My shield-hero....reroll or stick with it?

[HargloweHyfryd]

In the hope of benifitting from the immense communal wisdom of this board, I submit to you the following question:

Not too long ago I rolled a blade/shield-hero, who has recently reached level 15 (with about 15 in shield, about 11 blade and 6 parry (or thereabouts)).

From level 14 to 15 I grouped (with my druidic wife) with a LW hero, who completely and utterly outdamaged me and got all the aggro.

Now I KNOW shield-hero's are mainly (?) damage-preventers instead of damage-dealers, but I am getting the impression my character (or the way I play?) is rather gimped.
I should probably have chosen blunt instead of blades.....

Would it be wise to reroll to a more viable hero (shield+blunt, LW, CS) or would it, in light of the fact that I mainly group with my druidic wife (Ellfrydd), be wise to stick with this character?

Harailt - level 15 hero
Gess Hoo - level 11 nightshade
Harglowe - level 40.5 druid

 

[Bedroc the Hero]

I would strongly advice you to stay shield/blades/parry. I did that up to lvl 35 or so and thereafter I specced in Celtic Spear ( I prefer CS over LW but they are pretty equal and LW look cooler! ). You also have the respec to look forward to in patch 1.52!

Im actually regretting putting so many points in CS now and would prefer a few more in shield/parry. My plan is to respec to higher in CS/Parry after respec though to be a better RvR hero.

Your role in a group for PvE ( where you get all your exp ) is to take the pain. Youll do that much much better as a shield hero than a LW/CS hero. Your job is not to deal damage. Then if you want to RvR seriously use respec later when you have the lvl for it. ( 48-50 )



You can also take a look at the Hero skill point discussion thread

 

[old.Wicoa]

Don't respec your fine. In later patches they make parry far more useful in rvr and you will do well.

 

[Perplexed]

42 shield
39 blades
44 spear
rest parry

= rathergood o_0

 

[old.Arya]

Originally posted by Perplexed
42 shield
39 blades
44 spear
rest parry

= rathergood o_0

Agreed
I am full shield but with 42 shield you can prolly do the same and you also can deal a decent ampount of damage with the spear.
Went for full shield because I can't be arsed to fiddle with weapons in the middle of a fight. And yes your damage output is really bad, still I liek my char a lot

 

[Wuren]

still think this one is the best

50 cs
42 shield
39 parry
7 blade

You get high CS which makes u able to deal loads of damage, you can slam you opponents and guard/Protect in PvE good. You get high parry, and as Mythic said they changed so u will parry more in RvR, and you get taunting blade for keeping aggro in pb groups or whatever.

 

[Bedroc the Hero]

Arya, do you notice any real benefit of your full shield? Sure you have slam at 42 skill but the last 8 should amount to something no? Id expect you to block a lot more which should be very useful for PvE and RvR alike? 20% more blocks should help. Do you know if it works this way? Anyone?

Wuren, I would not take any stat to 50. With the bonus +1 skill to all skills when you get 7200 rps id not take anything over 49. perhaps stay at 47-48 and use some realm rank points at a later patch to buy +1 or +2 skill to all skills.

Can you hold aggro with a 7 blade spec??
Im very interested in respeccing when Im at 50 to be an RvR hero! preferably full(ish ) CS and parry, a lil in blunt or blad and rest in shield ( perhaps even to 42? ). but would like to be able to go on PvE action and be useful.

 

[Gorguss]

As the weakling Gimpion I am I of course use LW and I cherrish ALL heroes and Chimps that are shield specced so they can guard my lazy ass Tanks are not about dmg, they are about tanking but in RvR however, I must agree that LW and CS is pretty damn good. One of the best combos I've seen is using the 42 shield, stun attack(at least 6 or 7 sec stun) and then changing to LW/CS and totally devastating your opponent before he even gets to swing his/her sword/anything-swingish.

My 2 cents

 

[old.Arya]

Blocking vs Styles that have a to hit bonus has a very low succes chance ( around 3 %). In PvE yes I do block a lot. And vs classes that are out of end in RvR or don't have styles at all it works fine too. Dunno if it is much more than with shield 42, but should be a bit more ( Have 56 shield with boni atm).

Yes you can hold aggro with blades 7 I think as you have the taunt style which should do for most mobs

 

[old.Tomask Writus]

Im heading for somthing like this

Blades 25
Parry 18
Shield 50
Cs 45

dunno why just feels right to me ....... also last char was a gimped shield tank kinda hard to break old habits

 

[Gorguss]

What I meant was that you should stick to it by the way

 

[Kobold]

I've been RvRing pretty much lately with my hero, and tried out different way to take an enemy down in the best way. I am a multi spec hero witch is very interesting cause you have many possebileties. My conclusion now is: GET YOU'RE DAM SHIELD SPEC TO 42 ASAP!!

I feel useful in RvR as hero even if I don't have mana as a hero. Like if I see a minstrel or so close up to me stealthed, I would usually hit him once and then he run off. But I allways go with shield up "SLAM on hot-key1" stun them with shield...switch to LW and kill them before the stun dissapear, DAM that combo rules.

At lvl 47 I can allso easy take down lvl 50 berzerkers (even in rat form) solo. The slam do pretty good damage itself...and I can do a few LW styles before stun gone. So the zerker would be at less than 50% hp when stun gone...or even dead.


BTW I got 42 shield, 39 blade, 20 parry and 35+ LW (all points until lvl 50 too. The lvl 39 style is very useful as chain to fire blade, at least against mobs and keep guards cause lowering attack speed of target alot. With this spec I will have LW at about 43, and I don't need anymore than that either, cause with RR bonus and items, no prob at all getting it to 50.

cheerz

 

[Wuren]

double post ;p

 

[Wuren]

Originally posted by Bedroc the Hero
Wuren, I would not take any stat to 50. With the bonus +1 skill to all skills when you get 7200 rps id not take anything over 49. perhaps stay at 47-48 and use some realm rank points at a later patch to buy +1 or +2 skill to all skills.

Why not take anything beyond 50?, atm i got 62 in cs. Each point increases your minimum dmg in case u diddint know. If i can be arsed to browse Vn boards i would show u a very interesting topic about tests with specc points beyond 50.

 

[Cloak_]

According to mythic all spec over 33.3 increases max dmg not min..

 

[Brennik]

Not quite right... The curve is linear (at least that's what they claim), reaching points at 2/3 spec where the damage will be 75-100% and 100-125% at full spec. Meaning both minimum and maximum damage are adjusted. As to what happens with overspec, I'm not sure, as Mythic ain't telling us. I know for a fact that archers' damage cap goes up, but I'm not sure if the minimum cap is raising at the same time... As for melee weapons, no clue.

 

[zilch]

So my Blunt + Shield hero can leave blunts at 8 (the taunt style) and start speccing in LW

Nice!