What does shield skill do besides allow you to use certain shields? I did a search but I find conflicting information.
1. Does it increase area of protection?
2. how much of a duribility increase if any does each point give...say for example I have 6 shield?
3. Does it increase speed of raising the shield?
1. Yes, for ranged. It doesn't
seem to increase coverage for melee, but this is practically impossible to test.
2. Every point of shield skill gives you 8% damage reduction on attacks. So 6 shield skill will give you a damage reduction of 48%. I don't know if that occurs before or after the armor reduction though.
3. Kind of. Shield skill does increase shield speed. However, all shields raise at exactly the same speed, but they don't block at the same speed. A 100 speed shield will block an attack before it is fully raised. A 61 speed shield will block sometime
after a shield is fully raised. Just because a shield is up, doesn't mean it is blocking. So if you have low shield skill, you're better off using a faster shield. With a masterwork Heavy Round (87 speed) and 6 shield skill, I'm fast enough to block chambers if I'm paying attention. With 4 shield skill I doubt you could. This accounts for situations where someone attacked through your shield. It probably just wasn't blocking even though it was fully up.