Platinum Author
Harlequin Crest is a unique elite helm (Shako) and a favorite among Diablo 2 players due to its very nice mods.
Once you study the mods below, you can grasp why players consider it a top-quality helm:
The Stats:
Defense: 98-141
Required Level: 62
Required Strength: 50
Durability: 12
+2 To All Skills
+1-148 To Life (+1.5 Per Character Level)
+1-148 To Mana (+1.5 Per Character Level)
Damage Reduced By 10%
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 To All Attributes
+2 To All Skills
Here is one of Harlequin Crest's many nice mods. A +2 to All Skills is a very, very attractive bonus to any Diablo 2 player. There are only two other unique helms that offer an all-classes inclusive +2 to All Skills, Nightwing's Veil and Andariel's Visage. However, those two have much higher Strength requirements (96 and 102 respectively), therefore, for characters who don't intend to place many points in Strength, the Harlequin Crest is a more cost-effective helm, and many players would argue that it is a more useful helm than the other two.
+1-148 To Life (+1.5 Per Character Level)
+1-148 To Mana (+1.5 Per Character Level)
A good, sizeable boost to Life and Mana, this mod is especially useful for those characters who receive a lower amount of Life per attribute point they put into Vitality: the Sorceress, Necromancer and Druid, who only receive 2 Life points per Vitality points.
Damage Reduced By 10%
Harlequin Crest is one of the few items in Diablo 2 that provides a % Physical damage resistance. The others are Shaftstop, String of Ears, Verdungo's cord, Vampire Gaze and Stormshield.
Many players try to put on at least one item that has % Physical damage resistance, for the very good reason that it reduces the damage received from successful attacks, and thus is conducive to the one of the most important goals for all Diablo 2 players (especially those that play in Hardcore mode): not dying.
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Harlequin Crest offers a huge boost of to your Magic Find capabilities, and one of the reasons why Diablo 2 players love going on MF runs with it.
An MF (Magic Find) Run in Diablo 2 is when players equip their characters with items that have the mod % Better chance of Getting Magic Items, where a higher % is better in terms of increasing the chances of getting better item drops from unique monsters, but while still having enough firepower to obliterate monsters.
There are only two other unique helms that give you a boost to Magic Find, and these are:
Tarnhelm, which gives 25%-50% MF
Stealskull, which gives 30%-50% MF
As you can see, you would have to get a perfect Tarnhelm or Steelskull to get the 50% MF that is always guaranteed on a Harlequin Crest.
Summary:
The Harlequin Crest is a top-choice helmet due to its +2 To All Skills, 10% Damage Resistance and 50% MF. The only drawback to the Harlequin Crest is that it lacks resistance.
There are several ways you can improve it, depending on what you use it for.
If you want to improve the huge MF bonus on it, you can have it socketed and then put a perfect topaz (+24% MF) or IST rune (+25% MF) in it.
If you want even more % Physical Damage Resistance, you can sock it with BER Rune for an additional +8% to Physical Damage Resistance.
About this Author
Dan has been playing Diablo II for 7 years. Every time he restarts it takes him just one week to bring his character's level to 80 with all the right gear. He has worked the process down to a science in his Gheeds DII Guide: [http://www.gheedsd2guide.com]
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