Defense Against Lightsabers
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A lightsaber blade was a mass-less form that neither radiated heat nor expended energy until it came into contact with something solid. The power of the energy blade was so great that it could cut through almost anything, although the speed through which it cut depended on the density of the subject. One important note about lightsaber wounds is that they rarely bled heavily, even when a limb had been severed. This is because the energy blade cauterized the wound as it passed, and thus even a severe wound did not tend to bleed heavily.
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Cortosis
Phrik
Armorweave
Sith Alchemy
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Mandalorian Iron
Vonduun Skerr Kyrric or ''Vonduun crab armor''
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Orbalisks
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Zillo Beast
A lightsaber blade was a mass-less form that neither radiated heat nor expended energy until it came into contact with something solid. The power of the energy blade was so great that it could cut through almost anything, although the speed through which it cut depended on the density of the subject. One important note about lightsaber wounds is that they rarely bled heavily, even when a limb had been severed. This is because the energy blade cauterized the wound as it passed, and thus even a severe wound did not tend to bleed heavily.
When cutting through dense material, the immense electromagnetic field generated by the arc caused resistance rather than letting solid matter enter and interrupt the arc. This gave the blade a feeling of being solid when immersed in dense material. Rarely, some solid materials could actually pass through the electromagnetic field and short out the arc. Other electromagnetic energy fields and coherent energy were also repelled by lightsabers' arcs. These include most force fields, blaster bolts, and other lightsaber blades. Aside from the blade of another lightsaber, there were rare materials that could withstand a lightsaber with varying degrees of success. These will be listed below:
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Cortosis
"I never knew the proper name for the stuff. (...) I gather that if your lightsaber has dimetris circuits anywhere in the activation loop, hitting the rock starts a feedback crash running through the system that takes only a fraction of a second to shut the whole thing down."
- Mara Jade Skywalker
Although a rare and expensive metal, cortosis was a popular defense against lightsabers. Purified cortosis ore had the ability to momentarily "short out" a lightsaber blade, rendering it inoperable for a brief period of time before the wielder could reactivate it. Lightsabers with Mestare crystals were known to be immune to this effect. Cortosis alloy was sturdier than purified cortosis ore, but was only capable of deflecting a lightsaber blade and not deactivating it. One reason why cortosis was so expensive was the need to refine it. Pure, unrefined Cortosis ore was (for unknown reasons) dangerously ionized and anyone who touched it would be killed instantly. There were multiple methods of forging cortosis armor and weapons, each with varying effects.
During the clone wars, Cortosis was built into the armor plates of B2 Super-Battledroids (guys with laser blasters on their arm) as to give them an almost impenetrable defense against jedi attackers. The cost of making these was too high, however, and they had little impact on the republic's war effort.
Phrik
Phrik was a rare metallic compound that was one of only a few lightsaber-resistant substances known. It was used in the construction of extremely light and durable battle armor as well as melee weapons, such as the electrostaffs of the IG-100 Magnaguards (who served as general grievous' bodyguards). Unlike Cortosis, Phrik didn't have the ability to short out a lightsaber blade.
Phrik plating was also incorporated into the electrum hilt of Darth Sidious aswell as the dark troopers' armor
Armorweave
Armorweave was an armored cloth material capable of dissipating blaster bolts, and with at least limited resistance to lightsaber attacks. Though limited in production, armorweave was relatively cheap compared to phrik and cortosis, which caused it to be widely used by those that had money to throw away.
The counts of Serenno all wore capes made of the material. General grievous, his magnaguard, and Darth Vader wore armor plating made up of the material. Most commonly, however, the material was used in the bodysuits of bounty hunters and mercenaries.
Sith Alchemy
Sith alchemy was employed during the eras of the first Sith Empire to augment the properties of metals so as to counter the seemingly unstoppable lightsaber. The Sith also made use of such elements as cortosis in the forging of their Sith swords. After the original Sith Empire, the most notorious use of Sith alchemy was in the construction and reinforcement of Darth Vader's armor.
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Mandalorian Iron
Mandalorian iron, also known by its Mandalorian name of beskar, was a near-indestructible iron ore whose only known source was the Outer Rim world of Mandalore and its moon, Concordia. The Mandalorian warrior culture that inhabited Mandalore mined their planet for beskar, using it in the creation of weapons, armor, and starships, occasionally even selling the rare and valuable metal on the galactic market.
The introduction of certain additives during the smelting process served to increase the strength of the natural ore, and Mandalorian metalsmiths guarded the secrets of forging beskar from outsiders, passing along the techniques from one generation of metallurgists to the next, strictly within the Mandalorian community. A versatile metal, Mandalorian iron could be melded into multiple alloys and forged into various configurations.
Vonduun Skerr Kyrric or ''Vonduun crab armor''
Vonduun Skerr Kyrric, was bioengineered crab-shell-plated armor used by the Warrior caste of the Yuuzhan Vong. The armor was made from the living shell of the Vonduun crab. It proved to be lightsaber resistant when the Vong invaded the New Republic and came in contact with jedi (and sith). Because of the success of the crab armor, another bio-organic creature from the Vong homeworld was built into a weapon, known as the ''amphistaff''.
During his captivity by the Vong, the Jedi-turned-sith Darth Krayt was giving a set of Vonduun crab armor, as an experiment to see what its effects would be on a non-vong being. He would wear it up until his death and resurrection following the betrayal by Darth Wyyrlok.
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Orbalisks
Orbalisks were parasitic creatures found on the Onderonian moon of Dxun. It was said that the orbalisk armor's durability was such that lightsabers had a hard time penetrating it, making a wearer basically immune to lightsaber attacks. The only weakness to this armor were the exposed joints at the neck and wrists, but these gaps were so small a lightsaber could only barely slice through. The Orbalisks caused pain to those that wore them as armor, fueling the darkside powers. If the orbalisks were somehow removed, they would release a very potent toxin into the host's body.
Darth Bane was the most notable user of the armor. He wore it to almost every battle he fought. During one such battle, with umbaran shadow assassins, he found the armor to be ill-equiped to handle electricity.
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Zillo Beast
The zillo beast was a huge semi-sentient reptillian species native to the planet Malastare. During ancient times, they preyed upon the indigenous dugs species. As time went on, however, the dugs got more advanced and slowly began to erradicate the beasts. During the clone wars, the last zillo beast was discovered and killed by a combined Jedi and republic effort. The armor scaling of the zillo beast was so dense that neither lightsabers, nor high-energy artillery could penetrate it. This fact caused the republic to seek a way to use the armor in their vehicles and armor, but this was (presumably) without success.
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