Fortitude VS. Defense

Hi. I'm a long time auctioneer, first time poster. I've been searching around for a helpful answer on what modification I should invest in for my bow. Searching's disabled, and I did try that google alternative thing to no avail. I'm sorry if this has been answered before.

I've read some pretty out there things about the fortitude mod and even more bizarre things about the defense mod. I'm told that the defense mod adds global +5 defense to your character (elemental and physical), and makes monsters aggro you less because of your higher overall AL. This is a reason why monks and casters are the favorite targets of monster's I'm told, because of their lower AL. But I'm a ranger, and I'm rarely targeted anyway because of my higher AL. I'm thinking, would adding a defense mod make me that much better off in PvE, would it make me anymore more durable then I already am in a close quarters fight in PvP? I play both, and I'd like to know which one would give me more benefit.

The benefit from fortitude I'm told, is simply more HP... which is useful I guess, and I may have to grab one anyway to couple with one of my vampiric bows. Unconditional HP, that isn't lowered by DP. However, I play fairly well, I'm supped up on all kinds of runes, and my max HP would be considered lower then some, but I can manage myself quite well, if not better then most in both PvP and PvE.

If defense doesn't offer what I'm thinking it does, more global durability (physical & elemental) or less PvE aggro, the obvious choice would be fortitude. So can someone please explain the pro's and con's to these mods, or show me the truthful advantages of both if what I've been hearing is bogus? Thanks.

+30 hp pros:
1. anti-spike
2. anti condition or hex hp drain
3. anti-dp

cons:
1. don't make a obvious difference until your hp goes down to 30


+5 armor pros:
1. reduce damage,especially good against elemental attack
2. easier to heal with low hp and high armor


cons:
1.don't always reduce damage, in the case when the received damage is low (when your armor is high)


for monsters target I have no clue.

Defense also ends up being a LOT cheaper than Fortitude. That's something worth mentioning.

It's because people who don't run the calculations see the numbers and go "OMG 30 > 5 FORTITUDE IS TEH PWNZ0RZ!"

In actuality, defense helps out more than fortitude, if ever so slightly. The differences are slim indeed, and there are circumstances in which Fortitude is better (the above mentioned degen, for example). On the whole, though, I subscribe to defense over fortitude. Not to mention the prices are MUCH more appealing.

Unsure about the monster-targeting system. I was under the impression it looked at level/health, not AL, but even that is up to wild speculation, and lets not have any of that here

As far as the mods are concerned, it really depends if it's going primary PvE or primary PvP.

In PvP you have alot of degen and armor-ignoring damage (as well as vast superior-rune usage) so the Fortitude +30 mod makes more sense.

In PvE, there is alot of direct-damage, and in the long run the +5 Defense or +7 Shelter/Warding will reduce much more than 30 damage in the course of an attack.

If you're already at the end-game with this character, and don't want to make separate bows for PvP and PvE: I'd recommend fortitude. The high-level areas are degen heavy, and often you won't be a target for alot of direct-damage since you're at range

The whole level-health plays a VERY low maybe even non-existent role, go to north wall and try mission with 0 armor u take about how much regular ppl at lvl 7 do

+5 defense.

Basically, it goes like this.

1. If you have a lot of innate armor, get fortitude. If not, get defense.

2. Fortitude is good vs attacks that DOT and ignore armor, while defense is good vs regular damage and is cheaper to heal.

Lol, haven't seen this thread before. /sarcasm

Long debate, but overall, people usually prefer Fort for spike and Defense for DoT.

i was told that when pRp ran ranger spike they used defense instead of Hp

i also use defense when farming but when running i use HP

You've got it backwards.

+60 HP is better against

• Spike (for the most part)
• Armor ignoring damage
• Degen damage

For GvG use, most of the significant damage is either Spike, Physical, or Armor Ignoring. I prefer +5 AL/+7 AL Physical on staves, for that reason when I'm not facing spike or degen teams.

I've always taken +5 Defense over +30 hp, cause the +30 doesn't help you out unless you get down to below 30 hp's. To my untrained eyes, I don't see any benefit from fortitude Mods unless I'm about to die.