Damage Absorption: It's pseudo-armor.  With two ranks in it, DA takes off 10 damage every hit at the start.  So right there, pretty much better than the other characters.  Now, depending as to whether or not you chose to boost HP or Energy, you can be even more tanky.  If you did choose HP, then before damage is applied, DA gives you another 10 HP.  Since you only paid for the 10 point/level version, this can't bring you over your max HP level, but it does mean that unless they can do more than 20 damage a hit, you won't die.  On top of that, the armor-like affect of DA means that while your shock value is 19, they'll need to do 29 damage initially to actually hit it, so you're less likely to fall unconscious.  DA can be worked around of course, but it doesn't fall victim to the Penetration variable like Armor does.