Whats the difference between normal shields and tower shields?

[Ms Peaches]

Was curious if the tower shield blocked more powerful attacks or was the "parry" block was the only difference

[Sumppi]

Tower shields have more block power so they can obviously block stronger attacks but can't parry.

[Suzaku]

The shields tell you right in the tooltip how much damage they block.

But yes, tower shields block more damage with a normal block, but can't parry.

Small shields can parry more damage than a tower shield blocks, which uses less stamina and causes the parried target to recoil and take extra damage from attacks during that animation.

[Bunker]

a normal shield blocks Normals while a tall shield blocks talls? :p

[Quineloe]

tower shields slow you down more too.

The only tower shield worth using imo is the Serpent Scale shield as that doesn't slow you down as much and blocks everything in the game.

However it doesn't upgrade beyond the BM shield, so you can upgrade to that and get parrying back.

[Naewyng]

Tower shields are just not worth it at this point in the game, considering the parry window is colossal.

[NeonRed]

There's seriously no reason to ever statistically use a tower shield in their current state, so many cons with no actual pros.

Meanwhile Round Shields: parry multiplier increases how much damage you can block on a parry which ends up being drastically more damage than a tower could ever block (gap becomes even larger with block skill), forced staggered states for a weapon's parry damage bonus, only -5% movespeed vs tower -20% which is massive and knockback from parrying is a form of crowd control to give you some more breathing room.

Tower Shields are just a player trap in their current state, they need some hard buffs, even nerfing parry wouldn't make me use them.

[Ms Peaches]

Originally posted by Suzaku:

The shields tell you right in the tooltip how much damage they block.

But yes, tower shields block more damage with a normal block, but can't parry.

Small shields can parry more damage than a tower shield blocks, which uses less stamina and causes the parried target to recoil and take extra damage from attacks during that animation.

The main reason I ask is I come from the dark souls 3 mindset where the different shield tiers have different deflection bonuses outside of pure mitigation numbers. so a medium shield would cause an enemy to stagger more than a small shield etc.

But sadly looking at the feedback in this thread it seems the turtle power doesn't quite balance out the drawbacks of weight and lack of timed blocks

[Mringasa]

I've only found use with the Tower Shields against things that do major damage. So Bosses and Stone Golems (working on my Silver gear right now).

Have had excellent luck against Golems in melee though, using the SSS to keep damage to a minimum while smiting them with whatever weapon I'm skilling up. Pretty amusing when they aggro a couple wolves as well, and I can turtle up a bit while the doggies play with them.

[Quineloe]

Originally posted by Ms Peaches:

Originally posted by Suzaku:

The shields tell you right in the tooltip how much damage they block.

But yes, tower shields block more damage with a normal block, but can't parry.

Small shields can parry more damage than a tower shield blocks, which uses less stamina and causes the parried target to recoil and take extra damage from attacks during that animation.

The main reason I ask is I come from the dark souls 3 mindset where the different shield tiers have different deflection bonuses outside of pure mitigation numbers. so a medium shield would cause an enemy to stagger more than a small shield etc.

But sadly looking at the feedback in this thread it seems the turtle power doesn't quite balance out the drawbacks of weight and lack of timed blocks

Tower shields were of dubious use in Dark Souls as well besides insane stability monsters like Havel's Greatshield against bosses you can't parry.

[Ms Peaches]

Originally posted by Quineloe:

Originally posted by Ms Peaches:

The main reason I ask is I come from the dark souls 3 mindset where the different shield tiers have different deflection bonuses outside of pure mitigation numbers. so a medium shield would cause an enemy to stagger more than a small shield etc.

But sadly looking at the feedback in this thread it seems the turtle power doesn't quite balance out the drawbacks of weight and lack of timed blocks

Tower shields were of dubious use in Dark Souls as well besides insane stability monsters like Havel's Greatshield against bosses you can't parry.

oh I never used tower shields in ds3 except for one boss. I was just using it as an illustration of the different traits and such

[I-Chi]

I think nobody has focused on the stamina used for blocking (??) I'm wondering if blocking using tower shields uses less stamina...

My guess is that tower shields might be better for tanking non-starred mobs that would otherwise quickly drain stamina.

[NeonRed]

Originally posted by Butt Stallion:

I think nobody has focused on the stamina used for blocking (??) I'm wondering if blocking using tower shields uses less stamina...

My guess is that tower shields might be better for tanking non-starred mobs that would otherwise quickly drain stamina.

Nope, still garbage; stamina consumed from blocking seems to be tied to how strong your block is to the damage coming in, and a parry with black metal shield blocks 150 damage at max rank to black metal tower's 115 block at max rank. Even if my guess on damage blocked = amount of stamina drained is wrong, parrying does cost less stamina than a block and is an easy check with some devcommand testing.

There's also the factor that certain enemies like wolves attack frequently which will quickly drain your stamina out if you block too much, while parrying will stagger them interrupting that attack chain and giving you some time to recover stamina if needed.

TL:DR Tower's aren't even stamina efficient at blocking.

[I-Chi]

Originally posted by NeonRed:

... Even if my guess on damage blocked = amount of stamina drained is wrong...

So... your conclusion is based on a guess, and not actual testing?

[Quineloe]

Originally posted by Butt Stallion:

Originally posted by NeonRed:

... Even if my guess on damage blocked = amount of stamina drained is wrong...

So... your conclusion is based on a guess, and not actual testing?

Feel free to disprove it.

[Meewec]

Originally posted by NeonRed:

There's seriously no reason to ever statistically use a tower shield in their current state, so many cons with no actual pros.

people with physical disabilities or decaying reaction speed can benefit from them and grant acessability to the game