maxing s-def on Hu tree?

[Alisha]

the only reason is there are certain units such as this:

wich can never be equiped with just natural s-def and require about 50 s-def either from your tree or your mag. thoughts?

[Seravi Edalborez]

Not part of a set, has a forgettable 50 more S-DEF than, say, Ragne leg unit. Not worth it.

[Hrith]

50 S-DEF is enormous, not to mention the S-DEF you need to use it would make you 100+ DEF stronger than people not wearing those or the Zan units.

I would not max S-DEF on the skill tree, Guard Stance is much better, but if you really want those units, you will need S-DEF on your Mag.

[UnLucky]

That unit gives 225/156/156 and 30hp/3PP whereas Ragne gives 154/201/154 and 40/2.

Ragne's set bonus gives 45 S/R/T-Atk and 3PP

100 S-Atk is much better than 100 S-Def, and you gain R-Def as well.

Who even uses Guard Stance? Not anyone using a melee weapon, that's for sure.

[gigawuts]

guard stance aka i can't wait to take 50% longer to kill everything I see

[Seravi Edalborez]

Ran numbers, assumed you're human female, using average expected Hunter tree and a skeleton Fighter tree.

At HU55/FI55 (or vice versa) you have 514 S-DEF according to the simulator. At 50/50, 490. If you sub FO/RA/GU for whatever reason, you'll have ~20 less. So yeah you need to max S-DEF Up 1 (or rather, get it to 8 but in this case may as well max it) to equip that unit.

It still sucks.

[SociableTyrannosaur]

seeing as I can easily survive a direct hit from a lvl 60 lvl 3 infected Rigshryda with my S and R def in the 900s and T def in the 700s and only 700 hp (my Gu doesn't get much love) I'm gonna stay in the "lol defense" camp.

[Saffran]

Yes, right now you may well go "lol defense" since we - well, *you* - have endgame gear with HP affixes to compensate for your weakness at VH lvl. I'm sure you wouldn't say "lol defense" if you had only access to 3 stars, or if you went against Ult mode bosses.

[Husq]

the only reason is there are certain units such as this:
wich can never be equiped with just natural s-def and require about 50 s-def either from your tree or your mag. thoughts?

If you want to use those units, the fen or zan uints, I would say split it up.
Since you are likely to get just guard you will have 3 SP on S-def, that gives you +10. So now your can either put 33 S-def on your mag, or 2 SP more on S-def up and 25 S-def on your mag.
In case you want to use the zan unit, do the same, balance it.
But my recommendation is hunt for the ragne units or use the spike/dot 6* units from the excube shop, in both case you get a decent HP boost and you should be able to survive most striking attacks, for the time being.

[IndigoNovember]

Yes, right now you may well go "lol defense" since we - well, *you* - have endgame gear with HP affixes to compensate for your weakness at VH lvl. I'm sure you wouldn't say "lol defense" if you had only access to 3 stars, or if you went against Ult mode bosses.

Um, I'm using Sub/Add Spiritas +10 (118 S-DEF, 98 R-DEF, 98 T-DEF aka real bad) with Quartz Soul and Power III in Very Hard and Advanced Quests and I still do fine... There aren't too many instances where you can't use your dodge to not get hit, so the need for a high defense isn't too high at the moment. Also I would argue that learning to dodge enemy attacks is more beneficial in the long run than just relying on your gear to let you tank hits.