+30 hp or +5 def?

i was just wondering which one you thought is better. i think that +30 health is good, but doesn't the damage reduction from the +5 armor mean that it's better?
anyways, i'd like to know. thanks ^^

+30 is the popular mod, but if you have insignias that give you additional armor like brawlers, i think it would make sense to get that extra 5 armor.

But if you have survivors insignias and runes of vitae, fortitude would be better.

I'm not a big mod fan, so i really cant say which is best. The above info is the best advice i can give

Generally speaking, I believe that extra health is better.

It helps against degen and armour ignoring damage. The extra health also means you can take a bit more damage, which compensates for having less armour.

So basically, I find that more health is just better overall, since there is a lot of stuff that ignores armour.

i choose armor over health but then again u can have 2 shields one for armor one for helth right

win win

I personally go for the defense mod. fist because it is just as(if not more) effective as fortitude and its cheap as dirt.

Everything in this game is situational but a simple rule of thumb would be: Bring +hps if you face heavy degen or spikes, bring +armor everywhere else.

Id go for the +30 health, not only does it combat degen. But if you have a higher max health you will gain more of an advantage from Moral Boosts.

Take both for the best of both worlds. Extra 30 health doesn't do anything until you hit 1 HP, while +5 armor can reduce damage all the time. Switch to your health set when you drop below 100 or so, or 20-25% of your health.

Take +30 always for PvP.

Morale boost is based on your base health, after runes. Weapon mods don't have any effect on it. Neither does death penalty.

^^ i agree...i normal don't run with a fortitude mod in PVE....the benefit of the +X armor is way better....although there is some effort in spiking in pve now...you really shouldn't have to worry about it.

I personally have a +5 armor axe, +30hp axe, and a 20%vs xxxmonster axe that i normally use...since i tend to spend time in one area rather than jump all over the map.

If you are heavy on the usage of major/superior runes...go with the fortitude mod.

if in pvp go with both...and swap as needed...generally rely on the +30hp

Defense will reduce the damage you take, heath does nothing.

If you need to get that +30HP (or +60) to survive at a specific moment you can allways swap to another weapon set.

I think it's better to think about what you're going to be facing, and choose. If you're going to an area with heavy degeneration, I would use +Health so I can last a little bit longer, and if I'm going to a place with a lot of raw damage dealing foes, I'll take a Defense mod.

I normally use a hammer grip of defense to attempt to compensate a little for not having a shield.

As far as swords and axes go, it depends on the skills I'm using. If I'm going to be using some stances to evade attacks then I feel that the extra health will go a lot further as you don't need extra defense if you're not being hit as much. Likewise if I'm going to be using something like frigid armour or other armour enhancing skills, the +5 armour doesn't go a long way (although in that case I'd be using an enchanting mod).

If you're going to be using skills that negate damage then +5 armour is not much use.

I'll not go into every profession, but suffice to say it is very dependent upon the area and the build you are using. There is no best mod, only preferred mod. I prefer fortitude mods on weapons, and I bring skills to enchance armour/reduce damage taken.

I totally agree with this.

This is why I always carry my +5 AR vs all sword and I even go as far as carrying several conditional 16 Armor +10 AR vs X shields like +10 vs Piercing, slashing, Fire and Ice

That's:

80 (armor) +5(weapon) +16(shield) +10(Shield/Conditional) = 111 AR not taking into account insignias

According to wiki http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Armor

at 110 AR you would only get 0.420 (42%) of the damage you receive. That's a considerable reduction. With simple calculation, 111 AR would give you 41.3%

That number jumps from 41.3% to around 50% if you remove the +10AR vs X mod from the shield
That number jumps again from 50% to 54.5% if you remove the +5AR defensive weapon mod

Take these numbers as you see fit, but i prefer receiving only 41.3% of the damage delt to me then the 54.5% from just having your armor and shield

*Note: These numbers do not include insignias and was calculated at 80 base armor

I'm a big fan of +armour.
Health is only useful if your monk is going to catch a heal on you when you're at 30 hp or less. (Without the mod, you would have died, with the mod, you may live). Otherwise it makes no difference, asside from screwing up prot spirit/spirit bond a little, perhaps.

There are few situations where you are likely to get healed when sitting on 30hp.
a) You are being spiked, and their spike isn't clean. There's an off chance that your bonus 30hp will buy enough time for you to be healed up, but it's a low chance.
b) You're facing a degen/pressure team and are about to drop. You're almost certainly going to die with or without your health mod at this stage.

So the only viable +health situations are when facing a spike team with zero pressure. Even then, +armour will generally help with some aspects of the spike.

I run my monks with ~550-615 hp, midline softies with armour bonuses, and hard frontliners with +health (they already have significant armour).
Don't forget to have a +vs elemental insignia on your chest if possible; non-projectile spells will always target the chest.

Edit: o0 two posts sneaked in above.
Aye, good points. gg on numbers. Would also like to add that base shield armour is conditional (hits from behind won't trigger it), whereas a +armour mod is not.