Value of defense after 540

[Uprisen]

One of the (bad) tanks I do icc 10 with refuses to drop his +16 defense to back because he says "defense is a good stat" and he has around 580 defense.

Is defense a good stat even after hitting the defense cap? Why are the other alternatives better?

[fuzzygeek]

It's still a good stat after 540.

The alternatives (armor, agil) provide better mitigation (armor) or mitigation and threat (armor, crit). Defense provides small amounts of miss/parry/dodge/block -- avoidance -- which also suffer from Diminishing Returns.

Gear for what you need, although at this point in content it really doesn't make a huge difference either way. If he's gemming for defense (like, thick gems) there might be a discussion to be had there, but not over just the cloak enchant, I don't think.

[Levantine]

Defense minimum, or at the very worst, defense soft-cap. Defense still provides avoidance after 540 and is not wasted statpoints as the term cap implies.

[Koatanga]

I would not go for defense above 540 any more unless it is specifically for a gimmick avoidance set.

The focus in ICC is mainly on effective health, not avoidance. If I had a choice between defense rating and armour or stamina, I would go with the armour or stamina.

Higher avoidance means you will take less damage over the course of a fight, but effective health means more in terms of your chance of survival.

[Awyndel]

This is basicly about the relationship between EH and avoidance. Long story short he can pick up 12 sockets and MAYBE 9 sockets with the 15% buff. If he's picking up anymore gems or enchants he's doing it wrong for icc. He needs more health and armor.

[Hokahey]

To be more specific, your co-tank's choice of Defense for his cloak enchant is bad. There are better enchants for the cloak, and more valuable places to shore up Defense, if you were *under* 540, or to get more itemization value if you were *above* 540.