Does armor defense reduce damage?

I used to think the higher the armor defense, the less damage you take from a physical attack (compared to the same attack, but wearing lower defense armor).

Is this true?

Or the defense only counts to the chance to avoid hits (but if a hit does strike, the character takes full damage) ?|||Yes, it only affects your chance to get hit, but yours is a common misconception. It is one of the least valuable stats in the game, I generally put all other stats ahead of it on my priority list. If you want to get your damage reduced you can use items that lower damage by 1,3,10,25...etc (PDR) or you can items like shaftstop, Stormshield, Ber rune...etc that give a %damage reduced. The latter is generally more effective, at least in the end game.|||PDR can be highly effective tho as you can stack it but %DR has a cap but both considerations are mainly for specific end game builds.|||Quote:








PDR can be highly effective tho as you can stack it but %DR has a cap but both considerations are mainly for specific end game builds.




This. Stormshield, Vampire Gaze, Harlequin Crest (aka Shako) and Shaftstop (though I prefer my body armor with more resistances) are excellent sources of Physical Damage reduction.