Can someone explain what the targe does exactly?

[Jimmy]

I can't tell the difference between regular parry and using this shield

[Oh Deer]

+1

I've played for some time and don't see the point of taking a targe when a heater is a sustained block

[Fattyshow]

The targe is a parry shield and allows you to counter attack faster right after blocking compared to other shields. I believe it's also better at blocking attacks that would otherwise miss the other shields, when they swing at your legs for example.

[Spooky SkeleTOM]

The targe might have more stamina drain negation than your weapon (costs less stamina to block an opponent than parrying).

Also, I didnt check in detail but it might also have a wider block radius than parrying, in case several people are attacking you can't face them all at the same time. It is in fact the difference between the targe and the buckler : the buckler have a wider block radius horizontally but not vertically.

[Wenzel]

Originally posted by Fattyshow:

The targe is a parry shield and allows you to counter attack faster right after blocking compared to other shields. I believe it's also better at blocking attacks that would otherwise miss the other shields, when they swing at your legs for example.

Is this official? In my test run, I didn't notice anything. But it was rather subjective.

What's the purpose of those parry shields (targe, buckler)? As far as I can see, it's rather limited.

1) What Spooky said. Their stamina drain negation is better than that of very light weapons. So you don't loose as much stamina when you block with your parry shield rather than your weapon. But this only applies to very light weapons. And the effect is not that great.

2) You can equip throwing weapons and still block. (of course ordinary shields can do that too...)

3) I suppose they do make blocking easier due to their size? Their stats seem to suggest something different though. It's worse than that of all standard weapons. But I suppose their size makes up for that somehow?

Generally speaking, I think they're overprized (3 points for the buckler... why!!?? according to its stats it's weaker than the targe - it requires more block accuracy and has the same movement x/y. The only little advantage is 1 (!) point better stamina negation)

I wondered whether their block recovery/cool-down is shorter. But it doesn't seem to be the case.

[Apocalypse_Later]

I've read somewhere that it draws out your parry time and gives a wider range.

[Jimmy]

Originally posted by Distracted:

I've read somewhere that it draws out your parry time and gives a wider range.

can a developer confirm this?

[Wenzel]

Originally posted by Distracted:

I've read somewhere that it draws out your parry time and gives a wider range.

Hm. Again it's subjective, but from my impression that's not the case either.

Another theory: What happens if you block someone's hit with a targe/buckler when you're out of stamina? Do you still get disarmed as usual? Someone needs to test that. I can't. I have no friends.

Even then, on public servers with 64 people, I find that stamina is hardly a concern right now. Stamina recovery by far outweights stamina loss. Stamina may be a concern in prolonged, undisturbed and high intensity duels. But this is not the norm on public servers. You usually stay in your team's fighting line. Never ever have I run the risk of low stamina. If you commit so much that you spend it, you're usually dead, getting stabbed by your opponent's friends. The ordinary duel on a 64 player server lasts about 5 seconds max. Apart from dying to enemy teammates (which are your fault as they're not that fast and you should be aware of them), there are also many other infuriating random ways that will end your engagement: either you get smashed by a horserider from behind, hit by the catapult or a fire bomb or all the other stuff people can throw at you.

Maybe it's still usefull for rapier-spammers/comboers? They can first spam you, expending all their stamina and then, when you chamber them, they can still block you back without loosing their annoying needle even if they're out of stamina?

[Wenzel]

Okay so I tried it. If you parry with the buckler when you're out of stamina, you drop the buckler (and then the next time your weapon, I suppose). So no real benefit here either.

It seems as if heather/buckler are expensive cosmetics. Maybe it makes your animations harder to read for the opponent? Dunno

[Fix Up 118118]

Ive used targe and i see no sense in taking it over a heater shield, unless the counter speed increase is real but even then i never noticed much