[Update]: Monster Hunter: World - Iceborne has now arrived, though not without a couple of nasty issues that will need to be resolved over the coming weeks.

Monster Hunter: World's Iceborne expansion is set to arrive this January for PC, bringing with it a whole host of new challenges to face. In order to ensure the players are well and truly ready for them, as well as to guarantee their gear will be up to scratch, Capcom has now released some rather powerful catch-up gear.

New players will be able to start with the Defender α immediately, while returning players will be able to buy it from the Armory at 300z per piece, which is pretty much nothing in the grand scheme of things. On the other hand, everyone will need to forge their own Defender weapons at the Smithy, though this will once again be incredibly cheap as it'll only require one piece of Iron Ore.

In terms of stats, the Defender armor set is all about boosting your survivability and reducing your stamina consumption, as you would expect from an armor set designed with newer players in mind. As for the weapons, they will posses higher attack damage and sharpness than their competition, which should give you a smooth ride through pretty much the entire story campaign. Just make sure to periodically enhance them as they all have five upgrade tiers!

You can get a pretty good idea of just how powerful these weapons are through the recently posted trailer. Have a little peek:

To learn more about Monster Hunter: World, as well as the newly added Defender items, you should hop on over to the official website. Have fun, and good luck on your hunt!