Max Shield skill. Is it worth it?

[Hirronimus]

For PLD it would be...

Base skill level is 276
Kaiser Schaellar: +6
Shield Torque: +7
Shield Earring: +3
Knight's Earring: +5
Gallant Leggings: +10

Bringing the total to 307.

Things I left out:

Shield Belt: +3 (What is the latent on that?)
Light Buckler: +5 (Debateable tho, I mean, Lv.40 Shield at 75? )

Apologies in advance if my research is flawed and I missed some items, but this set up still allows for a decent amount of Enmity+ gear. Can't remember off the top of my head if there are Shield Merits. If there is, how much can you get?

Also, what is more important for PLD using a shield, Parrying or Shield Skill? Obviously tanking with Staff only Parrying applies, but with Shield parrying plays a role also.

[Russta]

How can it not be worth it? Shield should only be looked at as a peripheral thing that can occasionally reduce a huge chunk of the damage you take. The higher your shield skill the higher the chance you'll mitigate a chunk of damage which, for a Paladin, is everything.

Refine the question

[Demetrios]

If it kicks in as much as parrying or evasion, then probably not when comapred to a Terra's Staff. I never EXPed PLD after the shield patch so I can't really speculate on how often it would kick in on IT+ mobs.

[Hirronimus]

Well, here's the thing. I've tried, Leggings/Shield Earring/Torque/Buckler in EXP PT. Granted my shield isn't capped yet, but even with 227+25 it was hardly noticeable change as opposed to without those things.

I'm just debating if I should bother investing in Shield+ items or stick to my current HP/Enmity+ set up.

P.S. Leveling shield skill sucks major Bugbear ass.

[Seymouren]

If I remember right, there is another shield with +shield skill.

I think is Master Shield, +10 shield skill.

[Hirronimus]

Yeah, it's level 52 drops from Southern Shadow. Missed that one.

[Demetrios]

I've heard that shield is now effective on HNMs such as Tiamat, but I really don't feel like changing from a -% physical damage setup to a +shield one unless someone else will show the merit in it. I'm even considering wearing the dreadfully ugly Darksteel+1 set over full Kaiser/Koenig >_<;.

[Varnx]

I'm just debating if I should bother investing in Shield+ items or stick to my current HP/Enmity+ set up.

You should just invest in Ninja if you really want to Tank that bad.

[Hirronimus]

It's not the question if I want to tank bad, otherwise I wouldn't have PLD leveled. It's the question of tanking effectively. As for NIN, I'll wait till I have more cash to invest in it. From what I've heard NIN using full Elemental wheel and other shit, costs about 200-300K per decent EXP session.

Demetrios, thats what I'm wondering about, the dmg reduction with shield skill would probably equal that of dmg take -% if you can block attacks with higher frequency.

[savageboy]

have you ever used your paladin against tough? even match? dec challenge? i dont even have capped shield...about 260 and most of the time i dont have any shield + eq and anything around your natural shield lvl will generally allow you a surprisingly high amount of blockage.
the key is gettin a shield thats right for you...type 1, 2, 3, 4 will block more often for less damage - less often for more damage respectively. eventually you want a moderate shield with good stats (koenig) that will block at a decent rate for around 50-70% damage.

they key here is merits x3 = 6 + all the eq you mentioned will raiser you..

276 + 5 earring + 3 earring + 10 feet + 5 head + 6 merits + 10 masters/acheron + 7 torque = 322 at max if you didnt use any other bs eq.

322 -276 = 46 skill levels which at the later lvls would mean about 9 job lvls (without the stat boosts of course) which would THEORETICALLY make you blocking like a lvl 84 pld.

blocking even match for a lot of mobs in this game...it shouldnt even be a question if its worth it. cap shield is the new earth staff

[Razz]

PLD/NIN > NIN/WAR

At 227, can't you skill up off korrigans/pucks? if you sub RDM and take advantage of that phalanx it'd be decent skill up surely.

[Hirronimus]

the key is gettin a shield thats right for you...type 1, 2, 3, 4 will block more often for less damage - less often for more damage respectively. eventually you want a moderate shield with good stats (koenig) that will block at a decent rate for around 50-70% damage.

Elaborate please. How can you tell what type the shield is?

[Ankiseth]

Just be like Nev in PO

[removed broken link]

Yeah. So I'm sure he can tank however he wants to at that point, bastard >.>

I don't have PLD very high, but as I've leveled it, it does proc kinda often. It's staying capped because I'm still a low level, but it seems to be blocking about as much as a Earth Staff would...which is nice because using a Sword you'll do more damage than you would with an Earth Staff, especially if you use a stronger sword or a Joy in the end.

I'd say the main question of using Staff v. Shield is the fact that with the staff you get Spirit Taker o.0

[Hirronimus]

Shit, I just noticed something on Somepage. It indicates Shield Size. So you saying that Size 1 is more dmg taken, but frequent blocks, while Size 4 is less dmg, less frequent blocks? Am I right on this assumption?

[savageboy]

yes refer to somepage for the shield size but u can generally tell by how big they are on your character.

use a big shield vs a small one say like a mage shield and you will see the difference. the 3 and 4 types usually block like 50-80% dmg but dont block nearly as often as the small shields which ive seen block usually in the 10-20% range but as much as maybe 40%. but since u havent a high shield yet use a small shield for more block and more skill ups...ie masters til u cap your shield.

hope it helps

[Heian]

Well the way I have understood it so far, with Max Shield and + skill items and enough AGI. A PLD could take less damage than with a Terra Staff. My skill is only about 238 right now, against Weapons in sky I block about 1/20 to 1/25. With capped skill and extra AGI, I better I could get it up to about 1/10 to maybe even 1/5. The more AGI I use, the better my perry and shield is, so I guess it could be feesable. I would like to try it one day.

[Hirronimus]

Elvaan AGI blows. Thanks for the tip tho.

[Surealistic]

sword and shield > staff (when shield is capped or near capped, and straight tanking)

staff > sword and shield (kiting)

[Xavier]

I'm just debating if I should bother investing in Shield+ items or stick to my current HP/Enmity+ set up.

You should just invest in Ninja if you really want to Tank that bad.

lol you're funny

[Russta]

I'm just debating if I should bother investing in Shield+ items or stick to my current HP/Enmity+ set up.

You should just invest in Ninja if you really want to Tank that bad.

lol you're funny

Hey, I lol'd at it (but then Paladin is a non-existent job in my linkshell so I would).