Helmet

Helmets are a type of armor that covers the head of the player. There are five types of helmets - Leather Cap, Chain Helmet, Iron Helmet, Diamond Helmet and Gold Helmet. Helmets can be placed in the top armor slot of a player's inventory for activation. Zombies, skeletons and zombie pigmen can spawn wearing helmets in Normal or Hard.

From mobs
If a zombie, zombie pigman or skeleton is wearing armor, there is a chance that the mob will drop a helmet upon death. It will usually be badly damaged, and may be enchanted.

From villages
Iron helmets can be found in village chests.

From trading
Emeralds can be traded with villagers in exchange for helmets.

Defense points
Defense points are each signified by half of a shirt of mail in the armor bar above the health bar. Each defense point will reduce any damage dealt to the player which is absorbed by armor by 4%, increasing additively with the number of defense points. Different materials and combinations of armor provide different levels of defense.

The following table shows the amount of defense points added by helmets.

The following table shows the number of defense points per unit of material.

Durability
The following table shows the amount of damage each piece of armor can absorb before being destroyed.

Any "hit" from a damage source that can be blocked by armor will remove one point of durability from each piece of armor worn. Damage taken that armor doesn't protect (such as falling or drowning) will not damage the armor, even if it is enchanted to protect against that type of damage. The following chart displays how many hits helmets can endure.