Changes

Armour refers to ==Defense==The primary attribute from armor items is [[Defense]]. It decreases the whole family chance of equipmentopponents to be able to hit you. Helms, shields, belts, gloves, bootsThere are [[modifier]]s like "[[Ignore Target's Defense]]" however, as well as chest protectionwhich negates it completely.

Regardless, you always have a 5% chance of miss, so even without any Defense, there's ever only a 95% chance to hit you. ===Gloves, Boots and Belts===[[Glove]]s, [[boot]]s, and [[belt]]s add to your [[Defense]] and other bonuses, but not enormously. None of these account for a very large percentage of your total Defense value, but special item types ([[Uniques]], [[Rare]]s, or [[Item Set]]s) can provide a decent boost to Defense, and of course to your other stats also. The [[magic]]al [[modifier]]s found on these items are much less powerful than the ones on [[helm]]s and [[body armor]], but they add some to the cause and with the special item types they can be quite powerful.  ==Defense and Blocking==[[Shield]]s have a base [[block]] number, but you have to figure it into a formula which is based on your [[Dexterity]]. The higher your Dexterity, the more you'll block. If your Dexterity is lower, higher % blocking gear helps, but you'll only block at some % of the time you could if you had more Dex. Blocking half the time when you have 70% blocking is 35%. Blocking half the time when you have 40% blocking is just 20%. So better equipment helps, but a good shield isn't a total solution. Blocking % in the Expansion: The formula for blocking is:  Total Blocking % = [Blocking x (Dexterity – 15)] / (Character Level x 2) If your character is moving, then % chance to block is reduced to 1/3 of its original value.  A quick example? You have a [[Clvl]] 50 [[barbarian]] with 80 in Dex and a tower shield that's 49% blocking.  [49 * (80 - 15)] / (50 * 2) = 31,85 %. Compared to the 49% he'd get in D2, he's only half as effective. And it gets worse as your Clvl increases, you need to put about half your stat points into Dex to keep your percentage at around half your shield's blocking %. [[Twitchthroe]] is still the only way to boost blocking percentage, and it makes very little difference at higher levels. In the above example it would take the Barb from 25% up to 38%, but he's got 80 dexterity. For a Clvl 50 [[Sorceress]] or [[Necromancer]] with 25 dexterity, they'd block 3.5% (compared to 44% in D2) with the tower shield, and 5.5% (compared to 69% in D2) with Twitch added in. Blocking % in Diablo II: It is capped at 75%. You can get more than this with a good shield + Twitchthroe, or a [[Paladin]] can use his [[Holy Shield]] skill, but no matter how high the display is, 75% is all that you can block.  ==Sockets==This table illustrates the most possible sockets [[socket]]s on the three types of socketed armor found per [[difficulty level]]. Lots of items don't have this many sockets, and the elite items aren't findable on [[normal]]. For example, [[Ancient Armor ]] can have up to 4 sockets. However you'll never get it with more than 3 unless you find it in a game on [[Hell difficulty]]. Lots of types of headgear can have 3 sockets, but they'll only be found on hell now.

! [[Normal]]! [[Nightmare]]! [[Hell]]

| Helmets[[Helmet]]s

| [[Body Armorarmor]]

| Shields[[Shield]]s

 These all apply to [[non-magical ]] items. You can get Artisan's and Jeweler's prefixes in normal or later and get 3 or 4 sockets from them, depending on the item type.

=Defense and Blocking=Armor Weight==All armor is sorted into three weight categories, or types.* Light Armor: Leather type armor* Medium Armor: Mail type armor* Heavy Armor: Plate armor

Shields have As a base block numbersense of realism, but you have to figure it into wearing more heavy armours, which has a formula which is based on your Dexterity. The higher [[Defense]] bonus will penalise your Dexterity, the more you'll block. If your Dexterity is lower, higher % blocking gear helps, but you'll only block at some % of the time you could if you had more Dex. Blocking half the time when you have 70% blocking is 35%. Blocking half the time when you have 40% blocking is just 20%. So better equipment helps, but a good shield isn't a total solution[[Run]] speed and [[Stamina]] drain.

Blocking % This can be a major consideration in the Expansion: The formula for blocking is:wearing armour. Running while in Heavy Armor (plate) will cause your Stamina to drain much more quickly than normal and also slow you down. When your stamina runs out, you can no longer run, though you can walk at least.

Total Blocking '''Penalties:'''* Light Armor: 0% = [Blocking x (Dexterity – 15)] / (Character Level x 2)stamina drain and speed penalty.* Medium Armor: +5% stamina drain and speed penalty.* Heavy Armor: +10% stamina drain and speed penalty.

If your character On top of personal risk, being unable to run for long is movingannoying and inconvenient, then % chance with the huge [[level]]s. You often clear a level, or most of an area, and hit a dead end, and need to block is reduced run back 15 or 25 screens to 1/3 of its original valueanother area you skipped.

A quick example? You Removing the armour and holding it temporarily in your inventory for the time you have to run might not be a Clvl 50 barbarian with 80 in Dex and a tower shield that's 49% blockingbad idea.

{|<gallery>| [[ImageFile:p-ingame-barb-1_116.jpg|Barb in light plate.]]| [[ImageFile:p-ingame-barb-2_68.jpg|Big shoulder and knee pads.]]| [[ImageFile:p-ingame-barb-3_30.jpg|Chain mail with a big belt.]]| [[ImageFile:p-ingame-barb-3_03.jpg|Full plate with a great helm and halberd.]]| [[ImageFile:p-ingame-barb-1_119.jpg|Plate shoulders and no legs.]]| [[ImageFile:p-ingame-barb-3_19.jpg|Great helm, topless, chain pants.]]|-! colspan="6" | A random batch of Barbarian outfits.|}</gallery>

There is a "one size fits all" aspect to equipment, which is necessary, since having five different types of every armor in the game would be annoying and item variety overkill. The silver platemail that the [[Paladin ]] wears does not look the same on the [[Amazon]], since when she equips the same item, it will reshape itself to her curves and transform into the golden tones that she favorsfavours. And a [[Barbarian ]] can wear the same armor and it will appear in his darker brown and black colorscolours, and fit his much more massive frame.