how does defense work?

how does the defense mechanism work?
If I wanted to run defense mods on a character should I prioritize defense percent or flat defense? I see nowhere when modding a character for what that effects, I don't even see where it shows how much defense a character has, so how does this work.
How do i know if a character has high defense?

what should i look for when modding for defense?


  • When modding, if you can't decide flat number or percentage, if they have a high number for that stat before modding, go for the percentage but if they have a low base stat, go for the flat number.

    Generally speaking, I go for the % over the #
  • that is what i typically do, but how can I know to go for flat numbers or for percent if there is no base stat to look at?
    In this case because i can't see the stats, what should i look for?

    This post what I know to be the best source of knowledge on defense.
  • Based of that like I gathered that most characters don't have a high percentage base defense number. So most times for defense you want to get flat numbers correct??
  • NicWester
    6645 posts Member
    edited February 9

    Pretty much.

    Armor (and Resistance, but I'm just going to say Armor because that's what I was looking at most when I had to figure all this out) is gained in low amounts off gear and, usually, Strength. Even a character with high Armor, like 5s, actually has a pretty low flat value. So, using totally made up numbers here, if you have a character with 120 armor and give them a mod that has +12 Defense on it, then you've functionally increased their defense by a lot more than that little +12 number would make you think.

    EDIT: UUUGH, I said that bad. +12 has a higher effect than you would think on a character with low Armor. Because of diminishing returns, a high armor character will get more benefit out of % increases.

    But, ultimately, just stack it and see what happens. You can make some real beefy bois.
    Ceterum censeo Patientia esse meliat.
  • Mephisto_style
    2747 posts Member
    edited February 10
    As a secondary stat you just about always want + defense if that slot is above 5.

    Here is what happens when I up a +9 defense slot mod to + 18 defense. No other stats on this mod effect it.

    Armor from 43% and resistance of 22.5% to. 43.4 and 23.3, respectively.
    Now, starting with the original mod and swapping to 1 with 1.5% defense gives 42.7% and 21.7.
    So 1.5% defense on my G9/10 ST Han a 1.5% defense mod is worse than +9 raw.

    A + 18 raw is significantly better. When I swap that + 18 mod out for.a +12% defense primary cross I get 43.94 and 22.5.
    So resistance benefits far more from + defense than % defense, and it took a lot of +% to increase my armor better than a +18 defense mod.

    Moral of the story is raw defense increases your total defense more for the use of the stat slot. I would not use +% defense ever intentionally unless I was already trying to stack it on the same mod as a +.defense one like on my Ewok Elder. On him I just want health speed defense defense % and tenacity.

    Finally, when I go ahead and just drop those 2 health mods and swap them for.2 maxed.defense type.mods ar.or is now 45.6 and resistance 23.7. Only 1 of those mods had a +defense % of 1.5 so total increase of 23-25% defense.

    I would argue that once you are in the 40% + or - 2 armor range you should reallly be trying to make sure your health and protection are 25k each at least for a g10 tanky tank. The reason is that and extra 5% damage reduction is going to take your 40% tank from a 6000 HP hit to a 5500 HP. You could probably use those stat slots to increase that tank's health and/or protection far more in that slot.
  • Huatimus
    3669 posts Member
    edited February 10
    Very few characters have high enough Base Defense for % bonus to make it worthwhile. Highest base armor is Fives at 717 and 1% of that is 7 armor only. It’s much easier to find flat Defense bonus higher than that. Next highest is 602 just for reference, so a flat 6 Defense bonus already covers that.

    Go to then click on Character Stats, click on Defensive, then sort by Armor, you can see all their base Defense numbers there.
  • Thank you all for clarifying that for me!
  • Got a stormtrooper sitting at 53% defence before unique or leader bonuses.
    It's 79% if the team comp is right but you loose so much other stats it's not all that worth it.
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