FVS + towershield = ok ?

[drathdragon]

My previous build of a melee favored soul went bad so i decided to swap a couple of feats (THF and improved critical)
and add Shield Mastery.

i would like also to add the tower shield proficiency... a bad idea or a good idea ?

can FVS use tower shields without problems ? or the increasing of the spell failure will be deadly ?

help me to understand pls

[Moltier]

Tower shields usually have 50% arcane spell fail, but since you are a divine, just laugh at it.
You can use it for AC and DR, and if you have shield mastery, for PRR (even without proficiency).
But dont use it without proficiency, if you want to melee.

[drathdragon]

Tower shields usually have 50% arcane spell fail, but since you are a divine, just laugh at it.
You can use it for AC and DR, and if you have shield mastery, for PRR (even without proficiency).
But dont use it without proficiency, if you want to melee.

ahhh thank u ... i had some suspect about use it without proficiency ..and now you gave me the confirm.

ofc i will have the penalties on fight... but ..who cares if i only cast spells ?

right ?

[-Zephyr-]

You don't get PRR if you don't have the proficiency.
Taking the proficiency is imo a terrible idea, but so is taking melee feats... I guess it all comes down to "do what you want" at this point.

My own FvS has an alchemical tower shield, but that was because before U14 when shield mastery was awsome with just 1 feat, I would have made a large shield if I knew what was coming.

[thegreatneil]

UMD masters touch. (20 umd i think)
This will get you Tower shield proficiency.

[zwiebelring]

My previous build of a melee favored soul went bad so i decided to swap a couple of feats (THF and improved critical)
and add Shield Mastery.

i would like also to add the tower shield proficiency... a bad idea or a good idea ?

can FVS use tower shields without problems ? or the increasing of the spell failure will be deadly ?

help me to understand pls

If you want to make it your main strategy using a shield then do it. If you want to use a shield occasionally I recommend Madstone Shield. You save a feat that way. That is what I use on my FvS.

Spell failure does not apply, you are casting divine spells.

[Matuse]

Master's Touch scrolls are cheap and not very hard to use. Don't burn a feat.

[drathdragon]

Master's Touch scrolls are cheap and not very hard to use. Don't burn a feat.

amazing.. i never tought about it..

thanks so much

[-Zephyr-]

UMD masters touch. (20 umd i think)
This will get you Tower shield proficiency.

Last I checked, that proficiency didn't give the PRR either. Will be checking as soon as my client finishes loading.

Edit : Just checked, an my FvS doesn't get any additional PRR when UMDing master touch on her tower shield.

[AtomicMew]

UMD masters touch. (20 umd i think)
This will get you Tower shield proficiency.

Nice suggestion. Do you think it's working as intended? From the description it seems it is, but it's kind of hard to believe, considering that you now get additional PRR from proficiency.

[AtomicMew]

Last I checked, that proficiency didn't give the PRR either. Will be checking as soon as my client finishes loading.

Edit : Just checked, an my FvS doesn't get any additional PRR when UMDing master touch on her tower shield.

See what happens when you unequip and re-equip after master's touch. It works.

[unbongwah]

I think a better question is what are you expecting from using a shield in the first place? Shield Mastery took a big defensive nerf in U14:

• pre-U14: Shield Mastery + tower shield provided 20% dmg mitigation (roughly 37 PRR under new system); ISM increased it to 25% (~49 PRR).
• post-U14: Shield Mastery + tower shield gets you 10 PRR (~6% dmg reduction); ISM adds +5 PRR; Legendary Shield Mastery gets up to +15 PRR (30 PRR = ~17% dmg reduction). [The problem with PRR is diminishing returns: each pt is worth slightly less dmg reduction than the pt before it.]

So you have to spend two feats and add an ED / Twist to max out your shield PRR - and it's still less protection than what we got with a single feat at lvl 1 under the old system. [Med armor adds ~15 PRR at endgame to a pure FvS, so combined it's almost equivalent to what you got under the old system.] The tradeoff is the SM feats now provide doublestrike bonuses: great for S&B tanks, useless to anyone who doesn't melee.

Which is a roundabout way of saying I don't think the Shield Mastery feats are worth taking just for the PRR, unless you plan to take both feats and twist in LSM, which makes them largely useless to non-tanks.

[moops]

I think a better question is what are you expecting from using a shield in the first place? Shield Mastery took a big defensive nerf in U14:

• pre-U14: Shield Mastery + tower shield provided 20% dmg mitigation (roughly 37 PRR under new system); ISM increased it to 25% (~49 PRR).
• post-U14: Shield Mastery + tower shield gets you 10 PRR (~6% dmg reduction); ISM adds +5 PRR; Legendary Shield Mastery gets up to +15 PRR (30 PRR = ~17% dmg reduction). [The problem with PRR is diminishing returns: each pt is worth slightly less dmg reduction than the pt before it.]

So you have to spend two feats and add an ED / Twist to max out your shield PRR - and it's still less protection than what we got with a single feat at lvl 1 under the old system. [Med armor adds ~15 PRR at endgame to a pure FvS, so combined it's almost equivalent to what you got under the old system.] The tradeoff is the SM feats now provide doublestrike bonuses: great for S&B tanks, useless to anyone who doesn't melee.

Which is a roundabout way of saying I don't think the Shield Mastery feats are worth taking just for the PRR, unless you plan to take both feats and twist in LSM, which makes them largely useless to non-tanks.

The u14 changes made my intim tank FVS very sad. But I have not changed the feats yet, I'm hoping that they make them useful again.

[Mellkor]

With the unyielding sentinel destiny active my FvS hits over 100 AC, over 100 PRR, AND 44 DR all at the same time with a tower shield. Pure awesomeness.

[unbongwah]

With the unyielding sentinel destiny active my FvS hits over 100 AC, over 100 PRR, AND 44 DR all at the same time with a tower shield. Pure awesomeness.

That is pretty awesome and I'd like to know how you built it; but the OP mentioned this was purely a caster build (I think), so I dunno how relevant all that would be to him - or, more precisely, whether it would be worth the sacrifice in feats etc.

[Mellkor]

That is pretty awesome and I'd like to know how you built it; but the OP mentioned this was purely a caster build (I think), so I dunno how relevant all that would be to him - or, more precisely, whether it would be worth the sacrifice in feats etc.

link to build is in my sig

[-Zephyr-]

See what happens when you unequip and re-equip after master's touch. It works.

I tried, and no, I still don't get any additional PRR.
My PRR is 26 if I have my tower shield with master touch, or my Twilight, or if I switch between both 50 times, or if I relog... It doesn't move.