There are a number of ways to defend against the power of a lightsaber. They include the follwing:

• Cortosis - An expensive rare and dangerous metal ore. Cortosis would interact with the blade of a lightsaber in various ways, depending on the purity of the ore. In its pure form, with all imperfections removed, a lightsaber blade would actually short out if it came into contact with cortosis; this was an extremely difficult and expensive process, and very few noted cases exist of it. The less expensive method was the use of a cortosis alloy in which small amounts of cortosis ore were blended with other metals. These would stop the blade of the lightsaber but not short it out, allowing the wielder of a cortosis blade to duel a Jedi with a lightsaber.
• Phrik - A rare metal like cortosis, however it could not short out lightsaber blades. Phrik was most notably used in the construction of the electrostaffs wielded by General Grievous's MagnaGuards. Other notable uses of Phrik included elements of Palpatine's lightsaber and Dark Trooper armor.
• Sith Alchemy - Sith Chemicals were used to augment metal to withstand lightsabers.
• Mandalorian iron - A metal used by the Mandalorian warriors. It was nearly indestructable and extremely light. However, it was very rare and hard to work with, at least for non-Mandalorians.
• Water - All lightsabers would short out when they were (to some extent and period of time) submerged in water, due to rapid chain reactions and the instant overpowering of water on the blade. Two crystals employing a bifurcating cyclical-ignition pulse would allow the blade to be used underwater, but this modification added difficulty to what was an already complicated construction process. As a result, most lightsabers did not include "waterproofing." In rain, a lightsaber would steam up, but not short out.
• Orbalisks - Dxun symbiotic parasites that could be worn as a protective coat whose shells were so strong they could withstand lightsaber strikes.