Can someone explain to me what's the point of shields?

[Zeriel00]

They weight a ton

They usually don't provide any passive bonus

They have a limited area of block and you would take full damage if missed

They consume massive amounts of Stamina to prevent damage

While blocking you won't have stamina left to attack

The block can often be broken and you would be stunned (Poise broken)

Their Ashes of War are often not used because they replace the Weapon's

So at what point would it be better to use a shield instead of just rolling away? You can roll away for little Stamina, roll more often than you can block, and if timed you would always take 0 damage.

I don't see any reason to use a shield instead of dodging

[13🍀]

use shield and a simple speer: you can hold up the block and attack the same time. thats only one reason with shield.

[Phantom]

1 - You can get some shields that negate 100% of almost ALL damage taken with 0 stamina use
2 - Some shields have other bonuses... the PK shield of choice obliterates players with multiple invisible spells that cost only a couple of RUNES to cast... totally OP
3 - You CAN switch your shield and weapon slot then just left hand the weapon (you can rebind your controls for that too if your used to what is attack)
4 - Yes dodge is a good move... if you time a dodge sure you get 0 damage... if you time a block you stagger the enemy and get free hits on them


Essentially

Dodging = new players and lower skill tier players
Shields = experts and griefers

[Tisiphone Edge]

Parries and Guard Counters are fun

Also stamina ceases to be much of a problem with enough endurance and a decent guard boost on your shield.

[Sountrex]

Well unlike DS3 the shields have actually their own use in combat rather than just defense now.

When an enemy strikes your shield and gets staggered back you have a quick window to retaliate and offer a sort of riposte to their attack using SHIFT+M1 (I play on KB IDK the button for consoles or controllers.)

Which makes it so you can immediately do an attack that does a rather big amount of damage. So aside from the shield arts which most are fun, I personally prefer the jellyfish shield as it does boost damage, then again I am not a shield user but if I were to use one it would defo be the jelly. Boosting my damage with little to no FP use whilst also protecting me and letting me reposte a blocked attack?

Count me in! I like the way shields are now, both defensive and offensive weapons if timed right.

[Zeriel00]

Originally posted by Phantom:

1 - You can get some shields that negate 100% of almost ALL damage taken with 0 stamina use
2 - Some shields have other bonuses... the PK shield of choice obliterates players with multiple invisible spells that cost only a couple of RUNES to cast... totally OP
3 - You CAN switch your shield and weapon slot then just left hand the weapon (you can rebind your controls for that too if your used to what is attack)
4 - Yes dodge is a good move... if you time a dodge sure you get 0 damage... if you time a block you stagger the enemy and get free hits on them


Essentially

Dodging = new players and lower skill tier players
Shields = experts and griefers

You have some interesting points, what PK shield do you mean? I barely see shields in PVP

[Pedro]

You are untouchable with shields (except red head hoe)

[Kyutaru]

Even if you get your guard broken -- who cares? The shield negates a physical attack full stop. One attack that would have cost you 80% of your health is just stopped. You can dodge roll away almost immediately and big boss attacks aren't that frequent.

[Zeriel00]

Originally posted by Sountrex:

Well unlike DS3 the shields have actually their own use in combat rather than just defense now.

When an enemy strikes your shield and gets staggered back you have a quick window to retaliate and offer a sort of riposte to their attack using SHIFT+M1 (I play on KB IDK the button for consoles or controllers.)

Which makes it so you can immediately do an attack that does a rather big amount of damage. So aside from the shield arts which most are fun, I personally prefer the jellyfish shield as it does boost damage, then again I am not a shield user but if I were to use one it would defo be the jelly. Boosting my damage with little to no FP use whilst also protecting me and letting me reposte a blocked attack?

Count me in! I like the way shields are now, both defensive and offensive weapons if timed right.

By riposte you mean the guard counter? Yea you're right I forgot about that. I guess it is useful but really difficult to time correctly if someone is jumping and hitting you like an idiot. Wouldn't it be more efficient to just roll and attack?

[Zeriel00]

Originally posted by Kyutaru:

Even if you get your guard broken -- who cares? The shield negates a physical attack full stop. One attack that would have cost you 80% of your health is just stopped. You can dodge roll away almost immediately and big boss attacks aren't that frequent.

Rolling also negates all attack damage and it can be performed more often than blocking tough. Not to mention the extra weight you save can be used for more weapon damage.

[Sabaithal]

You're using the wrong shields. With the right shields you are...
- Barely taking any stamina per hit, and can tank A TON of hits.
- Completely immune to all standard non-grab attacks for the most part.
- Can attack with guard raised with some weapons (spears mostly), effectively making your defense an offense if you're being smart about it.
- Can block arrows with ease.
- Some shields can block partial spell attacks for those too numerous to evade all of them.
- With greatshields, many enemies get "deflected" whenever they hit your guard, even some miniboss attack (misbegotten warriors).
- They also minimize danger from long lasting attacks that are difficult to evade through entirely.

[Morton Koopa Jr.]

Uh...what?

I can't tell if you're trying to make fun of shield users, or you're unable to use shields properly.

It's a safe, reliable way to prevent damage. Like, take Margit's 7 hit combo. You COULD dodge every hit. Or you could just hold shield and block all of them without risking a mistimed roll.

Asking this is like asking why do ppl roll when fighting crucible knights, when they can just parry instead.

I mean, they could parry. Or maybe they want something safer than parrying, or they're not good at parrying.

[Zeriel00]

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

You're using the wrong shields. With the right shields you are...
- Barely taking any stamina per hit, and can tank A TON of hits.
- Completely immune to all standard non-grab attacks for the most part.
- Can attack with guard raised with some weapons (spears mostly), effectively making your defense an offense if you're being smart about it.
- Can block arrows with ease.
- Some shields can block partial spell attacks for those too numerous to evade all of them.
- With greatshields, many enemies get "deflected" whenever they hit your guard, even some miniboss attack (misbegotten warriors).
- They also minimize danger from long lasting attacks that are difficult to evade through entirely.

These are very valid points, thanks. Also, what shield would consume 0 stamina? for Example blocking something like a Collosal sword seems to drain all Stamina and leveling up Shields seems to be almost pointless since you only get like 1 extra Poise every 3 levels.

[Sountrex]

Originally posted by Zeriel00:

Originally posted by Sountrex:

Well unlike DS3 the shields have actually their own use in combat rather than just defense now.

When an enemy strikes your shield and gets staggered back you have a quick window to retaliate and offer a sort of riposte to their attack using SHIFT+M1 (I play on KB IDK the button for consoles or controllers.)

Which makes it so you can immediately do an attack that does a rather big amount of damage. So aside from the shield arts which most are fun, I personally prefer the jellyfish shield as it does boost damage, then again I am not a shield user but if I were to use one it would defo be the jelly. Boosting my damage with little to no FP use whilst also protecting me and letting me reposte a blocked attack?

Count me in! I like the way shields are now, both defensive and offensive weapons if timed right.

By riposte you mean the guard counter? Yea you're right I forgot about that. I guess it is useful but really difficult to time correctly if someone is jumping and hitting you like an idiot. Wouldn't it be more efficient to just roll and attack?

Well yes, that's the typical Dark souls instict either roll spam or duck and dive, aka roll and then run away to heal.

But since you mentioned shields if you do use shields they do come with perfect uses, such as the parry chads from DS3 who could literally parry 99% of the attacks. Grab a parry shield, do a guard counter, buff up with the jellyfish, or use a massive great shield like a chad and show dominance to the giants with the arrows by blocking said massive arrow with 0 stamina drain.

You may not find any reason for shields. But everyone has a play style and with this new guard counter system I am definitely going to try a shield and x weapon run where I always one hand one weapon and have a shield in the other as it adds more nuance.

[Zeriel00]

Originally posted by Morton Koopa Jr.:

Uh...what?

I can't tell if you're trying to make fun of shield users, or you're unable to use shields properly.

It's a safe, reliable way to prevent damage. Like, take Margit's 7 hit combo. You COULD dodge every hit. Or you could just hold shield and block all of them without risking a mistimed roll.

Asking this is like asking why do ppl roll when fighting crucible knights, when they can just parry instead.

I mean, they could parry. Or maybe they want something safer than parrying, or they're not good at parrying.

I haven't tried those shields, I was testing out the Eclipse Great Shield and the Bronze Medium Shield. They seem to be good on paper but they have huge areas that they don't cover and can get you to take full damage when you could have just rolled away instead.

[Kyutaru]

Originally posted by Zeriel00:

Originally posted by Kyutaru:

Even if you get your guard broken -- who cares? The shield negates a physical attack full stop. One attack that would have cost you 80% of your health is just stopped. You can dodge roll away almost immediately and big boss attacks aren't that frequent.

Rolling also negates all attack damage and it can be performed more often than blocking tough. Not to mention the extra weight you save can be used for more weapon damage.

Ya but that requires getting good. Shields are great emergency life savers that don't require good timing to use. If you have no idea how to avoid the attack, just block it.