Brace

Brace is a defensive buff that reduces all incoming damage by 1 per stack, with a minimum damage of 1 per hit. This flat damage reduction is extremely effective against sources that deal many small hits, such as damage-over-time effects (Poison, Burn, Bleed) and multi-hit attacks. Each stack of Brace subtracts 1 from every individual damage instance, making it the primary mitigation tool against chip damage.

The damage reduction from Brace applies to status effect damage as well, reducing the per-tick damage of Poison, Burn, and Bleed. However, because the minimum damage is 1, Brace cannot completely negate these effects. Against large single hits, Brace's flat reduction becomes proportionally less impactful. For example, 2 Brace stacks reduce a 10-damage hit to 8 (20% reduction), but reduce a 3-damage hit to 1 (67% reduction). This scaling makes Brace more effective against swarm enemies and damage-over-time than against heavy single-hit attackers.

The Tough elite buff grants +2 Brace to enemies (+1 for bosses), making Tough enemies noticeably harder to damage with small attacks. Against Tough enemies, focusing on fewer high-damage hits rather than many small hits is the optimal strategy. Brace is persistent and stacks from multiple sources, making it a core component of tanky builds. Pairing Brace with Constitution Up and Shield creates layered defense that can make a cat extremely durable against all but the heaviest attacks.