I think you misunderstood what I said when I said absorb. Full damage is still sustained (slightly reduced by the armor), but it is done so by the shield.

Here though are the thresholds (from IBNobody):

*** Force Shield adds +20/+40/+60/+80/+100/+120 armor and +1 regen to your character for 30s, has a 45s cooldown, costs 10 Energy. The shield only works for the first 25/35/45/55/65/75 damage your character takes. Rank 6 equates to ~2-3 damage points reduced per hit. With Protection, that equates to ~3-4 damage points per hit.


At level 6, you get 120 armor, and the shield can take in (which is what I meant by absorb) 75 damage. Plus while up, you a slight boost to mana regeneration.