Diablo 4 armor features five distinctive pieces: Helmet, Chestplate, Gloves, Trousers, and Boots. Each of these pieces can be fitted into their corresponding gear slot. Besides serving as a defensive mechanism by diminishing incoming damage from adversaries, armor also extends various static and dynamic modifiers that impact the player’s statistics.
Armor Protection
Sources of armor range from enemy or boss loots, treasure chests/crates found throughout the world and its dungeons, purchases from vendors, to creations through the use of diverse crafting materials.
Levels of Rarity
Throughout your adventures in Diablo 4, you’ll stumble upon items of differing rarities, namely: Common, Magic, Rare, Legendary, and Unique. As your character progresses in levels, the drop frequency of common and magic items declines, while that of rare and legendary items increases. Unique items remain a rare gem, considered the creme de la creme of the game’s items, and you may not even encounter one in an entire season.
Common items are devoid of extra affixes, whereas magic items carry just one. Rare items come with three affixes, while Legendary items boast four. One vital point to remember is that while items of lesser rarity can be traded, Legendary and Unique items are account-bound and non-tradeable.
Should you desire to add a Legendary Aspect to your item, it must be of either Rare or Legendary rarity. Upon imprinting a Rare item, it elevates to Legendary rarity and becomes account-bound. All Legendary items found as loot inherently carry a Legendary Aspect. Unique items, true to their name, are unparalleled as they carry special effects that are permanent and unchangeable.
Rarity Classes
There are five rarity classes in Diablo 4:
Common: Lacks any additional affix modifier
Magic: Carries one extra affix modifier
Rare: Accompanied by three additional affix modifiers
Legendary: Contains four affix modifiers
Unique: Possesses unalterable special effects.
The Art of Enchantment
Enchantment serves as a potent mechanism in Diablo 4, allowing you to modify undesirable affixes on your gear for the potential of enhanced attributes. By altering a specific affix, you can revamp an average Legendary item into a spectacular piece of equipment. However, it is crucial to remember that once an attribute has been enchanted, the item becomes bound to your account, and only that specific attribute can be subjected to future rerolls.
Understanding that certain affixes are incompatible on a single item is fundamental to prevent squandering your resources. In the process of enchanting, two new attributes are presented to you, giving you the option to retain the current affix if the new options are not satisfactory. Regardless, bear in mind that the cost remains, and the affix is considered enchanted.
To enchant rare items, Veiled Crystals are necessary, attainable by salvaging other rare items. For enchanting Legendary items, Fiend Rose is needed. Hence, ensure to amass sufficient materials and gold to fully exploit the enchanting system.
Item Powers and Affixes
The potency of your equipment governs the spectrum of stats that can manifest on your gear. The increase in your character level corresponds to the escalation of the item power on the gear you acquire through loot or quests. The affixes on your gear have scopes that also expand with the increase of item power. For instance, a Chest with an item power of 290 may reflect a Strength affix between 7-12, while that same Chest with an item power of 443 could show a range between 13-18. For those who aspire to boost the item power of their gear, the Blacksmith stands ready to assist.
By upgrading a piece of equipment, you can elevate its item power by 5 per upgrade. Low-level rares can undergo upgrading thrice, thus allowing an addition of up to 15 item power. Conversely, Legendary items can be upgraded up to 5 times, thereby potentially adding 25 item power. With each increment in item power, expect a rise in the base stats of your gear such as armor for armor pieces and damage for weapons, as well as affix ranges and implicit stats. It’s notable that the values of Legendary Aspects seem unaltered by the increase of an item’s power via upgrading.
Personalizing Your Look
Throughout Diablo 4, you will amass an array of Armor and Weapons with varying stats and capabilities. However, you might discover that some items possess an aesthetic that is more captivating than others. Luckily, for those prioritizing style over stats, there exists a solution.
By salvaging gear, its appearance becomes permanently archived in your Wardrobe, allowing you to transmogrify your new gear to mimic its look. Bear in mind, transmogrification only alters the visual aspect of your equipment without impacting its stats or powers. Though it might seem trivial, it is essential for those unwilling to part with their favorite weapon or armor set, despite surpassing its utility.
All Armor in Diablo 4
Unique Armor stands as the zenith of Armor in Diablo 4, boasting unique and potent characteristics that can drastically alter your character’s build. Despite their rare and challenging acquisition compared to legendary items, Unique Armor pieces bear the potential to become top-tier gear owing to their special effects, Affixes, and unique aesthetic. Additionally, each unique item carries its distinct background flavor text, further contributing to its singularity and Lore.
The Uniqueness of Helms
Unique Helms stand as a distinguished category of Unique Armor in Diablo 4. These are rare and potent armor components that bestow distinct attributes and effects on the wearer, marking them as the apex of head armor in the game. Contrary to other superior quality armor pieces, Unique Helms boast a singular appearance and carry their exclusive background Lore.
100,000 Steps
Unique Boots | Barbarian
Unique Effect: Following the acquisition of the final damage bonus from the Walking Arsenal Key Passive, Ground Stomp is automatically activated, and x Fury is gained. This effect has a cooldown of x seconds.
Andariel’s Visage
Unique Helms | All Classes
Unique Effect: Lucky Hit: There’s a chance of up to x% to trigger a poison nova that inflicts x Poisoning damage over x seconds to enemies within range.
Blood Artisan’s Cuirass
Unique Chests | Necromancer
Unique Effect: Upon picking up Blood Orbs, a free Bone Spirit is summoned, dealing bonus damage based on your current Life percentage.
Cowl of the Nameless
Unique Helms | Rogue
Unique Effect: The chance for a Lucky Hit is increased by x% against enemies under Crowd Control.
Deathless Visage
Unique Helms | Necromancer
Unique Effect: The Bone Spear leaves behind echoes that explode, causing x damage as it travels.
Esu’s Heirloom
Unique Boots | Sorcerer
Unique Effect: Your Critical Strike Chance is boosted by x% of your Movement Speed bonus.
Eyes in the Dark
Unique Pants | Rogue
Unique Effect: Unless the Death Trap hits a Boss or Player, it continues to reset itself until it eliminates an enemy. However, the cooldown of Death Trap is amplified by x%.
Fists of Fate
Unique Gloves | All Classes
Unique Effect: Your attacks deal random damage ranging from x% to y% of their standard damage.
Frostburn
Unique Gloves | All Classes
Unique Effect: Lucky Hit: There’s a chance of up to x% to Freeze enemies for x seconds.
Gloves of the Illuminator
Unique Gloves | Sorcerer
Unique Effect: Fireball now rebounds as it moves, exploding each time it impacts the ground, but its explosion deals x% reduced damage.
The list continues with an assortment of unique items, each possessing their distinct properties and effects. From Gohr’s Devastating Grips that cause Whirlwind to explode at its conclusion, dealing fire damage to surrounding enemies, to the Greaves of the Empty Tomb that create desecrated ground under your Sever spectres, damaging enemies with Shadow damage over time.
Harlequin Crest, a helm that grants x% Damage Reduction and additional Ranks to all Skills, or Iceheart Brais, pants that cause enemies dying while Frozen to potentially unleash a Frost Nova. The diversity is immense, allowing players to find a unique piece of armor that best suits their character build and playing style.