Protection

Incoming damage decreased by 33%; stacks duration. — In-game description

Protection

Effect type

Boon

Stacking

Duration

Max. duration

30 seconds

Game link

“

Incoming damage decreased by 33%; stacks duration.

— In-game description

Protection is a boon that reduces strike damage by 33%. It does not affect Condition Damage dealt by conditions or any other source of health loss such as falling damage. Protection will stack in duration up to 30 seconds.

Related skills

See also: Boon#Related skills

Weapon skills that grant protection

•   Protector's Strike — Mace
•   Shield of Judgment — Shield
•   Symbol of Protection — Hammer
•   Rift of Pain — Trident
•   Envoy of Exuberance — Shield
•   Line Breaker — Staff
•   Essence of Liquid Wrath — Short bow
•   Oaken Cudgel — Mace
•   Ancestral Grace — Staff
•   Savage Shock Wave — Hammer
•   Solar Brilliance — Staff
•   Shadow Sap — Scepter
•   Sand Squall — Warhorn, when attuned to earth
•   Chaos Armor — Staff
•   Deja Vu — Shield
•   Echo of Memory — Shield

Bundle skills that grant protection

•   Chapter 1: Unflinching Charge — Tome of Courage
•   Epilogue: Unbroken Lines — Tome of Courage
•   Magnetic Shield — Magnetic Shield (bundle)

Healing skills that grant protection

•   Rejuvenating Respite — Final Charge
•   Restoring Reprieve — Mantra
•   Elixir H — Elixir
•   "We Heal As One!" — Command
•   Glyph of Elemental Harmony — Glyph
•   Glyph of Elemental Harmony — Glyph, when attuned to earth

Utility skills that grant protection

•   "Hold the Line!" — Shout
•   "Save Yourselves!" — Shout
•   Signet of Judgment — Signet
•   Test of Faith — Trap
•   Protective Solace — Legendary Centaur Stance
•   Darkrazor's Daring — Legendary Renegade Stance
•   Awakening — Legendary Alliance Stance, Kurzick
•   Utility Goggles — Gadget
•   Hard Light Arena — Exceed
•   "Protect Me!" — Command
•   Stone Spirit — Spirit
•   Moa Stance — Stance
•   Exploding Spores — Cantrip
•   Armor of Earth — Cantrip
•   "Aftershock!" — Shout
•   Unravel — Stance
•   Signet of Inspiration — Signet
•   Spectral Armor — Spectral
•   Spectral Ring — Spectral
•   Elixir of Ignorance — Elixir

Elite skills that grant protection

•   Signet of Courage — Signet
•   Facet of Chaos — Legendary Dragon Stance, Facet
•   Drop Urn of Saint Viktor — Legendary Alliance Stance, Kurzick
•   Stomp
•   Elemental Celerity — Augment
•   Elixir of Ambition — Elixir

Profession mechanic skills that grant protection

•   Detonate Elixir H — Tool belt, Elixir, Elixir H
•   Toss Elixir H — Tool belt, Elixir, Elixir H
•   Reconstruction Field — Tool belt, Medic Gyro
•   Crisis Zone — Mech Command, Tool belt
•   Protection
•   Consume Plasma — Stolen skill
•   Detonate Plasma — Stolen skill
•   Steal Durability — Stolen skill
•   Overload Earth — Overload, when attuned to earth
•   Deploy Jade Sphere — Jade Sphere, when attuned to earth

Pet skills that grant protection

•   Hunker Down — Juvenile Siege Turtle
•   Protecting Screech — Juvenile Blue Moa
•   Protection — Juvenile Armor Fish, Armored Fish

Skills that convert vulnerability into protection

Primary article: Boon#Skills that convert conditions into boons

Racial skills that grant protection

•   Roar of the Forest — Avatar of Melandru

Common skills that grant protection

•   Bomb Shell — Turtle Banner
•   Consume Bloodstone Fragment — Unstable Bloodstone Fragment
•   Consume Plasma — Plasma
•   Consume Saliva — Patli's Saliva
•   Drop Med Kits — Gliding
•   Energy Defense — Illusory Essence
•   Enflame — Flamebearer, Koda's Flame
•   Hylek Salve — Hylek Turret
•   I challenge you! — Protest Banner
•   Ox's March
•   Protective Bubble — Golem (Short Fuse)
•   Rally Missile 2.0 — Rocket Jump\Parachute 2.0
•   Rally Missile — Rocket Jump\Parachute
•   Roar of Applause
•   Shell Shock — Turtle Banner
•   Smash Shard — Branded Shard (bundle)
•   Ward against Evil

Related traits

See also: Boon#Related traits

Traits that grant protection

• Focus Mastery (Valor) — Focus skills grant you protection and gain reduced recharge.
• Steadfast Courage (Valor) — Gain protection when you block an incoming attack with aegis.
• Inspired Virtue (Virtues) — Virtues apply boons to allies when activated. Deal increased strike damage for each boon on you.
• Legendary Lore (Firebrand) — Tome skills gain bonuses from scribbling in the margins by ancient bards.
• Vanguard Tactics (Willbender) — Activating Courage grants resistance. Shadowstepping grants resolution and protection.
• Set in Stone (Retribution) — Gain protection when you use your profession skill 2. This trait affects True Nature when you are a herald.
• Fortified Blessing (Salvation) — Grant protection when you remove a condition from an ally.
• Spirit Boon (Invocation) — Invoking a legend grants boons to nearby allies based on the legend that was invoked.
• All for One (Renegade) — Using Legendary Renegade abilities grants protection to allies near the summoned warband member. Gain increased strike damage whenever you use a Legendary Renegade skill.
• Thick Skin (Defense) — Gain protection when you use a healing skill.
• Soldier's Comfort (Tactics) — Soldier's Focus heals affected allies and grants them protection.
• Guard Counter (Spellbreaker) — Gain protection after a successful Full Counter.
• Dragonscale Defense (Bladesworn) — Gain boons when entering Dragon Trigger.
• Immortal Dragon (Bladesworn) — Dragon Slash heals you for a percentage of the damage dealt. Gain protection whenever you convert flow into charges.
• Reconstruction Enclosure (Inventions) — Grant protection to nearby allies when you use a heal skill.
• Experimental Turrets (Inventions) — Turret. Turrets create a reflective barrier when built and grant boons to allies around them on a regular interval.
• Protection Injection (Alchemy) — Gain protection when you are disabled. Disables include stun, daze, knockback, pull, knockdown, sink, float, launch, taunt, and fear.
• Purity of Purpose (Alchemy) — When you would cleanse a condition from an ally, convert it into a boon instead. This can affect multiple targets simuntaneously.
• Gadgeteer (Tools) — Gadget skills are more powerful.
• Expert Examination (Scrapper) — Your function gyro grants protection to allies when cast. Using a healing skill's associated toolbelt grants protection to nearby allies.
• Companion's Defense (Wilderness Survival) — You and your pet gain protection when you dodge roll.
• Fortifying Bond (Nature Magic) — When you gain a boon, it is shared with your pet.
• Invigorating Bond (Nature Magic) — Beast skills heal allies around the ranger.
• Verdant Etching (Druid) — Glyphs grant protection to nearby allies.
• Fresh Reinforcement (Soulbeast) — Entering beastmode grants you the boons affecting your pet.
• Unstoppable Union (Soulbeast) — Entering beastmode grants boons and removes movement-impairing conditions.
• Restorative Strikes (Untamed) — When you or your pet unleash, gain protection and convert a percentage of strike damage into healing for a short duration.
• Cover of Shadow (Shadow Arts) — Gain protection when you enter or exit stealth. This effect also applies to stealth you grant to allies.
• Maleficent Seven (Deadeye) — Increase the maximum malice-stack count. Restore initiative and gain boons upon reaching the maximum number of malice stacks.
• Shadestep (Specter) — The beneficial effects of your Shadow Shroud skills now affect allies in an area around your tethered ally. Grant additional boons to yourself and affected allies when you use a shadow shroud skill.
• Inscription (Air) — Gain boons upon casting a glyph based on your attunement.
• Elemental Shielding (Earth) — Auras you grant to allies also grant protection.
• Elemental Attunement (Arcane) — Grant a boon to nearby allies when changing attunements. Note: This effect will not trigger when attuning to the same element.
• Elemental Lockdown (Arcane ) — When you disable a foe, gain a boon based upon your current attunement.
• Arcane Lightning (Arcane ) — Arcane skills grant increased ferocity and have additional effects.
• Gale Song (Tempest) — Grant protection to nearby allies when you use a healing skill.
• Hardy Conduit (Tempest) — Overloads grant protection to nearby allies. Protection gains increased damage reduction.
• Bolstered Elements (Weaver) — Gain protection when activating a Stance. Activate Lesser Stone Resonance when using an elite skill.
• Illusionary Defense (Chaos) — Grant protection to nearby allies when you use a Shatter skill.
• Prismatic Understanding (Chaos) — Increased stealth duration from mesmer skills. Gain random boons while you are in stealth.
• Dark Defiance (Death Magic) — If you are disabled, gain protection. Incoming condition damage is reduced while you have protection. Disables include stun, daze, knockback, pull, knockdown, sink, float, fear, taunt, and launch.
• Corrupter's Fervor (Death Magic) — Inflicting a condition on a foe grants carapace. Gain pulsing protection while at or above the carapace threshold.
• Eternal Life (Soul Reaping) — Gain life force every interval up to the threshold when not in shroud. Gain protection when you enter shroud.
• Bolstering Brew (Harbinger) — Elixir skills grant protection.

Trait skills that grant protection

•   Lesser Symbol of Protection (Protector's Restoration) — Symbol. Create a symbol that gives protection to you and your allies.
•   Imperial Impact (Vassals of the Empire) — Drop from above, delivering a powerful attack to enemies while granting boons to allies.
•   Ally Ward (Over Shield) — Grant protection to nearby allies.
•   Earth Sphere (Depth of Elements) — Throw your sphere, creating a combo field and granting boons to allies within range based on your active attunement.
•   Sandstorm Shroud (Herald of Sorrow) — Shade. Enter the final shroud, pulsing barrier to allies around yourself and priming the shroud for a powerful detonation that damages enemies and bolsters allies. Targets can only be affected by this skill once per activation.

Traits that improve protection

• Over Shield (Inventions) — Shield skills grant protection to nearby allies. Protection on you gains increased damage reduction.
• Anticorrosion Plating (Inventions) — When you grant protection to an ally, cleanse conditions from them.
• Rugged Growth (Wilderness Survival) — You and your pet recover health while affected by protection.
• Second Skin (Soulbeast) — Conditions inflict less damage to you while you have protection.
• Hardy Conduit (Tempest) — Overloads grant protection to nearby allies. Protection gains increased damage reduction.
• Dark Defiance (Death Magic) — If you are disabled, gain protection. Incoming condition damage is reduced while you have protection. Disables include stun, daze, knockback, pull, knockdown, sink, float, fear, taunt, and launch.

Traits that convert vulnerability into protection

Primary article: Boons#Traits that convert conditions into boons

Related effects

Effects that grant protection

•   Chaos Aura (randomly)

Related equipment

See also: Boon#Related equipment

Relics that grant protection

• Relic of Durability — Gain protection, regeneration and resolution after using a healing skill.
• Relic of the Zephyrite — Summon crystals that apply protection and resolution to allies after using an elite skill. Crystal duration scales with the recharge of the used skill.

Relics that benefit from protection

• Relic of the Brawler — Deal increased strike damage for a duration when granting protection or resolution to yourself.

Upgrade components that improve protection

Runes

• Superior Rune of the Earth — Increases duration by 30% (rank 2/4: 10%/20%)
• Superior Rune of the Grove — Increases duration by 50% (rank 2/4/6: 10%/20%/20%)

Player Chatter

• When protection is applied to a character they will occasionally shout out one of the following lines, depending on their race and gender.

Race	Gender
	Male	Female
Asura	I'm nigh invincible.	Armor enhanced.
Charr	Armored up!	Armored up.
Human	Armored up!	They'll have to hit much harder!
Norn	Strength is mine!	Defense then offense!
Sylvari	Safe from harm.	Protected!

Version history

Patch	Changes
October 26, 2021	Multiplicative damage reduction enhancements have been updated to display how much damage was reduced by rather than displaying how much the damage is multiplied by. For example, protection now displays "-33% Damage" instead of "67% damage." This is not a change to functionality; it is only a change to display the bonus in a more intuitively understandable way.
October 05, 2021	All effects that provide a percentage reduction to incoming damage have been standardized to stack multiplicatively. Fixed a bug causing duration-stacking boons to be affected by a hidden stack limit of 9, which in some cases could come into effect before stacking to that boon's expected duration cap. This resulted in some boons having a lower total duration than expected. This hidden stack limit has been removed for duration-stacking boons that also have a maximum duration—alacrity, fury, protection, quickness, resistance, resolution, swiftness, and vigor.
May 11, 2021	Duration-stacking boons and conditions now behave consistently. They directly stack durations added from all sources, do not have hidden stack limits, and generally have shorter maximum durations. (30 seconds)
February 06, 2018	Reduced the vulnerability inflicted from 3 stacks for 10 seconds to 3 stacks for 8 seconds when this boon is converted into a condition.
October 18, 2016	The duration-based boons Protection, Quickness, Regeneration, Resistance, Retaliation, and Vigor will now only stack up to 5 times instead of 9.
June 23, 2015	Specialization update: Boon to Condition Conversion: Protection converts to 3 stacks of vulnerability for 10 seconds. (+2 stacks).
August 28, 2012	Game release: Protection has been added to the game.

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Effects (stacking)