Is defense basically worthless?

[schnelltot]

Is defense basically worthless?

I have a clvl ** Concentrate Barbarian. With a high level Shout and many points in Iron Skin from +skills, his defense rating is above 10k. That's BEFORE using Conc attacks which nearly doubles it to 20k when I swing. Yet still, no matter where I'm at in Hell, monsters are just plain smacking me left and right.

Yes, I know defense is just half of the chance-to-get-hit formula, the other being your relative clvl. But at level ** and with that high defense, I would have expected better. No, I don't expect to be invincible. But I would have expected hits from monsters like BAM...BAM...BAM instead of the same old zillions of BAMBAMBAMBAM!

 

[sweetalmonds]

Re: Is defense basically worthless?

walking and not running? whats the chance to hit of monsters towards you?

 

[omgwtfbbqpwned]

Re: Is defense basically worthless?

In high amounts, defence is definately not worthless. Don't forget the role of running vs. walking. Considering most monsters in Hell have around ~5k AR (some have 3k, some have 10k), they still have a pretty good chance/midly decent of hit, even against a 10k/20k Barbarian.

 

[Raskah]

Re: Is defense basically worthless?

And also some monsters have ITD.

 

[Sass]

Re: Is defense basically worthless?

What is your Block %?

 

[lionheartthebrave]

Re: Is defense basically worthless?

My titan wolfbarb had ~22k defence, and I found that he definitely got hit less than other melee characters (but the CA on fort was still always active and slowed them down)

Maybe it's just your play style

 

[krischan]

Re: Is defense basically worthless?

Blocking and DR are the best defenses against melee and missile attacks. The only thing the enemy can do about it is using skills which always hit or with respect to DR, deal non-physical damage.

When running, the enemy hits 95% of the time, no matter what your defense or level difference is and blocking is reduced to 1/3 of its value and capped at 25%. However, if you can run past a monster before its attack reaches its attack frame, the attack will miss and monsters aren't clever to attack or shoot at a point which you are probably passing at the time of the attack frame or when the missile will reach it.

 

[mephiztophelez]

Re: Is defense basically worthless?

the only character i have chased defence in a big way with is my BvB who's cranking ~30k Def (about standard for west NL bvb builds). none of my other pvp builds have any appreciable def aside from my smiter (12k, i refuse, point blank, to use an exile).

for PvM, i have never chased defence on either my 'toon or my merc and havn't ever regretted it.