DEF vs HP vs VIT

Last updated: Release 27.2.0

A defense (DEF) ring will increase your defense and thus reduce the amount of damage dealt to you from every shot taken by a straight point-for-point reduction. However, the DEF stat can only block up to 90% of damage from any given shot.

A life (HP) ring will increase your health points capacity, and thus the amount of damage you can soak before dying.

A Vitality (VIT) ring will increase your HP regeneration by 0.12 HP/s per point.

In general:

  • A DEF ring is best if you take lots of relatively weak hits that still aren’t already doing minimum damage.
  • An HP ring is best if you’re taking a few big hits or a bunch of smaller hits which are doing minimum damage with your current DEF stat.
  • A VIT ring is best if you can manage to go a long period of time without taking hits.

Cons of each type

Wearing a DEF ring is useless if all the damage you are taking is already doing the minimum 10% damage floor; any additional defense after this is irrelevant. In addition, the effects of an Armor Piercing bullet and the Armor Broken status effect will also render DEF useless.

Wearing an HP ring is useless if your current HP is always less than your normal maximum HP. Equipping any item that increases your HP capacity will not increase your current HP in kind, making it pointless if your HP never goes above your base HP capacity.

Wearing a VIT ring is useless if your current HP is equal to your maximum HP, since there’s nothing to heal, or if what you’re up against could kill you instantly, since you’ll have no chance to heal afterwards.

These charts go to three decimal places where applicable.

DEF vs. VIT

A certain amount of DEF will reduce damage from a hit instantly. VIT will heal the equivalent amount of damage that would otherwise be reduced by DEF after 8.333 seconds. Therefore, a DEF ring is better if you get hit every 8.333 seconds or less, while a VIT ring is better if your time between taking hits is longer than that. For most players, this means DEF is better than VIT. But this really depends on your playing style and class.

This chart compares DEF and VIT rings of different tiers. The number is how much time, in seconds, must pass between hits for VIT to be better than DEF. Since DEF and VIT rings of the same tier increase the stat by the exact same amount, comparing the two stat rings is relatively easy.

Ring of Minor Defense
+1 DEF
Ring of Defense
+3 DEF
Ring of Greater Defense
+5 DEF
Ring of Superior Defense
+6 DEF
Ring of Paramount Defense
+7 DEF
Ring of Exalted Defense
+8 DEF
Ring of Unbound Defense
+10 DEF
Ring of Vitality
+3 VIT
+0.36 HP/s
2.778
8.333
13.889
16.667
19.444
22.222
25
Ring of Greater Vitality
+5 VIT
+0.6 HP/s
1.667
5
8.333
10
11.667
13.333
15
Ring of Superior Vitality
+6 VIT
+0.72 HP/s
1.389
4.167
6.944
8.333
9.722
11.111
12.5
Ring of Paramount Vitality
+7 VIT
+0.84 HP/s
1.191
3.571
5.952
7.143
8.333
9.524
10.714
Ring of Exalted Vitality
+8 VIT
+0.96 HP/s
1.042
3.125
5.208
6.25
7.292
8.333
9.375
Ring of Unbound Vitality
+10 VIT
+1.2 HP/s
0.926
2.778
4.630
5.556
6.481
7.407
8.333

HP vs. VIT

As mentioned before, any additional point of VIT will heal a single point of HP every 8.333 seconds. For a Vit ring to heal as much as an HP ring does, you will have to go for a period of time without getting hit, to allow the VIT to heal the amount of HP. If you can survive a long time between taking damage at full health and fully healing, dying, or escaping to Nexus, VIT is better. If you can’t for any reason, HP is better. The tier progression of VIT rings and DEF rings is different from that of HP, so the time needed to heal differs as tiers increase. This table compares each tiered VIT ring to each tiered HP ring. The comparison is: how much time (in minutes:seconds.milliseconds) does it take for the regen of each VIT ring alone to heal the amount of HP that each tiered HP ring provides. This is as simple as taking the amount of HP and dividing it by the per-second HP regen rate.

Ring of Health
+40 HP
Ring of Greater Health
+80 HP
Ring of Superior Health
+100 HP
Ring of Paramount Health
+120 HP
Ring of Exalted Health
+140 HP
Ring of Unbound Health
+180 HP
Ring of Vitality
+3 VIT
+0.36 HP/s
1:51.112
3:42.223
4:37.778
5:33.334
6:28.889
8:20
Ring of Greater Vitality
+5 VIT
+0.6 HP/s
1:06.667
2:13.334
2:46.667
3:20
3:53.333
5:00
Ring of Superior Vitality
+6 VIT
+0.72 HP/s
55.556
1:51.112
2:18.889
2:46.667
3:14.445
4:10
Ring of Paramount Vitality
+7 VIT
+0.84 HP/s
47.62
1:35.239
1:59.048
2:22.858
2:46.667
3:34.286
Ring of Exalted Vitality
+8 VIT
+0.96 HP/s
41.667
1:23.334
1:44.167
2:05
2:25.834
3:07.5
Ring of Unbound Vitality
+10 VIT
+1.2 HP/s
33.333
1:06.666
1:23.333
1:40.000
1:56.666
2:30.00

This table clearly demonstrates that VIT rings, unfortunately, fare worse as the tiers increase than the equivalent tiered HP rings.

DEF vs. HP

If both DEF and HP are superior to VIT, then you’re probably taking frequent damage. What determines which of the two is better depends on how many of these frequent hits you can take without dying. Assuming none of the hits would do minimal damage with the character’s current DEF stat, if you can only survive 17 hits or less, HP is better. If you can survive 18 hits or more, DEF is better. (Unless you want to be switching your DEF and HP rings every time the added bonus from the HP runs out.) Also take debuffs such as bleeding into consideration when choosing between HP and DEF.

This chart determines how many hits you need to be able to survive for DEF rings to be better (Health boost from Ring / DEF boost from ring, round up).
NOTE: This chart is heavily outdated. If you can contribute a more reliable and up-to-date chart, please do!

Ring of Health
Ring of Greater Health
Ring of Superior Health
Ring of Paramount Health
Ring of Exalted Health
Ring of Minor Defense
40
80
100
120
140
Ring of Defense
14
27
34
40
47
Ring of Greater Defense
8
16
20
24
28
Ring of Superior Defense
7
14
17
20
24
Ring of Paramount Defense
6
12
15
18
20
Ring of Exalted Defense
5
10
13
15
18

Conclusion

Many players generally prefer HP rings above DEF and especially above VIT. A DEF ring does have its use in some circumstances, however. There are a few things to consider when choosing between HP and DEF, and it is up to you to decide what ring suits you best.

As for vitality, the inclusion of pets with healing capabilities has largely displaced the need to provide one’s self with additional vitality. As a result, many players look at a VIT ring as unnecessary when, for example, a maxed rare pet can heal its owner at a rate of just over 20.4 HP/s, in addition to the HP regen already provided by the character’s VIT stat. Keep in mind that this precludes the Pet Stasis debuff, which negates any healing provided by pets.