Defense

Defense is a player statistic that determines how much damage can be absorbed per hit. On worlds, damage the player takes is reduced by half of their defense value, rounded up. Defense can be increased by equipping armor, or temporarily boosted by various buffs. No attack can be reduced below 1 damage.

Some forms of damage are impossible to reduce through defense. Damage from health-draining Debuffs like drowning in water, or colliding with a boulder are not reduced by defense.

Mechanics
Defense gives an arithmetic reduction in damage: i.e. damage is reduced by a fixed amount per hit (as opposed to a geometric damage reduction, which would reduce damage by a percentage).

Formula
The formula is: net damage = attack - (defense * 0.5) For example:
 * With 10 Defense, a 20 Damage attack is reduced by 5, resulting in 15 damage taken.
 * With 21 Defense, a 20 Damage attack is reduced by 11, resulting in 9 damage taken.

Enemies
Enemies have the same Defense mechanics as players. Accordingly, when fighting high defense monsters, high damage weapons are preferable.