DDOCast 466 - Shields & Orbs

[pjstechie]

Strimtom joins Patrick for a thorough look at shields and orbs! We also take a look at U35 on Lamannia!

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Shields - 2:12
Orbs - 45:25
Game News - 56:05
Community News - 1:15:19
Lightning Post - 1:21:23
Closing - 1:27:11

Watch shows live at twitch.tv/ddocast

Update 35 Release Notes
DDO Chronicle 228
High Lords of Malkier Teaching Raids: Abbot
Notes to Strike a Chord: Canon 2
Voodu Spyce: Dragonborn First Look
Erdrique: Who is Lord Hragg
Micki’s Delirium: How to Flag for The Codex & the Shroud
Order of Syncletica: The Shintao Guardian

[FuzzyDuck81]

Some thoughts as I listened
Favourite shields:
Talon - it's a dps shield rather than defensive and can hit like a truck in the hands of a vanguard.
Shield of Tireless Aid (epic & heroic versions) - great for healers
Death's Door - looks great if you want that death knight appearance and will absorb death effects so can be a good situational switch-in.
Dethek runestone - a harder one to get since it's thunderholme raid loot, but some nice defensive benefits, plus there's the handy druidic benefits.
Stone wall & epic stone wall - from Terminal Delerium, they're STONE; unlike almost any other tower shield they're non-metal (pretty much the only other non-metal tower shields are raid loot, unless you find some very old rangen), so can be used by druids. Splash a fighter level for the 2 proficiencies & combine with dragonscale plate, you'll get a huge amount of durability on an elemental nukey caster/healer. Expanded crit range & the flesh to stone effect on bash has a nice high DC on it too plus theres decent DR so it's great for pretty much anyone.
Bastion - nice defensive & offensive combination for vanguards
Purple dragon shield - great offensive capabilities and then also sovereign vorpal - upgrade it for the orb bonus to add defenses & there's a trick to this which means that if you take improved shield bash, you retain blocking bonuses while bashing - this includes passive shield bashes as part of the attack chain so you'll have increased energy resistances & saves while you're fighting.
Madstone aegis - not only does it grant proficiency in itself, it's another non-metal tower shield meaning it's another possible one for druids, even pure ones since proficiency isn't an issue.

The fact so many shields have purple slots is great - on a fighter particularly, throw a ruby of devotion into it for boosting destiny-based healing abilities and it'll also turn it into a casting implement that'll add an extra stacking bonus.

Also love the madstone skull for cosmetic purposes, looks great.

The thunderforged & golden orb of death being non-gems is important for druids; they can't use them since it'll break the druidic oath.

Energy siphon isn't when you get hit, it's when you hit an enemy *with it*, so could be a good one for bards who will be in close combat more, bash someone and you get a couple of free spells.

Loving the racial changes - I have a bladeforged monk that's going to benefit nicely from the better healer's friend and have already LR'ed a Shadar-Kai character into a henshin monk in anticipation of the fun to be had with the improved spike chain.

The racial reincarnation I'm probably going to start doing on my ranger - I love playing the class in heroic but already have 3 past lives & am on the 4th life, so now I can just keep having the fun of that without feeling that I'm losing out on anything.

The lioness is pretty cool, my niece loves going questing or wilderness dragon hunting with the 2 kitties to help her