What does defense up or defense mods do?

Defense affects both armor and resistance. The armor/resistance % is how much damage is reduce.

Ex:
You attack fives (30% armor) with a normally 10k attack.
10k - (10k*30%) = 7k

Thanks Supercat. Thats very interesting and perfect answer.

Yes, defense affects armor and resistance, but to different degrees. The formula has eluded me, but I'm sure the answer can be induced by a simple experiment.

I do know that flat defense boosts are almost always better than their percentage counterparts.

"Manowar;716274" wrote:
Yes, defense affects armor and resistance, but to different degrees. The formula has eluded me, but I'm sure the answer can be induced by a simple experiment.
I do know that flat defense boosts are almost always better than their percentage counterparts.

When using mods, is it then useless to use defence mods and preferable to use others?

Its a nonlinear increase in armor/resistance with diminishing returns. The more armor you already have, the less damage reduction each additional point gives you.

The "defense" stats are generaly considered underpowered. and they cant come remotely close to keeping up with the offensive increases you can get instead.

"vector6000;716279" wrote:

"Manowar;716274" wrote:
Yes, defense affects armor and resistance, but to different degrees. The formula has eluded me, but I'm sure the answer can be induced by a simple experiment.
I do know that flat defense boosts are almost always better than their percentage counterparts.

When using mods, is it then useless to use defence mods and preferable to use others?

Useless is a strong word. There is a case that can be made for defense mod sets above health mod sets for tank characters, but I think it is a rare one.

It's simple math to determine which is better. Every time I've run the numbers, health mods have come out on top in terms of raw survivability. I have one defense set on Nebit though.

Another factor to consider is penetration, where the attacker actually ignores a portion of the defender's armor/resistance. So the case for defense sets is further weakened there.

"medetec;716319" wrote:
The more armor you already have, the less damage reduction each additional point gives you.

I haven't heard that theory before. Do you have other sources?

Defense is useless

"vincentlondon;716402" wrote:
Defense is useless

I dunno. I just faced a maxed 5's with a huge defense boost (didn't get exact numbers) and he cut down my fotp's usual 6k hits to ~3500.

The % based defensive boosts are basically worthless. Ones that have a numerical boost are more valuable, although still don't provide much boost.