The armor and class system inThe Ascentis unlike most games with stats and skill trees. Skills points can be allocated into one of four attributes, each of which will improve the armor rating of thehead armor,upper body armor,lower body armor, or vitals. These attributes are Cybernetics, Motorics, Biometrics, and Frame respectively.
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Therefore, the skills that players raise will have an impact on both armor rating and specific attribute stats.The Ascent’sclever systemnegates the need for rolls or variations of drops. Instead, skill points will determine how a build performs. Read on to learn more detail about these concepts in more detail, and to learn where to find armor in the game.
Updated on July 18, 2025 by Payton Lott:This updatedAscentarmor guide will provide some clarification about damage resistance, attributes, and boosts. The armor tutorial inThe Ascentis little more than a paragraph, and seeing all of those numbers on the screen can be confusing. Players will want to know what stats are important and what stats are irrelevant when selecting the armor pieces for their character. While the passive and active boosts from armor are great, gamers need to focus on total damage resistance. The best piece of armor will depend on which type offers the highest protection against the type of damage enemies will inflict.
The Ascent Armor Basics
There are three different categories that determine what type of armor is the best to use. They are listed below:
At the beginning of a new mission, it is generally a good idea toequip armor that provides the most resistance against the type of damage enemies deal. One example is the large mechanical spider. The majority of the damage inflicted by the spider is fire damage. Thus, players will need to increase their fire resistance to defeat the spiders.
Attributes & Boosts
Attributes and Boosts are helpful, but ultimately less important. InThe Ascent, attributes include the four categories below. Armor attributes increase the point total in on of these categories.
The more points in an attribute category, the more powerful the attribute’s augments will be. Similarly, augments in a attribute category with a high point allocation will regenerate faster. This is one of the main reasons players will want tore-spec their charactersbased on which augmentations they prefer to use.
Boosts provide a direct buff to the particular skill specified. This is one of the ways people canget their characters over the skill point capof 20. The other way to surpass the cap is by purchasing modules which boost that particular skill.
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Armor Level
Players can determine armor quality by looking at the color of the item in the menu.Yellow and purple items are the most rare,and can only be found later in the game. All purple/yellow armor pieces provide both active and passive boosts to character stats. Plus, they are noticeably more outlandish, which is exactly the kind of equipment a Cyberpunk should have.
All armor and weapons inThe Ascentdrop based on progression, soplayers will have to ascend in order to get better gear.Generally, new weapons and items become available every five levels. It might take a bit of grinding to get better armor early on.
Where To Find Armor
Armor drops fromenemies, bosses, and hidden cheststhroughout the city. Early in the game, any enemy has a small probability to drop an armor piece. Similarly, bosses have both random and curated drops. These higher level enemies includebounties,side mission mobs, and themain storyline bosses. Bosses drop rare high rated armor that players can’t find simply by farming low level adds.
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The best armor, however, is found in random chests. Most of the chests are hidden in rooms throughout the city, and many of them only have one entry and exit point. Most of the entryways aredown alleys or behind obstructing objects. Explore the map a little while completing objectives, and a few of these will appear every now and then. A select few of the most fruitful chests are blocked behind doors thathave to be hacked to get through. to hack most of the entryways, gamers will need to upgrade their Cyberdeck, as detailed below.
Upgrading The Cyberdeck
Figuring outwhat an ICE level isand where to get Cyberdeckscan be confusing for new users. In reality, though, the system is quite simple. Cyberdecks will drop in accessible random chests, ships, and other loot sources in game. As players progress, more Cyberdecks will be available on the traversable map.
Once a character getsenough Cyberdecks, their ICE level will go up. Players with higher ICE levels will be able to hack through more doors and barricades. Most players will come by the upgrades naturally, as the game provides plenty of opportunities for drops. Explore the city and they will turn up. There are secrets around every corner inThe Ascent, and a fair few of the Cyberdecks are near the beginner zones. Thus, it quickly becomes fairly easy to access areas that hold fantastic armor.
An additional benefit of a higher ICE level isthe ability to hack turrets and set barrels on an explosive timer. Simply press the hack button near a turret or barrel to gain control of it. Turrets are especially useful as they deal high enough damage to kill enemies over level 10. Likewise, gamers can hack those barrels and kite enemies to their demise.
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