[[File:Paper-doll-aug2010.jpg|left|thumb|125px|Paper doll, Aug 2010.]]
Armor in In Diablo III , "Armor" has two meanings. It can be a general term that refers to any type of non-weapon equipment worn by a player. It is greatly-enhanced and improved also a specific term, a number found on what was found in Diablo IIevery piece of armor. There are more types of Heavier armorhas a much higher Armor number, more varieties which translates to less damage taken by the character wearing it. The benefits of each kind Armor are similar to the benefits of armorhigher [[Defense]], and much improved graphical representations of armorthe attribute.
As for armor in general, the equipment is quite changed from Diablo III. There are more types of armor and more slots on the [[paper doll], but fewer individual kinds of armor; D3 offers just 18 pieces of torso armor, compared to 45 in D2X. [[Armor dyes]], [[crafting]], [[socketing]], [[enchanting]], and many other features have also been added to extend the armor finding game.
Little is yet known about Almost every piece of armor values or modifiers. Some items have been seen in early testinglooks very different when worn by each class, but and some offer visual differences between male and female as the itemization balancing process takes place late in a game's development cycle, nothing in screenshots seen much before the beta begins should be taken too seriouslywell.
* [[Helms]]
** [[Spirit Stones]] (Monk only)
** [[Voodoo Masks]] (Witch Doctor only)
** [[Wizard Hats]] (Wizard only)
* [[Chest Armor]]
** [[Capes]] (Demon Hunter only)
* [[Shields]]
** [[Mojos]] (Witch Doctor only)** [[ShouldersOrbs]] (Wizard only)** [[Quivers]] (Demon Hunter only)* [[Pauldrons|Shoulder Armor]] -- A new type of armor added New in Diablo III.* [[WristsBracers|Bracers]] -- A new type of forearm armor added New in in Diablo III.
* [[Hands|Gloves]]
* [[Belts]] -- These do not hold potions as in Diablo II. They're purely another piece of armor.
** [[Mighty Belts]] (Barbarian only)* [[Pants]] -- A new type of armor added New in Diablo III.* [[FeetBoots|Boots]]
* [[Rings]]
* [[Amulets]]
==Class-Specific Armor==
Unlike While the many [[Classdevelopers initially planned not to include class-Specific Weapons]], specific armor in Diablo III is not limited by class. All classes can equip all types and quality levels of armor (with possibly some exceptions for shields), that changed during game design. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/bashiok-on-class-specific-items-part-two/] ::As of the beta test, there are numerous types of armor that can only be equipped by one of the character classes. The same goes for [[Bashiokweapons]]: There still aren’t any armor restriction planned. Armor is a different issue as it’s shown in much the same was as Diablo II, so more types don’t actually increase the animation/modeling costs like weapon types would.
Above are the six gear sets Blizzard showed off pre-Blizzcon 2010. See the [[Gear Sets]] page for many more examples. This wiki will display detailed looks at all 18 gear sets for all five classes once the information is available.
==Armor Ratings and Stats==
Little The function of Armor is known about how one of the bigger changes in Diablo III's combat engine. In Diablo II, higher armor/defense (the terms were interchangeable) meant a character was less likely to be hit by a physical attack. A D2 character with very high defense could stand in the midst of swinging enemies and hardly be struck at all. As a result of this design feature, the developers had to make monster hits do very high damage, so when one did land, it hurt enough to matter. This resulted in characters taking no damage most of the time, with occasional spikes of very high damage. In Diablo III, Armor does not reduce enemy to/hit. It reduces damage taken. Thus a D3 character with high armor will still get hit as often as a character with no armor; but each hit will cause much less damage. This, in theory, means that combat will result in a steady drain of hit points, which players must find ways to manage. Raising your character's [[defense]], the attribute, does much the same thing as higher Armor. ===Defense vs. Armor=== A key distinction to make, blockingas these are very different values/functions/numbers in Diablo III. * Armor is a value on all types of armor items. More armor = more damage reduction, resistancebut a lot of Armor is required to see significant improvements.* Defense is one of the four core character attributes/stats. It grows as your character levels up, and other defensive stats work in can be added as a bonus from items, gems, skills, and more. Both Armor and Defense increase your character's damage reduction, but Defense offers much larger gains, per point. (But since high level armor items can have many hundreds of points of Armor, both values must be cultivated for long term success.) [[File:Defense-vs-armor-beta1.jpg|center|thumb|800px|Armor vs. Defense compared with item bonuses. Shot from the Diablo IIIbeta. ]]
===Defense===
