Andariel is the final boss of Act 1, a multi-limbed, red-haired demon with a powerful poison attack. Andariel’s face is the only helmet that bears his name.
Andariel’s Face is only available for Ladder characters.
The stats:
Defense: 310-387
Required level: 83
Force Required: 102
Durability: 20
+100-150% Enhanced Defense
+2TB All Skills
20% increased attack speed
8-10% life stolen per hit
+25-30 to strength
+10% to maximum poison resistance
Fire resistance -30%
Poison Resistance +70%
15% chance to cast level 15 Poison Nova when hit
Level 3 poison (20 charges)
+2TB All Skills
A +2 to all skills is a very, very attractive bonus for any Diablo 2 player. There are only two other unique helms that offer a +2 to all classes including All Skills, Harlequin Crest and Nightwing’s Veil.
Harlequin Crest has a lower Strength requirement (50) compared to Andariel’s Face (a strong 102) and has the very attractive +10% Physical Resistance mod. More players prefer to use Harlequin Crest due to this, and the fact that Andariel’s Visage has a -30% penalty to fire resistance (see below).
20% increased attack speed
Good for melee characters looking to break the maximum break point for their character’s attacks.
8-10% life stolen per hit
A high percentage of Life Leech is helpful for physical fighters due to them being in the thick of things and taking hits more often compared to throwers. By recovering some health from their hits, they can live longer and nobody likes to die.
+25-30 to strength
Good if you need more strength to equip other items.
+10% to maximum poison resistance
The default maximum for Resistances is 75%. Certain unique items (such as Andariel’s face) can increase maximum resistance by up to 95%.
Fire resistance -30%
A bad mod as it reduces fire resistance by 30%. Most players counter this by socketing Andariel’s Visage with a Ral rune, which offers +30% fire resistance and thus cancels this debuff.
Poison Resistance +70%
Given that this unique helm is named after Andariel, it’s no surprise that it offers a huge boost to Poison Resistance. If your character wasn’t wearing other gear that increased max resistance, then you could have 85% poison resistance with Andariel’s visage on, courtesy of the +10% max poison resistance mod mentioned above.
Summary:
Many players prefer Harlequin Crest over Andariel’s Face, for three reasons: Harlequin Crest has a much lower Strength requirement, % Physical Resistance, and no Fire Resistance penalty. On its own, however, Andariel’s Face is still a very good helm, especially if you acquire a perfect one. Some players who have both helms use the Harlequin Crest on themselves and put Andariel’s Visage on their mercenary. This is a really good idea, especially for Act I, II, and IV mercenaries, all melee mercenaries who will survive longer due to the good IAS, high health leech, and big boost to poison resistance.