How does shield mastery work?

[Alex301]

On the wiki it says that the damage mitigated from shield mastery occurs after DR has reduced it but i've read on several threads that it reduces the damage before DR is taken into account. Was it changed and what's the case now?

Will shield mastery also work on spells that deal bludgeoning or slashing damage such as meteor swarm and blade barrier?

[Sanadil]

I wrote this up on Vinton's Place, this looks like a good place to drop it

There was some confusion on how the Shield Mastery Feat worked. I'm going to show some tests here that explain it.

Preface:
Kabraxis has all his enhancements removed, so stalwart defender line is not on him. He was completely naked when performing these tests.
Vaultofsus had Inspire Greatness, Inspire Courage, Rage, Greater Heroism, and Recklessness on him, and no other buffs for all tests. (Needed to get to-hit and damage up high enough to make the test relevant).

Items Used:

+1 Dwarven Waraxe




+1 Wooden Tower Shield




Shield Mastery Feat Description:




VaultofSus Damage Potential/To Hit:

NO DR ON OPPONENT:
Damage Potential is 19 - 28

SHIELD MASTERY W/TOWER SHIELD ON, OPPONENT NOT BLOCKING:
Damage Potential is 15 - 22
The numbers round up when calculating in the passive DR percentage you get from just wearing a tower shield.

19 * .2 = 3.8 (round to 4)
19 - 4 = 15 for low end.

28 * .2 = 5.6 (round to 6)
28 - 6 = 22 for high end

SHIELD MASTERY W/TOWER SHIELD ON, OPPONENT BLOCKING:
Damage Potential is 1-8
The passive DR percentage is calculated AFTER your blocking DR is taken into affect.
The numbers round up when calculating in the passive DR percentage you get from just wearing a tower shield.

19 - 17 = 2
2 * .2 = .4 (round to 1)
2 - 1 = 1 for low end

28 - 17 = 11
11 * .2 = 2.2 (round to 3)
11 - 3 = 8 for high end





Blocking DR is calculated as follows: (BAB / 2) + 2 + Shield DR rating + Shield Mastery Enhancements
The following is Kabraxis's Blocking DR based on the formula: (20/2) + 2 + 5 + 0 = 10 + 2 + 5 = 17
Snapshot of his in game blocking DR with only the tower shield from the test on (he is completely naked otherwise)



The following screen shots depict approximately 80 hits give or take 5.

NO SHIELD ON, JUST STANDING, NOT BLOCKING:






SHIELD ON, JUST STANDING, NOT BLOCKING:





SHIELD ON, ACTIVELY BLOCKING:





As you can see, each of the ranges I listed above for Damage Potential, are exactly what are shown in the testing that was undertaken.


CONCLUSION:

The shield mastery feat is working as expected, and as Eladrin stated in the following post:
http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...7&postcount=10

The rumor that started my testing on this is that the shield mastery feat takes its percentage off of what your current blocking DR rating is. That has been completely negated by these tests. The shield mastery feat takes its percentage off of your INCOMING DAMAGE, and NOT your current blocking DR. It is passive, so you don't need to be actively blocking to get the DR benefit. Its also not just untyped damage, as you can see I'm taking slashing damage in these tests.

The more damage you take, the more valuable the shield mastery feat is with a tower shield. Things like Epic LOB, your damage will be reduced by a very significant amount.

[Alex301]

Ty for the response. So blocking DR is taken into account before shield mastery reduces it further.

Is this true for passive DR as well, such as spearblock?

[Sanadil]

Yes, Shield Mastery is always the last to be calculated in.

[danotmano1998]

I wrote this up on Vinton's Place, this looks like a good place to drop it

Thanks, +1. Helpful, informative post with lots of visual references.

[Matuse]

Will shield mastery also work on spells that deal bludgeoning or slashing damage such as meteor swarm and blade barrier?

No. Despite being called Slashing/Bludgeoning damage in the combat log, these damages are magical and untyped, and no DR reduces them (not even /-).

The Artificer ablative armor spell might work, that I'm not sure about.

[svinja]

Ty for the response. So blocking DR is taken into account before shield mastery reduces it further.

Is this true for passive DR as well, such as spearblock?

I believe this is true for all types of damage reductions in the game (any DR, SM, any elemental resists, fire shield, absorbtion, dungeon scaling damage reduction) - the reductions that are a percentage always apply before the ones that are a static amount.

Which makes sense, as otherwise combining them would often lead to taking 0 damage every time.

[Alex301]

That is what i had hoped But DDO seems to work out everything so you take the most damage possible

[Feanor74]

Tnx for the great effort and the nice presentation of your results.
I would like to know if some1 also tested if shield mastery and the -% damage reduction of the monk earth stance stack ( I am pretty sure that they do because some builds like the emerald seam to rely on it)

[Therrias]

Tnx for the great effort and the nice presentation of your results.
I would like to know if some1 also tested if shield mastery and the -% damage reduction of the monk earth stance stack ( I am pretty sure that they do because some builds like the emerald seam to rely on it)

It is not possible to be in earth stance while wearing a shield.

[Feanor74]

It is not possible to be in earth stance while wearing a shield.

Of cause I do know that you become uncentered when wearing a shield. The question is wether the passive DR percentage of shield mastery stacks with the passive DR percentange of the monk mountain stance.

[Moltier]

Of cause I do know that you become uncentered when wearing a shield. The question is wether the passive DR percentage of shield mastery stacks with the passive DR percentange of the monk mountain stance.

No. As Therrias said, you cant use a shield and be centered to maintain earth stance.
One or another, but not both.

[Feanor74]

Too bad...

And I always thought that one would get the percentage DR even when you do not wear a shield just for having the feat!