Forcefield from 5->7 shield skill and build advice

[San]

Hey, for those who have experienced high shield skill, I am just wondering what experience you had with 7? (Or some other high number). I often get hit over the shoulder or in the leg a lot with an elite cavalry shield. Is 5 to 7 shield skill worth it for the coverage? I like the increased durability, too, but the coverage and speed are more important to me.

Also, I am debating on 3 different dream build variants around 21/21 for a pure 1h with max WM where I have
70 HP with 7 shield skill and 7 PS (7IF)
63 HP with 5 shield skill and 8 PS (2IF)
58 HP with 5 shield skill and 8 ATH/WM (1IF)

This is why it's important to know if those 2 points in shield and some HP are worth a point in PS or Ath. I will increase armor to compensate with 7.5 weight leeway. The 8PS build sounds the best, but the 70 HP build hinges on 7shield being excellent over 5 with the best defence, and 8 ath just sounds fun to experience and may offer extra attack/defense with the additional speed. Of course, this build is quite a few months off, but it is fun to ponder what it would be like. The higher PS build can also get 7 shield at the cost of reducing HP to 59.

[Rhaelys]

I would recommend not going for extra conversions; shielders benefit from maximizing their skills (and really most builds in general benefit from not over-converting skill points into attribute points).

You could do a sick-nasty Level 35 21/21 7 IF 7 PS 7 Ath 7 WM 4 Shield build if it turns out that the extra shield skill isn't worth it. This would be the build I would do if I had a Level 35 shielder. Otherwise take the extra points in WM and put them into Shield.

[Matey]

Hey, for those who have experienced high shield skill, I am just wondering what experience you had with 7? (Or some other high number). I often get hit over the shoulder or in the leg a lot with an elite cavalry shield. Is 5 to 7 shield skill worth it for the coverage? I like the increased durability, too, but the coverage and speed are more important to me.

Also, I am debating on 3 different dream build variants around 21/21 for a pure 1h with max WM where I have
70 HP with 7 shield skill and 7 PS (7IF)
63 HP with 5 shield skill and 8 PS (2IF)
58 HP with 5 shield skill and 8 ATH/WM (1IF)

This is why it's important to know if those 2 points in shield and some HP are worth a point in PS or Ath. I will increase armor to compensate with 7.5 weight leeway. The 8PS build sounds the best, but the 70 HP build hinges on 7shield being excellent over 5 with the best defence, and 8 ath just sounds fun to experience and may offer extra attack/defense with the additional speed. Of course, this build is quite a few months off, but it is fun to ponder what it would be like. The higher PS build can also get 7 shield at the cost of reducing HP to 59.

Ah young novice str shielder... I shall enlighten you in the ways of proper shielding. I currently has a measly 7 shield skill and have mostly been using an elite cav shield, I have not yet had ranged opponents hit me over or under my shield though I am quite sure they could get me in the feet if they tried. As for melee blocking it is quite good though there are always those moments when someone glitches through you and hits you on weird angles and such. The absolute best shield in the game is absolutely the Huscarl shield due to its amazing coverage, it is literally impossible for a ranged opponent to hit you from the front unless it penetrates the shield (which is very rare with a MW huscarl and my usual 8 shield skill). The side coverage on the Husarl is also fantastic, I tried board shields back in the day but it was too easy for people to hit me on angles that the huscarl would have blocked. The Elite cav is a very good shield but the Huscarl is still best. Also, Adjust your 21/21 to 18/24 as 8 athletics is infinitely better than 7.

p.s. stop wearing metal and IF is only for extra points that cant be used on WM, Shield, Ath or PS.

For reference... My current build and future build. Since you aren't taking xbow you could drop a few WM if you dont want to be as fast as you possibly can. When i used to do 12/24 with 172 1hander it was literally impossible to chamber my chambers.

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[Phew]

My observations, having spent a lot of time with 5,6,and 7 skill:

Ranged forcefield improves a lot with increasing shield skill; 7 skill with an ECS means you never have to worry about archers in front of you if you shield is raised, nor archers to your left even if it isn't raised.

As for melee? I don't think anything affects melee coverage with shields (width, shield skill, etc), everything from a buckler with 3 skill to a huscarl with 10 skill will leave you raging at attacks that inexplicable swing through your block, even when you are directly facing your enemy. The devs have said that shield blocking in melee is exactly the same coverage-wise as manual blocking, but I don't buy it. People manual block me even when I'm totally behind them, but shields often fail to block someone that's exactly in front of you.

I've starting wearing a ton of armor, just because you can't even count on shields to actually block people in melee. They do their job against ranged though.

[Necrorave]

Hey, for those who have experienced high shield skill, I am just wondering what experience you had with 7? (Or some other high number). I often get hit over the shoulder or in the leg a lot with an elite cavalry shield. Is 5 to 7 shield skill worth it for the coverage? I like the increased durability, too, but the coverage and speed are more important to me.

Also, I am debating on 3 different dream build variants around 21/21 for a pure 1h with max WM where I have
70 HP with 7 shield skill and 7 PS (7IF)
63 HP with 5 shield skill and 8 PS (2IF)
58 HP with 5 shield skill and 8 ATH/WM (1IF)

I may not know the math behind it (I don't really bother to look) although I do feel a major difference in speed and a bit on coverage from 5-6 shield skill.

With 5 you get that rare wondering bolt that might stub your big toe.  Yet with 6 skill it feels as though I am behind a wall at all times.  The speed is the biggest one though.  At 6 skill and 100 shield speed I have been able to block attacks quick enough where the shield animation doesn't even register fully when the attack hits.

PS: Personal experience, no number or stats to back this up.  Keep in mind I use an Elite Cavalry Shield as well.

[WITCHCRAFT]

I don't have any numbers or evidence to back this up, but 7 and 8 shield skill are worth the investment compared to 5 shield skill. You can block as quickly as manual blocks. The forcefield at 7+ gets insane, especially with smaller shields. I enjoyed high ath and low equip weight as an 18/24 1H shielder. The round and steel bucklers are half the weight of other shields, and you get a block radius as wide as or maybe wider than a huscarl's shield. I would choke with laughter as my buckler caught javelins, arrows, bolts, and even throwing lances that should have impaled my elbows or knees. I imagine 7-8 shield skill with a knightly heater or elite cav shield would be godly.

It is a heavy investment of points, but I believe that high shield skill is worth it. If your reflexes are fast enough, you can block nearly anything.

[Taser]

More shield skill san. At lvl 35 if you're going 21/21 you're still going to have a bunch of points to put into IF anyway so no need to worry. You'll have 4 IF going off my lvl 33 21/21 build with max PS, ath and WM. Have 5 shield atm. I went hybrid though so I couldn't tell you how much the WM helps as far as pure 1h goes.

[Johammeth]

The round and steel bucklers are half the weight of other shields, and you get a block radius as wide as or maybe wider than a huscarl's shield. I would choke with laughter as my buckler caught javelins, arrows, bolts, and even throwing lances that should have impaled my elbows or knees.

This.

Oh god, this.

7 skill turns your shield into vintage Randy Moss, catching anything thrown remotely near it.

[Turboflex]

I thought they got rid of shield skill increasing forcefield?

If range is hitting you it might just be bolts penetrating through your shield (which would decrease with more skill).

Also armour & HP are more to protect yourself against teammates than opponents. They are always the most dangerous enemies.

[Phew]

If range is hitting you it might just be bolts penetrating through your shield (which would decrease with more skill).

Bolt penetration is only a function of shield armor, with >~20 armor making a shield impervious to even +3 bolts from +3 arbalests. I had a +3 Hand Pavise (21 armor) that was penetrated by a bolt, but it only happened once, and I traded it immediately as a result.

Shield skill doesn't factor in. I made a 13 shield skill STF with a round cavalry shield, and bolts still penetrated.

[CrazyCracka420]

I'd stick with 4 or maybe 5 shield skill tops.  I don't think the extra points in shield skill are worth it unless you plan on getting hit with axes a lot. 

Love my knightly heater with 5 shield skill, but it was still a beast (unloomed) at 4 shield skill.  I'd use the elite cav shield, but round shields are terrible in first person when you're not blocking, they take up half your screen.  Only reason I decided to go with 5 shield on my final build (when I normally go 4) is because I wanted to be able to pick up Huscarl's from the battlefield (mainly in strat).

I personally think shield and riding are the skills you should only go with the minimum to be able to ride the horse or equip the shield (unless you're going 10+ shield/riding and are going to be highly specialized)

[San]

Thanks for the input, guys. Any build could work since it's such a high level (actually level 36 o.o). I like to experiment with things on my STF, and 7 ath is just so fun and quick already. Took a week-long break, but I hope to get to one of those dream builds in a few months.

[Rhaelys]

Thanks for the input, guys. Any build could work since it's such a high level (actually level 36 o.o). I like to experiment with things on my STF, and 7 ath is just so fun and quick already. Took a week-long break, but I hope to get to one of those dream builds in a few months.

Chaos-most-NA-admins-and-level-36s-clan

[Taser]

Thanks for the input, guys. Any build could work since it's such a high level (actually level 36 o.o). I like to experiment with things on my STF, and 7 ath is just so fun and quick already. Took a week-long break, but I hope to get to one of those dream builds in a few months.

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[San]

Possible with almost 3 years of exp. I only retired twice. 600k-1mil+ from a strat battle also helps. I still have 80 million left, which will take ~4-6 months.

I think I want to try out 21/24 at this point. I might change my mind.