Unique items in Diablo are magical items with up to six special properties. They are more valuable than ordinary magical items, and can only be found by killing monsters or won as rewards for completing quests, not purchased. ("Unique" does not mean, however, that there can be only one in any given game, according to Jarulf's Guide to Diablo and Hellfire.)
The Hellfire expansion added four additional unique armors to the eleven that exist in a normal game of Diablo. One of these, the Bovine Plate, is a quest item; the others can be found randomly throughout the game.
Armor of Gloom
The Armor of Gloom is full plate mail with Armor Class 225 and no strength requirements. This makes it useful for characters with low strength who would not normally be able to wield such armor. It also gives characters -20% light radius, which can sometimes be frustrating since it make it difficult to see, but can also be advantageous because monsters are not activated until they are close enough for the character to make a melee attack.
The big disadvantage of the Armor of Gloom is that it sets all resistances to 0%. This makes it very difficult for characters to deal with ranged fire, lightning and magic attacks.
Bone Chain Armor
The Bone Chain Armor is chain mail which has an Armor Class bonus against the Undead: Armor Class 60 versus the Undead, but only Armor Class 40 versus other monsters. This has limited usefulness, since the Undead are uncommon once characters leave the Church and Catacomb levels.
Bovine Plate
The Bovine Plate, a set of full plate mail, is the reward for completing the Cow Quest (The Jersey's Jersey), a humorous hidden quest that is part of the Hive levels. Although the armor looks like a cow, its quality is no joke. It has Armor Class 150 and indestructible, and gives its wearer +30% resist all, +50% light radius, -50 mana and -2 spell levels.
The blow to mana and spell levels is a hard one, and the Bovine Plate's advantages may not be enough to make up for it for characters who frequently use magic. It is ideal for the Barbarian, however, who cannot use magic and needs to build up his resistances well against ranged magical attacks. Its' light radius bonus may cause some trouble, as it activates monsters that are farther away from the character; combining the Bovine Plate with an item that decreases light radius, such as the Veil of Steel, will help somewhat.
Demon Plate Armor
The Demon Plate Armor is full plate mail similar to the Bone Chain Armor in that it gives an Armor Class bonus against a specific type of monster. It has Armor Class 80 normally but Armor Class 120 against demons. It has a greater usefulness than the Bone Chain Armor because demons are abundant in the higher levels and the Armor Class is high enough to offer good protection even against other enemies.
Conclusion
Because only the Bovine Plate can be found through a quest, and the others appear randomly, it's impossible to plan on getting any particular type of Unique armor. The Cornerstone of the World, located on the first level of the Crypt, comes in handy here. Players who find Unique armor in one game that is no good for their characters there, but have another character who might find it useful, they can leave the item on the Cornerstone of the World to make it available to their other characters in other games.
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