Helmets protect the head and sometimes the neck of the wearer. Some helmets, such as the Roman Centurion helmet or a basic medieval skullcap, had an open face. Many others, including French jousting helmets and bassinets, covered the face entirely but for eye slits and ventilation holes around the muzzle area. Many Roman and European medieval styles had decorative plumes on the head, such as a dramatic Mohawk-like arc on Roman Gallic helmets.
The torso section composes the largest and often most ornate parts of a suit of armor. A central large plate often covers the entire chest and belly, called by such names as the cuirass, plackart, breast plate and splint. Many suits like the Gusoku worn by Japanese Samurai have parallel overlapping plates protecting the pelvic region. Other forms, such as the Maximillian style, have one solid piece protecting the pelvis called a tuille or tasset.
Shoulders, arms and hands require protection as well as mobility. Various large plates form pivoting protection around the shoulders. A thick outer plate called the gardbrace protects the upper shoulder of many medieval European suits. Samurai armor has a similar section called a sode. Variously shaped plates cover the arm, attached with a pivoting piece at the elbow called a couter. Gauntlets protect the hands, sometimes incorporating chain mail or leather worn like gloves around individual fingers.
Large curved plates protect the thighs and shins. Sometimes these plates open in the rear with buckles for attachment. On other suits, these plates wrap around the entire circumference of the legs. A pivot piece called a poleyne is attached at the knee. The boot sections of armor covering the foot and shin are called greaves. The top of the foot is sometimes woven of chain mail and sometimes enclosed as a solid plate called a soleret.