Armor Spheres

Armor Spheres are unique pieces of material that improve the effectiveness of armor worn by hunters worldwide. Though often difficult to find, they are a heavily sought after item as improving the armor a hunter currently has can be much more effective than trying to get an entirely new set of armor, particularly when abilities are involved. When choosing an armor set to use, it is generally recommended to pick by abilities (such as the Tigrex set's ever-popular quick eating or the Dark Akantor's reckless abandon) that suit the hunting style of the hunter in question, and then improving the armor to increase it's defense. This way, the hunter still has his/her favourite abilities whilst keeping up with other sets in terms of protection. This is where armor spheres come in.

Armor can be upgraded by talking to the Blacksmith in Pokke Village (MHF2 and MHFU). Select Armorcraft, and then Improve Armor rather than create. You can then choose which specific piece of equipment you'd like to improve. For each Armor Sphere you use and an ever-rising maintenaince cost, you can improve a piece of armor by 2 defense per 'level' around 10-12 times (depending on the armor). It doesn't stay as simple as that though...

Armor Sphere Levels
Like Monster Bones, which increase in size and then quality, Armor Spheres follow a very similar quality path. As a general rule, lower level armor sets require more common armor spheres, whereas the S/U-Armor sets begin to touch on the rarer ones. The levels, in order of quality/rarity, are as follows: "Its unique reaction to heat can be used to increase armor strength." "Dense and high quality. Treasured as a supplement to armor strength." "Hard, high density Armor Sphere. Rare material used in high strength armor." "Thick, dense Armor Sphere. Rarely obtained, it raises the bar on armor strength."
 * Armor Sphere - Rare 5 - The most common and easiest to acquire, usually found on lower Low-Rank quests
 * 'Armor Sphere+' - Rare 5 - A step up from the regular armor sphere, usually found on the higher Low-Rank quests
 * Hard Armor Sphere - Rare 5 - A semi-rare armor sphere for higher rank hunters, commonly found across the High-Rank quests
 * Heavy Armor Sphere - Rare 5 - A rare armor sphere even for high rank hunters, rarely found on High-Rank quests in rewards

As of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite: "Incredibly rare Armor Sphere with a sparkle. Further improves armor." "Near impossible to find Armor Sphere with hard to extract latent abilities."
 * King/Royal Armor Sphere - Rare 5 - An incredibly rare armor sphere, hunters must achieve G-Rank quests to even begin to obtain it
 * True Armor Sphere - Rare 5 - The rarest of all armor spheres, a truly remarkable material to find, rare even in G-Rank quests

Combining Armor Spheres
In Monster Hunter Freedom 2, AS, AS+ and HrdAS could be combined using items you could regularly find on quests and an Armor Stone, but the incredibly elusive Heavy Armor Sphere could only be gained through the High Rank quests, either through mining, carving or rewards. As of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, all Armor Spheres can be created through combining (even the new ones), but require equally rare materials. Thankfully, all Armor Sphere combinations have a 100% success rate, so no worries there!

The materials needed to create each armor sphere are listed below.