Melee mitigation reduces the amount of damage by 1% for every point. You
can see your value in the 'attributes' command.
There are two values for mitigation:
[ 0] Melee Mitigation Cap
[ 0] Melee Mitigation
Melee Mitigation is the amount you have on your character and the MM Cap is
the amount you can have based on various factors, those factors include:
1 point of cap for every 2 points of con above 30, up to 70
(so the CAP base is 20)
If you have battle training, you gain an addition 10 cap points
If you have chant/2nd circle, your cap is 10 points lower
If you have chant and are capable of 3rd circle, cap is 15 points
lower
If you have battle training, you gain one point of innate mitigation
(not cap but actual mitigation) for every 5 points above 75 (so 80,
85, 90, 95, 100, 105). These apply to your cap, so this just means
you need to spend less rent on +mitigation equipment.
Items grant Melee Mitigation, up to 6 for shield/on arm slot and
2 for any other slot.