Monster Hunter Maximum Defense

Maximum Blademaster Armor Defense
v1

Does not factor in Mega Armorskins, Armorcharms, skills, meals, weapon defense, honing, debuffs, etc. Goes from Freedom Unite to XX, counting only G-Rank releases.

Without going in-game and making a few pieces, it's harder to judge the individual defense of both late low rank and high rank armor pieces in a G-Rank game because there are additional armor spheres from higher ranks to consider when Kiranico and Ping's Dex will list the absolute maximum, though some armors scaling higher than others with the same amount of base defense obviously means they get more defense per sphere at some stage.

----------------------------
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
----------------------------

Probably the earliest G-Rank game most people actually care about.

Low Rank

Indra and Kaiser Armor are at 48 base defense a piece.

High Rank

White Fatalis armor at 71 base.

G-Rank

White Fatalis armor starts at 104 per piece, and peak at 118 defense.

Full: 118 x 5 = 590


-------------------------
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
-------------------------

Capcom decided that the worldwide release grants every player an +50 innate defense from the start of the game, which the Japanese lack. Some equipment stats were changed between Tri and 3U (likely due to P3rd?), but the min/max for low/high aren't so different.

Low Rank

Helios (Ceadeus) is uncontested in base defense, at 26 a piece.

High Rank

Vangis (Deviljho) and Escadora (Alatreon) may be maxed out at 113 per piece, though with G-Rank spheres. The latter does however have the highest amount of base defense in high rank, at 68 per piece.

G-Rank

Grand & Prime Yamoto/Hyuga (Jhen & Hallowed Jhen), Nether (Abyssal Lagi), Miralis, and Escadora X (Alatreon) can all max out at 120 defense on each piece. Vangis Coil X (Deviljho) however is the outlier that maxes out at 136 defense.

Full: 120 x 5 = 600 JP (650 Worldwide)
With Vangis Coil X: 136 + (120 x 4) = 616 JP (666 Worldwide)


-------------------------
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
-------------------------

By contrast to how 3G tweaked with Tri a bit, such as the armors and the overhauled multiplayer questline, 4G practically built off MH4 and so there's a ton of high rank armors that will never get used.

Low Rank

Gloaming/Adamance (Dah'ren), Kirin, and Auroros/Borealis (Lao, via part trading) offer the highest low rank base defense, 26 per piece.

High Rank

Many Rarity 7 armors provide 81 base defense, but only Crimson Fatalis and Escadora (Alatreon, via part trading) peak at 138 per piece with G-Rank spheres, and only one of those doesn't come with Defense Down M.

Full Escadora: 138 x 5 = 690

G-Rank

Crimson Fatalis, White Fatalis, and the GX Hunter sets max out at 156 defense per piece. The former still has Defense Down M. Interesting to note that these three each start at 120; the highest it goes in 3U (minus that outlier Jho belt that is).

Full Set: 156 x 5 = 780


-----------------------------
Monster Hunter Generations/XX
-----------------------------

Thankfully the western high rank release makes it easier to tell apart defense values before and after G-Rank.

Low Rank

Uragaan, Gammoth, and effectively every armor piece made from a low rank elder dragon starts at 26 per piece.

High Rank

Ukanlos provides a whopping 142 defense per piece when maxed out in Generations, and a further 10 points for each in XX though that's with True Armor Spheres. Escadora armor remains at 138 max like in MH4U, but this time it doesn't need G-Rank spheres to achieve that. It does however start at a lower 76 base defense.

Full Ukanlos Gen: 142 x 5 = 710
Full Ukanlos XX: 152 x 5 = 760

G-Rank

Deviant Gammoth and Diablos start with 122 per piece for 610 total defense, but they provide a ludicrous 900 defense in total each when maxed out, with 180 defense per piece. Jesus.
Outside of Deviants, GX White Fatalis starts with 140 per piece for 700, and provides 178 per piece for 890 when maxed.

Full Deviant Gammoth/Diablos: 180 x 5 = 900
Full GX White Fatalis: 178 x 5 = 890