Improving Defense?

[BiggieTheDog]

Is the only way to improve defense in combat? Or is there another method?

[Locklave]

Correct. Getting beat down by people far more skilled is the fastest way.

[RandomDude]

Whatever doesn't kill you makes you.... more defensible!

[Zee_]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1356474362

That mod is a good start for raw recruits. Lets you work your way to 20 defense in relative safety, depending on where you call home.

Once you're done with that, or if you don't use the mod, head out and get into fights. Get a decent weapon with +defense like a horse chopper or desert saber (might be thinking of another weapon, theres a saber with +8 defense) and once its down to you and a couple enemies, switch to defensive stance and block your way to higher defense. If you get beaten down thats good, cause then you're also training toughness.

When starting out fight starving bandits and other groups that use mostely blunt damage weapons so you don't wind up bleeding to death from injuries.

[Galuf]

Another method is to get a prisoner and a small shack. Give him a staff and you use a weapon with bonus for indoor. After you beat the bandit or whatever you use take him back to the shack and lock the door and set it to private. Watch him recover and before he wakes up put the weapon on him and when he is up set your character to block and engage then get to fast forwarding. This method only trains defense though. It's pretty easy to get to the 30s this way. Also if you keep your buddy he trains the next batch faster since your training him to.

[Valar Morghulis]

The +8 defense sabre is the Foreign Sabre. There is actually zero downside in using it. It is a bit heavy tho if I remember it correctly.

[kaiyl_kariashi]

Jitte are better for training.

They have massive defense bonuses (and get a further +4 when used in-doors), deal pure blunt damage (no bandages needed), their base damage is somewhat low so the fight can last awhile and it's nigh on impossible to actually kill someone with a Rusted Blade or similar quality Jitte (even with maxed stats and using the Meitou Jitte you only rarely kill even something as weak as hungary bandits).

And you can give the training "dummy" a Heavy Jitte which lacks the indoor bonus inexchange for about ~25% more base damage (you could give them a heavy jitte 1 or 2 grades lower than your jitte to deal about the same damage), so that you can get some toughness training in OR switch and give the training "dummy" the small Jitte that so that his attack/defense will always be slightly more than yours to improve training speed, just use a slightly lower tier Heavy Jitte so the damage you deal is about the same.

The lowest possible grade Desert sabre deals the same overall damage as a mid-grade Jitte does.

And for training purposes you want the fight to last as long as possible since attack/defense doesn't care about damage, only what attack/defense scores your enemy has during each exchange of blows.

[BiggieTheDog]

Originally posted by Zee_:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1356474362

That mod is a good start for raw recruits. Lets you work your way to 20 defense in relative safety, depending on where you call home.

Once you're done with that, or if you don't use the mod, head out and get into fights. Get a decent weapon with +defense like a horse chopper or desert saber (might be thinking of another weapon, theres a saber with +8 defense) and once its down to you and a couple enemies, switch to defensive stance and block your way to higher defense. If you get beaten down thats good, cause then you're also training toughness.

When starting out fight starving bandits and other groups that use mostely blunt damage weapons so you don't wind up bleeding to death from injuries.

Yeah I looked into that mod. It doesn't show up in the build menu.

[Paper Red]

Originally posted by Biggy the Emperor:

Yeah I looked into that mod. It doesn't show up in the build menu.

I have this mod. Gets starting skills up to 10 easy, slows down a lot near 15. So its as good as a Dummy Mk II. I think the mats show up in Interior once you've done the research for them. They're a bit janky to click on once constructed, good for training MA on new characters. Defense is useless if going MA. Your defense will increase anyway when training with a kidnapped bandit/slave in a locked house.