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Defense is a fairly easy value to raise, but it's not necessarily of great value to your character. For PvM play, defense must be very high to make a substantial difference. At low and medium levels the benefit is fairly negligible. Whether you want defense depends on your character as well. Melee characters generally add as much defense as possible, but many casters and ranged attackers virtually ignore it, since they don't get hit that often, and because when they do get hit it's usually by spells, which defense does not defend against.

A few key points, taken from the [[Defense 101]] guide.

Reduced damage mods, by % or straight values, reduce damage. Defense just makes you less likely to be hit by physical attacks.

Defense reduces the chance that a physical attack that uses Attack Rating will be successful. Only these types of attacks check your defense.

Defense does not work against elemental, poison, or magical attacks. It does work against physical attacks that have elemental damage added to them; if the physical misses, then so does the fire, cold, etc, damage stacked on it.

It only works when you are walking, standing still or attacking. You can still block while running. It's best to walk (not run) when in range of enemies, if your survival doesn't depend on a very speedy escape.

Numerous spells, auras, curses, and other effects affect your defense. [[Decrepify]] and [[Vindication]] lower your defense considerably. Enemies boosted by [[Blessed Aim]] and [[Fanaticism]] will have much higher to/hit, effectively lowering your defense.