Armor customization (Halo 3)

For other uses, see armor permutations. Halo 3 introduces an armor permutation feature to the Halo series, allowing players to customise their character's armor to their liking.

SPARTAN
There are a wide variety of SPARTAN-II armor permutations in Halo 3. There are eleven helmets, eight shoulder pieces, and eight chest pieces, for a total of 5,632 different SPARTAN-II armor permutation possibilities: one helmet, two shoulder pieces, and one chest piece per permutation, not including the Recon Armor chest piece. It should be noted the Rogue, Mark V, and ODST armor have only helmet pieces, and Security Armor has both helmet and shoulder pieces but no chest permutation. All armor permutations do not show in Campaign

Elite
There is a wide variety of Elite armor permutations, with five helmets, five shoulder pieces, and five chest pieces for a total of 625 different Elite armor permutations, with one helmet, two shoulder pieces, and one chest piece per permutation.

Trivia

 * There was originally going to be an Arbiter Armor Permutation in Halo 3, but it was taken out before the game's release.
 * In Halo 3, the neck of an Elite (regardless what Armor Permutation used) is completely immune to any form of damage except for a shot from an overcharged Plasma Pistol. In addition, the projectile will simply pass through the neck, as though the neck wasn't there, without a blood spatter. This is because both Elites and Spartans have similar models.
 * Many people speculate that hitboxes of the Spartans and Elites are shared but this is not true. While Bungie has officially commented on the hitboxes, they regard the size of the hitbox not the arrangement. Hitboxes are an unseen registry mechanic, which fall into the player models. They determine whether or not something has collided with the player. If an Elite is facing profile (sideways), and a shot is fired underneath the head (to where a Spartan's chest would be), the game will not register a hit. The head "hitbox" is forward more on Elites than it is Spartans.
 * The armor in Halo 3 was originally planned to be more detailed, with scratches and other details in the armor, but this detail was only implemented in campaign models.