I was thinking a little bit about shields while playing today.
Just gonna write here a couple of thoughts.
Why are shields so massively underused?
What could make them more relevant?
Could shields be divided in types and influenced by their form in the future?
Example:
Tower shield reducing speed for it’s sturdiness;
Smaller/ buckler type shields with less durability but no agility penality;
Hope to see a “Tate” type shield in the ryujin dynasty.
because they’re failures as weapons, they’re supposed to be defensive but the only two abilities they currently have are offensive, i’d totally use a shield if it let me do some like sick ass impenetrable fortress stance or something but rn they’re just mid
the durability makes them unusable in any boss fight and most pve encounters
i dont really know why they arent used in pvp tho
Personally the only method that I can think of to make them more viable is this:
Block (no parry) become automatic while having one equipped if it still has durability;
Modify current shield’s durability score.
The idea is that they should last enough just to give you something like a ‘head start’ regarding health total in a fight and then break.
Basically a shield-user tactict would be winning before the opponent makes up to the initial handicap, while the opponent tactic would be all out offense, dishing out as much damage as quickly as possible.
Larger and sturdier shields introduce
att spd / agility penalities to favour diversity;
Facts are:
I am not good at the game so I know absolutely nothing about balancing and stuff.
Absolutely no idea if this is viable.
Could also be that there already are plans for future shields skills.
With just three weapon slots, most people aren’t willing to replace potentially useful abilities for just a bit more blocking power (plus pressing the block button in combat at all has a bit of a skill floor). Maybe if you’re a Savant you could spare a weapon slot of the shield.
Blocking power might be strong to some, but it’s just less fun to delegate an entire weapon slot to a passive buff instead of combat abilities.
Also both abilities are not even that good. Shield throw is way too small for most people to use, and it’s a generic and replaceable move anyways. Shield bash is a grab for some reason? Still entirely replaceable and the grab isn’t good anyways.
Grab should be replaced with an air dash of sorts (like a bash and not a grab), throw should be entirely reworked to a stronger parry, and there should be a boss drop/uncommon variant of the weapon (not Atlantean) to bring more attention to it (sort of like how triasta brought attention to spears and plunderers brough attention to dual guns, probably some other examples).
As you noted, people just aren’t willing to give up their abilities for shield abilities. But the reasons you described aren’t why the abilities are bad.
Shield throw and shield bash are simply put the easiest abilities of their type to land. Shield throw isn’t small-it’s the biggest throw there is. And shield bash also has a really big hitbox for a grab, making them both extremely reliable.
But they do very little damage.
Something else of note: The higher the blocking power of a shield, the faster it will run out of durability. High blocking power simply means the shield takes an increased amount of the damage you would have.
This gets worse once you realize that the shield-exclusive exotic enchantments are therefore both nerfs. The one that increases durability decreases blocking power, making your shield useless as a shield. The one that increases blocking power decreases durability, meaning your shield’s taking more damage with less durability, and your shield will be shredded in just a few blocks.
Personally, the only rational thing is to simply remove durability altogether. That would bring them to relative parity with actual weapons.
it ruins my drip and the skills look dumb as hell if u dont use a wooden shield, throwing a big aah metal shield looks so goofy
uselessly takes a weapon slot for hella mid skills
durability is dumb, having to break it for it to recharge is just bad
Throws in general are pretty underused because they are really hard to hit. Haven’t really checked their damage since the few weapons they’re on are forgettable and suck (aside from spear which is only good because it has a third ability), but you claim that the damage sucks so I guess that’s reason enough to not use them.
Shield throw is underused right now because it’s a throw. And it also happens to be an offensive move on a defensive weapon, which compounds it’s problems.
Shield bash may have a big hitbox, but it’s simply not as fast as a rapier or staff grab. Also there are too many grabs on weapons right now, so a grab just feels like a wasted weapon ability.
There’s so many other projectile weapons like the staff, katana, dual swords, or claws (they’re actually not bad after the buff) that have a more comfortable projectile and a better second ability.
Damn, didn’t know about that. But I think durability exists so you can’t have a super high blocking power build for long. Better to change how durability works so you don’t lose more durability with more blocking power.
this is random, and most people probably don’t care, but why on earth do shields have such crazy visuals?? The imbue visuals on shield bash especially are insane, use it on lightning or something similar and it has no competition.
durability.
#1 most people don’t block
#2 slowness
#3 (biggest reason) takes up weapon slot
im ngl it has one of the coolest grabs, and the shield throw is good but it feels too clunky to hit consistently
Its nice for savants and maybe weapon hybrids thanks to having more options, but thats about it
Please… Bring back… The wall of Jericho!
I wouldn’t mind some op shield buffs(I already main it anyway).
ive been fw shield on lightning conj since ds and honestly only problem ive got with it is durability
one day shield users will be eating trust
I used to use a shield and it was nice, then I realized if it breaks you can’t use any of its abilities and suddenly it wasn’t a very appealing weapon to use
would love for shield to have some sort of defensive reflector ability that returns any projectiles shot at it back to its attacker
fr
