Hey, so... How do shields work exactly ?

[Humanoïde]

If I understand correctly, when I attack an ennemy with a shield, there is a chance for me to miss, based on my melee/range attack compared to their melee/range defense which is itself buffed by their shield . Then, if my attack hit, there is an other static chance that the attack hit the shield instead of their stupid face.

Is that right or is the chance to hit the shield already incorporated within the first attack roll ?

Does increasing a character's melee attack improve their chance to hit past a shield ?

Assuming the chance to hit the shield is static, what is the probability ? 25% ? 50% ? Does it vary according to the weapon ? I get the feeling that ranged weapon hit shields more frequently than their melee counterpart, is that just me being paranoid ?

How does Shieldwall factor into that chance to hit shield or miss ?

Does using Lash with a flail increase the chance to hit past a shield ? I've read that, but I've also seen lashes hit the shield, so if it's true, the chance to hit head isn't 100%.

Does melee defence increase the chance to block with a shield or only the chance to dodge ?

Sorry, that's a lot of questions, but information seems strangely sparse on the topic given how frequently shields are used/encountered in the game.

[Tephros83]

Originally posted by Humanoïde:

If I understand correctly, when I attack an ennemy with a shield, there is a chance for me to miss, based on my melee/range attack compared to their melee/range defense which is itself buffed by their shield . Then, if my attack hit, there is an other static chance that the attack hit the shield instead of their stupid face.

Is that right or is the chance to hit the shield already incorporated within the first attack roll ?

No, I think the +15 static buff from the (wooden) shield, and another +15 for using shieldwall, and another +5 per ally next to them using shieldwall, is all added to their melee defense for one roll against it.

As to whether it simply whiffs or hits their shield when you miss, I am unsure what determines that.

...
Does using Lash with a flail increase the chance to hit past a shield ? I've read that, but I've also seen lashes hit the shield, so if it's true, the chance to hit head isn't 100%.

Only with flail mastery, you give up the ignore shield bonus if you don't have mastery.

[A5G_Reaper]

Pretty sure it first see if the attack roll beat the base defense, and if not see if it beat the base+shield defense (including shieldwall), and if it does then the attack hit the shield. If not, it's a direct hit to the target.

So if base = 10 and shield give another 10, rolling 1-10 is missed attack, rolling 11-20 is shield hit, anything beyond that is a direct hit.

[Wyrtt]

Hiting a shield happens if you roll missed targeted value just a little bit. A a pity prise you get a 1 dmg dealt to enemy shield. That is all there is to it.
Shield gives static buff to your bases stats.

[Humanoïde]

Originally posted by Wyrtt:

Hiting a shield happens if you roll missed targeted value just a little bit. A a pity prise you get a 1 dmg dealt to enemy shield. That is all there is to it.
Shield gives static buff to your bases stats.

Thanks for your answer, but what is "a little bit" ? Less than 5 ? 10 ? 15 ? Given how often I see attacks hit shields the margin would have to be pretty wide.

A5G_Reaper's comment might be the answer though... If the shield has 15 melee defense, the margin would be 15. Still... I feel like I hit shields more than 15% or even 25% of the time... Of course, shield ennemies love to use shield wall, so that increases the odds.


But what I still don't understand is that I'm pretty much certain some weapons hit shields more often than other. Maybe I should actually count the number of hits during a few battles, but from what I've seen, bows and crossbows tend to hit shields the most, followed by 2H weapons, followed by 1H, to my surprise though, throwing weapons seem to be the most effective, hitting shields way less than they feel like they should... Do they have some hidden bonuses against them ? Because if it had something to do with ranged defense often being worse than melee defense, bows wouldn't be so ineffective.

Is this all just me imagining things or do y'all also feel the same thing ?

[A5G_Reaper]

If anyone have shieldwall up, odds are that's where the huge chunk of defense comes from. Especially with shield mastery. Heater shield, for example, gives 20/15 to melee/ranged defense (swap value for kite). It goes up to 25/18 with mastery. Upon activating shieldwall that number doubles.

Footmen, who commonly have those shield, have 10/5 base defense. Missed melee attack hit air 10% of the time and hit shield 25/50% of the time.

As for attacks that hit shield, ranged attacks are often missing because they simply have the worst hitchance due to distance. Warbow with mastery quickshot at max range is 32% penalty already. Some 2-hander attacks have penalty to hitchance and even when they add the chance it's smaller than 1-hander version.

[A5G_Reaper]

Meanwhile throwing weapons have hefty bonus accuracy up close, and you can't throw them from too far away anyway. 2 tiles is +20%, 3 is +10%, 4 is neutral, and it can't fire further unless the target is downhill in which the height advantage nullifies the penalty.

[Tlewnipla]

Is this all just me imagining things or do y'all also feel the same thing ?

Yes, you are imagining things :)

There is no hidden malus or bonus against shields except the aforementioned flail.

Thrown weapons have a very high to hit bonus when you are only 2 tiles away from your opponent (20%) so they do bypass ranged defense often when the user has high ratk, too.

Ranged weapons do not benefit from the surround bonus like melee weapons do and their hit chance gets lower the farther away your target is. That is why you need higher level bros to hit consistently with these.

It already got mentioned, shield walled enemies often get more mdef from their shield than from their statline, that is why you hit the shield more often than the thin air.

[Wyrtt]

Originally posted by Humanoïde:

Originally posted by Wyrtt:

Hiting a shield happens if you roll missed targeted value just a little bit. A a pity prise you get a 1 dmg dealt to enemy shield. That is all there is to it.
Shield gives static buff to your bases stats.

Thanks for your answer, but what is "a little bit" ? Less than 5 ? 10 ? 15 ? Given how often I see attacks hit shields the margin would have to be pretty wide.

A5G_Reaper's comment might be the answer though... If the shield has 15 melee defense, the margin would be 15. Still... I feel like I hit shields more than 15% or even 25% of the time... Of course, shield ennemies love to use shield wall, so that increases the odds.


But what I still don't understand is that I'm pretty much certain some weapons hit shields more often than other. Maybe I should actually count the number of hits during a few battles, but from what I've seen, bows and crossbows tend to hit shields the most, followed by 2H weapons, followed by 1H, to my surprise though, throwing weapons seem to be the most effective, hitting shields way less than they feel like they should... Do they have some hidden bonuses against them ? Because if it had something to do with ranged defense often being worse than melee defense, bows wouldn't be so ineffective.

Is this all just me imagining things or do y'all also feel the same thing ?

You roll d100 and shield gives those 15-20+ defence points which are higher than normal base mdef. So relative to misses those 20 points are like 75% of enemy entire defence value if we talk about some trash mobs.
In that case you would hit shield more often than just air.