Your character has three defence ratings - one for your left hand, one for your right hand, and one for your feet. You cannot defend with your head, however - instead, it has a Protection rating. This rating is calculated in the same way as Ascendancy (see ‘help ascendancy’) and allows you to defend against indirect spells in exactly the same way as Defence lets you defend against direct spells and physical attacks (see ‘help defence’). Note that the highest of your Blue and Green magic colours is used when calculating your Protection.
Unlike Defence, Protection does not suffer a cooldown (see ‘help cooldown’), and therefore your mental defences will always be in perfect condition, barring pain penalties.
See also: magic defence ascendancy power penalties speed