Defense vs. Protection

TVF

Was fortunate enough to pull a 16 speed secondary today, unfortunately it's a defense primary cross. Is there an easy way to figure out the trade-off for doing a defense primary vs a protection primary? I say "easy" because math is hard.

DuneFlint

I got an 11 cd cross with def primary. And a 9. I just tossed them on phoenix to boost them in tb i wasn't willing to sac that much prot for a team that matters to me. But, no, i don't know the math on the comparison

Crowny

I don't know the math, but it would be a good mod for a tank

crzydroid

It would probably work well on a character with stacking defense, like stormtrooper or Zylo (and I get that most people like protection on Zylo, but in theory he's regening anyway).

Or you could do like the above poster said and stick it on some mid-level team that needs speed but not your best mods. I got a +17 cross with tenacity primary and ended up sticking it on Ackbar.

TVF

Crowny wrote: »

I don't know the math, but it would be a good mod for a tank

Well that's kinda the question, because a tank would typically have a protection cross and I'm assuming that's better than defense. But I don't know for sure.

TVF

crzydroid wrote: »

Or you could do like the above poster said and stick it on some mid-level team that needs speed but not your best mods. I got a +17 cross with tenacity primary and ended up sticking it on Ackbar.

I hate to put a +16 speed mod on someone mid-level but that's probably the move.

Rebel_yell

Protection is always better than a defense increase with the exception of toons with stacking defense.

My best crosses with high speed secondaries are almost all defense primary...

Here the math behind it. http://gaming-fans.com/2017/02/swgoh-a-look-at-defensive-stats-health-protection-defense/

I used to have a calculator I built but can’t seem to find it. When I do I’ll let you know.

Woodroward

In general, Stacking defense is not as good as stacking protection on primaries. With Cody, who multiplies his defense by the number of clones in comp, defense is better than protection. It's hard to say in general because the more defense they have, the more that defense primary is worth, but the more defense it takes to reduce damage too. In general, the ratio at which they give out protection as a primary compared to health or defense makes it a flat out better choice no matter who you're trying to get to survive, and defense is even worse for non-tanks with no abilities enhancing it.

For maxed out tanks with prot primaries and high prot secondaries, defense mods are better than health mods as a rule of thumb these days, especially with all the %health damage floating around.

Defense calculator:

http://realityskewedgamers.blogspot.com/2016/09/defense-and-armor-calculator-version-2.html

VonZant

Sith Trooper and L3 come to mind as they both get bonus defense. Sith Trooper is ok slow but L3 will benefit from speed when she become farmable.