Defense base, confused, please enlighten me.

[NiBorg]

Level 35 defense base as of writing this so I’ve got the basics under control, and frankly love it.

 

Please pardon me if this has already been asked somewhere but I can’t find it here or on the net in general.

 

This has nothing to do with active talents, purely passive.

 

My confusion/confliction/whatever is coming from the tertiary and beyond stats. While I know I’m playing on a shield spec character, after fiddling around with gear and mods etc I’m torn as to what is actually helping more with defense. Obviously shield based stats should in theory be more effective but I’ve been noticing that if I stack defense rating instead I will evade much more often and in fact take less damage over time. Frankly I get a laugh out of it as the character looks like it’s in the matrix.

 

Am I hallucinating with this or is it simply because I still have quite a ways to go before the shield skills truly become effective?

 

I’ve got very little invested in tactics, maybe 6 points out of the 8 cookie cutter and 2/2 SS and everything else in shield.

 

It just seems (to me) that with the passive effects of the shields defense and stacking defense rating gear/mods I am a more effective meat shield.

[Toxicus]

Might I ask what you're considering to be the "Cookie Cutter" spec?

[NiBorg]

Not so much cookie cutter but something along the lines I had already thought about.

A build similar to what Yojack posted with some points moved around to benefit my play style. I don’t PvP much if ever and usually run in a group for quests/raids so I focused completely on defense and threat generation.

[Aaoogaa]

At 50 my shield chance was sitting at 41% and my absorption was at 38% with relic I could pump these to 50% each for a short time. This was in easily attained gear. I am sure with instance drops and raiding these numbers will approach 50% for each. The issue is there are damage sources that ignore armor and even if you dodge 20% of them they will destroy you without the shield mitigating the damage. Mitigation is > avoidance to lower spiked damage so the healer can keep you up. This is just my opinion though.