Shields, shields, shields!

[Kuyamzoleta]

So I've never really have worried about shields but their cosmetic appearance; can you guys help me what their stats actually contribute too? I have a faint idea as to what the stats do, can you guys clarify and correct me if I'm wrong?


Weight
So, weight is obviously weight and it slows you down. However, does this affect my speed rating as well? Does this judge my ability to open up?

Body Armor
Okay. Sorta confused on this one. Does body armor dictate resistance and how well it can get chopped up? Does it add to overall body armor and help mitigate receiving blows?

Difficulty
How much skill points you need for you to be able to equip the item. However, does more shield skill increase the durability significantly?

Hitpoints
I'm pretty sure this judges how much damage your shield can take before it crumbles. If I'm under-analyzing this, or any of this so far, please tell me.

Speed Rating
Speed rating shows you how fast you can open up to attack, and bring up to block, right? Now, does this speed rating add with the speed rating to your sword? or does attacking purely rely on sword speed?

Shield height/width
How well your shield can cover your unit.


I'd love some critical feedback to the things I'm missing out of the picture.

[Digglez]

any weight slows MOVEMENT speed.

weight of a shield also helps prevent crushthru of crushthru weapons

body armor reduces incoming damage

speed determines how fast you can raise the shield to block. NOTE: the animation in-game does not sync up with your skill.  Slower shields may appear with the animation that they are raised, but not actually blocking.  Fast shields can be defending you before your character actually finishes the animation to raise.

shield WIDTH is very important in melee combat.  the wider the better and prevents getting hit on you sides

[rustyspoon]

Everything Digglez said and...

increasing shield skill will increase your shield speed and add 8% damage reduction per shield skill point. So if you have 8 shield skill, the damage to your shield is reduced by 64%.

If you have 13 shield skill, it reduces damage by 104% so your shield actually gets healed every time someone hits it.

To answer your question about swing speed, the most important factor is the initial speed of your weapon. WPF will give you a slight increase to your swing speed. However, the faster the initial speed of your weapon, the less WPF does for swing speed. So if you have 150 WPF and using a dagger, you'll barely notice a speed increase. If you have 150 WPF and are using a long maul, the speed increase is quite noticeable.

[Vibe]

increasing shield skill will increase your shield speed

This for real? I didn't know shield skill increase shield speed.

[Advize]

any weight slows MOVEMENT speed.

weight of a shield also helps prevent crushthru of crushthru weapons

body armor reduces incoming damage

speed determines how fast you can raise the shield to block. NOTE: the animation in-game does not sync up with your skill.  Slower shields may appear with the animation that they are raised, but not actually blocking.  Fast shields can be defending you before your character actually finishes the animation to raise.

shield WIDTH is very important in melee combat.  the wider the better and prevents getting hit on you sides

The bold underlined part is actually what I read this thread hoping to learn about, but this answer still isn't clear enough for me. Does it reduce incoming damage to your character at all times, or just to the shield (shield will not take as much damage when struck)?

Like... does it add body armour in the same way that wearing gloves does?

[Moncho]

The bold underlined part is actually what I read this thread hoping to learn about, but this answer still isn't clear enough for me. Does it reduce incoming damage to your character at all times, or just to the shield (shield will not take as much damage when struck)?

Like... does it add body armour in the same way that wearing gloves does?

It reduces damage taken by the shield. Thats why an iron shield can take many hits from 1hs but few from axes. Iron shields have relatively few hitpoints but very high armor. Since bonus versus shields doubles damage inflicted, the armor reduction only happens one effectively making hits from shieldbreakers highly damaging against all shields.

[TurmoilTom]

If you have 13 shield skill, it reduces damage by 104% so your shield actually gets healed every time someone hits it.

I've heard that even 12 shield skill with a Steel Shield is enough for shield invincibility. Haven't tested it yet, however (damn STF restrictions).

[rustyspoon]

I've heard that even 12 shield skill with a Steel Shield is enough for shield invincibility. Haven't tested it yet, however (damn STF restrictions).

I think that depends on when the damage reduction gets run. Still, a shield with 74 armor and 12 shield skill is practically invulnerable.

[wagnerpryde]

Just a quick question, didn't want to start a whole new topic over it:

Does a higher speed rating (say 100, 99, 98, etc.) translate to a faster shield or a slower one?

[Moncho]

More speed means faster, it would make no sense that a huscarl shield was faster than an elite cav shield...

[rustyspoon]

Just for clarification on the shield speed thing, the shield speed has no effect on the animation. The animation also has nothing to do with blocking. If a shield is all the way up, that doesn't mean it's blocking. A fast shield will block before it's even all the way up.

Basically shield speed represents how fast a shield blocks compared to manual blocking.

[Phew]

I also think that shield speed becomes less important with increasing ping. I switched from a 99 speed +3 Brown Lion Shield to a 90 speed +3 Brown Kite Shield and I don't really notice a difference with ~55ms ping. I think all blocks (shield/manual) have an inherent delay to account for ping differences, so until your shield is faster than your connection, they all raise at the same speed. 

I pick up 87 speed +3 Heavy Round Shields sometimes, and I do notice a slight delay. So for my ping, I estimate that I don't see an 'extra' delay until I'm below 92 or so shield speed. 80 speed Huscarls/Plate-covered/etc are awfully slow to raise, and I don't know how people play with them.

I'd love to know the actual numbers to corroborate my anecdotal observations!

[Digglez]

would be great if they used WSE to change animation speed on shields.  dont see how they can do it for weapons and NOT do it for shield

[Penitent]

would be great if they used WSE to change animation speed on shields.  dont see how they can do it for weapons and NOT do it for shield

THAT would be cool.
Shielders get little love in this mod though...
Kind of left by the wayside, like a cookie dropped on the floor.
It's a delicious cookie, but now no one wants to eat it. 
Too good to throw away, but too lazy to pick it up again.

[WITCHCRAFT]

weight of a shield also helps prevent crushthru of crushthru weapons

I  had no idea this was a thing! Cool!