Offcourse its possible to go higher, just pop some purples 
Afaik the hardcap is equal to resist cap, thus 95% for tankers and 75% for scrappers.
Having more defense always have benefits, higher lvl mobs have a accuracy bonus against you so you minimize that again. Also, you can counter defensedebuffs easier this way.
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The hard cap is so ludicrously high that you will never reach it on your own. It's around 245% or something like that. Well over the Resistance soft cap of 90%.|
Originally Posted by Full_Eclipse
I know that the magic number is 45% for a softcapped build for defensive based toons( IA and SD.) I it possible to go higher than that and is there a hardcap? Is there a benefit to going over the soft cap?
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But yes, you can go over 45%, and it can be helpful to do so at times, such as when fighting against enemies with ToHit buffs and/or Defense debuffs.
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Hardcap for Defense varies for each AT, sitting at ~225% (Tanks, etc.) to ~200% (EATs, Scrappers, etc.) to 175% for the squishies. Granted, it's still pointless to get that high (although it is amusing to see your defense in a blue number) and otherwise impossible without a team or hordes of purples.
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How close does an IA tank get to softcap with jsut the normal toggles, etc. and no set bonuses?
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The main benefit to going over the softcap is if you run into defense debuffs. If you're over the cap, you can take a couple of hits from swords in the ITF and still be safely above the cap. In practice with my Ice tank, that never really mattered, probably due to strong debuff resists. I wouldn't make it a priority to go over the softcap.
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Originally Posted by Full_Eclipse
I know that the magic number is 45% for a softcapped build for defensive based toons( IA and SD.) I it possible to go higher than that and is there a hardcap? Is there a benefit to going over the soft cap?
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IIRC an ice tanker gets to just under 36% defense versus smash, lethal, energy, and negative energy. This assumes Combat Jumping and Weave, no Maneuvers.
Shield tankers actually have it better IMO; with the same assumptions they get just under 41% defense versus melee/ranged/AoE attacks, which is both better defense and better general coverage than the Ice tanker gets. This is on top of resistance and a great attack. You are very close to the soft cap if two scrappers are beside you. My Shield/Mace hit the goal all three ways with three sets of Multi-strike, an inexpensive set for PBAOE; and a couple other minor bonuses.
Ice, of course, has utility, including combat rest, two aggro auras, +recovery, and self heal lacked by Shield.
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The highest I've ever seen my defense was 115%, though I don't really keep track of it often. Getting to the hard cap would be ludicrously tough, and quite frankly a great big waste of potential.
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I know that the magic number is 45% for a softcapped build for defensive based toons( IA and SD.) I it possible to go higher than that and is there a hardcap? Is there a benefit to going over the soft cap?