Shield users help meh....Shields and Shield skill?

[Penitent]

I know that if you have higher shield skill, the shield will be more durable. 

However, will it also make the shield faster in terms of raising/lowering the shield?

For example if I have a difficulty 2 shield and have 3 shield skill, is this a benefit?  Or should I just take a difficulty 3 shield?

In other words: Does the benefit taking a shield that is below your shield skill outweigh the benefit of taking a better shield equal to your shield skill?

[rustyspoon]

I know that if you have higher shield skill, the shield will be more durable. 

However, will it also make the shield faster in terms of raising/lowering the shield?

For example if I have a difficulty 2 shield and have 3 shield skill, is this a benefit?  Or should I just take a difficulty 3 shield?

In other words: Does the benefit taking a shield that is below your shield skill outweigh the benefit of taking a better shield equal to your shield skill?

According to my extensive testing before the last patch: no.

One thing to consider though, you raise your shield faster if you have your weapon in the ready position then if it's down.

However, a shield with lower shield speed means a larger penalty on your movement speed.

So, you're always better off taking the best shield you can get for your play style.

Hope this helps.

[Penitent]

So you are saying a shield's speed rating effects movement speed, and not the speed of shield raising/lowering?  Or does it do both?

[rustyspoon]

So you are saying a shield's speed rating effects movement speed, and not the speed of shield raising/lowering?  Or does it do both?

According to my testing before the last patch, shield speed did not affect raising and lowering time. You can try it out yourself on the duel server with a stopwatch. I haven't tested it after the patch though.

As far as shield speed affecting movement speed, I haven't tested that myself but someone else did and found it to be correct. (Wish I still had the link)

I have a feeling that the speed of raising and lowering of shields is hard coded and that is due to native. In native, it would be too much of a handicap if certain shields blocked faster than others.

Some people feel that certain shields block faster than others but I don't think it is indeed the case. I could explain why, but then I think this would get WAY more wordy than it already is.

[Kafein]

Shield skill also seems to help coverage (no testing done though, just various testimonies and my personal experience).

[zagibu]

Shield skill also seems to help coverage (no testing done though, just various testimonies and my personal experience).

I can confirm this impression, it is also mine.

[Rhygar666]

The higher the shield skill the faster you block with it.

[Spawny]

So you are saying a shield's speed rating effects movement speed, and not the speed of shield raising/lowering?  Or does it do both?

Shieldskill doesn't have anything to do with your movement speed. At all. The main problem here is the sheer weight of the slower shields. The weight of your weapons/shields does not contribute to any wpf penalties, but it does affect your movement speed.

For instance the steel shield: weight 12,5 and 61 speedrating.
Compare it to the steel buckler: weight 3,5 and 98 speedrating.

The steel shield will slow you down a lot, while the buckler will hardly have any effect.

Shieldskill increases coverage (forcefield), reduces damage taken by the shield and supposedly has an effect on your feintspeed (I hardly notice any difference between 5 or 6 though).

[Mala]

...

Shieldskill increases coverage (forcefield), reduces damage taken by the shield and supposedly has an effect on your feintspeed (I hardly notice any difference between 5 or 6 though).

But i think the reduces the damage of the shield part is more an increases the HP of your shield. I mean in the vanilla version there were no high resistance shields, just ones with a bit more body armour and a lot of HP.

[Spawny]

But i think the reduces the damage of the shield part is more an increases the HP of your shield. I mean in the vanilla version there were no high resistance shields, just ones with a bit more body armour and a lot of HP.

According to the description in single player (native) it reduces the damage taken by the shield before it's applied. Supposedly there's a minimum of 1 damage dealt.

Basically, a 100 damage hits becomes a 100 damage-(some %). That damage then get's applied to the shield reducing it's hp corrected by the shields resistance.