Block and Block Recovery

1. Is block skill useful if you don't have 'Faster Block and Stun Recovery' and 'Increased Block Recovery' bonuses?

2. How much of a drawback is it in terms of speed without the bonuses (are the bonuses worth while to take as passives and have on equipment)?

3. Is not having block at all better than unmodified block because of the speed tradeoff?

4. Has anyone deliberately tried not using block (no shield, staff, or dual-wield--well obviously 2-hand weapon would do it, I never use them though)?

block recovery animation only occurs when you block a hit that would have normally stunned you. Base stun duration is the same as base block recovery duration (350ms)

The block only plays when you would be stunned by an attack that you block. The wiki gives the formula as 350ms / ( 1 + x ) where x is faster block. This means additional faster block falls off in value quickly.

For more information, heres the wiki page.

Ok, thank you. I read the wiki but it didn't make sense then, but now I think I understand:

Block has a certain % chance to prevent all damage.

In the case of a stun, you would be stunned the same amount of time, whether or not you have block. And you can reduce the block/stun recovery time with the modifiers.

Correct?

I guess my only remaining question then is are the passives/modifiers for block/stun recovery useful to take over other nodes/mods?

"

simballine wrote:

I guess my only remaining question then is are the passives/modifiers for block/stun recovery useful to take over other nodes/mods?

depends on your build. The more life and mitigation you have, the higher chance to avoid stun and the lower importance of block/stun recovery