Shield Skills Not Worth It?

[Sloane Girlbot]

Been playing a bunch of arena mode lately and I feel like learning the shield skills actually made it much harder to use shields.

This is purely anecdotal evidence, obviously, so I just want to ask if anyone else feels this way.

NOTE: I'VE ONLY USED THE SQUARE SHIELD

With 0 shield skills the character just sort of awkwardly holds the shield in place and it blocks pretty much anything that comes towards it, my character attacks slowly and awkwardly (used the short sword) but can still beat most novice foes with minimal damage.

With a few shield skills (I *think* I used persist, endure, synchrony and maybe mobility) I found that my character moved the shield around so much trying to block or parry stuff that I actually took way more damage. While I was slightly quicker to attack, I feel like I would have benefited way more from investing in weapon skills rather than these shield skills that ultimately made the shield worse at its job.

Again, this may just be my problem or something I'm missing/not understanding, but does anyone else feel the same way?

TL;DR: Shield skills make character move shield around so much they become less effective than having 0 shield skills.

EDIT: A major thing I noticed is that without shield skills, when attacking the shield stays in place and can still block most attacks. With shield skills, attacking often results in your character moving the shield out of the way and leaving you incredibly vulnerable.

[GigaChrixt]

I disagree. the whole thing

[< blank >]

I have a recruit with maxed out shield skills, and he's much better at blocking than my other recruit who only has 2. I mainly fight with bigger shields but I also use the small wooden buckler in the novice tier and my recruit blocks almost every single blow as long as he's facing the enemy.

[angrytrex]

I disagree also. The shield skills make it many times easier to simply steamroll opponents

[GigaChrixt]

once you have synchrony and ward. you can ragdoll opponents all over the place. unless they have a shield also.

[Asialsky]

Except for one character, I prefer to rely on not being hit over using a shield. As far as not being worth it, you're kinda right for the wrong reason.

Other skills like armor mobility/persist are much more useful in the mid-game arena. I honestly only ever take shield mobility as a skill.

[angrytrex]

The shield is a better offensive tool than it is a defensive tool

[GigaChrixt]

Originally posted by angrytrex:

The shield is a better offensive tool than it is a defensive tool

True. hey angryTrex, you should link your shield throws video here