Armour (equipment)

In Path of Exile, armour comes in many different varieties. Only one piece of armour of each type may be worn at a time.

Categories of Armour
There are five different categories of armour. Only one piece of armour from each category may be equipped at a time. Additionally, shields may not be equipped if the player is using a two-handed weapon.
 * Helmets
 * Chest armour
 * Gloves
 * Boots
 * Shields

Types of Protection
The primary purpose of armour is to provide protection to the character while it is equipped. There are three ways that armour can accomplish this based on the attributes of the specific piece of armour.
 * Armour Rating
 * The armour rating defines how well a piece of armour can physically protect the character from attacks. Steel plate has a high armour rating, cloth does not. Armour with the strength attribute will have a high armour rating.


 * Evasion Rating
 * The evasion rating defines how well a character can evade attacks from enemies. Armour with the dexterity attribute will have a evasion armour rating.


 * Energy Shield
 * The energy shield is a barrier of energy that surrounds the character. Damage dealt by enemies is dealt first to the energy shield. Only once it is depleted is any damage actually dealt to the character. The energy shield will regenerate when out of combat. Armour with the intelligence attribute will provide an energy shield.

Properties
All armour share a number of basic properties in common that can be seen in the item's tooltip information.
 * Armour type
 * This is the type of armour.


 * Quality
 * Quality is a random modifier that increases the effectiveness rating of the armour. Its maximum value is 20%.


 * Level requirement
 * Some armour cannot be used by characters below a certain level. If there is no level requirement, it is not listed.


 * Attribute requirements
 * Armour cannot be used by characters whose attributes are below a required amount. A piece of armour can have more than one attribute requirement.


 * Armour
 * How much the piece of armour contributes to the character's total armour rating.


 * Evasion Rating
 * How much the piece of armour contributes to the character's total evasion rating.


 * Energy Shield
 * How much the piece of armour contributes to the character's total energy shield.


 * Sockets
 * A piece of armour may randomly receive sockets when it is created. The number of sockets (if any), and how many of them are linked is chosen randomly, and each type of armour has a maximum number of sockets that it can receive. The colour of the sockets is also random, but any attribute requirements increase the chances of matching sockets to be chosen.

Armour rarities
Like all other pieces of equipment, armour comes in different varieties of rarity. Higher levels of rarity generally (but not always) indicate a more powerful item, and receive more magical affixes.