Arrows and shield

[Ferrum]

How much durability damage does arrow does to the shield, do the take reduce damage from arrows compare to a melee strike?

[one piece]

it depends of the shield/arrow/damage you deal with the arrow i think.

[Bullet Cake]

I think a good siege xbow can even go through a shield but not sure about bows.

[White Knight]

In Warband and Viking Conquest, both arrows and crossbow bolts can damage and destroy shields.

For both, it is a matter of player skill and the equipment being used on both sides.

On the battlefield, a typical enemy shield can take three or four hits before breaking with my bow. In a tournament it's more like six to eight (or more).

So compared to a melee strike (with a sword), archery is much less effective in general.

In VC, equipment has condition. Shields can be weakened, blades can be dulled, etc.

I am not very clear on the details however...

For example, shields have a base value and also something called resistance. So my steel shield has 783 points and a resistance of 21? I think this means that every time my shield takes a hit, 21 resistance points are subtracted from the enemy's strike. If they did 21 or less damage, my shield would take it all and I would be unhurt. Anything over the 21 resistance is subtracted from the 783 value of my shield?

Or are the points over 21 taken as damage to the player? Maybe this is how we take hits when our shield is clearly up? Like I said, I'm not really sure how the details work.

What I think I know is that the best shields have larger numbers for their base values and resistance. Steel shields, Thick Huscarl shields, etc. have 20+ resistance and large base values. Carrying those means that my shields don't break...often.

For the enemy, the better their armour, the better their shields, generally. Peasants have weak shields, guys in chainmail do not.

If I wanted to go out and break shields, I would get a big axe that specifically does extra damage to shields.

[Ferrum]

Some its is still possible that a very good bow and arrow can destroy a mediocre shield in 1-2 shots?

[Tuidjy]

Shields have hit points, resistance, size (physical dimensions), and speed. All of these benefit from the player skill that governs shield use - the shield gets more hit points, resists more damage, catches arrows and blows from further out, and delays actions less. The skill changes across modules, though. In Native, "Shield" affects shield use, while in Viking Conquest, "Weapon Mastery" is used instead.

By the way, a resistance of X does not mean that exactly X points from the damage are absorbed without harm. First of all, the maximum damage ignored is affected by the shield skill, and second, there is a random roll that says how well the shield resists. Also resistance is applied after all the damage modifiers have been applies, i.e. axes and javelins get their bonuses on top of those for speed, piercing, etc.

In Native, shields break a lot more because troops, companions and players are less likely to have high shield skills, and because bows and crossbows have high piercing damage. In Viking Conquest, shields are usually higher quality, all ranged weapons but javelins have lower damage, and arrows have cutting damage on top of that. But the real difference is that almost all troops have a much higher "Weapon Mastery" skill than even elite Native troops' "shield" skill.

So, in Viking Conquest, if you set up your companions to draw the enemy archers' fire during a siege, and you take a look at their shields when the fighting is done, you may see literally hundreds of arrows sticking out.

Originally posted by HotSoup:

Some its is still possible that a very good bow and arrow can destroy a mediocre shield in 1-2 shots?

In Native, the best bow and arrow will destroy mediocre shields in one shot, and even the best ones in two or three shots. Yes, there are stronger shields, but they are small, and a good archer will just do headshots.

In Viking Conquest, there are barely any mediocre shields, and a great archer with the best of bows will take 7-10 arrows against elite troops. It is much better to shoot the low tier troops in the knee or foot, and try to catch the elites as they throw javelins, get distracted by your allies, or even as they try to attack you.

You better be wearing a pelt or robe if you want to try the last one, though. Also, only try it on enemies with long spears, like in the screenshot above. If you try it on people with swords, they will kick or bump you out of your shot before they lower their shield, i.e. they will not try to attack from far enough for your trick to work.

It is OK to try it on spearmen who also have good swords. With a bit of practice, you'll learn to sneak the arrow past the shield as they switch to their swords.

[Ferrum]

@Tuidjy Are you a modder or one of the devs? The info you give are very in-depth. Not sure any normal player will know all of that.

Btw, does all this apply to xbows also, since they are supposed to be more powerful than a bow. Would they break though shield more easily or its the same but with more damage if hit?

[Tuidjy]

I am not a developer of anything Mount and Blade related, and I am no longer a modder, period. I know a bit because I have played the game for a long time, because I used to mod it under a different handle, and because I still poke around when I am not sure about something. I also listen to people who know a lot - there are many who are as interested in Mount and Blade as I am, and some are more knowledgeable.

As for crossbows, in Native they obey the same rules as bows, except for damage and projectile speed. Note that bypassing a shield depends on projectile speed, and damaging a shield on damage.

Siege crossbows can bypass many shields, especially at close range because their projectile speed is 70, and their bolts lose speed more slowly. In comparison the war bow's projectile speed in only 59, so it can bypass a lot fewer shield types... it all depends on range and shield resistance. Many mods change those values, and in Floris and Pendor, for example, there are many bows which will bypass shields.

You are not correct about the maximum damage, though. Without taking proficiency and the uniform strength bonus that crossbows should not get but do, the maximum raw damage from a crossbow is 68+2, which you get with a masterwork siege crossbow and steel bolts. With Power Draw 10, a masterwork war bow firing Khegit arrows does 2.40 x ( 30 + 3) = 79.2 damage. Add the fact that you can fire many arrows for every bolt, and most dedicated characters will have much higher bow proficiency than that of crossbow using characters. So it is not uncommon for high level archers to have 140+ potential damage for a chest shot. Crossbows cannot even theoretically get that high.

All this to say that it is easier to bypass a shield with a crossbow, but it is easier to break a shield with a min-maxed archer. In Native.