Do hard cell phone cases protect?

I need a case for my voyager and I was wondering if a hard case would protect it well enough if I drop my phone a lot. I had 1 b4 and some of it cracked a lot, but it was previously used by my friend who dropped it too, so maybe it was just crappy? What do you think? Hard or rubber?Do hard cell phone cases protect?
The hard case will absorb the initial impact preventing any real damage to the phone but it doesn't protect the phone 100%.