Are shields ever useful? (read inside)
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if they seem useless its probably because you play softcore or you don't value defence very highly, the extra high HP roll + chunk of defence is very valuable and block itself is as well (that isn't a criticism btw just that you get different perspectives from the different modes)
They could probably use some offensive mods these days or some very good shaper/elder mods (they have a few but mostly utility) |
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All Righteous fire builds use shields, any full block characters use it, many HC characters that won´t die so easy, there are special buffs on shields such as max resistances etc.
Not useful for dual wield characters:) | |
" Your profile is private so it's hard to say what your end-game experience is like. But low level shields, other than some uniques with special bonuses, are mostly useless. End-game is when people use shields that will make a difference. A random shield with 100 life and 80 resist will cost you like 2c. It's pretty good for defenses. | |
" I'm not sure what softcore means, but if you mean that I don't play for ladders and rankings or grind for hours, for sure. I play for enjoyment, not sweating. :P I'm also not sure what's a shaper/elder mod, but I agree, haha. I indeed don't value defense as much as being able to deal good damage and obliterate everything, because that's the fun part for me. What do you consider extra high HP roll and a considerable chunk of defense? I wonder what shields are worth keeping already? " I had a few shields with +4 max resistances or so, I didn't consider them useful. Is that a mistake? What would be a build for full block character? And is that a hardcore thing mainly? " I will keep my profile private, but I can answer a few questions if you would ask to let you know the idea. So far my highest level is 70 and that's a Scion with quite bad items from what I understand. I play tier 1 and tier 2 maps sometimes, but now I'm mainly playing with a Templar with Warchief totems in Bestiary which is level 60 at the moment, I think. I have never seen a shielf with 80 resistances, but I have had a shield with 20-30 resistances, maybe even 40 (to one element), and a few with 100 hp. Would you say those are any good though? | |
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You sound new. I'd recommend Engineering Eternity's Beginners' Guides playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7GqFLebBU8inlrcqTZFXtIwP362XrdNe
You'll likely learn quite a bit more, and faster, than asking people in a forum thread. | |
" Thanks! I watched through all of them in the background, even though I am by no means new. I just don't participate in communities. The videos reminded me of enhancing strongboxes and gave me a good idea about some passive tree points with 1 max life idea, but other than that, it didn't tell me much. And they still have not answered my questions in my previous post. :P | |
" yeah, shields are great for a lot of builds, most of my 1h builds use them. But... the level of gear I can get my hands on in most environments is extreme and the sort of content I build for is general mapping, not heavy dedicated boss farming. So were talking about excessive dps achievable without dual wield and excessive defence achievable with a shield, that makes for a very comfortable all purpose mapping setup. On a budget or going in against serious boss fights like uber, shaper etc, the extra damage of dual wield is too strong and the extra defence of a shield is arguably worthless. In a lot of super budget situations or high end gear vs extreme bosses theres so many 1 shots that you basically play well and avoid getting hit at all = shield is worthless and better to get dps to shorten the fight, or you get hit and die regardless of having a shield or not because you probably took 10k+ damage rapidly and 300hp + 7k armour/evasion will not make a difference. |
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" Sounds like that wouldn't be playable if you're constantly lagging. :P Also sounds like anything below level 80 or so in shields is useless and can be vendored. | |
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its not rly about the level of the shield, its about the stats on it, you could find a required lvl57 shield that was savage for endgame and worth a fair bit in trade. Spell shields can have a lot of damage on them, some unique shields have extremely low lvl requirements and are used in endgame. Its not a situation that can be boiled down to a rule simple as that unfortunately.
I dont think any shields actually require lvl80, solid endgame gear often starts around the mid 50s on required level and sometimes u can get bits that creep a little below, esp things like rings and amulets. Ill link a bunch of life attack rings I use in endgame and you can see the wildly varying req levels on them... some of them are in the 40s, some 60, none are 80 and tbh theyre all in the same ball park in terms of being strong endgame rings. Ive seen req lvl36 rings that are great endgame rings, generally speaking the higher level items can roll higher level stats but you can rly draw a line and say ok, I only care about endgame gear and hence anything below lvlX will be junk. It would make evaluating items simpler but its just not how the game works in practice. |
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" Got that beat... Currently in use with my lvl 99 Chieftain. ;) As for the question at hand... there way too many extremely useful shields in the game to list them here. OP will learn from experience, not to worry. ;) |
