Buff round steel buckler

[WITCHCRAFT]

May I ask how much shield you had, Witchcraft?

In all those pics, I had 7 shield skill. My goal was level 33 so I could go 18/24 with 8 shield skill. I retired shortly after hitting 33 because clanmates would always tell me how much better I could be doing in strat battles if I was 24-18 or 24-15 instead of agility-based with no Ironflesh skill. They were right, but high-agi buckler 1H is really fun and effective on the battle server and in duels.

I haven't used a shield on my main character since the shield skill rework, but I don't think the higher shield skill ranks got nerfed that heavily, did they? It was mostly just preventing anyone from making a literally unbreakable shield right?

[San]

That was the intent. Even so, the difference from like 90% to 80% is huge, 2x more damage received. In the grand scheme of things, though, both values are still extremely durable. Only ones really affected were those at 9-10 shield and above.

Might make an stf with 9-10 shield and round steel buckler to see how large the forcefield is.

[Templar_Steevee]

I still can't get why ppl wants to use shields like round steel buckler.
They should be happy that this shield can absorb dmg from heavy weapons, because in reality if you would like to block axe with this tiny thing your wrist would just turn into jelly.

As an archer I can say that if you are facing an archer while holding your shield up you will hardly ever get a shot.

[San]

I tried playing on an stf with 9 shield and +0 round steel buckler and people weren't able to shoot around it. From ~300 kills of playtime, I was hit once in the toes by a thrower when my shield was slightly tilted upwards.

Even so, the steel buckler happened to be better in almost every other way (although I think I noticed the speed difference, felt quite responsive). A round steel buckler at +3 should be quite formidable. Round steel buckler used to be 120 hp before it was reduced to 0 slots, 80hp, and now it has reached that level again. Its current durability is satisfactory for 3 difficulty.


There's not much practical use for it outside of a ranged player with a lot of shield skill. I think that an experimental change like +5 speed to 108 speed might make it a little more interesting to use, especially since the benefits of speed >= 100 is hard to quantify.

[Thryn]

If you carry a buckler at your side when you're swaggering about the battlefield, an audible noise needs to be heard when your sword clinks against the it.

The only buff needed here is audio for swashbuckling.

[Huscarlton_Banks]

I think it'd make sense for shield stats to have a small influence on the nudge effects, eg:

Higher armor = more damage
Higher max hitpoints = greater shove distance
Higher weight = greater shove distance, greater damage, longer nudge animation
Higher speed = shorter nudge animation
Greater size = greater shove area (range and "arc"), longer nudge animation, less damage

Would probably be a pain in the ass to balance it all out though, it's easier to just give smaller shields better speed/lower difficulty.

It also makes sense for some other nudges like pole shove and 2h pommel strike to vary by weapon, but that's another topic.

[WITCHCRAFT]

There's not much practical use for it outside of a ranged player with a lot of shield skill. I think that an experimental change like +5 speed to 108 speed might make it a little more interesting to use, especially since the benefits of speed >= 100 is hard to quantify.

Agility-focused 1H shielder builds work great with the bucklers. Some of the more standard-sized shields have dropped in weight since I last played the class, but if you have high athletics then the negligible weight of the bucklers synergizes really well with your build.

[Huscarlton_Banks]

I think the brown lion heater shield is much more flexible than the 5 difficulty steel buckler (both 2.5 weight) though I haven't used the latter at +3 much yet.

The only advantages I saw in using the steel buckler are (ironically) against archers, since the armor makes it pretty much indestructible vs most archers, and against spammy high agility, low damage builds, but they're both generally not huge concerns when it comes to having your shield break anyway.

In melee where there seems to be a lot of long axe/poleaxe/other bonus vs shield users running around, the armor doesn't really make up for the loss in max HP.

I haven't noticed much running speed difference between brown lion heater shield (2.5 weight) and round steel buckler (1.5 weight) either.

Maybe get rid of the shield on back while holding another shield speed penalty for bucklers? It's a separate penalty from weight. That or a change in price/upkeep.