Shielders! 21/15 or 18/18? (POLL)

[Tristan]

Yup. IF and Heavy Armor are for you friends killing you in the back.

Therefore I also recommend shielders bringing a sidearm of either throwing or polearm to avoid facehugging when clusterfucks, cause teammates will kill you.

[Phazey]

Funny. I've been 1h cav / shielder for 12 gens now and although i've tried 21/15, 24/12 and simmilar builds, my conclusion has been that 6 athletics is the sweet spot for a versatile shielder.

So i'm 18/18. Slightly unforgiving when taking hits, yes, but generally it allows you to do well against multiple opponents, chase archers and stuff like that.

It's highly personal though and clearly depends on what style of play you prefer. I can imagine in tight group play that the extra athletics isn't needed.

[MrShine]

I think heavy armor or high IF is important for a shielder.  People often say the opposite, stating that the shield is your armor, or you shouldn't get hit a lot of you are shielding well.

I've played sword and board for a couple gens, and I find that I need extra survivability for TEAM HITS! :p  I'm serious.  As a shielder you are usually up front (or should be) and often face hugging the enemy.  Your team will hit your back and sides a lot. 

Nothing worse than engaging the enemy with only 1/4 health cuz you got knicked twice by a teamie and were wearing light armor.

Just a thought!

Wow I can't agree more; I get team wounded a lot when I'm in groups.  Fortunately with 24/12 8 ironflesh I'm toting around a healthy 75 hp (half the time with heavy armor, half the time with medium/heavy) and team hits don't do as much as they could. 

Almost every time I am in a group and killing someone I'll take 1-2 hits from a friendly before it's all said and done.

[Matey]

sweet! im the only one who voted "something else" and of course i refer to 12-24.

[balbaroth]

sweet! im the only one who voted "something else" and of course i refer to 12-24.

Ill be 18\24 in 4 millions matey

[Thucydides]

Ill be 18\24 in 4 millions matey

you sick fuck

[Dan lol]

1818 4 lyfe

[Gristle]

15str
21agi
56 hit points
3IF
5PS
7shield
7Ath
7WM
125 1 handed
126 crossbow

Yep, I am currently using this build. Just slightly different wpf (went deep into 1 Handed this gen).

I don't agree with builds that have higher IF than Shield skill. My standard build never had more than 50HP. Never felt like I needed more. I only went with 3 IF this time because it was either that or Riding, and I have no business being on a horse. Of course, I never wear less than 47 body armor.

[Diomedes]

27/15 works well for me right now, though 18/18 worked quite well for me pre-patches.  I've also heard 21/15 is very kind on new players, but I don't have a very large sample size for that claim.

[Wiltzu]

Diomedes, could you post a build of that 27-15   i think that build isn't for lvl 30 player

[Diomedes]

Diomedes, could you post a build of that 27-15   i think that build isn't for lvl 30 player

It's for a level 33:

(click to show/hide)

Strength   27   
Agility   15   

One Handed   149   
Iron Flesh    2   
Power Strike   9   
Shield   5   
Athletics   5   
Weapon Master   5   

EDIT: *spoken sassily* "33 is the new 30!"

[Slamz]

I think 56 hit points isn't just enough

That's the big question for me.

Right now I'm 24 str, 8 IF for 75 hit points.

The really dangerous people -- the ones most likely to kill me -- kill me in about 2 hits, for about half my health each hit.  So they're whacking me for around 40 damage through my armor.  If I had 0 IF, they'd still kill me in 2 hits.  One hit for like 75% of my health and the second hit for dramatic overkill.  Or I get lanced by a cav for way more than 75 hp so again the extra IF isn't doing me much good.

It helps a lot with lesser attacks, of course, but it's usually the full STR gorillas that I seem to end up dying to.  Rarely do I get plinked to death.  I wonder how much use I'm really getting out of IF.

[Diomedes]

Having low hp doesn't really bother me much as a shielder.  Once you get practiced at taking only light hits, and not letting anything touch your shield except your opponent's final strike, then health becomes secondary to how much damage you can do per strike.  At least, that's where I'm at in my evolution as a shielder.  Eventually I may become a Venusaur.

[Wiltzu]

Diomedes, i'm gonna go for 18/18 and some day when i stop retiring i'm propably goin for 21/18 but anyway, to the point, i really need if because of the team hits, i'm team player so i get hitted and i do most damage when i'm surrounded by 5enemies =D

[a_bear_irl]

27/12 no WM max ps/ath/shield then put leftovers into IF

a shield build that can kill things