Number of sockets an item can get depends entirely on the level of the item. What this means is that you have to get white items to drop from high enough level monsters. White and Gray items – Maximum amount of sockets based on item level, calculated based on the level of the monster that dropped it, which scales with difficulty.Magic items – one to two sockets, at random.Monster levels hit 90 and cap there by late Act 3/Hell, so any time after that you have a chance to have any type of Elite armor dropped. It does not exist in Diablo II, only in the Expansion, and can only be dropped by monsters late in Nightmare or in Hell. The socketing quest is erratic, it can add more or less than the maximum per difficulty level, but never more than a type of armor’s max. Many types of armor can only have 2 or 3 sockets, regardless of what difficulty level they are found on. * The most sockets possible to find in armor are 3 on normal and Nightmare, and 4 on Hell. It can also be found in late Act 4 and Act 5 in the Expansion, where the drops of it Exceptional items are based on Monster Levels Item ExceptionalĮxceptional armor looks just like normal armor, but comes with much higher Str and Clvl requirements, and can only be found on Nightmare or Hell in D2. Sockets from the socketing quest are erratic, they can be more or less than the maximum for a type of armor on a given difficulty level. This refers to grey socketed armor, not magical Jeweler’s or Artisian’s armor. Found on Hell can have up to 4, but never more than that specific type of armor allows. * Armor found on Normal or Nightmare can have at most 3 sockets. Heavy Armor: +100% stamina drain and 10% speed penalty.

Medium Armor: +50% stamina drain and 5% speed penalty.Light Armor: 0% stamina drain and speed penalty.

Diablo 2 socket body armor recipe