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IV. Equipment

• Enhanced Defense. Javazons rely more on their inherent agility to minimize damage. Defense is nice to have, but Javazons don't have skills to multiply their defense, unlike Barbarians and Sorceresses. So this is less a priority.
• Faster Hit Recovery. When you get successfully hit, you enter a hit recovery animation. At this point, you are completely vulnerable since you can't attack. Faster Hit Recovery affects how long it takes for you to recover. See table at the end of this list. I'm putting this here because as your blocking and passives get better, you will rely less on this.
• Increased Attack Speed. At the risk of angering speed pundits everywhere, I am going to put this mod here. You don't really need to attack very fast, but you don't want to be attacking glacially slow either, since faster attack will mean that you're interrupting whatever the enemy is doing. Good mods do have a priority over IAS unless you have a very slow javelin, or rely on a bow in your weapon switch, or building a PvP Amazon, on which case you can upgrade this mod to the list above. See Speed Tables section.
• Self-Replenish/Increased Stack. Very nice to have in Javelins, since this means less trips to town for repair. Ranger Javazons might want to upgrade this to ‘must have', but tanking Javazons throw their javelins much less, and thus need to repair a lot less. Unless they're equipped with Ethereal Cruel Elite Javelin of 1337ness, of course, at which point the 1337ness mod has better be Self-Replenish or even better, Propagation.
• Mana leech. Similar to life leech, but applied to mana. A tankazon's primary physical skills are so cheap, however, that a little mana leech goes a long way. Ranger Javazons might want to put this on the previous list.
• Mana bonuses. This is obvious. Obviously, mana takes secondary role to life.
• Mana/kill. You can actually forgo mana leech if your killing rate is good enough. This mod increases your mana reserve whenever you kill anything. Rangers love these, as they can often fuel LF by this alone.
• Magic/Gold Find. Magic Find increases the probability of finding better quality items from monster drops. It does not increase your chances of getting items with better ilvl! Gold Find increases the average amount of gold dropped by enemies. Both can be easily included on Ranger Javazons since they are equipment independent, but these must definitely take back seats when you're designing a melee Javazon.
• Chance to cast curse. Depending on what curse, this may be useful. Some of the possible curses are Amplify Damage, Weaken, Terror, and Iron Maiden. None of these curses will help you in mass killing, although these effects are carried out in lightning bolts of LF if it is an offensive cast. Amplify Damage and Weaken are very useful when you're going toe-to-toe against a nasty boss, however.
• Life and Mana Regeneration. This helps you to regenerate more mana or regenerate life. Nice to have, but you usually don't have enough of these to make significant difference. Calculations involving regeneration are given after this list.
• Open Wounds. This causes negative life regeneration on enemies. Nice to have, but definitely not essential. Poison stops life regeneration as well. Prevent Monster Heal also does the same thing, but you can actually stop the regeneration of a poison immune monster with this.
• Stat bonuses - Strength, Dexterity. While Strength and Dexterity bonuses can be important in considering equipment tiering, I'd much rather take an overall more useful item and add to my stats when I level up.
• Deadly Strike. Since the effect is stacking with Critical Strike and not multiplicative, this is less useful. Still good to have, though.
• Piercing Attack. The effect is additive to your Pierce skill. This might be nice if you don't have too much Pierce. However, this is only available at one item outside weapons: Razortail (unique Sharkskin Belt). And there are more useful items than Razortail in this slot.
• Magic Damage Reduction. Nice to have, but since it is no longer applied per attack frame, it will no longer render you invulnerable to some of the nastiest elemental attacks in the game.
• Increased Resistance Cap. Again, nice to have, but useless unless you have enough resists to back them up.
• Chance to cast spell. Similar to chance to cast curse. Most of these spells are useful for nothing but eye candy, but some skills (Static Field, Frost Nova) are downright useful.

Not Important

• Reduced Poison Length. Will be more important if poison is nastier, but as it stands now, poison resistance is not really important. Oh, and all poison problems are solved by Antidote Potions, which no other people take from the ground.
• Increased Stamina/Stamina Regeneration. At best, this is ‘nice to have' at the beginning of the game. As your Amazon levels, she'll have enough stamina to keep running.
• Stat bonus - Energy. Amazons get 1.5 mana per point of energy. Stick with mana bonuses.
• Faster Cast Rate. This affects only four of your skills: Inner Sight, Slow Missile, Decoy, and Valkyrie. Amazons are among the slowest casters in the game, but it's generally not worth it to go out and search for more FCR. FCR table is given at the end of this list, for completeness sake.
• Attacker takes Damage. Basically, your thorns mod. This might be nice if only the damage is larger, that is, more than 10 or so. The damage from this mod quickly becomes laughable in higher difficulty levels.
• Light Radius. If you're afraid of the dark, you shouldn't be playing this game anyway.

Relevant Tables:

Faster Hit Recovery

Faster Block Rate

Faster Cast Rate

Effective Resists, Resists, and Absorbs

Your effective resists (that is, what you have after you take %absorb into account) can be expressed by the following formula:

The less resists you have to begin with, the more %absorb will help you. If you have 50% absorb, you are completely immune to that element, no matter what your resists are. Direct elemental absorb is calculated before resists, but the healing is added after damage is taken.

To calculate the damage taken when you have direct absorb:

If this number is negative, you are healed instead.

There's a bug in the game called the Anya bug. When you die, you lose all resists you have gained from Anya quests (even though this doesn't show on your character screen). That means, if you have rescued her in the three difficulty levels, you'd lose -30 temporarily. To regain this lost resist, just exit and reenter the game, and your resists will be reset. This is also useful in PvP, where death is inevitable. Obviously, HC characters do not have to worry about this bug because once you're dead, you're dead for good.

Regeneration

You normally don't regenerate life unless you pack life regeneration items. It is calculated by:

Mana regenerates naturally, but you can get faster mana regeneration from items. Mana regeneration is percentage-based, which means that it involves your current mana pool:

Stamina can be important when you have low Vitality, or when you have low levels. Your stamina regeneration is calculated by:

You regain no stamina if you're walking outside town with zero current stamina, or you're running inside town.

If you run outside town, you lose stamina instead. The loss is calculated:

Faster Run/Walk

This is an interesting discussion. This modification, as the name implies, increases both your run and walk speed. It has no effect whatsoever on your attack speed.

RW Factor% = skill frw + [(150 x item_frw) / (150 + item_frw)] + 100 - total armor speed

Total armor speed is the sum of armor and shield ArmorSpeed as explained in the Regeneration section above. item_frw parameter is the total FRW obtained from your equipment and charms.

And, when you get RW Factor%:

A typical javazon's equipment screen.

On to Itamz then! In the lists below, I try to list all possible choices, but there are some set items that only work great when coupled with another from the set – Death’s Hand and Guard are the prime examples. For these items, I will list them in the Set section. Any Set items that appear in this list actually have independent mods that make them great to use without the other set pieces. For this reason, items like Death’s Hand and Guard will not appear in this section. Version 1.08 LoD items still exist in the realms, and most are underpowered compared to their v1.09 brethrens, but some notable 1.08 items are not. These will be listed as well.

Javelin

Your weapon, and where you get the majority of your damage. LoD only offers one pre-made weapon, so the list of competitors in this field is small. I'd like to see Blizzard offer more javelins . . . but oh well.

• Titan's Revenge (unique Ceremonial Javelin, Str 25, Dex 110, Str and Dex bonus +20). This is the only pre-made weapon in LoD, but boy, this is a good one. Some may say overpowered, and I tend to agree. Say whatever you want with this stick, but it's very hard to beat this stick in terms of overall utility. Relatively high damage, generous life leech, run/walk, a lot of +skills, decent speed, as well as both increased stack and self-replenish. This is, put it simply, the javelin for almost all Javazon builds. I personally would want more diversity . . . but oh well. Still, not all builds will benefit most from Titan's. For a pure jabazon or fendazon, may I recommend:
• Cruel Elite Javelin of 1337ness (Str/Dex vary). The only advantage of this is the potential for higher damage and faster speed than Titan's. For all its mods, Titan's Revenge does not list IAS as one of its mod. A magical javelin can have up to 40% IAS and 300% ED. Matriarchal Javelins also have potential for +javelin skills, though.
• Any rare javelin. You still retain the LF damage when you throw a javelin, regardless of what you use. Physical damage will allow you to leech, however. Rare Javelins can have a plethora of useful mods, but enhanced damage is not among them, since rares with more than 100% ED is very rare. It is possible to get some of the mods you can get on Titan's, though.
• Crafted Safety Javelin (crafted: magic Javelin (any) + Sol Rune + Perfect Emerald + any Jewel) Fortunately, Blizzard gives you a way to make a rare javelin. A Safety Javelin can be made out of any javelin of your choice, and has a fixed mod of (10-30)% enhanced defense, Half Freeze, as well as weak dual damage reduction. Not great mods, but I'll definitely take any recipe that can make a potentially powerful rare javelin.
• Elemental damage javelin. I strongly recommend carrying this on your weapon switch so that you can damage that pesky PI. Couple this with Tiamat's Rebuke for best result. See below. And oh, a Throwing Spear with 1-400 lightning damage will do as much elemental damage as a Winged Harpoon with 1-400 lightning damage for much less requirement, so don't insist on Elite javelins. You can shop this kind of javelin in the vendors, but to get significant elemental damage, you would need to be decently high level, shopping in late Nightmare to Hell.
• Cracked Pilum or your starting Javelin. No, really. As I said earlier, any javelin will work with LF. Due to lack of damage, you'll have to figure out your leech problem though . . .

A word needs to be said about Ethereal Titan's. The base damage on Ceremonial Javelins is not great, but the combination of Enhanced Damage and etherealness add up to quite a hefty amount, creeping into the cruel elite range. For this reason, Ethereal Titan's are a prized weapon for the wealthy, especially duelers. And since Titan's Revenge is self-replenishing, careful use of Ethereal Titan's will not deplete them beyond use. However, care should be taken as Ethereal Titan's will not replenish if the entire stack is used.

Here's a table detailing the Javelin base damage, strength and dex requirements. The upper figure indicates poking damage, the lower figure indicates throwing damage. All javelins have range of 3.

From this table, Amazon-specific javelins (Maiden/Ceremonial/Matriarchal Javelins) generally have the advantage over their non-specific counterparts. This is also due to the fact that they spawn with a +1-3 Javelin/Spear skills automod (with the exception of Titan's Revenge, which always spawns +2).

Shield

A Javazon lives and dies with her shield, literally, especially if she tanks. A shield differentiates her from most other Amazon builds, and is an important factor for her ability to tank. After all, Javelins only require one hand . . . the other hand needs to hold something. And no, the answer is not another weapon. You're not a Barbarian for goodness sakes.

Due to the plethora of shields available, I will only list shields that are commonly used by Javazons by end game. I will also briefly mention in passing some other shields that can be used, but not as useful as the mentioned shields. For quick reference: 2-frames blocking can be obtained by getting at least 35% faster blocking rate. Shael rune will give you +20% speed and Eld rune will give you +7% block.

• Stormshield (unique Monarch, 156 Str, Str bonus +30, 72% block, 35% speed) This elite shield is incredibly rare, but it allows great boon to tankers. First of all, it offers the most Damage Reduction one can find in a single item: 35%. It has great blocking rate and just enough blocking speed for the breakpoint as well. The resists are there, but they're not as useful as you can find in other shields. The defense is simply the best, but you don't need it too much. So, overall you would like to use this shield for the Damage Reduction and blocking. Suggested socketing: Um rune (just because it's bloody rare, might as well . . .) or a perfect Diamond for resists, Hel or Jewel of Freedom to reduce its requirement, Ber for extra damage reduction, or even Cham for CBF if you really can't get it anywhere else. The 1.08 version is an Aegis, which requires more Str (219) in exchange for 2% more block. Not worth it.
• Moser's Blessed Circle (unique Round Shield, 53 Str, 62% block, 25% speed) This is your no-frills shield offering you what your basic shield should do: block, and provide resists. The blocking is very good, the resists as well, and the defense not bad. But what makes this shine is the fact that it has two open sockets. Oh my. A Moser's with 2 perfect diamonds has 63 resist all, which in conjunction with the Anya quests would be enough to almost nullify all Hell resist penalties. Suggested socketing: perfect diamond, Shael for faster blocking (one is enough), Eld for more blocking, and the beauty of Moser's is that you can mix and match.
• Whitstan's Guard (set Round Shield - Orphan's Call, 53 Str, 87% block for calculation purposes, 40% speed) For the king of blocking shields, look no further. Whitstan's Guard is all about blocking, and boy, it does it very well. You can max your blocking very easily, and the speed is veritable. Sadly, it's not good for much else. The other mods are nothing to write home about, unless you don't have CBF, or your build needs defense. Suggested socketing: perfect diamond to round out this otherwise awesome shield. The only useful partial bonus to Orphan's Call is +35 Life (2 items), and I recommend Guillaume's Face to go with this shield for its myriad ancillary effects. See Set review for information on the complete Orphan's Call.
• 1.09 Gerke's Sanctuary (unique Pavise, 133 Str, 79% block for calculation purposes, 0% speed) An excellent blocking shield (second only to Whitstan's), it features decent resistance, some life regeneration, but another main selling point of this shield is the absolute physical and magic damage reduction. The only thing this shield needs more than resist is faster block rate, because it is conspicuously absent. Also, this shield is a heavy shield, so it will impact your running speed and stamina. Suggested socketing: Shael rune for faster blocking, perfect diamond. Make sure you have more blocking speed from elsewhere because Shael alone will not help you break the 2-frame breakpoint - Twitchthroe or Guardian Angel will do it.
• 1.08 Gerke's Sanctuary (unique Pavise, 133 Str, 74% block, 0% speed) Most of the pre-1.09 items are worse than their 1.09 counterparts, but some are outright very powerful. The older version of the Gerke's has 15 dual damage reduction instead of variable, 5% less chance to block, and features scaling Vitality (1 per level) in place of resists. That translates to 297 life at clvl-99. The bonus is great, of course, but if you're going to trade for one, be aware that most of the 1.08 items in the realms are dupes.
• Blackoak Shield (unique Luna, 100 Str, 45% block, 50% speed) I have mixed feelings about this shield. The life bonus and dexterity bonus are all good, as the chance to cast Weaken, but the blocking rate is very low. And since this is not a ranger's shield, this works to your disadvantage. You'll have to pump your dexterity to incredible level to get decent blocking on this shield. If you do get that much dexterity, though, this will be an excellent shield to use, albeit one sorely in need of resists. Note that the shield comes with 50% FBR, with is more than enough to hit your lowest blocking breakpoint. Suggested socketing: Perfect Diamond or Eld.
• Lidless Wall (unique Grim Shield, 58 Str, 45% block, 0% speed) This is a shield for rangers mostly. The main selling point of this shield is the +skill and mana bonuses, and so it is perfect for pure LF throwers. The lousy blocking and resists of this shield means that I'm not going to recommend this to tanking Javazons at all. Suggested socketing: where to start? I suppose perfect diamond would be good, or maybe an Eld to help the blocking a bit. If only I could cram them all into one socket.
• Tiamat's Rebuke (unique Dragon Shield, 91 Str, 43% block, 0% speed) Wonder what you can do with this shield? It has no blocking, decent resists . . . so what? Well, look closely . . . it features three hefty elemental damage, as well as chance to cast spells, one from each school. This, my friend, is the tanking Javazon's answer to physically immune monsters. Couple this with a javelin with hefty elemental damage, and you can start jabbing away. It goes without saying that it should be on weapon switch, since the lack of blocking means that it's rather scary for general tanking use. This works very nicely with rangers though. Suggested socketing: Eld for blocking, perfect diamond, or even a nice elemental damage jewel.
• Rhyme (rune word: Shael+Eth (2), Str variable, block = shield base + 20%, 40% speed) If you've been dazzled by the list of set and unique shields above, have no fear, there's still hope. Rhyme is a very easy-to-make shield, and while Shael runes don't exactly rain from the sky, it is still quite common. This simple shield, however, is easily a match for most exceptional unique shields. It features very good blocking (on par with Stormshield - 2-frames baby!), decent resists (25%), and the all-important, almighty CBF. Woohoo! It also comes with MF and GF as additional goodies, and maybe a little mana regeneration to help your mana problem. Both melee and rangers can benefit from this shield.
  Suggested base shields: Bone Shield/Grim Shield/Troll Nest - this family of light shield has low requirement, great defense and excellent blocking . . . or if you don't mind the heavy shields, Tower Shield/Pavise/Aegis (as the family with best blocking) will do too. Shields in Large Shield/Scutum/Hyperion family are medium shields with decent blocking, but they make great fashion statements. The blocking landmap changes once you get to Elite Shields. The light shields with best blocking would be both Heater and Monarch, but Heaters are easier to find and has lower requirement, making them another popular choice for Rhyme, even though their defense is not as great as Troll Nests or Monarchs. Hyperions have comparable blocking to the heavy shield family, making them another great choice. Thanks to naturelover for pointing out my mistake with Large Shields and recognizing that the blocking chances for elites are different, therefore bringing out Heater as a Rhyme candidate. See the bottom of this page for shield summary. Suggested socketing: none, obviously.

Other shields

• Taebaek's Glory (set Ward - Heaven's Brethren, 185 Str, 74% block, 30% speed) Okay, it does have its merits. It has good blocking, lightning resists, and great mana bonus. But it sorely lacks other kinds of resists, and my main turn off is the atrocious Str requirement. Suggested socketing: Perfect Diamond. The partial set bonuses of Heaven's Brethren are not very useful; so don't equip the shield just for that purpose.
• Ancient's Pledge (rune word: Ral+Ort+Tal (3), Str variable, block = shield base, 0% speed) Another rune word shield, I include it in this list even though I believe that Rhyme is superior. Why? First of all, it's very common. Qual-Khek gives you the runes when you complete Act 5, Quest 2. And secondly, it offers you incredible resists, and a little vulpine bonus for your mana. Downside? No blocking bonuses, and nothing you can do to change that. Get a shield with as much blocking as possible for this one, because that's all you're going to get. See the list below for suggestions. Tower Shields make terrific Ancient Pledges.
• The Ward (unique Gothic Shield, 60 Str, Str bonus +10, 51% block, 0% speed) A decent early shield featuring a lot of resists (up to 50% all), tolerable blocking and strength bonus for tiering. Suggested socketing: perfect diamond or Eld.
• Other shields to use: other exceptional uniques are good to use, but not as useful. A 3DT (stands for 3 perfect diamond Tower Shield) is a traditional pre-LoD shield, giving 57% resist all and 49% chance to block. A magical shield (without Jeweler's or similar prefixes) may get 1 or 2 sockets, depending on your luck when you bring the shield to Larzuk to be socketed. "Chromatic of Life or of Deflecting" shoppable shields are prime candidates for the Larzuk treatment. And even Ancient's Pledge is better than normal unique and set shields with the possible exception of the Ward. Steelclash does deserve special mention, however, as well as Pelta Lunata, as very good twink shields. Rangers might also look for Wall of the Eyeless for mana/kill and mana leech bonuses, but resists must be obtained elsewhere.

Some dexterity requirements for 75% actual blocking rate:

Even if my numbers are slightly off, it should illustrate the point why increased blocking is important. An Eld may be a humble rune, but socketed in a low blocking shield, it has a profound effect.

Oh, and incidentally, all those shields listed above are my personal picks. I do not dismiss a shield based on block alone, so please do not take the above list in order of preference.

Finally, here's a table listing the defense range, strength requirement and block chance for all normal/exceptional/elite shields. Note that Rhyme adds 20% to the blocking chance. Also note the shield penalty effect on run/walk speed.

Color indicates maximum number of sockets possible: white = 1 socket, aqua = 2 sockets (Rhyme), bronze = 3 sockets (Ancients' Pledge, 3D), green = 4 sockets (4D). Entries in bold indicate (in my opinion) good Rhyme candidates, based on blocking chance, strength requirement and to a lesser extent, defense.

And for the fashionably picky:

Buckler/Small Shield Class	Large Shield Class	Spiked Shield Class	Kite Shield/ Gothic Shield Class	Bone Shield Class	Tower Shield Class

Headpiece

One of the more useful properties you can get in a helm is leech, as well as resists. There are several helms available that will give you damage reduction, though, so the choice might not be as clear-cut as you might think. Here are some serious contenders in this category.

Tanking-Javazon Oriented

• Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest (set Death Mask - Tal Rasha's Wrappings, Str 55) Otherwise known as the Purple Horns of Doom or simply Tal's Fugly (stands for Tal's F***ing Ugly Mask) this supposedly Sorceress' mask boasts the most mana and life leech one can find in a helm, as well as life and mana boost and some prismatic resists. In other words, godly, for both tankers and rangers. If only it's not so ugly, it would've been perfect . . .
• 1.09 Vampire Gaze (unique Grim Helm, Str 58) The other contender for uber dual leech helm, the main selling point of Vamp Gaze is the variable damage reduction, making this a popular dueler helm. Again, this is another case of ‘balance by fashion' as a green bonehead really doesn't go very well with an Amazon's wardrobe. Rangers can make great use of the leech as well.
• 1.08 Vampire Gaze (unique Grim Helm, Str 58) The 1.08 version of the Gaze is everything a 1.09 Gaze aspires to be. 8% dual leech (instead of variable), and it goes beyond the newer helm to give 25% Damage Reduction. The magic damage reduction is fixed at 15 too. The mod that was missing in the 1.08 Gaze was the cold damage, which is a minor concern when you have that array of mods. This is another popular duped item in the realm, so be careful when trading for one.
• Crown of Thieves (unique Grand Crown, Str 103, Dex bonus +25) This crown's main selling point is its high life leech and the incredible +25 Dexterity bonus, which can be used to help your blocking. In addition, it also boasts a great life and mana bonus and fire resist.
• Blackhorn's Face (unique Death Mask, Str 55) If you can't afford a Thundergod's Vigor, this mask will allow you to absorb lightning damage directly. That's the main selling point of this helm, and unfortunately, that's it. OK, we do have some lightning resists, but that's it. Slow Target is currently bugged so that your enemies will not be where you think they are, but that's ok since you'll want to be next to them anyway. Oh, and the horns are black, as the name implies.
• Darksight Helm (unique Basinet, Str 82). There are two great mods in this helm: some mana leech, and the almighty CBF. It also has fire resists too. The rest of the mods are not terribly notable, but the chance to cast Dim Vision might be useful when you're tanking.
• Stealskull (unique Casque, Str 59) A great helm. Dual leech, although not as high as Vamp Gaze or Tal's, but this helm does boast 10% IAS, which may help you achieve a breakpoint. It has 10% FHR as well, and the MF% is just gravy.
• Rockstopper (unique Sallet, Str 43) The Rockstoppah gives you all the important resists (from 20 to 50% depending on type), 10% damage reduction, 30% FHR and 45 Life (+15 Vitality). If you're hurting for resists, you can't go wrong with this helm. The other mods are also great for tanking Javazons.
• 1.08 Valkyrie's Wing (unique Winged Helm, Str 115) While the 1.09 Valk Wing has +skills, the predecessor has enough mods to compensate: 30% FCR, 30% FRW, 30% IAS, 30% FHR. Whoa. As with other 1.08 items, this helm is commonly duped on the realms.
• Guillaume's Face (set Winged Helm - Orphan's Call, Str 115, Str bonus +15) A great little helm with useful ancillary effects, namely Crushing Blow and Deadly Strike. Also features Str bonus and 30% FHR. Wear this with another Orphan's Call item for +35 life partial bonus, or wear the entire set outright. See Sets.
• Natalya's Totem (set Grim Helm - Natalya's Odium, Str 58, Str bonus +10, Dex bonus +25) This black bonehead is very useful when you want to do Str tiering, since it has relatively low requirement, but awesome boost to your two primary stats. It has 10% resist all to round it up, too. Use it with Natalya's Soul to increase its Magic Damage Reduction from 3 to 18. See Sets.
• Veil of Steel (unique Spired Helm, Str 192, Str bonus +15) A very heavy elite unique helm, the main selling point of this is the incredible 50 to all resistance, as well as 45 life and very high defense rating. This would've been a great helm if the Str requirement is lower. Not very many Javazons would have that much Str.
• Ondal's Almighty (set Spired Helm, Str 116, Str bonus +10, Dex bonus +15) Another helm you can use for tiering, although not as good as others. Other than boosts to your two primary stats, you also get 24% FHR, decent defense and the always-useful chance to cast Weaken.]
• Duskdeep (unique Full Helm, Str 41) Surprise! We have a normal unique here! This simple helm has some pretty terrific mods: 15 resist all, physical damage reduction (PDR) of 7 and +8 maximum damage. Another Sol will take this helm to PDR of 14, which is enough to reduce damage significantly in your Javazon's early life, and this would make a great helm for absolute PDR builds.

My picks: Tal's Fugly, Vamp Gaze, Crown of Thieves, Stealskull and Rockstopper. Guillaume's Face would be great in some builds.

Ranger-Javazon Oriented (in addition to noted Tanker helms)

• Peasant Crown (unique War Hat, Str 20) A spell caster helm featuring +1 skills, FRW, and a whopping +20 to Energy and Vitality (60 Life and 30 Mana, which is comparable to Tal's Fugly). Not bad early on.
• Harlequin's Crest (unique Shako, Str 50, Str and Dex bonuses +2) A very popular helm, commonly called the Shako. This is basically Peasant Crown on steroids: +2 skills, scaling life and mana, (a lot of them!) 10% damage reduction, and some MF% for gravy. There is +2 to all stats minor mod, which is tribute to Diablo-I's Harlequin's Crest. You may argue that this is a tanking helm, and I agree that it can be used to tank, but I'd pick Rockstoppah or (God forbid) Vamp Gaze over this, if damage reduction is that important, just because of the leech and the resists. You can get life bonuses elsewhere.
• 1.09 Valkyrie's Wing (unique Winged Helm, Str 115) This is a general purpose Amazon helm: it has +skill(s), it gives you all the FHR you need to break the first breakpoint, gives you FRW, and mana/kill as small bonus. Use this only if you've got your resists and leech taken care elsewhere.
• Lore (rune word: Ort+Sol (2), Str variable) For the less fortunate Javazons. This easy-to-make helm features +1 skills, 15 mana, 2 mana/kill, lightning resist and a little damage reduction. Not bad, but it doesn't shine terribly well when compared to the other helms in this list.

My pick: Tal's Fugly, Vamp Gaze, Valk Wing, or the Shako.

For low level helms, aside from Duskdeep, helms like Biggin's Bonnet, Tarnhelm, Undead Crown and Wormskull might prove useful in the short term. Duskdeep's usefulness may last longer.

Other helms notable of mention are IAS helms, such as a regular 3-sockets helm with Jewels of Fervor, or M'avina's True Sight, if you are really serious about meeting that breakpoint. It is not of utmost importance, however, since the other mods on these helms typically cannot compare with the other helms. Rare helms, especially circlets, can be downright godly if you have all the right mods like +skills, dual leech, resists, life/mana and run/walk, but the probability of scoring such beauties is extremely low. But hell, Tal's Fugly or Gaze is so ugly that I'd rather take a decent circlet instead. The normal unique helms might help you when you're young, as well as Irathra's Crown when worn with the rest of the set. See Set section.

For the fashionably picky:

Cap/War Hat/Shako	Skull Cap/Sallet/ Hydraskull	Helm/Casque/Armet	Full Helm/Basinet/Giant Conch
Great Helm/Winged Helm/Spired Helm	Crown/Grand Crown/Corona	Mask/Death Mask/ Demonhead	Bone Helm/Grim Helm/Grim Visage

For images on how unique/set items affect the color of the helms, please refer to Icewraith's LoD Boutique page.