Defense Chance Increase

Defense Chance Increase (DCI) enhances your ability to defend yourself from melee or ranged attacks. It does not effect your chance to evade magical attacks.

It can be found naturally on weapons, shields and jewelry. It ranges in intensity from 1 to 15%. There is a cap of 45%.

DCI works in addition to your chance to parry, or block an attack by using the Parrying skill.

How it Works

The importance of the Defense Chance Increase item property can not be understated, especially in PVP. In an ideal world, your opponent has a 50/50 chance to strike you. This assumes your weapon skill matches their defense skill and you have the same item properties. If you have anything less it means you will get hit more often.

Let us take a look at pure skill points first. If your skill matches their skill then the chance for you to be hit is 50%. If you have 120 Wrestling to their 120 Swordsmanship it is 50%. What if you only have 100 Wrestling to their 120 skill? It is not so bad with them hitting you now 58% of the time. It is a lack of Defense Chance Increase which will change things dramatically.

If you have matching skills and matching Defense Chance Increase to your opponent's Hit Chance Increase, then the chance to be hit remains at 50%. But look at how it changes with the following examples:

-25% DCI vs 45% HCI = 96% chance to be hit
0% DCI vs 45% HCI = 72% chance to be hit
15% DCI vs 45% HCI = 63% chance to be hit
30% DCI vs 45% HCI = 55% chance to be hit

Wait a minute, why is there an example with -25% DCI? Because the Hit Lower Defense item property lowers your defense chance increase by 25% while under its effect. This will bring you into negative values for defense chance if you have below 25%. There can be up to a 70% difference between your defense and your opponent's hit chance!

What does this all mean? It means if you do not have 45% defense chance increase on your suit then you are not prepared for combat. You actually want to get as close to 70% as you can in PVP because everyone runs around with Hit Lower Defense weapons. If you have ever felt like someone never missed their attacked against you, this is the reason why.

Another takeaway is monsters (except ones with equipment) don't have Hit Chance Increase. Thus, if you have 45% defense chance increase your chance to be hit is only 28% of the time. Even better if their don't have close to 120 Wrestling.

Imbuing

The following resources are required to imbue the highest intensity of Defense Chance Increase (15%):

Items

These items either have higher than normal Defense Chance Increase or don't normally have it.

Item Properties
Stat Modifiers	Dexterity Bonus • Hit Point Increase • Intelligence Bonus • Mana Increase • Stamina Increase • Strength Bonus
Regenerations	Hit Point Regeneration • Mana Regeneration • Stamina Regeneration
Hit Effects	Assassin Honed • Blood Drinker • Battle Lust • Hit Cold Area • Hit Curse • Hit Dispel • Hit Energy Area • Hit Fatigue • Hit Fire Area • Hit Fireball • Hit Harm • Hit Life Leech • Hit Lightning • Hit Lower Attack • Hit Lower Defense • Hit Mana Drain • Hit Mana Leech • Hit Physical Area • Hit Poison Area • Searing Weapon • Splintering Weapon • Hit Stamina Leech
Historic	Ruin • Force • Might • Mystic • Power • Vanquishing • Newbified
Damage Types	Physical Damage • Fire Damage • Cold Damage • Poison Damage • Energy Damage • Chaos Damage • Direct Damage
Magic	Casting Focus • Faster Casting • Faster Cast Recovery • Lower Mana Cost • Lower Reagent Cost • Mage Armor • Mage Weapon • Resonance • Spell Channeling • Spell Damage Increase • Spell Focusing • Spell Consumption
Weapon	Damage Increase • Swing Speed Increase • Use Best Weapon Skill • Weapon Speed • Hit Chance Increase
Archery	Balanced • Damage Modifier • Lower Ammo Cost • Range • Velocity
Death & Theft	Blessed • Cursed • No-Drop/No-Trade • Insured • Owned By
Damage Dealing	Damage Eater • Rage Focus • Reactive Paralyze • Reflect Physical Damage • Soul Charge
Other	Artifact Rarity • Defense Chance Increase • Durability • Elves Only • Enhance Potions • Gargoyles Only • Lifespan • Lower Requirements • Luck • Mana Burst • Mana Phase • Night Sight • Self Repair • Shard Bound • Skill Bonus • Strength Requirement • Uses Remaining • Weight
Negative	Antique • Brittle • Cursed • Ephemeral • Prized • Massive • Unwieldy • Unlucky •