Honestly, after EoC update 1 def pures are pretty fucked. The higher def you are the better armour you can wear, and the better armour you wear, the larger the lifepoints boost. At 99 def I can get a Life points of OVER 9000!!!!!!!!!!! Memes aside, I'm serious. Whoever you fight near your level, if they have defence, they will have a massive lifepoints advantage over you. So not only will you have less lifepoints than them, you will also have shit for defence meaning they can get massive hits.