I made almost all of them during my first few weeks using the set. The most common mistake players make is only equipping 2 pieces of the set to mix and match with other armor pieces, but you lose 90% of the set’s passive perks if you don’t wear all 4 pieces, so it’s never worth it unless you’re running a very specific niche build that I haven’t found a use for yet. Don't waste upgrade materials on the armor until you've rolled the perfect perk rolls on each piece, because upgrading the armor resets all random perk rolls, so you’ll lose that 35% damage boost if you upgrade before rolling the right perks.
Another common mistake is using the armor for stealth builds. The spectral foxes that spawn when you take damage make loud, high-pitched yipping noises that alert every enemy within 50 meters, so you’ll blow your cover immediately if you take even a small amount of fall damage or get hit by a stray arrow. Most players also don’t know about the set’s signature active ability: hold down the emote button for 2 seconds while wearing the full set to get a permanent 10% damage boost for the rest of your current activity, whether that’s a raid, a PvP match, or an open-world boss fight. I forgot to use this ability for my first 5 runs with the armor, and couldn’t figure out why other players with the same set were dealing way more damage than me, so don’t make that same mistake.
At the end of the day, the nine tails armor Ghost of Yotei is one of the most rewarding gear sets to grind for in the entire game, as long as you play a light or medium weapon build that can take advantage of its passive perks. It’s not the right set for every playstyle, especially if you main heavy weapons or spend most of your time in the volcanic southern zones, but for most players, it’s well worth the 10+ hours of grinding to unlock it. If you’re having trouble beating the Corrupted Nine Tails boss to get the set, bring a friend with a fire build to help burn through its health fast, it cuts the fight time almost in half in my experience.