Confusion on Armor Stats

[Monkris]

I've read as many threads on armor as I can dig up, but none so far clear up an issue I've come across. While on Nar-Shada my lvl 24 Trooper came upon some upgradable armor that was superior to his previous in every way but one.

 

It had over a hundred points more armor rating, but listed a -9 to Defense. I instantly noticed a drastic increase in the amount of damage that I wore. I went to vendors and forums trying to decipher what I needed to change in my upgradable armor to raise the defense rating but so far no clarity has been reached.

 

How does Defense compare to Armor Rate, and how do I increase it in modifiable armor?

[GonzyHalcyon]

Were the 2 sets identical otherwise? Did either set have more Aim than the other? Because as the primary stat for Trooper, Aim also enhances other stats. All Defense does is increase dodge for the most part.

[Taleek]

If you want more defense.... its a stat called Defense Rating. e_e Edited April 8, 2012 by Taleek

[Monkris]

The set that seemed to receive less damage was:

 

1 Tionese Laminated Breastplate

254 Armor (rate 46)

+19aim

+14end

+9def

 

Heavy level 19

 

The one I thought would be better but seems to be less effective was:

 

Rd 13b Striker Chestguard

362 Armor (rate 62)

+26aim

+28end

+9power

 

Heavy level 24

[StrykerOne]

The only way to increase defense is to equip items with a Defense stat, like the first armor. Defense makes you more likely to dodge / parry attacks, so theoretically a lower armor value but higher defense will be useful against elemental or internal damage attacks since those ignore armor. Of course most attacks are energy or kinetic, which armor does affect, so in general more armor is better than a bit more defense... but if you happened to be fighting things that like tossing fire or poison at you (or you PvP) then I could see taking a bit more damage. Realistically 9 defense shouldn't make more than about a 1% difference though, so I'd go with the new armor since in most cases it will protect better and it has higher stats.

 

As far as adding defense to moddable armor, you just need to gain a few levels. At your current level the only mods that give defense are going to be reverse engineered crafted blues or purples and good luck finding those (and even if you do find them, do you want to go to that much effort for something you'll outlevel in days?) but at higher levels you'll find mods with defense on the commendation merchants and you'll actually wear the same gear long enough to bother looking for crafted blues or purples.

[GonzyHalcyon]

Yeah the newer piece has 14 more endurance, which amounts to something like 140 more health. So it makes up for having less defense easily.

[Rafkin]

Defense will increase your chance to totally avoid a hit. Armor will lessen the damage you take when you do get hit.

 

9 defense is pretty trivial. If the armor rating is much higher go with that

[MCesca]

The set that seemed to receive less damage was:

 

1 Tionese Laminated Breastplate

254 Armor (rate 46)

+19aim

+14end

+9def

 

Heavy level 19

 

The one I thought would be better but seems to be less effective was:

 

Rd 13b Striker Chestguard

362 Armor (rate 62)

+26aim

+28end

+9power

 

Heavy level 24

 

The second set is clearly the better armor. It's hard to tell without seeing exactly what Armor, Mod & Enhancement stats you have, but I'd guess you've probably got a +9 Power rating enhancement (possibly with an endurance bump as well), when what you probably want for your build is an enhancement wit ha defense rating on it to mod your armor. What you need to do is go to a commendations vendor or the GTN and look for someone selling the level appropriate version of an enhancement with the Defense stat.

 

Another thing to consider is that the better the armor you wear, the more it costs to repair - even if it takes the same percentage of damage. This is because as you level up, the mobs will cause more damage in order to still do an equal percentage of damage to your character.

[Elyx]

Not completely sure what you meant about "damage you wore" but i'm assuming you mean that you noticed a significant increase in damage you took when you got the new armor?

 

9 def wouldn't account for a noticeable damage increase. But here are a few other things to consider:

 

1) there are certain points in the game that mob difficulty takes a leap. In other words, you got from section A to section B where the mob level is only 1 or 2 higher then A, but they are suddenly doing more damage. When I first started Voss, I noticed a big damage increase from Belsavis, even though the mobs level was only 1 higher then the ones i left on Belsavis.

 

2) some mob groups simply have stronger mobs. Silvers (also known as strong mobs...they have the little interesting silver graphic around their picture when you have them targeted) can very immensely in their skills that they use. I can deal with a group of silver mobs that are easy, then run into a silver combat droid that decimates me a few yards down the road. his ranged attacks just tear into my juggs armor that shrugged off the melee attacks of the other silver just a bit ago.

 

if there's one gripe I have about the mob design, its the skill makeup. it feels weird to breeze through silver mob A then get chewed up by silver mob B. the variability makes for interesting gameplay (some have stuns, some have knockbacks, etc). but it plays havoc on you when your trying to get a feel for how your class is doing.

 

Also...as a last note. Make sure your isolating other variables from the environment. did you upgrade your weapons recently? if the mobs are dying slower, they have more time to slap you around. did you switch companions? having a different companions affects your playstyle. there's a ton of different things you'll want to look at.

 

...But 9 defense isn't it. there's GOT to be something else. I cant tell when i've dropped 10def in the short run. I can tell when i go from my tank form (50% extra armor, 6% damage reduction) to my DPS form...but that's a pretty bug jump. 9 def is a scratch. A flea fart.

[Monkris]

Cool. All great input. Thanks everyone for responses. Will play a bit more with it to try and feel out the differences. But its nice to understand more about how the numbers really work.