What is the Defense cap in The First Descendant?

In The First Descendant, there’s no offense without defense. You can’t dish out tons of damage or wipe out a Colossus if you’re dead! As such, it’s important to build up your DEF, which grants a flat damage resistance against all enemies.

But, there’s a limit to how much DEF is enough—and building too much will cost you dearly. Here’s everything you need to know about how much DEF you need in The First Descendant.

Is there a Defense cap in The First Descendant?

There is no hard cap on DEF in The First Descendant. If you want to, you can stack DEF as much as you possibly can. However, like with other stats in the looter shooter, you’ll receive diminishing returns once you cross a certain threshold.

Player testing and a brilliant deep dive on DEF in The First Descendant by Ryechews Games on YouTube has revealed every time you double your DEF, you’ll receive approx. 10 percent more damage resistance. Therefore, it’s recommended players don’t exceed 40,000 DEF unless running a build that benefits from higher DEF like with Ajax, as you’ll need to make an incredible investment just to see a decent return.

Instead, opt into ensuring other defensive stats are boosted. Work on maximizing your HP, elemental resistance, and extra damage modifiers like those seen on the Sensory Dep or Safe Recovery modules. Combining modules that boost these other stats will be better for you than aiming for a ridiculously high DEF stat.

Many players were confused when finding the above tooltip that mentions 80 percent DEF. This note simply explains the worst DEF-reducing effects will drop your DEF by 80 percent, meaning at all times you’ll have 20 percent of your current DEF.

How to increase your DEF in The First Descendant

The main ways to increase your DEF in The First Descendant include the use of modules, reactors, and external equipment. The modules you’ll want to chase to boost DEF include:

• Iron Defense
• Spear and Shield
• Agony (bonus MP)
• Shield Conversion (bonus DEF at the cost of shield)
• HP Conversion (bonus DEF at the cost of HP)
• Increased DEF
• Ironclad Defense

Other Ultimate-grade modules can give a temporary boost to DEF by completing a certain action in The First Descendant. Otherwise, focus on finding DEF external components like Auxillary Power, Sensors, Memory, and Processors.