Armor vs Defense Skill

[jeckwild]

Apologies, if this was discussed elsewhere on the forum.

Trying to build a Protection paladin, 53 so far.

Should I focus on the +defense skill items, and then armor?
Or should I max out the armor, and think of the +defense as a secondary bonus?

And, what is the effect of the Defense skill - or any other skill - anyway?

I'm hearing a lot of "may be" and "I suppose", and what seems to be the most popular opinion: defense skill gets you hit LESS often, according to a formula that doesn't exist.

How about +weapon skill? +healing?

Thanks in advance.

[Boutros]

Apologies, if this was discussed elsewhere on the forum.

Trying to build a Protection paladin, 53 so far.

Should I focus on the +defense skill items, and then armor?
Or should I max out the armor, and think of the +defense as a secondary bonus?

And, what is the effect of the Defense skill - or any other skill - anyway?

I'm hearing a lot of "may be" and "I suppose", and what the seems to be the most popular opinion: defense skill gets you hit LESS often, according to a formula that doesn't exist.

How about +weapon skill? +healing?

Thanks in advance.
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Really, your main choice isn't between armor and defense, but between defense and stamina or defense and resists. Most of the big defense items, like Helm of The Mountian, Legplates of the Eternal Guardian, and Stoneform Shoulders have absolutely huge armor. Some like the Ornate Adamantium Breastplate, Stockade Pauldrons and Golem Skull Helm have big defense, armor, and stamina and are amazing for any tank.

I've read reports that at level 60 +25 defense corresponds to +1% dodge, +1% block, +1% parry. This is a total of slightly more than 2% damage avoidance. It is also theorized that defense decreased your opponent's chance to hit and crit you by similar amounts (+25 = 1%), but I haven't seen any solid evidence of that. If you can get a lot of +defense it seems like it could be pretty effective, but its reliance on the random number generator can make it more dangerous than mitigation and hitpoints over short time scales.

[MongoJerry]

I've read reports that at level 60 +25 defense corresponds to +1% dodge, +1% block, +1% parry. This is a total of slightly more than 2% damage avoidance. It is also theorized that defense decreased your opponent's chance to hit and crit you by similar amounts (+25 = 1%), but I haven't seen any solid evidence of that. If you can get a lot of +defense it seems like it could be pretty effective,  but its reliance on the random number generator can make it more dangerous than mitigation and hitpoints over short time scales.

The idea sounds right, but I'm not sure about the exact numbers. In any case, the key with +defence is that it affects not only whether you get hit, but also the chance you can get hit with a critical and whether you might get hit by subcritical hits. That is, similar to critical hits that might double the damge you take, there are subcriticals where you take half the damage you would normally take. If increase your defence, there's both a smaller chance of getting hit with a critical and there's an increased chance that a hit that strikes you will be subcritical.

Like Boutros says, the issue is typically spelled out as +stamina vs +defence. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about the numbers to tell you exactly how many +1 def equals +1 stamina and how you should balance the two. However, I can say that it's likely that in solo situations, you'll want to have more +stamina gear and in party and raid situations where you'll have dedicated healers healing you, you'll want to focus more on +defence.