Ignore race. Ignore the existence of Trueheal.

"The best defense is a good offense" doesn't count. We're talking about defensive potential in terms of pure defense and hindering here.

Astrologers are not listed because anyone can get those bonuses.

Not to start a fight, but how do you define defense here?

Damage resistance? Total abilities to keep you from dying (includes previous)? Or total abilities to keep you from taking a loss in combat (includes previous two)?

Stag Serenguard

Why isn't trueheal allowed? Pretty hefty defense.

I'd think that if the term defense were to be defined with the thought in mind of survival, Ur'Guards with Necromancy would have it. Not only would they have the whole lich thing going for them and the potential for escape that presents, but they also have Ghost. Ghosting, as far as I know, is only 3p with only a very few skills which can attack, let alone pull someone from it. It's instantaneous with a small amount of equilibrium, but once it's up, they're free to run. I think that Violet/Kether should stun whenever they get hit to help mitigate this problem or at least make it so Ghost takes a short amount of time before going through, but then again, this isn't the Ideas section of the forum.

Oh, and warriors are just plain tanky to boot. Go go transmute and numbness to put death off even longer.

Serenguard with stag?

I can see the argument there. Bolting and medicine bag both help with pure survival. Though again, the poll question is somewhat vague I think. Do we consider those abilities that mean a reduction of offense?

Harmony/PsyMet monk. Health regen of 2.5k with excellent dmp. Best passive tanking class I have ever been. (Plus you get SuspendedAnimation, which is like TH and will make it's way into the rants section in due time when people start to utilize it.)

Medicine Bag, Stagtotem, Regen offered by Stagform, Bolting, Facepaints.

Sorry, I wasn't questioning you
I don't know why serenguard with moon is an option in the poll instead of stag.

I can't decide between Stag Serenguard and Acro-Harmony monks. I suppose it doesn't matter for the poll, though.

I'm tempted to say Shadowdancer, because once that Shadowdancer Chokes a room, nobody's going to enter that room - which is a pretty solid defense.

I put Shadowdancer 'cause you should never really lose with choke/healing, even if you don't win all that much. As tanky as warriors are, though, what's with the 6-1 ur'guard/paladin ratio? This isn't a Malarious thread, so no one should be janking up the results on purpose...huh.

I'm not sure what's up with Night Ebonguard over Moon Serenguard, even if Stag trumps them both...but yeah, Sacraments over Necromancy any day. Nooooot even close.

Agreed, medicine bag and StagTotem are great. Just great.

EDIT: And the other things Ash posted

The best defense is an awesome offense!

if you ignore TH, you have to ignore Lich and psimet whatever trans skill i think paladins have the best defence though with seeing as usually just getting infidel will stop alot of fights cold.

There's the problem. People don't know what defense means!

Judging by the first post it looks like the question is, who has the best defense in PvP fight in regards to not being killed and not getting afflictions, as well as being able to stop the other person from hitting you in the first place.

That is why Trueheal is removed, because trueheal is not really "defense" but rather just a reset button.

Voted Paladins. Numen to cut all damage types in half is godly, and if numen just isn't enough to tank something (lol) numb + numen for the ultimate tankiness. Hallowedground for some passive healing, and if you are getting wacked pretty hard in all honesty to stop an enemy assault and place -them- on the defensive, heretic/infidel ftw.