cRPG

cRPG => Beginner's Help and Guides => Topic started by: Barman1942 on April 28, 2011, 12:34:26 am

Title: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Barman1942 on April 28, 2011, 12:34:26 am
I'm somewhat new to cRPG, and I'm having trouble deciding if I should dump points into Strength or Agil as a shield+1h character. On one hand, Strength gives me stronger attacks and more health to work with, but I need a high Agil in order to use the higher-tier shields. Any advice for a novice?
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: 22nd_King_Plazek on April 28, 2011, 12:40:53 am
I have never made a shielder in CRPG.

However another thing you wanna think about is the relative shortness of a 1h as opposed to a 2h or polearm weapon. It is all well and good hitting hard but if they are dancing around outside of your range and you do not have the athletic ability to close the gap. Well it does not matter how hard you hit then does it ;)
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Paul on April 28, 2011, 12:46:07 am
Depends what kind of weapon you are going to use. Maces can be used with only 4 PS against all armor types, cutting weapons and especially those with a base damage < 30 need more PS to avoid bounce off hell. I personally like it balanced, 18/18 with extra skills.
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Barman1942 on April 28, 2011, 12:47:52 am
Depends what kind of weapon you are going to use. Maces can be used with only 4 PS against all armor types, cutting weapons and especially those with a base damage < 30 need more PS to avoid bounce off hell.
Sticking with sword at the moment. I have PS at 4 right now.
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Paul on April 28, 2011, 12:53:35 am
With a sword you need at least 6 PS to reliably hurt even the heaviest tincan(charged overhead).
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Rhaelys on April 28, 2011, 12:59:11 am
Option 1

Level 30
Strength: 24
Agility: 15
Hit points: 69
Converted: 8
Ironflesh: 5
Power Strike: 8
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 0
One Handed: 113

Option 2

Level 30
Strength: 24
Agility: 15
Hit points: 59
Converted: 8
Ironflesh: 0
Power Strike: 8
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 5
One Handed: 148

Option 3

Level 30
Strength: 21
Agility: 15
Hit points: 70
Converted: 2
Ironflesh: 7
Power Strike: 7
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 5
One Handed: 148
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Barman1942 on April 28, 2011, 01:03:35 am
Option 1

Level 30
Strength: 24
Agility: 15
Hit points: 69
Converted: 8
Ironflesh: 5
Power Strike: 8
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 0
One Handed: 113

Option 2

Level 30
Strength: 24
Agility: 15
Hit points: 59
Converted: 8
Ironflesh: 0
Power Strike: 8
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 5
One Handed: 148

Option 3

Level 30
Strength: 21
Agility: 15
Hit points: 70
Converted: 2
Ironflesh: 7
Power Strike: 7
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 5
One Handed: 148

Thanks for the builds! Three looks most appealing for my character.
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Kafein on April 28, 2011, 01:27:20 am
I usually do 18/18. But that's partly because I'm also cav.

I think 21 str/15 agi is the way to go with sword.
15 str/21 agi for pick/mace and steel shield whores.
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Blondin on April 28, 2011, 01:54:04 am
Or you can go 21/18, PS7 Shd4 Ath6 WM6, good damage and balanced, WM6 allow you hybrid 140Wpf 1h and 80Wpf in another weapon (polearm, xbow).

but as said Kafein, if you go cav (or mounted infantry) go for 18/18.
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Rhygar666 on April 28, 2011, 06:44:29 am
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/595810025150866019/86C5E87B1675A7B30C99854D13B4E2BA0363A22F/

Lvl 30
18 Strenght
21 Agility

6 Power Strike
7 Shield Skill
7 Athletics
3 Weapon Master
130 One hand

i converted about 6 or 8 ponts not sure how many
its my build, doing pretty fine with it, i get some 1hits and am fast enough. and the shield doesnt break so often.
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: MrShine on April 28, 2011, 07:21:11 am
I've been using Option 3 Rhaelys mentioned, and I've been a huge fan.

Option 3

Level 30
Strength: 21
Agility: 15
Hit points: 70
Converted: 2
Ironflesh: 7
Power Strike: 7
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 5
One Handed: 148


Power Strike 7 seemed way better than 6 when I leveled it... I notice a lot less glance on heavy armor with my Italian sword.  The 5 shield and athletics are just fine, and keeping my agility at 15 has been totally worth having all those extra points in ironflesh.

I don't see myself going any different build as a 1h shielder tbh.
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Spawny on April 28, 2011, 12:25:32 pm
This is the best build imo.
Level 30
Strength: 21
Agility: 15
Hit points: 70
Converted: 2
Ironflesh: 7
Power Strike: 7
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 5
One Handed: 148

5 athletics is more than enough to compete with any agility build, unless they turn and run.
7 PS and 7 IF makes you a rather strong tank for sieges and you can take a beating in battles.

My last build worked pretty good too:
Level 30
Strength: 24
Agility: 12
Hit points: 75
Converted: 2
Ironflesh: 8
Power Strike: 8
Shield: 4
Athletics: 4
Weapon Master: 4
One Handed: ~130

Combined with a board shield and a fast 1h you can do fine. With a hammer or steel pick most people drop in 2-3 hits. With a fast sword you can do well against everyone, just the tincans need a bit more hits to go down.
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Kafein on April 28, 2011, 12:32:10 pm
I've been using Option 3 Rhaelys mentioned, and I've been a huge fan.

Option 3

Level 30
Strength: 21
Agility: 15
Hit points: 70
Converted: 2
Ironflesh: 7
Power Strike: 7
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 5
One Handed: 148


Power Strike 7 seemed way better than 6 when I leveled it... I notice a lot less glance on heavy armor with my Italian sword.  The 5 shield and athletics are just fine, and keeping my agility at 15 has been totally worth having all those extra points in ironflesh.

I don't see myself going any different build as a 1h shielder tbh.


This is a pretty solid build (if you ever tried played without IF, I suppose you love your 7 points in it), but athletics can make a tremendous difference too.

I think if a newcomer wants to make a shielder, he really needs to try the strenght, agi and balanced builds. The subtle differences are what makes you like one build and dislike the others.


About what to do with spare points, I think putting them in throwing (yes it's lame but wait till the end of this sentence) and putting a few PT to carry war darts can be a good idea. You will often find yourself forced to run behind fleeing enemy archers, which can be extremely frustrating and dangerous. A few war darts can fix things up quickly, without ruining your build.
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: kinngrimm on April 28, 2011, 12:47:12 pm
seen here mainly strength based builds.

here is a agi build for the change,
u should use it with light armor.


Level 30 (4 420 577 xp)

    Strength: 9
    Agility: 27

    Converted: 2
    Ironflesh: 2
    Power Strike: 3
    Shield: 8
    Athletics: 8
    Weapon Master: 8

    One Handed: 170
    Polearm: 41
--------------------------
if you use agility you must think agility, shield skill - athletics - wpm
Those give you a different playstyle on the field in comparison to IF/PS.
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Phazey on April 28, 2011, 02:45:08 pm
I use 21/15, 18/18 or 15/21 mostly. Imho athletics 5 is the minimum for a shielder. Shield is great when coupled with higher movement speed.

One of the main advantages of a shielder is this: you can face multiple opponents. That's great. But without athletics, you'll get easily surrounded and killed. Same goes for facing multiple archers. Without high movement speed, they can kite you. So i've always had high athletics on my shielder builds.

Higher str builds do great with cut weapons. The high agi builds are better with blunt or pierce weapons.
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: RagnarLodbroke on April 28, 2011, 03:46:14 pm
Im going with 18/18 on my shielder, 6 IF, 6PS, 6 SHD, 6 Atl and 6 WM!

141 in 1H atm and the rest in polearm...going with the military hammer, was supposed to go with the short nordic warsword, but it kept bouncing....Even against medium armored ppl!
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Zoidberg on April 28, 2011, 04:09:41 pm
This build:   
    * Strength: 12
    * Agility: 24
    * Hit points: 49

    * Converted: 2
    * Ironflesh: 1
    * Power Strike: 4
    * Shield: 8
    * Athletics: 8
    * Weapon Master: 8
    * One Handed:how much is this'?
 or this build:   
    * Strength: 12
    * Agility: 27
    * Hit points: 47

    * Converted: 8
    * Ironflesh: 0
    * Power Strike: 4
    * Shield: 8
    * Athletics: 8
    * Weapon Master: 3
    * One Handed: 132
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Dravic on April 28, 2011, 05:03:51 pm
seen here mainly strength based builds.

here is a agi build for the change,
u should use it with light armor.


Level 30 (4 420 577 xp)

    Strength: 9
    Agility: 27

    Converted: 2
    Ironflesh: 0
    Power Strike: 3
    Shield: 9
    Athletics: 9
    Weapon Master: 8

    One Handed: 173
    Polearm:
--------------------------

Fixed, your build didn't include 9 skills before even tho 27:3=9

My current build with Steel Shield, but agi is SO underpowered, that even I will most likely switch to 12/24.
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: kinngrimm on April 28, 2011, 05:09:15 pm
Fixed, your build didn't include 9 skills before even tho 27:3=9
i asumed as he asked for advice, that he would be new to 1h/shield and gave the 2 IF deliberatly. I for myself havent got any IF if i go with agi builds.
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Dravic on April 28, 2011, 05:10:52 pm
But you had 27 agi points, you didnt have 9 skills tho, and you still converted some points to have 27 agi? Stupid.

If you don't want to have 9 skills, why do you want to CONVERT points to get higher agi only?

Then 12/24 is much better choice.
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: bosco on April 28, 2011, 06:43:08 pm
Some more reading for ya:

http://forum.c-rpg.net/index.php/topic,3246.0.html

21:15 worked nicely with a tempered Knightly Arming Sword for me last generation.
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Rhygar666 on April 28, 2011, 09:38:08 pm
15 agj and 4-5 shield skill cant work properly it breaks after 2 or 3 hits, wouldnt be happy with that..
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Dravic on April 28, 2011, 09:56:27 pm
Depends on shield... I use Steel Shield because:

+ style
+ resistance (I wouldn't use it, if i hadn't 9 shield skill, which raises resistance by 10%/skill point)
+ quite nice hp (maybe not best about guys with big axes, but it's perfect counter to people with weapons WITHOUT bonus against shields)
+ it's heavy - I don't care about bar mace and long iron mace, on the other hand people with heavy enough weapons (long maul, great maul) are too slow to get me - 9 athletics ftw.

There are few - :

- it's heavy. not only it slows me down in moving, but it's heavy and you feel it - you can't use it to feint, too low shield's speed. but shield skill and athletics speed up both moving speed and shield raising speed.
- to be used properly, you need high shield skill. otherwise you don't get anything more than usually - well, if you want to use it with 6 shield skill and 6 athletics, good bye. look prev point.
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Bifi on April 28, 2011, 10:10:11 pm
Steel Shield has no style.
Buckler has style.
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Murchad on April 28, 2011, 10:10:27 pm
27/12 is really good.
I used med armor and round shield so i wouldnt be too fast.
my wep was mw elite scimmy
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: kinngrimm on April 29, 2011, 01:27:13 am
But you had 27 agi points, you didnt have 9 skills tho, and you still converted some points to have 27 agi? Stupid.

If you don't want to have 9 skills, why do you want to CONVERT points to get higher agi only?

Then 12/24 is much better choice.
you are correct about that  :oops: i still didn't  get rid of the pre-pre-patch thinking where weapon speed was dependent on agi directly.
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Socrates on April 30, 2011, 09:17:47 am
27/15
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Bobthehero on May 01, 2011, 12:53:42 am
24/12 or 27/9 worked wonderfully well for me, until I got tired of my shield :O
Title: Re: Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?
Post by: Formless on May 02, 2011, 05:19:41 am

Option 3

Level 30
Strength: 21
Agility: 15
Hit points: 70
Converted: 2
Ironflesh: 7
Power Strike: 7
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 5
One Handed: 148

I tried the 24, If 8 and ps 8 and it was fun to play but my favourite build for a 1 hander + shield is option 3.  The extra speed and wpf and shield make it a touch better then the 24, IF 8, PS8.