Defense

For defense mechanics, refer to Defense on the Terraria Wiki

Defense is a player statistic that determines how much damage can be taken per hit. The damage the player takes is reduced by half / three quarters / all of their defense value. Defense can be increased by equipping armor and accessories, or temporarily boosted by various buffs.

Some forms of damage are impossible to reduce through defense. Damage from health-draining debuffs like Plague or drowning in water are not reduced by defense. Damage taken from lava, however, can be reduced through defense.

Damage Reduction

Main Article: Damage Reduction

Damage Reduction (DR) is a stat alongside defense that decreases damage that both the player and other NPCs take based on a percentage. The player can boost their damage reduction with certain accessories, although it scales diminishingly as more damage reduction is gained.

Defense Boosts

For defense granted by armor pieces and their set bonuses, see here.

Items

Item		Defense	Notes
	Aquatic Emblem	+0 to 50	Gradually builds up when submerged in liquid
	Sand Cloak	+2
		+6	While in the dust veil
	The Community	+2 to 10	Depending on bosses killed
	Marnite Repulsion Shield	+2
	Shield of the Ocean	+2
		+5	When submerged in liquid
	Wulfrum Controller	+3	For each existing Wulfrum Droid
	Corrosive Spine	+4
	Crown Jewel	+4
	Frost Barrier	+4
	Stress Pills	+4
	Occult Skull Crown	+5
		+14	When Weak debuff is active
		+15	When Darkness debuff is active
		+30	When Armor Crunch, Blackout, or Confused debuff is active
		+40	When Ichor debuff is active
		+50	When Obstructed debuff is active
		+25%	When Broken Armor debuff is active
	Gladiator's Locket	+5
	Corrupt Flask	+6	While in The Corruption
	Crimson Flask	+6	While in The Crimson
	Infected Jewel	+6
		+16	While any debuff is active
		+5	For each additional debuff the player has
	Bloody Worm Scarf	+7
	Bloody Worm Tooth	+7
	Deep Diver	+8
		+15	When submerged in liquid
	Ornate Shield	+8
	Purity	+8
		+20	While any debuff is active
		+8	For each additional debuff the player has
	Archaic Powder	+10	While in the Underground, Cavern, and The Underworld
	The Camper	+10
	Dark Sun Ring	+10
		+10	During a Solar Eclipse
		+20	At night
	Giant Shell	+10
		-5	For 5 seconds after taking damage
	Regenator	+10
	Rover Drive	+10	When the protection matrix is active
	Shattered Community	+10
	Shield of the High Ruler	+12
	Laudanum	+14	When Weak debuff is active
		+15	When Darkness debuff is active
		+30	When Armor Crunch, Blackout, or Confused debuff is active
		+40	When Ichor debuff is active
		+50	When Obstructed debuff is active
		+25%	When Broken Armor debuff is active
	The Absorber	+15
	Giant Tortoise Shell	+15
		-10	For 5 seconds after taking damage
	Profaned Soul Crystal	+15	At night or when submerged in water or honey
		-15	At day or when submerged in lava
	Tarragon Wings	+15	While equipping a full set of Tarragon armor
	Asgard's Valor	+16
		+16	When submerged in liquid
	Elysian Aegis	+18
	Rampart of Deities	+18
	Frost Flare	+20	When below 25% health
	Ursa Sergeant	+20
	Asgardian Aegis	+28
		+20	When submerged in liquid
	The Sponge	+30	When the barrier is active
	Yharim's Gift	+30
	Draedon's Heart	+48
	Bloodflare Core	Up to -50%	When the player is hit depending on amount of damage taken

Buffs and debuffs

Buff/Debuff		Defense	Notes
	Reaver Rage	+5
	Tequila	+5	During the day
	Mushy	+6
	Spirit Defense	+6
	Hallowed Defense	+8
	Crimson Effigy	+10
	Moonshine	+10
	Phantomic Shield	+10
	Tequila Sunrise	+10	During the day
	Afflicted	+13
	Encased	+30
	Grax Boost	+30
	Crumbling	-10
	Irradiated	-10
	Armor Crunch	-15
	Vulnerability Hex	-20
	Wither	-20
	Grape Beer	-3%
	Bloody Mary	-4%	During a Blood Moon
	Rum	-5%
	Vodka	-5%
	Whiskey	-5%
	Margarita	-6%
	Star Beam Rye	-6%
	White Wine	-6%
	Caribbean Rum	-10%
	Cinnamon Roll	-10%
	Fab	-10%
	Everclear	-30%

Armor Penetration

Armor penetration is a statistic that reduces the defense of the player's targets. For instance, a Purple Slime normally has 6 defense. If the player has 5 Armor penetration and attacks the slime, then the slime will take damage as if it only had 1 defense instead.

Source		Armor penetration bonus	Condition
	Wulfrum Blunderbuss	3	Always.
	Badge of Bravery	5	Melee.
	Tin armor	5	Set bonus.
	Marnite Obliterator	5	Always.
	Experimental Wulfrum Fusion Array	10	Always.
	Filthy Glove	8	When performing stealth strikes.
	Marnite Deconstructor	10	Always.
	Sand Shark Tooth Necklace	10	Always.
	Reaper Tooth Necklace	15	Always.
	Omega Blue armor	15	Set bonus.
	Electrician's Glove	8	When performing stealth strikes.
	Nanotech	15	When performing stealth strikes.

Defense Reduction

Several weapons can permanently lower an enemy's defense on hit. These defense reduction effects cannot stack with themselves or each other, unless marked with the + symbol.

Source		Defense Reduction
	Earth	+1
	Grand Guardian	+1
	Majestic Guard	+1
	Apoctolith	15
	Anti-materiel Rifle	25

Vanilla changes

Various changes have been made to vanilla's defense boosts:

• Buffed Ankh Shield from 4 defense to 12.
• Buffed Cobalt Shield from 1 defense to 4.
• Buffed Frozen Shield from 6 defense to 13.
• Buffed Hallowed Greaves from 11 defense to 13.
• Buffed Hallowed Plate Mail from 15 defense to 18.
• Buffed Hero Shield from 10 defense to 20.
• Ironskin buff now increases defense by 12, 16, and 20 after defeating the Wall of Flesh, Moon Lord, and The Devourer of Gods respectively instead of increasing defense by 8 for any progression.
• Buffed Obsidian Shield from 2 defense to 7.
• Buffed Obsidian Skull from 1 defense to 2.
• Buffed Orichalcum Breastplate from 13 defense to 16.
• Buffed Orichalcum Headgear from 4 defense to 6.
• Buffed Orichalcum Helmet from 7 defense to 10.
• Buffed Orichalcum Leggings from 10 defense to 14.
• Buffed Orichalcum Mask from 19 defense to 22.
• Buffed Paladin's Shield from 6 defense to 9.
• Buffed Palladium Breastplate from 10 defense to 13.
• Buffed Palladium Headgear from 3 defense to 5.
• Buffed Palladium Helmet from 5 defense to 8.
• Buffed Palladium Mask from 14 defense to 15.
• Buffed Palladium Leggings from 8 defense to 11.
• Buffed Shackle from 1 defense to 3.
• Buffed Shield of Cthulhu from 2 defense to 3.
• The Tipsy debuff now reduces defense by 10% instead of a flat reduction of 4.

Defensive accessory modifiers now scale with progression:

Modifier	Hard	Guarding	Armored	Warding
Vanilla	+1	+2	+3	+4
Hardmode	+2	+3	+5	+6
Post-Moon Lord	+3	+4	+6	+8
Post-Devourer of Gods	+4	+6	+8	+10

Some vanilla items have gained the ability to increase defense:

• Adamantite armor's set bonus increases defense up to 15 while continuously dealing damage.
• Angel Wings increases defense by 10.
• Beetle Wings increases defense by 10 while the player is equipping Beetle armor with Beetle Shell.
• Fairy Boots increases defense by 10 when Fairies are nearby.
• Frozen Turtle Shell increases defense by 6.
• Gladiator armor's set bonus increases defense by 3.
• Leaf Wings increases defense by 5 while the player is equipping Tiki armor.
• Magma Skull increases defense by 4.
• Molten Skull Rose increases defense by 8.
• Mothron Wings increases defense by 5.
• Obsidian Skull Rose increases defense by 4.
• Spectre Wings increases defense by 10 while the player is equipping Spectre armor with Spectre Hood.
• Steampunk Wings increases defense by 8.

Additionally, Sharpening Station's armor penetration value has been nerfed from 12 to 5.