Shield Mastery

[Rumbaar]

No kiting needed in VON 5. It is a very easy scroll farm. In my opinion, easily the best scroll farm in VON.

Why haven't you taken me on these runs?

[haku-ba]

Why haven't you taken me on these runs?

Do you really want me to answer that????

[Blank_Zero]

Do you really want me to answer that????

If I can do it on Smrti without having to gulp down SF pots the whole time, I'd love it

[noinfo]

Casters' jobs are to keep everyone hasted?

Probably safest for your wizard to just haste . Seriously if they need to let them drink a pot in between or TOD slot an alacrity item.

Epic farming with this setup, especially Chrono, would be very nice. Instead of kiting to mitigate the damage, why not just tank it all together in a Firewall etc? Saves SP, time, etc. Plus, you could keep up guards, regain SP through ConcOpp/torc faster, etc.

Shield is not a bad idea with mastery for many if you can fit it into your build. Mithril and twighlight are obvious choices here. Crafting makes this much easier as you can probably also put this onto a blank mithril shield anyway along with some other useful effect.

[noinfo]

If I can do it on Smrti without having to gulp down SF pots the whole time, I'd love it

Can you do anything on Smrti without having to gulp down SF pots is more the question. Ok maybe kobolds new ringleader or Korthos but then again....

[Blank_Zero]

Can you do anything on Smrti without having to gulp down SF pots is more the question. Ok maybe kobolds new ringleader or Korthos but then again....

Meh. Sometimes I use them when you heal me, just because I don't like playing "How Low Can He Go?" while tanking.... >.>

[Larv]

22 DR + Displace + 20% Damage Absorbtion though....It's tasty...

Your blocking DR will actualy be more than that as shield blocking DR is (BAB / 2) + 2 + Shield DR rating + Shield Mastery Feats + Shield Mastery Enhancements according to the wiki so with a divine power clicky thats 12 (shield) + 2 + 10 (BAB) + 10 (stoneskin) for 34 DR + 20% damage absorbtion + displace

[Blank_Zero]

Your blocking DR will actualy be more than that as shield blocking DR is (BAB / 2) + 2 + Shield DR rating + Shield Mastery Feats + Shield Mastery Enhancements according to the wiki so with a divine power clicky thats 12 (shield) + 2 + 10 (BAB) + 10 (stoneskin) for 34 DR + 20% damage absorbtion + displace

20% absorb is first apparently.

So, if we look at 100 dmg (Horoth), using Epic Kundy Shield (12 DR), with a 20 pure wizzy (10 BAB)

100 - 20% = 80 to start

34 DR from that is 46 dmg

so 46 damage from 100.

Then Displace for 50% miss, so average of 23/hit from Horoth. Any wizzy worth his salt is going to have ~500-600 if they're tanking (and hope and pray not to get Disintegrated :P

550/23 = 23.9....

so on a Wizzy with enough Repair Amp to full heal with a single Recon, I can take 20+ hits from Horoth before needing to heal. Add Quicken and Emp/Max'd DoTs and you have a nasty combination.

[The_Brave2]

20% absorb is first apparently.

So, if we look at 100 dmg (Horoth), using Epic Kundy Shield (12 DR), with a 20 pure wizzy (10 BAB)

100 - 20% = 80 to start

34 DR from that is 46 dmg

so 46 damage from 100.

Then Displace for 50% miss, so average of 23/hit from Horoth. Any wizzy worth his salt is going to have ~500-600 if they're tanking (and hope and pray not to get Disintegrated :P

550/23 = 23.9....

so on a Wizzy with enough Repair Amp to full heal with a single Recon, I can take 20+ hits from Horoth before needing to heal. Add Quicken and Emp/Max'd DoTs and you have a nasty combination.

as i said before, kundark warding shield is 15% since its a large shield, not a tower shield. so it would be 5 more damage, not a big difference, but horoth also has true seeing (doesnt he?), so you are looking at 51/hit, also, you cant assume you can take 23 hits, even though the new calc says its about 10 hits, because of the badges, which in reality are most of the damage he deals out. also you cant just heal yourself when you hit 1hp, you have to keep yourself at full hp all the time, so when you take a hit for 50 and a badge tick you have to heal yourself. so that extra 15 damage isnt going to make a big difference if you are only healing about 150 damage and your recon's are hitting for 300's. just my 2 cents.

also, the shield mastery becomes more useless the less damage you are getting hit for, in reality you wont be tanking horoth unless you can get upwards of 680ish hp, which on a wiz is very difficult, even with a bloodrage docent. so you are looking at tanking sully instead, which dishes out what? 50-70 damage? so that 15% is only giving you a 7-10 reduction for that damage, which would defiantly more usefull on sulu but you have to take in-to account that you wont be blocking every time he hits you, you have to cast your DoT's and possibly nuke with polar ray/lightning bolt, so lets say 1/5 hits is not blocking, so:

lets look at the top end of the damage:

10 damage - 20% = 8 damage

so now you are looking at about an additonal 6-8 damage reduction from a use of a feat, only 3-4 damage if you are displaced on a mob hitting the same without TS. doesnt seem worth it to tick off people in ToD and have to remember to cast twice as often.


To Sum it up:

Baisicly the shield mastery would only be worth it for a mob hitting 80+ damage per swing, even then it's debatable, if you are planning on soloing epic DQ2 and need higher DR, the shield mastery would for sure be worth it, but for common play I personally don't find it justifiable in the long run.

[Blank_Zero]

as i said before, kundark warding shield is 15% since its a large shield, not a tower shield. so it would be 5 more damage, not a big difference, but horoth also has true seeing (doesnt he?), so you are looking at 51/hit, also, you cant assume you can take 23 hits, even though the new calc says its about 10 hits, because of the badges, which in reality are most of the damage he deals out. also you cant just heal yourself when you hit 1hp, you have to keep yourself at full hp all the time, so when you take a hit for 50 and a badge tick you have to heal yourself. so that extra 15 damage isnt going to make a big difference if you are only healing about 150 damage and your recon's are hitting for 300's. just my 2 cents.

also, the shield mastery becomes more useless the less damage you are getting hit for, in reality you wont be tanking horoth unless you can get upwards of 680ish hp, which on a wiz is very difficult, even with a bloodrage docent. so you are looking at tanking sully instead, which dishes out what? 50-70 damage? so that 15% is only giving you a 7-10 reduction for that damage, which would defiantly more usefull on sulu but you have to take in-to account that you wont be blocking every time he hits you, you have to cast your DoT's and possibly nuke with polar ray/lightning bolt, so lets say 1/5 hits is not blocking, so:

lets look at the top end of the damage:


10 damage - 20% = 8 damage

so now you are looking at about an additonal 6-8 damage reduction from a use of a feat, only 3-4 damage if you are displaced on a mob hitting the same without TS. doesnt seem worth it to tick off people in ToD and have to remember to cast twice as often.


To Sum it up:

Baisicly the shield mastery would only be worth it for a mob hitting 80+ damage per swing, even then it's debatable, if you are planning on soloing epic DQ2 and need higher DR, the shield mastery would for sure be worth it, but for common play I personally don't find it justifiable in the long run.

You're assuming I don't know how to time my casts I think. Horoth and sullo both have very predictable attack patterns and speeds, which , if timed well enough, can help mitigate more damage. Not perfect, but it's really nice.

Also, the 20% is me thinking of Improved SM (20% on Large Shields). It'd be useful for a Tanking Caster, less so on a more general caster.

10 damage - 20% = 8 damage

so now you are looking at about an additonal 6-8 damage reduction from a use of a feat, only 3-4 damage if you are displaced on a mob hitting the same without TS. doesnt seem worth it to tick off people in ToD and have to remember to cast twice as often.

I don't quite get what you're saying here though. After the 8 damage passes through the 20% margin, there's still a 12 DR Shield behind it. So you'd take 0. With or without Displacement, etc.

[junkmail90210]

I solo a lot and have found that while I use a shield it's not that great.

First off, there's the ASF; I do have a +5 guard mithral tower that I sometimes use, with a throwing hammer of lifeshield. But the ASF is just too much on a tower, when you are really getting hit & need the spells to land it's just too risky.
I then had more success in getting +5 gurad mithral large and a pair of crafted ASF caster gloves. Combined with the divine power clicky it's some pretty good DR with no ASF :-)

I used to combine this with gorgon's docent for stoneskin proc. However I recently got the docent of defiance. Feels like godmode. :-) With the big change being that when I am surrounded by mobs and cast a spell (you can't block when you cast) I don't die as I have that base 20dr. And for that reason alone I wouldn't recommend shield mastery. Eventually you have to cast a spell and stop blocking.

Hrmm you could use spell selection that don't use hands(somatic), just verbal to mitigate ASF. Not sure if DDO supports that though.

[The_Brave2]

I don't quite get what you're saying here though. After the 8 damage passes through the 20% margin, there's still a 12 DR Shield behind it. So you'd take 0. With or without Displacement, etc.

the 8 Damage is altering the numbers after DR and 20%, just altering the number for the extra 20%.

You're assuming I don't know how to time my casts I think. Horoth and sullo both have very predictable attack patterns and speeds, which , if timed well enough, can help mitigate more damage. Not perfect, but it's really nice.

Also, the 20% is me thinking of Improved SM (20% on Large Shields). It'd be useful for a Tanking Caster, less so on a more general caster.

Some times you dont have a choice of when to cast with DoT's and Recons, but still, not impossible., so now you are using another feat for 5% damage mitigation?

In the end it comes down to prefrence, personally i cant justify it because it is only usefull in tanking situations, ToD/VoD for Sully.

[Blank_Zero]

the 8 Damage is altering the numbers after DR and 20%, just altering the number for the extra 20%.



Some times you dont have a choice of when to cast with DoT's and Recons, but still, not impossible., so now you are using another feat for 5% damage mitigation?

In the end it comes down to prefrence, personally i cant justify it because it is only usefull in tanking situations, ToD/VoD for Sully.

It really does come down to preference I guess.

Like I said, I'll try it. If I hate it, I'll change it out lol.

[The_Brave2]

It really does come down to preference I guess.

Like I said, I'll try it. If I hate it, I'll change it out lol.

Tell me how it turns out

[Blank_Zero]

Tell me how it turns out

Will do. Should be a fun trial.

[Entelech]

I would probably suggest 18 Wizard / 2 Fighter.

This still gets you Pale Master 3 and Lich. And it nets you two feats, since you lose the bonus Wiz 20 feat but do not have to take Shield Proficiency.

Large Mithral Shields (such as Light and Darkness) have only a 5% ASF, which is easily overcome with Fanged Gloves or a Cannith Crafting ASF reducing item.

For race, I'd suggest Human, Half Elf, Elf, Drow, Warforged or Dwarf depending.

Half Elf, Elf, and Drow get Arcane Fluidity.

Dwarves get a racial enhancement line that directly adds to blocking DR.

And as far as Pale Master 3, the temp HP effect from Lich is awesome when combined with high DR and a Boon of Undeath robe or docent. Bracers of the Demon's Consort and the Torc of Raiyum-de are also your best friends.

[The_Brave2]

I would probably suggest 18 Wizard / 2 Fighter.

This still gets you Pale Master 3 and Lich. And it nets you two feats, since you lose the bonus Wiz 20 feat but do not have to take Shield Proficiency.

Large Mithral Shields (such as Light and Darkness) have only a 5% ASF, which is easily overcome with Fanged Gloves or a Cannith Crafting ASF reducing item.

For race, I'd suggest Human, Half Elf, Elf, Drow, Warforged or Dwarf depending.

Half Elf, Elf, and Drow get Arcane Fluidity.

Dwarves get a racial enhancement line that directly adds to blocking DR.

And as far as Pale Master 3, the temp HP effect from Lich is awesome when combined with high DR and a Boon of Undeath robe or docent. Bracers of the Demon's Consort and the Torc of Raiyum-de are also your best friends.

1) he's a WF Archmage
2) Using a Epic shield such as epic Kundark warding shield is much better and gives 0% ASF
3) Helf/elf/drow/dwarf wouldnt work since the entire point is you are tanking sulu and reconning yourself.
4) Yep, torc/Conc Opp. Demons Consort, no. 5-Piece Abashi for 3 Exc con and +7 Con, tanking sully in the corner you cant be banished, and VoD you can wear 5-piece constantly. Agree if you are tanking horoth.
5) mulitclassing a casting class with fighter is a bad idea, loosing capstone/sp/caster levels on eladars/niac's since you need absolute max damage on those to keep aggro.

[Xioden]

Docent of Defiance + Tumble.

[Isolani]

Is it even possible to reduce the ASF on a Mithral Tower Shield to zero? It's 40% ASF, can get 15% reduction from WF enhancements, blue augment slot for another 15%...does something like Twilight stack with those? Just thinking you might be able to save a feat by just taking one shield mastery feat and finding a way to use a Mithral Tower shield for 20% damage reduction.

[Valiance]

1) he's a WF Archmage
2) Using a Epic shield such as epic Kundark warding shield is much better and gives 0% ASF- What makes you think that epic shields are better? You can craft a Greater Necromancy focus large mithral shield of axeblock and if you're elf, helf or drow get zero spell failure.
3) Helf/elf/drow/dwarf wouldnt work since the entire point is you are tanking sulu and reconning yourself. All of those would work just fine. You would be very suprised at the survivability of a well built Pale Master. They do have a burst heal spell you know.
4) Yep, torc/Conc Opp. Demons Consort, no. 5-Piece Abashi for 3 Exc con and +7 Con, tanking sully in the corner you cant be banished, and VoD you can wear 5-piece constantly. Agree if you are tanking horoth. Not a big fan of Demons Consort for non pale masters. The neg level is too much and affects WF too.
5) mulitclassing a casting class with fighter is a bad idea, loosing capstone/sp/caster levels on eladars/niac's since you need absolute max damage on those to keep aggro.

Comments above.

I have a pale master with shield mastery and absolutely love it.

V