Helmets

[Sarnath]

For the Rangers, there a lot of similar helmets, and I would like a quick breakdown of the + and - of them, for each class if possible. Help me out please, Door Kicker elite!

[Jon]

This doesn't help you much, but came to the forums because I dislike the item comparisons so much. I can't tell what's what and often the starting weapons/gear looks the best stat wise. The current visual methodology isn't working.

[Major Fret]

Next Gen helmet is by far the best.

Otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Pistol protection is not worth worrying about as most enemies rock AKs and the such. The only thing to really worry about is mobility. I think the High Cut is the lightest, but the Next Gen is pretty close.

[HealthBar]

Shortest answer: High Cut Helmet.

Normal answer: Wear a light helmet, since helmets' chance to negate a crit is too low to be relied upon. High Cut Helmet is the best in mobility aspect, as it does not confer a penalty to a trooper's mobility at all.

Long Answer: Helmets have 6 parameters. 3 of which affect defense, 2 contribute to mobility, and 1 influences concealment.

• coveragePercent: chance to nullify a hit, completely negating incoming damage.
  
  
• piercingProtectionLevel: governs what ammo types a helmet can protect the wearer from. Any Armor that has equal or higher pPL than weapon AP, has a chance equal to coveragePercent for damage negation. If Armor pPL is lower than weapon AP, then the roll does not occur.
  
  
• degree: determines the direction and width of protection. Armor protection is divided into 3 directions; front, sides, and rear. Helmet protection is omni-directional and thus has a value of 360.
  
  
• moveSpeedModifierPercent: affects how fast a trooper can traverse through terrain. For equipment, 0 is the best value as it does not reduce move speed. Heavier equipment has a negative number, meaning it incurs a penalty to move speed.
  
  
• turnSpeedModifierPercent: affects how fast a trooper can rotate around. The rest is same as above.
  
  
• ConcealmentModifier: affects a trooper's ability to approach enemy units without triggering their combat stance. Since Rangers' Concealment status is always OVERT, this parameter on Ranger Helmets has no effect. As such, all Ranger Helmets have a value of 0.

a few things that someone else could clarify:

• if moveSpeedModifierPercent of -2 means -20% or -2%.
  
• if coveragePercent on Helmet degrades a critical hit to a normal hit, or completely negates critical hit as a hit (just like how Armor works)
  
• exactly when a crit is determined; is crit decided on weapon fire? or target hit? or after pPL check?

Based on my knowledge and assumptions, trusting that coverage of 10~20% will save a trooper from crit is too much of a risk; I personally believe it's better to move and turn fast.

High Cut Helmet does not have any mobility penalty, but has 10% coverage and 30 pPL.
High Cut+ Mandible Helmet has -1 move and -1 turn, but has 14% coverage and 30 pPL.
Next-Gen Helmet has -1 move and -2 turn, but has 20% coverage and 50 pPL.
Rifle Grade High Cut Helmet has -1 move and -3 turn, and has 10% coverage and 50 pPL.
Low Cut Helmet has -2 move and -2 turn, and has 15% coverage and 40 pPL.

I think Helmets aren't worthy of such detailed comparisons since they are low-impact items, but anyway; I suggest replacing your default Low Cut Helmet with anything lighter. My pick is HC, but HC+M and NG are fine as well if you still want some luck on your side.

[alex]

>if moveSpeedModifierPercent of -2 means -20% or -2%.

just -2%, this applies to both move + turn
you'll see double digit move/turn speed penalties on machine guns like the M240

>if coveragePercent on Helmet degrades a critical hit to a normal hit, or completely negates critical hit as a hit (just like how Armor works)

no idea on this one tbh, devs can answer it best

>exactly when a crit is determined; is crit decided on weapon fire? or target hit? or after pPL check?

crit % first adds up the shooter's parameters (eg atktypes + optics + ammo + perks + etc)
if the bullet AP > armor (eg 51 AP vs 50 armor), then the vest's save chance is irrelevant
otherwise if AP =< armor, game will roll the save chance i think
if the save procs (which is pretty low bc it's usually 40% save), then the shot does 0 dmg i think
otherwise tho, the vest won't stop the shot, but the bullet also has reduced crit to mimick shots hitting non-covered + non-vital areas not covered by ur plate ig
idk how much is the crit penalty, but enemies like SSI and irregulars can still kill you bc they use player atktypes + ammo, so they have a high base crit

also wrt op's question: just use the lvl2 FAST (high cut)
imo helmet save chance isn't really reliable to begin with, and high cut has no penalty at all, so it's nice for speed maxxing (eg to hit 8 speed)
the IHPS costs BH and i feel that they can be better spent on smth like ADVAP or the Mk27

[Takeshi, made in Mom]

If affordable, buy Next-Gen, the obvious winner.
If not, don't be so serious.
Tangos are poor at head shot, except for SSI or generic tangos.

p.s.
imo turn speed is somewhat useful for cqb, -30% is roughly 150ms or so to turn 90 deg.
but move speed is trivial. just sprint!