It depends on your situation. Basically, get defense if you absolutely need it. Otherwise, get offense to help you kill monsters faster and more safely.
The damage defense perks probably do almost nothing. Unless someone shows up with detailed tests showing otherwise, I would recommend never using them.
The health perk can be valuable. But once you find a vitapod, it's probably bigger than your perk, and hence your perk is not being used well.
The status defenses can be even more valuable, especially once they are bigger (+3 instead of +1). You can use these to push you over immunity thresholds, for example. Shock, freeze, and fire protection are the most important ones usually.
If you don't need any defense urgently, then get damage bonus or (later) ASI, CTR, or MSI. I almost always use the MSI+2 perk.
