The Complete Guide to Unique Armors in Diablo 2 Resurrected

[@jameshaulenbeek5931]

Twitchthroe has been a favorite forever! I keep an exceptional version rotating around as well, as it's so wonderfully useful. And Shaftstop... for some reason it's more difficult for me to find than other exceptional armors...? Still a favorite. Maybe that harkens back to the 1.09 dueling days, but it's still a wonderful armor. Throw an Um rune in it and keep going.

[@MapHKid]

Love the new outro! Def makes your vids end less abruptly lol

[@DJiLLFERNO]

Great vid as a newer player (Xbox) understanding a bit more context over Just get an enigma is really helpful.

[@jameshaulenbeek5931]

That's one thing that does bother me about so many D2 content creators - "here's your endgame build, it's going to cost $1000 in real money" Eventually you'll find the stuff, but knowing what's actually good in the meantime is VERY helpful.

[@defilerzerg9152]

My Enchantress still wears Vipermagi, despite having CoH in the stash. With only 40% FCR from other gear, I don't want to lose in teleport speed by switching, even though CoH would give much more power (via extra +skills and two 15@ charms replaced by skillers)

[@pchurch692]

Probably a pretty common one, but Arkaine's has always been a nostalgic one for me. First played Diablo 1 with my uncle, and we had a blast getting Arkaine's on the warrior we made, always been on the hunt for it whenever I've played d2 since! Thanks for the content!

[@ViscusLupus]

also backi in 1.09d AV was way more OP.

[@pchurch692]

@@ViscusLupus true, used to be something I would actually use, now more of a trophy piece.

[@jameshaulenbeek5931]

@@ViscusLupus 1.08 Arkaine's was the 🤌 I got one from a friend when they quit playing, but I stopped after 1.10 came out, so now it's... poof...

[@JSashiKumar]

D shell is a favourite of mine. An eth one on a merc can get you a great tank. Even upped non-eth ones for the def boost. Love that CBF mod on it.

[@phucnguyen0110]

Skin of the Vipermagi is the first thing that comes to mind for me :D

[@Alzorath]

Still one of the best armors in the game honestly, even if it's not often viewed as such (it pushes builds a lot further than people realize, because it unfortunately only has +1 instead of +2 skills)

[@phucnguyen0110]

@@Alzorath You can get away with it for a lot of builds, like really - it doesn't have to be a caster build specifically, as the + 1 to All Skills and the decent amount of all res are both quite good throughout the game.

[@brandonclark6431]

Just found my first greyform ever last week was amazed..

[@illturralli]

Twitchthroe is probably my favorite low level armour to use except for the obvious Skin of the Viper magi. The increased block % is worth gold for non paladins to achieve max block. The attackspeed has a huge correction to damage output. Not to mention that trapssins use ias instead of fcr to last traps. As well as the faster hit recovery is a very nice survival stat. The only downside i see i twitchthroe is the lack of resistances. The rattlecage is like one of my favorite armours for act 1 merc and bowazon. I gotta say. The Centurion looks like a very much decent lvl 14 armour. Because it gives STAMINA!!! and a bit if hp regeneration.

[@clueso_]

You also could make videos about how to improve these armors, so they can become more competitive with runewords. Maybe with a cube recipe that improves their Elite versions, dunno. D2 mods like Reign of Shadow or D2 Resurgence have made some great stuff with them already, so hearing what you can come up with would also be interesting.

[@om3g4888]

In the past I used a Bramble Superior Archon Plate on my poisonmancer to really drive that poison damage through the roof.

[@negativeM]

Eth upped Zod shaft was always my favorite unique armor for pvp zealot.

[@AlexandreBackes]

Arkaine's Valor is my favourite :D it matches really well with summoner druids in 2.4 and also with a crazy shockwave bear druid I messed up with which turned out to be fun to play in 1man group

[@spicykimchi1]

Huh... So it's Sparking Mail. I always said, "SparkLing Mail," too. The go-to for me will always be Vipermagi. I always socket it with a topaz. Unfortunately, I couldn't find one this time around with more than 31 resist. No biggie. I also really like the Guardian Angel piece. I usually socket it with - I can't remember - I think an Um rune. Once I get it, I like to park my hammerdin in Trav. and do a bunch of runs.

[@darushkii]

Refreshing to see a list of uniques that aren't mostly crap! I think the D2 unique armors are in a pretty good place, despite the existence of Stealth

[@Alzorath]

There's a few I'd like to see perked up (my dream would be dynamic upgrading for uniques, but we'll never see that, since it would mean creating something special for each unique, and make the crafting recipe much more complicated on the back end)

[@hkp9257]

​@@Alzorath Imagine crafting uniques. Different recipes for the chance for different stats/effects. :P

[@SelevanRsC]

​@@hkp9257 no f that. Play d3 if you want 5738 random uniques.

[@hkp9257]

@@SelevanRsC Sorry I forgot the /s :)

[@chrisfrost73]

You should almost consider makinga video on which unique armors to up and continue to use. Like shaftstop and others.

[@spykeking1989]

Fun side perk for Guardian Angel, that plus paladin skills will apply to act 2 mercs in 2.4

[@alexbridden1594]

I've been able make Corpsemourn work fairly well on my Berserker. I used it through most of Nighmtare. I think Leviathan is heavily underrated though. Up to 25% damage reduction and up to +50 strength is pretty nice for a lot of melee tank setups. There are some runes that would make it even better to if you add a socket to it. Also, G R E E N

[@Wyde_Boi]

Leviathan is one of the top end game armors for melee, particularly, zealot pallys. levi, coa, dungos = max dr easy mode.

[@alexbridden1594]

@@Wyde_Boi That makes sense to me. I kind of figured that it was a top choice for at least some builds.

[@hkp9257]

I loove the look of some of these armors. Sadly, since we have rune words, most unique armors just have a very specific usecase. The same with a lot of weapons/shields. I often find cool stuff but ... a spirit sword or a spirit shield are in the most cases better, cheaper and easier to obtain.

[@SelevanRsC]

Good thing youre not obliged to use the best things possible, and you can use the more enjoyable stuff. That is, unless its really that important to you to be faster than others or five percent more efficient.

[@bobnewkirk7003]

My favorite is Vmagi for sure as its cheap, common, gives Rez and more FCR than any other armor which translates to +skill elsewhere in your gear. With the recent buff to FOH, my plan is to go for the FOH/Smite variant so GA ends up being best in slot until I can get my Enigma, and I expect it will gain a lot of popularity come 2.4. In the same vein the Nova changes have boosted the Ormus to literally the BIS armor for Nova, so a +15 light Nova Ormus is going to be a REAL nice find (I'll probably stick with Vmagi though as its cheaper)

[@hkp9257]

I have to stick with Vmagi to hit the 105fcr :P Iam happy with that, otherwise searching for a good ormus would be really expensive :)

[@maximarpgmobileboy3019]

I can't believe 28,000 diablo 2 players needed a guide on unique armor

[@tutial0z961]

I always felt like exceptional armors are way useful than the elite ones, still using some of them for end game but I can’t see myself using any elite at all.

[@alewis514]

elites have level requirements pulled out of the designer's ass. Level 85? WTF that is a ton of exp grinding on top of just beating the whole game. Runewords cap out at level 69 and that's only the BOTD. Enigma is level 65. I think all elite items should require not more than level 70.

[@balail9167]

Shaftstop, Arcane's Valor and Guardian angel are bringing back a lot of memories from the time of 1.09... eh those were the golden ol'days! :) An armor that was around even back then and I liked but never could figure out a use for was Gladiator's Bane. Well I have figured it out but it will take some time and doing. Care to hazard a guess or try something out yourself? :)

[@Alzorath]

I mean, Energy Shield Sorc is the most obvious pick, but there are a few others that can use it :)

[@balail9167]

@@Alzorath Interesting idea actaully, I hadn't thought of that. I was thinking a defensive melee build, a barb or a pala pairing Gladiator's Bane with Stormshield ( another fond memory) and a few other items to balance out damage reduction, all res and dual leech among other mods. It can make a truly immortal character, but you will need a powerful merc to help damage dealing.

[@SelevanRsC]

You keep mentioning the movement penalty. Are the 5 and 10 percent speed reductions THAT big of a deal?

[@Alzorath]

when combined with shields, it can be - especially if you don't have any skill based run/walk (vigor/bos/etc.) This is because gear based run/walk has diminishing returns, and run/walk is more of a 'sum' situation - gear + skillA + skillB + (-PenaltyA) + (-PenaltyB) etc.

[@SelevanRsC]

​@@Alzorath Wait what, shields has penalty as well? Wow 22 years in ignorance.

[@Alzorath]

@@SelevanRsC yup, thankfully kite shields (and their big brother monarchs) are light shields. That and the strength requirements are why monarchs are preferred over the other 4 socket shield options (Ward, Aegis) - and is also why most people don't realize you can shop jeweler's ward's of deflection.

[@amfitness5598]

Best unique armor is a 35All Res Magi. Upped and socketed with an Um rune or All Res Jewel. Potentially over 900 Defense, 50 AR!

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

BuT fIfTy AtTaCk RaTiNg IsN't EvEn ThAt MuCh

[@BradsGaming]

I 100% thought it was sparkling mail as well. When you said sparking mail I was like wait a minute...

[@lordlucario8828]

skin of the flayed one is a guilty pleasure armor for me. i personally keep a 7 life leech eth up'd one with a 40/15 jewel in it on my bnet account for mercs until i can get something like chains or fortitude. i also keep an eth boneflesh with shael until he can wear that skin. they're both super amazing until end game runewords for the merc!

[@Alzorath]

it's honestly one of the armors that makes me wish for dynamic upgrades for uniques, though that will never happen (ie upgrades that upgrade more than just defense/reqs)

[@NikozBG]

Socketing skin of the flayed one with 15/40 literally makes me want to cry.

[@lordlucario8828]

@@NikozBG helps hit ias breakpoint and more damage. plus when paired with andy helm it gives a fuck ton of leech if the wep doesn't have any. it's pretty solid until chains or fortitude is aquired

[@NikozBG]

@@lordlucario8828 I mean I've never even seen 15/40 so If I ever get one I'm not socketing it in skin of the flayed one of all things.

[@lordlucario8828]

@@NikozBG this is fair. i mainly play casters so any melee based jewels go to my mercs. i have a 15 ias/ 15 all res jewel in an eth up'd guardian angel for super tank merc that still hits the ias breakpoint. jewels are fun lol

[@c4master703]

Speaking openly: Which of the normal unique armours is better than Stealth? I think, none is, maybe the Goldskin for all the res and Goldfind. Which of the exceptional ones is better than Smoke, Lionheart or Treachery? Vipermagi and maybe Skullder's or Que Hegan, Duriel or Shaftstopper. From the elite ones, only Gladiator's bane and Arkaine's Valor are worth considering. None of them compares to the three big runewords Enigma, Chains of Honor or Fortytude.

[@Alzorath]

Some of these will be "build specific", and by "better" I'm saying "will be used in favor of" as the criteria: Normal better than Stealth: Twitchthroe, Hawkmail, Darkmail, Rockfleece, Silks of the Victor, Rattlecage Nightmare Better than Smoke/Lionheart/Treachery: Skin of the Vipermagi, Ironpelt, Shaftstop, Duriel's Shell, Skullder's Ire, Guardian Angel Hell Better than Enigma/CoH/Fortitude: Ormus Robes, Gladiator's Bane (Arkaine's doesn't have a specific use-case over Enigma/CoH, that doesn't have another piece of gear chosen over it for functionality - due to how the variable +vit works on the formula)

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

A few hundred hours into D2R, including a solid 30+ hours of nm Meph farming, and I still haven't found a Vipermagi. Come to find out, I'm in good company. RNG really do be like that sometimes!

[@clueso_]

I also remember that Sparking Mail to be Sparkling Mail...

[@devilsephiroth9000]

Templars might is absolutely garbage. But if you find it Eth, it's actual useful. On par in defense with Fortitude, only no enhanced damage stat. I use it on my Merc with one character while another uses fortitude and both can farm Travincal without fear of death

[@lbdeuce]

Professor No One Asked here. “Orders of magnitudes bigger” means at least 100 times larger than.

[@ironreed2654]

Never drop the 1st 3 armors but who spends that much time grinding normal; Darkglow works pretty well if you upgrade it at a higher level when you've got other sources of resistance, perfect on a NM mercenary.

[@sercanbulut8202]

They have to make some changes on armors in future they added new rune words but most uniques kinda not useful have rare they are

[@johnjenkins4788]

Wyrmhide Viper Magi for the win

[@alberpajares4792]

Silks of the Victor!

[@alberpajares4792]

Twitch very useful for bowazone..,

[@WOLigma]

How do you get unique armor? Are they all just super rare drops

[@Alzorath]

Kill more stuff, also, I pop a lot of armor stands (and weapon stands) off screen - some of these are ultra rare, but a lot of them aren't terribly uncommon (most exceptional/normal uniques, you'll find a good percentage of if you play through with one of each class) - elites however, bit more rough to find.

[@Adam-zb5kk]

Why is Spirit forge so easily discounted? At level 80 it gives 100 to life, 2 OS gives it a ton of flexibility, and upgraded it can roll well over 1200 defense.

[@Alzorath]

the Variable life is unmodified by % improvements (like BO/Oak Sage/etc.), the 2OS is nice for some setups, but that is only 1 socket more than the other armors can get, while most the rest of the mods are "mediocre" compared to other armors (most exceptional armors will upgrade to fairly high defense - spirit forge being on the lower end, since it can't hit the 200%ED mark). It's not bad, just not really "great" compared to other options.

[@Adam-zb5kk]

@@Alzorath Gotcha. Thanks for that, I didn't know that life per level is unaffected by buffs. I play single pass self-found in HC so I never have been able to make a CTA. Good to know if I ever run a twinked character in the future

[@adamcawdle]

in all my years of slaying mobs i dont think i ever dropped a corpsemourn. or tyrals might lol

[@jeanninedemaeseneer1060]

i really like twitchthroe 😍

[@matthuck378]

I have never found any of these, LMAO. It's all rune words or the rare and set armors I have found. My level 43 Sorc in D2R is still wearing her Stealth breastplate.

[@wozzzup]

most used armor are Stealth

[@MRCelSynap]

I swear by guardian angel, but I like to play incredibly tanky builds just for the sake of it. I do play hardcore but this is not a factor in that choice. I love Guardian Angel + Stormshield + Verdungo's on most characters

[@barryschalkwijk9388]

Sorceresses need max FHR for blind teleporting through 8 player gamers.

[@_stay_frosty]

So what is your favorite armor that is not enigma? Well I guess it is enigma... oh wait...

[@Alzorath]

Actually, Enigma isn't my favorite armor - it's great, but due to how I test builds, I avoid teleport for the most part - only time I really feel the "need" for enigma is if I'm doing specifically something with a long-travel like baal (and even then, clearing WSK/throne can be pretty good drops)

[@beardedassailant3732]

Funny how runewords make most of these cool looking pieces useless

[@tylermccabe4817]

Shaftstop Mesh Armor? I think you mean Cockblock Mesh Armor.

[@bloodsuckern]

why does he talk like that why does he sound like that