Best 0% Arcane Failure Shield?

[Talcyndl]

I'm leveling up my first bard as a warchanter and am trying to figure out what shield to wear. Right now he has a Heavy Mithral and deals with the 5% spell failure (I try to remember to swap it out for buffing). I could use a Light Mithral, but am wondering if there are any named shields that have 0% arcane failure.

Thanks.

[Winded]

Skyvault Shield - (Shield) +4 Large Shield, Mithral, Twilight (Blue Dragon Chest)

[Wade]

I'm leveling up my first bard as a warchanter and am trying to figure out what shield to wear. Right now he has a Heavy Mithral and deals with the 5% spell failure (I try to remember to swap it out for buffing). I could use a Light Mithral, but am wondering if there are any named shields that have 0% arcane failure.

Thanks.

i wanna say the best spell failure sheild is skyvault. i believe you get it from gh tor or lotd it is plus 4 mith and twlight great for battlecasters and warchanters

[Nuckin]

There are 2 named shields that i know of that have no spell failure.
1. Skyvault Shield- +4 heavy large shield, Mith, twilight (found in Giant Hold Tor)
2. Fanion- +4 large shield, mith, twilight, magi, GFL (Necrop shield piece turn in)

Both of those shields only give a +6 shield ac bonus, which is the same ac bonus u get from a +5 mith light shield or +5 mith buckler

hope that helped a lil lol

[Kaldaka]

There are 2 named shields that i know of that have no spell failure.
1. Skyvault Shield- +4 heavy large shield, Mith, twilight (found in Giant Hold Tor)
2. Fanion- +4 large shield, mith, twilight, magi, GFL (Necrop shield piece turn in)

Both of those shields only give a +6 shield ac bonus, which is the same ac bonus u get from a +5 mith light shield or +5 mith buckler

hope that helped a lil lol



Nuckin beat me to it :D ...


I would say the Fanion would be the best shield for a bard:

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s220/jgould2005/DDO/Items/Shields/Fanion.jpg

[Talcyndl]

Thanks guys. So unless I farm for the shield pieces (ughh!), a +5 Light Mithral is as good as it gets - since that's what the Skyvault Shield works out to in AC bonus.

Good to know.

[GunboatDiplomat]

Thanks guys. So unless I farm for the shield pieces (ughh!), a +5 Light Mithral is as good as it gets - since that's what the Skyvault Shield works out to in AC bonus.

Good to know.

Yes but the dr is slightly better on the skyvault shield. Plus it looks like you're holding a barn door as opposed to a buckler. Which make you feel safer. No really, my wizard uses it all the time and the mobs can hardly see her behind it.

[sephiroth1084]

How much DR does a light mithral shield provide?

I recently pulled the Skyvault on ym wizard, and equip it often not for the AC bonus, but the DR.

That, and it is one of the coolest looking shields in the game.

[EazyWeazy]

I think light shields are 2 DR.

[BuzzSaw]

Better to use Twilight Mitheral Chain.

0% failure, and then you can use two spell effect weapons.

AC Doesn't matter anyways...
Buzz

[Samadhi]

Which make you feel safer. No really, my wizard uses it all the time and the mobs can hardly see her behind it.

See whenever I use it I get the barbarian mentality of "door must be smashed" and they stampede me in the process /sigh

[sephiroth1084]

The Skyvault has DR 6/- (blocking DR 12/- on a lvl 16 wizard).


Better to use Twilight Mitheral Chain.

0% failure, and then you can use two spell effect weapons.

AC Doesn't matter anyways...
Buzz

While true, blocking DR can be very important, and it is possible, though unlikely, to get enough AC on a bard to be worthwhile.

Talcyndl, so you're aware of it, if you aren't sitting at over 45 AC by the time you're doing Gianthold quests on Hard+, your AC is pretty much meaningless. In the Shroud, that number goes up a little more, and for things like The Hound and VoD, you need AC at over 60 to be meaningful. It sucks that this is the case, and goes against our notion of how to work with the system, but at around lvl 13+, start thinking about wearing robes with 2 useful effects on them, rather than trying to obtain the best armor you can.

Buzzsaw's suggestion of dual-wielding weapons with spell-effects on them (one Potency, one Lore usually) is probably the best thing you can do if you aren't mixing it up in weapon-based combat. On my wizard, the only time I'm not holding 2 scepters with useful effects on them is when I'm shield blocking somewhere (most often while trying to get a charge in The Reaver, or when the devils and orthons are spawning in Shroud 4 and VoD).

Early on in the game, I'd have various weapon sets that including the best Potency or element-specifc bonus I could find, a spell focus enhancement for any of the schools I was regularly casting from (for a bard you probably would want Illusion and Enchantment), and a Lore item to go along with the potency (one for each element I tend to use often, so fire, ice and acid). I would swap from one set to another befor casting each spell. When I got the Stormreaver's Napkin, I dropped all the spell focus items, and when i got the blue dragonscale robe I dropped the lore items (Superior vs. Greater isn't that big a difference).

[Inspire]

There are 2 named shields that i know of that have no spell failure.
1. Skyvault Shield- +4 heavy large shield, Mith, twilight (found in Giant Hold Tor)
2. Fanion- +4 large shield, mith, twilight, magi, GFL (Necrop shield piece turn in)

Both of those shields only give a +6 shield ac bonus, which is the same ac bonus u get from a +5 mith light shield or +5 mith buckler

hope that helped a lil lol

Almost correct here,

+5 mithral light shields gives a +6 Ac bonus; 5 enhancement 1 shield = 6
+4 mithral heavy shield(Fanion/Skyvault) gives a +6 Ac bonus; 4 enhancement 2 shield = 6

[Talcyndl]

This guy is planned on being a strength based, fighting warchanter bard. Although he'll have an ok Charisma (prolly 28 by Level 14), he's not going to be an offensive caster. So, I don't see him dual wielding scepters. :D

The AC I'm looking for is really for the mid level stuff (he's 7 now). At high levels I figure "Displacement is the New AC." :D

[rimble]

Almost correct here,

+5 mithral light shields gives a +6 Ac bonus; 5 enhancement 1 shield = 6
+4 mithral heavy shield(Fanion/Skyvault) gives a +6 Ac bonus; 4 enhancement 2 shield = 6

You say that like it matters...?

They both give a +6 Shield Bonus to AC.

They both provide the same active blocking DR of 6.

Neither has any skill check penalties.

Aside from Weight/Hardness and looks they're identical. Unless you wanna Shield Bash...? hehe

[Mindspat]

I'm leveling up my first bard as a warchanter and am trying to figure out what shield to wear. Right now he has a Heavy Mithral and deals with the 5% spell failure (I try to remember to swap it out for buffing). I could use a Light Mithral, but am wondering if there are any named shields that have 0% arcane failure.

Thanks.

+5 Mithril Light Shield
Skyvault
Fanion (this is the best in game although the optional from Ghosts of Perdition is likely impossible to obtain due to a recent stealth nerf of Chill Touch's effect of fearing Cholz.)

and/or acquiring the Seven Fingered Gloves for UMD and -10% spell failure.


You say that like it matters...?

They both give a +6 Shield Bonus to AC.

They both provide the same active blocking DR of 6.

Neither has any skill check penalties.

Aside from Weight/Hardness and looks they're identical. Unless you wanna Shield Bash...? hehe

They are only identicle to someone who doesn't know what they provide.

[Talcyndl]

So +5 Mithral Light Shield and a Shield Wand? Does it work like that?

[Lifespawn]

So +5 Mithral Light Shield and a Shield Wand? Does it work like that?

no shield stacks with the shield spell

[Talcyndl]

no shield stacks with the shield spell

Then I'm missing the Enhancement/Shield distinction mentioned above.

[Gadget2775]

So +5 Mithral Light Shield and a Shield Wand? Does it work like that?

No sir. Both iprovide a shield bonus to AC, which means they won't stack. You only need the shield wands when you're concerned about Magic Missile (possibly Force Missile....Not certain).

Re: Spell Failure....It's possible to kick your AC up to a solid range without suffering from ASF but it takes some work...My Elf Spell Blade 8 Fighter/1 Pally/7 Wiz has a standing AC of 45 without CE and maintains a 0% ASF.

Some key items...+4 Twilight Mithral Full Plat, Chaos Guards, Seven Fingered Gloves, Mithral Large Shield, Shield and Armor Ritual.

[Gadget2775]

Then I'm missing the Enhancement/Shield distinction mentioned above.

+5 Mithral Buckler provides...
1 Shield type bonus to AC
5 Enchantment bonus to Shield AC.

Shield wands just provide a Enchantment bonus to Shield AC. Therefor whichever is higher will be applied...If it's a +5 Shield, that Enchantment bonus is higher than the one provided by a Shield wand.

[Garth_of_Sarlona]

bear in mind that randomly dropped shields such as my +5 light mithral shield of improved acid resistance (RR min lvl 14) are already dropping. With mod 9 and the chest levels increasing by at least 4 levels, shields like this with useful kickers such as +4 resistance, superior potency IV, heavy fort, greater elemental resist will be dropping with increased regularity.

I would personally wait to see what happens with mod 9 before starting to farm shield pieces.

Garth

[Talcyndl]

I would personally wait to see what happens with mod 9 before starting to farm shield pieces.

Garth

Can't see myself farming for shield pieces regardless. :)

[Nuckin]

+5 mith light shields and +5 mith bucklers are much much easier to get.... along with the fact that it provides the SAME blocking DR and SAME ac bonus as the 2 named shields, plus what Garth said about potential secondary kickers....

Just saves a lot of farming for u, unless u really really want Skyvault for the graphic, or Fanion for the kickers

[rimble]

They are only identicle to someone who doesn't know what they provide.

...identical, ignoring the additional enchantments on them and just focusing on the 'shield' aspect, the other benefits are fairly self-evident. And thank you for the implication of my ignorance with no attempt made toward clarifying your statement.

Anyways, enhancement bonuses just augment the base bonus type.

A Heavy Shield gives a +2 Shield bonus to AC.

A +5 Heavy Shield gives a +7 Shield bonus to AC.

The Shield spell gives a +4 Shield bonus to AC.

Only the highest Shield bonus applies.

The post I was initially referring to, that split the bonuses into Enhancement and Shield bonus, made it sound like they could stack with the Shield spell. But no, they're all just a Shield bonus, regardless of what they are derived from. You don't break it up into parts...it's just a Shield bonus, all things included.

[cforce]

The post I was initially referring to, that split the bonuses into Enhancement and Shield bonus, made it sound like they could stack with the Shield spell. But no, they're all just a Shield bonus, regardless of what they are derived from. You don't break it up into parts...it's just a Shield bonus, all things included.

Yeah, unfortunatley Inspire's understanding is a pretty common misconception brought about by the way the in-game descriptions on the items themselves are worded. The item descriptions themselves are misleading at best, and outright incorrect at worst.

The best way I've found to clear up the confusion:

A +5 enchantment gives the "enchantment bonus" (as it's described in the in-game text) *to the Shield*. Then, *the Shield* gives a shield bonus to your AC. How do you figure out the shield bonus? Shield bonus = base rating + enchantment bonus.

Or, if you don't like this explanation, then the other one is: "The description of weapon and armor enchantments bonuses is incorrect -- it's a known bug, but has never been fixed!"

[cforce]

+5 Mithral Buckler provides...
1 Shield type bonus to AC
5 Enchantment bonus to Shield AC.

Shield wands just provide a Enchantment bonus to Shield AC. Therefor whichever is higher will be applied...If it's a +5 Shield, that Enchantment bonus is higher than the one provided by a Shield wand.


And just to clean up loose information ends: this is incorrect. If you have a +3 Buckler (1 base rating, +3 enchantment bonus), and the shield spell, you still only get a total of +4 to AC.

[Gadget2775]

And just to clean up loose information ends: this is incorrect. If you have a +3 Buckler (1 base rating, +3 enchantment bonus), and the shield spell, you still only get a total of +4 to AC.

Something new every day :)

[Mindspat]

...identical, ignoring the additional enchantments on them and just focusing on the 'shield' aspect, the other benefits are fairly self-evident. And thank you for the implication of my ignorance with no attempt made toward clarifying your statement.

Sorry if my sarcasm offended you. :rolleyes:

Nuckin posted the specifics prior to your post. I'm sorry if you missed the differences between the shields. The OP is talking about a Bard so I assume the benefits from either shield are beneficial beyond the AC improvements.

[GORAK]

I got a +5 mithral light shield, +5 docent, 18 DEX, mithral body feat, dodge and a couple other items to give my lev 11 WF sorcerer a 37 AC without any buffs. A high AC helps a caster's survivability and improves his spell casting especially against ranged attacks that can disrupt his concentration.

[query]

I shudder to ask, but what did they specifically nerf in Chill Touch for a Doomsphere? (Yeah not that they were easy to begin with.)

[TreknaQudane]

I may have overlooked it, but don't forget the Fanged Gloves as a means to lower ASF. They are +5 Strength and Lesser Arcane Casting Dexterity (-5% ASF)

[Stormanne]

not too sure on how this stacks up, but if you are going elf/drow, then you could also use heavy mithral shield and take the first level of elven arcane fluidity.

[Gadget2775]

not too sure on how this stacks up, but if you are going elf/drow, then you could also use heavy mithral shield and take the first level of elven arcane fluidity.

The Elf/Drow Enhancements shouldn't apply to shield ASF. All three levels indicate specifically Light or Light and Medium armor.

[Jondallar]

There are some older versions of Fanion which are unbound and tradeable which maybe aquired. Also If you want ASF reduced and are at an odd number for strength get a pair of Fanged Gloves from Litany of the Dead (cant remeber which side... Vol I think) +5 Str -5% asf