Just got my first Docent of defiance!

[Havok.cry]

Wondering at what point is it optimal to wear it? Anyone have a guide to its best use?

[Phidius]

Don't wear it when mobility is important.

It's great to wear around mobs that dispel and spam fire/cold/electric damage.

I highly recommend getting the cheapest armor kit that you like the look of - last I checked, the BtA nature of the kit (which can be removed) will prevent perma damage on it, allowing you to retain the ability to move it to a different toon later (same account or different after removing the kit).

They take perma-damage fast.

[Kadran]

Depends on your toon and your play style. The hidden effect is a cripple that you cannot block through any means. A nice work-around is to tumble. It doesn't slow your tumble speed, but this requires at least 1 rank in tumble to use.

My Barb wore it just about all the time. My wizard only uses it in situations where the fit hits the shan. IE end of VoD, tank dies, I get aggro of boss + some devils + some orthons.

Finding some way to bind it, whether that be via stone of change or as the above poster mentioned armor kits, is crucial. They take permanent damage at an alarming rate.

[Tobril]

Apply an armour kit but don’t bind it in the stone of change.

This will allow you to share it with other characters.

[hobgoblins]

Some places that are nice to use it are:

Solo Epic DA on some of the rounds, get in a corner and shield block

Epic Demon Queen (better if you can have an abundant step type ability)
She has to be hitting you for this to be a good idea so
Either have intim or be solo.

Elite Demon Queen, If you are on a loot run its fun as nothing there can hurt you
once she starts hitting you. The proc rate on the DOD is high
enough that it will be up 100% of the time.

Torcing, On hard hitting mobs, you can get 58ish virtual Dr so this gives
you the ability to regen in some situations that are not possible
without the DOD.

Pretty much any situation that has lots of physical and little magical damage going on.
You need to be in a situation that the proc rate keeps the buff up almost 100% of the
time otherwise you will find when you get unlucky and have a long period of no proc
you take very heavy damage and usualy die.

[kingfisher]

anytime your on a caster with torc/conop trying to get back sp, pair it with the l&d or similar type shield and block and watch your bar jump with minimal health loss. also works well when tanking on said caster type, as long as you dont have to move much. you can still tumble with the dod proc'd, so movement is not as hard as you would think, but if your surrounded or in a corner forget about moving.