Shield Bash build (Kingmaker)

[Orion Pax]

Interested in a Shield Bash build for my MC, after it was suggested on another thread here. Pointers wanted.

Was thinking 12 levels of Slayer (Shield Bash combat style), some Vivi & Fighter in there for feats, more Sneak, Feral Mutagen, etc. No Crane, so no Monk.

Seems like you need at least 2 feats online to make it work (Shield Bash & TWF), but even then wouldn't you be better with two actual weapons plus the Shield spell at least for a large part of the early game? Shields don't seem to do much when they bash, and they don't protect as well as the +4 AC spell.

It's almost like, how quickly should you prioritize actually shield bashing instead of something else? Not sure if I'm missing something. Thx.

[grognardgary]

I have't actually looked at it in this particular game because it takes so many feats just to offset all the minuses from two weapon fighting if your using anything much bigger than a pair of chopsticks that about the only thing that ever gets good at it is knife master and the game eventually gives you a knife master gratis

[Babbles]

Slayer is definitely viable (as is Ranger, of course - they share that same weapon type focus thing).

The Shield you get from Ravenna adds +5 to Attack and Shield Mastery doubles down on this, so you can see Harrim has some pretty decent attack with his shield, unbuffed.

This is also on Unfair, however it *is* a late game build, for maybe 60% of the game i would use Jubi or Kali, building Harrim for this in the back ground.

You could easily stop at Slayer 16, I only went to 18 for even faster sprint ability for the 'secret' final fight. And the Mad Dog level is for animal cheese at early tough unfair levels.

Edit: yes, well, a picture would help.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2877355624

[.O.]

I have a shield basher build and it is Deliverer(Slayer), base Fighter and Vivisectionist.

Works fine on Core and presumably below.

I never had any issues while playing, the character is both my only tank (buffed by allies) and my only frontliner in a team filled with mid and backliners. I do utilise summons as meatshields and distractions for ambush type situations where I am surrounded.

I don't think my shield basher does the most raw damage but he is a respectable middle ground DPS.

As you level up you should get things like bashing finish, shield master etc. I did not focus on a specific melee weapon until late since most of my feats were used to get the shield bash build online as early as possible.

Most of the levels were Slayer, some Fighter and Vivi basically just a dip

[mbradtke]

in my opinion "shield basher" is a pure warrior themed build, like the hedwirg premade you can play, of course you can go slayer but the reason you are using a shield in this build is because it is meant to be a offense+defense hybrid and that is best achieved by staying pure warrior, armor training, weapon training and a feat each level is way too important for this build, im playing hedwirg right now and just hit 11, the build starts a but weak and has a few problems with DR enemies but once you get it rolling, it plays out really well, i think stalward defender makes a great addition once you get everything you want from warrior but that will take you at last 13 or 14? levels until you reach that point, you gonna want weapon training for shields, you fav. weapon and also the feat that lets you use heavy shields off hand without -8 penalty for main hand, the build rather lacks some AC in my opinion, so stalward defender should give you a bit more AC for little investment and the stance is also nice to have

[Orion Pax]

Hmmm helpful ideas. Still sounds a bit lackluster. Seems like it doesn’t come online til late. Partially due to lack of good shields to bash with, but that also give good AC.

Again if dual wielding why not just Knife Master with 2 Kukris and throw on a Shield spell?

Even then, lots of feats needed and you’d probably want to get to Shatter as well to help hit stuff. I dunno.

[ptirodaktill]

Crusader or Inquisitor with domain of luck for maximum shield bash finisher. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8_gyw4GsgE
As alternative STR vivi 16/Slayer will work too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TP1YsiH0dI
Crusader can start as support, then grow up to shield bash. It come online at lvl 17, trough, and its not even that good if you consider alternatives. Sancitified slayer from cotw is probably the best option for such build. But man, you do need to cast a tons of round/lvl spells to truly shine as inquisitor.
Also, fighter is the worst possible option for such build. You need some generic dmg boosts, rather that specialised bonuses.

[Immortal Reaver]

Originally posted by Orion Pax:

Hmmm helpful ideas. Still sounds a bit lackluster. Seems like it doesn’t come online til late. Partially due to lack of good shields to bash with, but that also give good AC.

Again if dual wielding why not just Knife Master with 2 Kukris and throw on a Shield spell?

Even then, lots of feats needed and you’d probably want to get to Shatter as well to help hit stuff. I dunno.

Depends if you do artisans. If yes then you have guaranteed +3 Heavy Shield quite early with Blacksmith as it is his worst shield he can make and therefore you get it if you ask him to make a shield.
Herdwig premade is probably best starting point as he has 32 point buy and with Dex belt he can take Dual wielding feats even if you do not take Ranger/Slayer for dual wielding feats without DEX.

I took pure Herdwig Fighter and honestly the AB you can get on fighter is crazy, so much that I hit -5 attacks on rolling 2 (so I did not take Shatter combo), even with Combat Expertise+Power Attack+dual-wielding penalities. But damage per hit is weakest as I had around 40-50 damage, but I hit almost all the attacks.

[ptirodaktill]

With 13 starting Dex anyone can take all dw feats in time . The amount of point buy is irrelevant if you get useless stats that don`t impact build performance, but somehow lack 20 STR at the start of the game. And you should be STR based if you want to deal something with shield bash.

[Janthis]

I'm actually running a shield bash slayer right now. I also gave him the shield wall feat so he can tank up front with Valerie, and his sneak attack always works since they are attacking the same target. It's not optimized for unfair or whatever since I don't care about that, but for normal difficulty he's perfectly viable and fun.

[Orion Pax]

Cool. Seems like there are lots of decent ways to play a Shield Bash. Still not sure if it has any real advantage? Playing on Unfair, so I am trying to make something that at least makes the most of things, if not hyper *optimal.*

Getting Dragn's +3 Heavy Shield is easy enough to get, but still it's only 5 AC, and that's not til after Act 2. He also has a +1 Heavy Shield w/ Shield Bash bonuses, but it's less AC. Compared to the Shield spell which is +4 and can happen as soon as you get an Alchemist or are a class that has Shield spell.

Also, it can be paired w/ much more potent offense. I like the idea of a STR-based dual wield build, but a Shield seems to be a sub-par off-hand weapon, compared to like Kukris or Shortsword. And since it's also sub-par AC (at least until deep into the game), I still struggle to see its advantage? I want to.

Having done a dual-wield build, I also remember them not doing well against anything with DR or that is immune to Sneak.

[Immortal Reaver]

It has 2 advantage over off-hand weapon, Bashing Finish (getting free attack after crit) and AC. Heavy Shield penality is also bugged and gives only -2 AB, instead of -4.
Also add in Shield Focus and later(at lvl 8) Greater SF to AC calculation, so you only need 3 AC shield to be on equal AC as spell early.

[mbradtke]

As @immortal has alrdy said, there are a few exclusive shield feats, that is the reason, you also wont get more than 4 AC with shield spell, what is not much, unfair is not really a difficulty you should aim for because it is not balanced, shield basher might not be unfair material but it also doesnt have to, shield basher is just a fun build for me, if you stay warrior you can get lots of feats and get a nice balanced warrior offense-defense wise that has quite a unique playstyle

[.O.]

Most builds are not viable on Unfair because it is Unfair. If you want to play Unfair you should be aiming for min max builds.

Shield basher in my opinion is a perfectly viable and fun build on Core and below, which is perfectly fine. But yeah I tend to go for thematic builds rather than pure min maxed builds. Also my Slayer based shield basher is perfectly fine as a normal sword and board fighter in the early levels and then I think start properly bashing around level 6 or 8 or so

[mbradtke]

i dont have much trouble with my hedwirg warrior on hard difficulty either ^^' if u know how to play other companions will make up for a generic warrrior build, eku and nok f.e destoy enemies and having a sorcerer for displacement also makes a big difference,
i also tested heavy shield and @Immortal is correct... heavy shield is considered a light shield in the game, i didnt know that, not that it makes a big difference.... shield master removes the penalty of the offhand anyways but you will still have a a wrong bonus on the main hand.... unless you take the special warrior weapon training feat that treats weapons as light weapons even if they are not, that would "fix" this bug or exploit or whatever you want to call it...

[ptirodaktill]

Most builds are viable for unfair if you build your party around it. STR vivi is super strong on first levels, he can carry you as DD, you just need someone to tank and someone for CC. You can switch to shield bash at lvl 9 and mostly run around in real time w/o second troughts.