Armor customization

Introduction
Originally discovered in the Halo 3 Beta code by modders, Halo 3's new multiplayer armor permutations provide high levels of player customization and were confirmed by GamePro's June issue.

The armor permutations are completely cosmetic; they cause no change in gameplay.

Higher resolution screenshots of the armor permutations in action can be found at the Halo 3 Project's screenshots section at Bungie.net, as of July 2, 2007.

Bungie has stated that there are "thousands" of possible combos, but they refuse to state exactly how many variations will be in the final product, including downloadable content.

In the Bungie Podcast, it was confirmed that 2 SPARTAN and 2 Elite variant armors are given at the start--For SPARTANs, this includes the MJOLNIR Mk. VI armor, and the CQB(Close Quarters Battle) permutation, and for the Elites, the Combat and Assault permutations are included.

Spartan Armor Permutations


Bungie hinted to more types of armor in the June 8, 2007 Weekly Update, along with the June 22, 2007 Weekly Update: "Players were using different permutations than we’ve shown."

There were 5 permutations for Spartans discovered by modders in the Beta code; Bungie confirmed two before the release of Halo 3: EVA(Extra-Vehicular Activity) and CQB(Close Quarters Battle).

Concept Art (Spartan)
This is a concept rendition of the armor that has been dubbed the "EOD" armor.

Rendered Image (Spartan)
These are the images of the supposed leaked pre-skin rendered models below,

Helmets

 * EVA: Complete Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary
 * EOD: Complete Campaign on Legendary
 * Security: Earn 1000 out of 1000 Gamerscore Points for Halo 3 ::Currently bugged, Bungie is working on fixing it.::
 * Scout: Complete "Used Car Salesman" Achievement
 * Mark V: Complete "UNSC Spartan" Achievement
 * ODST: Complete "Spartan Graduate" Achievement
 * Rogue: Complete "Spartan Officer" Achievement
 * Hayabusa: Collect all skulls

Shoulder Armor

 * EVA: Complete The Ark on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary
 * EOD: Complete the campaign on Legendary
 * Security: Earn 750 out of 1000 Gamerscore Points for Halo 3 **Currently bugged, and Bungie is working on fixing the problem.**
 * Scout: Complete "Mongoose Mowdown" Achievement
 * Hayabusa: Collect 9 skulls

Body Armor

 * EOD: Complete Tsavo Highway on Legendary
 * EVA: Complete Tsavo Highway on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary
 * Scout: Complete "Too Close to the Sun" Achievement
 * Hayabusa: Collect 5 skulls

Elite Armor Permutations
The Elite player model also hase different armor variations. Elite armor types:

A couple of images of the Elite permutations exist below,

Helmets

 * Flight: Complete Campaign on Heroic or Legendary
 * Ascetic: Unlock "Steppin' Razor" Achievement
 * Commando: Unlock "Overkill" Achievement

Shoulder Armor

 * Flight: Complete The Ark on Heroic or "The Storm" on Legendary
 * Ascetic: Unlock "Overkill" Achievement
 * Commando: Unlock "Killing Frenzy" Achievement

Body Armor

 * Flight: Complete Tsavo Highway on Heroic or Legendary
 * Ascetic: Complete "Up Close and Personal" Achievement
 * Commando: Complete "Triple Kill" Achievement

Trivia
The armor labeled Hayabusa is clearly based on Ryu Hayabusa's headgarb on Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox. A later game by developer Team Ninja, Dead or Alive 4, features a Spartan by the name of Nicole-458.