Paladin Shield Skill Armor: Vital Equipment or Myth?

[Aouqess]

Ok, after MANY MANY LOOOOONG arguements with my friends over this subject. I've decided to post it here on this forum.

Now we've all seen it. Paladins running across the country side with thier shiny white boots. Here is where I differ from the general consesus of things.
My stance on the subject of Gallant Boots and Shield Skill on a PLD in general is this:

I say that Gallant Boots are NOT the end all beat all best foot armor for a PLD. I myself use Iron Ram Greaves at the moment. And that shield skill importance on PLD is not as important as people make it out to be.

It's been recorded that at 308 skill (Achieved usually by a combination or Gallant Boots and some Koening Armor pieces.) That there is little discernable difference between TW to VT and thier effect on Shield Block rates with a Size 3 shield.

Shield Block Rate has a fixed cap rate of 65% (Except for Aiges) There is no way to surpass this number once it's reached. As it's that, a cap.

The reason why I put forward that Shield Skill armor is a waste of resource is because of that cap. If you can block near 65% of the time on a VT mob at level 75 without that armor, than it's just a wasted slot. And even if I'm wrong about bieng able to block at a 65% percent on a VT mob without any Shield Skill enhancing armor. If Shield Skill works anything like Parry or guard the MAXIMUM possible difference of shield Proc rate would be -5% or so.

Now I've scoured far and wide and have yet to see any research done on Shield Block rates on a 75 PLD without Shield Enhancing Armor. All printed research done so far on Shield Block rates is with the PLD in armor that's Shield Skill+ed to Kingdom come.

Discuss.

[Siralin]

Or you could idle in shield skill gear while /war and swap in enmity gear for Cures/Flashes(Haste/Enmity)/JAs?

How often are people on PLD/WAR outside of dynamis anyway? While you're /nin you might as well swap in as much shield skill as you can get for :ichi, and as much shield skill as you can get, in slots where you can't get haste, for :ni.

Shield skill gear is vital equipment.

[Greatguardian]

Whether or not you cap shield proc on VT mobs is completely superfluous to a PLD. PLDs do not merit. The entirety of my own PLD buffer comes from campaign. A PLD75 is going to be spending most of his time tanking much larger things, be it sky triggers, or HNMs of some kind. And even with a full HQ-fied Shield+ set, full merits, etc, I doubt anyone is going to reach capped block rate on some of those things.

So yes, Shield skill+ gear is beyond vital. When your shadows are down, or you're trying to cast Ichi, you are going to want to shove on as much Shield+ gear as humanly possible to avoid getting stabbed in the eye. A shield proc can make or break a fight.

It's also worthwhile to note that 308 shield isn't just "AF feet and some Koenig". PLD75's base shield skill is 276. This is raised to 284, if you fully merit shield. In order to reach 308, you still require +24 shield skill from gear. AF Feet gives you +10. After that, you'll still need Boxer's Mantle + Koenig Schaller, or Buckler Earring/Shield Torque + Koenig Schaller, to hit 308.

tl;dr, Get a shield+ set.

[Zosi]

Unlike most of my game mechanics posts, I'll keep this one short and sweet.

Shield is not guarding or parrying. It's quite different, has a very different proc rate curve, and has a much larger gradient from natural skill to capped block than you seem to think. If you're really that curious about block rates without any shield gear, you're welcome to find some nice high-level MNK mobs and test it out. I'm sure the experience will be illuminating for you.

[Neosutra]

OP, you have a very large misunderstanding about end game, pld, and shield blocks.

Shield skill is NOT overated. You are NOT capped on block rate for anything remotely difficult wearing no shield skill. You DO need alot of shield skill (even with aegis) to get even near the cap (and odds are you still wont reach the cap with alot of good shield skill gear on, when fighting tougher mobs.)

Plds that say shield skill is useless make me want to vomit. Quit the job now please.

And no, Aegis does not have a higher block rate% than other shields. It simply blocks more damage. And yes, Aegis fucking sux a fat dick w/o alot of shield skill.

Idle in shield skill, upgrade the feet, and never post here again. AFK punching something.

[Surealistic]

ive been preaching about shield skill since the very first shield update, people would not listen, i used an earth staff for one sky god before i realized how much of a joke that was, since then i was able to cap shield skill (minus kaiser schaller) (yes i did get a knights earring) and it makes a HUGE difference, pushing 328ish if i recall correctly

[Lexa]

I use my Gallant Leggings +1 for everything that doesn't give a guaranteed "1 of Lexa's shadows absorbs the damage and disappears" message in my chat log, and I am mighty proud of my shield skill. Knightly Earring FTW!

OP needs to go back to PLD kindergarden.

[kayn]

Shield skill gear is an absolute must even though you'll more than likely never use it. Reprasial will do more for you than the gear. but expect to be laughed at if you say you don't have the setup. I enjoy much ridicule because i don't have an m.head. Some plds swear by the setup for ichi. I've never had a problem w/out it. With a co-tank, repraisal, shield bash and flash, getting up ichi should NEVER be an issue.

[Lordwafik]

Quick Q , does shield mastery trait up shield block proc rate or is it just TP bonus? I'm wondering if I should bother lvling PLD to 37 so I can do rdm/pld things for campaign and the sort over rdm/war.

[kayn]

just tp gain on sheild procs

[Lordwafik]

Hooray another SJ I don't need to level up then!

[Aouqess]

Perhaps I wasn't clear, and for that I do apologize. I am NOT saying that shield skill is worthless. What I'm saying is it's only worth having to a 'point' That point bieng the generally accepted maximum cap rate of 65%.

All I'm putting forward is that that cap might be able to be reached on most enemies with less skill than people assume.

A similie could be drawn from DD's and the STR stastic. Any advanced Melee/Ranged DD can tell you that the best stat to increse your raw DMG, especially for WSs is STR. However once STR reaches a weapon's max pDif rank versus a monster's level, any extra STR that player might have is mostly wasted. Sure, it might boost the ATK rating by 1 or so, but not much else.

I myself have tanked without Shield Skill assist gear for the last 4 years. I've even fought and survived such enemies as Alexander with little descernable difference to documented performances of other PLDs who have attempted the same fights.

I have however NOT tanked a Sky HNM or any others of that nature except for the Nemain Lion in Besieged Battles, and the I will admit was done mostly with the generous and strategic use of temporary items, but I assume it would be the same for anyone other PLD attempting to fight that nasty.

[Sanjiyan]

just tp gain on sheild procs

I believe also needed to prevent interrupts from shielded damage.

[Neosutra]

To response from OP:

No.

I say again, NO.

You are incorrect, equip more shield skill gear and move on. You are NOT reaching the cap on shield block on anything above tough with little to no shield skill. You DO need as much skill as possible, even with aegis, to reach an acceptable level.

[Seedz]

What Neo said.

[Judai]

I didn't even wear a shield against Alexander... PLD/DRK w/ Terra and tank at range, fight is a joke. So listing him as a major mob you tanked doesn't make sence to me.

It's obvious you either don't tank anything like Tiamat, Cerb, Khim, Odin or if you do, you suck and get hit hard in the face. Shield gear is very important and you will never have max shield block rate on anything serious even with max shield gear. Swap in shield gear for Utsu or wear it fulltime in Idle /war and stfu.

[Lordwafik]

A similie could be drawn from DD's and the STR stastic. Any advanced Melee/Ranged DD can tell you that the best stat to increse your raw DMG, especially for WSs is STR. However once STR reaches a weapon's max pDif rank versus a monster's level, any extra STR that player might have is mostly wasted. Sure, it might boost the ATK rating by 1 or so, but not much else.

From this I will give you a better comparison. Just say you need acc to hit a mob, are you going to wear sniper rings for TP, and a PCC, and a life belt if needed, and other acc gear, or will you just fly by without a thing and be satisfied with hitting the monster on every other swing?

[kayn]

Shield skill isn't an on/off button. It's a sliding scale. You need different amounts depending upon the mob you're tanking. Having all the available shield skill gear in the game won't cap you on most hard mobs. When fighting these you're /nin and your shield acts as little more than an enmity slot and an 'oh-shit' piece.

[Pendulum]

OP wear something like these?

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/197...abatonsyj4.jpg

[Stromgarde]

I don't think you (the OP) have been fighting the things where higher level shield skill is going to matter. When you are, you can feel the difference, and good grief, there is a world of it.