A defender can be difficult to equip properly. Sometimes the right magic item isn’t available. Perhaps your paladin uses a greatsword and you don’t want to switch weapons to make the occasional ranged attack. Maybe your fighter ends nearly every fight with few hit points but plenty of healing surges. Your swordmage might move around a lot and need more ways to bring enemies into melee. The items in this article aim to address some of those gaps. Hopefully you’ll find one or two your defender can’t do without.

A great defender ties up most, if not all, of the enemies in melee, freeing strikers to maneuver and allowing controllers and leaders to attack or aid from afar. Of course, if your defender is doing the job well, the character needs high defenses and the ability to swiftly regain hit points when attacks get through.