Chains of Honor Archon Plate

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Chains of Honor

Dol + Um + Ber + Ist
4 Socket Body Armor
Patch 1.10 Runeword

+2 To All Skills
+200% Damage To Demons
+100% Damage To Undead
8% Life Stolen Per Hit
+70% Enhanced Defense
+20 To Strength
Replenish Life +7
All Resistances +65
Damage Reduced By 8%
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Chains of Honor occupies a rather awkward position among the body armor choices. While it undoubtedly has very good stats, it is not particularly cheap to make and is not a best-in-slot item except for very niche builds. Its stats are more caster-oriented but it also inexplicably comes with 8% Life Stolen Per Hit and bonus damage to Demons and Undead.

So where does Chains of Honor fit in? For characters that rely on enhanced damage, Fortitude is far superior to Chains of Honor. Almost every non-sorceress caster wants to use Enigma. So this leaves a very narrow demographic of sorceress builds and a few odd shapeshifter builds which might consider it. It is also worth noting that a Skin of the Vipermagi socketed with an Um rune gives +50 All Resists and often outclasses Chains of Honor at a much lower price. However, the most apt comparison can be made between Chains of Honor and Enigma since these armors provide similar bonuses.

STAT COMPARISON
For the purposes of this comparison, it will be assumed that Teleport and the random collection of physical damage stats on Chains of Honor are not required.

Chains of Honor Enigma Winner
+2 All Skills +2 All Skills –
70% Enhanced Defense +775 Defense Enigma
+20 Strength +0-74 Strength (Based on Character Level) Enigma
Damage Reduced By 8% Damage Reduced By 8% –
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items 1-99% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based on Character Level) Enigma
Replenish Life +7 14 Life After Each Kill Enigma
+65 All Resistances +45% Faster Run / Walk –
Increase Maximum Life 5% –
15% Damage Taken Goes to Mana –

Based on this breakdown, Enigma wins in most categories. The remaining comparison is between the +65 Resistances and the utility stats that Enigma provides:

• +45% Faster Run / Walk increases movement speed in town. This is a relatively minor benefit that gets better with shorter runs.
• Increase Maximum Life 5% is usually equivalent to 50-80 life depending on the class using it and is desirable for all characters.
• 15% Damage Taken to Mana is not particularly useful in PvM.

• +65 All Resistances is certainly a very big bonus. However, resistances have a soft cap of +175 in Hell Difficulty and can be found on many other less important item slots.

The final step of this comparison is to evaluate the necessity for +65 All Resistances and whether it is enough to compensate for all the other stats that Enigma provides.

Consider the following textbook sorceress setup:

Amulet: Mara’s Kaleidoscope (30 All Resistances)
Weapon: Heart of the Oak (40 All Resistances) / Death’s Fathom (40 Lightning / 40 Fire)
Shield: Spirit Monarch (35 Cold / 35 Lightning / 35 Poison)
Boots: Aldur’s Advance (50 Fire)
Inventory: Annihilus (20 All Resistances), Torch (20 All Resistances)
Anya Quest x 3: (30 All Resistances)

This setup would result in maxed resistances without any help. Even assuming non-perfect rolls, a few resistance small charms or an Um Rune in the helm would make up the difference easily.

This means that Chains of Honor would only be valuable under the following conditions:

1. The weapon slot does not contribute any resistances (Crescent Moon, Eschuta’s Temper, Rare or Magic Orbs)
2. The build does not require FCR from the armor slot (Skin of the Vipermagi)
3. The user is unwilling to carry +5 All Resistances Small Charms in the inventory.

Chains of Honor is sometimes used as a mercenary armor for characters designed to clear Uber Tristram. Uber Mephisto’s conviction aura raises the resistance soft cap to 300 so the resistances are actually necessary to prevent your mercenary from being instantly killed. As a side bonus, the +2 All Skills will boost the power of an Act II mercenary’s aura. The recommended setup is:

Helm: Ethereal Kira’s Guardian + 15 All Resistances / 15 IAS Jewel
Weapon: The Reaper’s Toll / Infinity / Faith etc.
Armor: Ethereal-Bugged Chains of Honor Sacred Armor