Shield Mastery

[Blank_Zero]

I know it takes some gear and sacrifices, but how viable would the Shield Mastery line be on a WF Archmage? I like the idea of turtling up and tanking on a Wizzy, or just mitigating incoming damage while scroll farming.

How would/should I fit it in? Or is it a total waste of feats?

[Arkat]

I would think the Arcane Spell Failure chance alone would deter Wizzies from taking the Shield proficiencies needed for your idea.

[The_Brave2]

ASF isnt an issue using some special shields, specifically any epic shield with the correct augument slot.

however shield mastery is pointless, when you turtle up with an epic shield you get 12DR (epic kundark warding shield) + 10DR from stone skin (they stack) = 22DR total, which is plenty for normal use, pop a displacement and you will be fine. its not worth the feat on a very feat starved class.

[jcTharin]

its not worth the feat on a very feat starved class.

Well wizards aren't exactly feat starved. I could see one feat being worth it if you tank a lot. Maybe.

[Blank_Zero]

ASF isnt an issue using some special shields, specifically any epic shield with the correct augument slot.

however shield mastery is pointless, when you turtle up with an epic shield you get 12DR (epic kundark warding shield) + 10DR from stone skin (they stack) = 22DR total, which is plenty for normal use, pop a displacement and you will be fine. its not worth the feat on a very feat starved class.

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

[The_Brave2]

Well wizards aren't exactly feat starved. I could see one feat being worth it if you tank a lot. Maybe.

Wizards are very feat starved

Toughness/SF/GSF/Wiz PL/secondary SF/Max/Emp/Heighten/Extend - Yes, its still REQUIRED./Quicken

if you don't have the Wiz PL you have a free feat, but should be used on Spell pen.


Granted, it does sound fun, but it wouldnt be 20% since the shield wouldnt be a tower shield without some serious spell failure since i cant think of a tower shield besides skyvault without a ASF chance. Still, 15% does sound nice, but reducing your DC's for something you can already do is kinda pointless imo. my WF Wiz tanks Sulu in ToD easily without the shield mastery just fine.

Edit: also, the 15% would probably be taken off the number after the DR is applied, assuming you get hit for about 70 damage, thats -22 from DR so 48, then 15% off of 48 = ~7 Damage, so you would be taking 41 instead of 48, while blocking. not worth it imo.

[Blank_Zero]

Wizards are very feat starved

Toughness/SF/GSF/Wiz PL/secondary SF/Max/Emp/Heighten/Extend - Yes, its still REQUIRED./Quicken

if you don't have the Wiz PL you have a free feat, but should be used on Spell pen.


Granted, it does sound fun, but it wouldnt be 20% since the shield wouldnt be a tower shield without some serious spell failure since i cant think of a tower shield besides skyvault without a ASF chance. Still, 15% does sound nice, but reducing your DC's for something you can already do is kinda pointless imo. my WF Wiz tanks Sulu in ToD easily without the shield mastery just fine.

Edit: also, the 15% would probably be taken off the number after the DR is applied, assuming you get hit for about 70 damage, thats -22 from DR so 48, then 15% off of 48 = ~7 Damage, so you would be taking 41 instead of 48, while blocking. not worth it imo.

I don't have Extend anymore. 2 minutes of Haste is good. If not, bring a 20 Bard (if they still exist).

I can't think of something that does 70 dmg per hit on a regular basis apart from maybe Horoth/Epic ITD Hezrou/eDQ. Even most trash in Epic doesn't hit above 50/hit unless it's red named.

I'll keep looking into the feat selection. I pulled a Plain heart and wanna use it on my wizzy anyhow to ungimp him a bit, so I figured I'd look into maybe some experimental stuff.

And after seeing Teth tank Epic DQ1/2 with his FvS, I was intrigued.

[Rodasch]

Edit: also, the 15% would probably be taken off the number after the DR is applied, assuming you get hit for about 70 damage, thats -22 from DR so 48, then 15% off of 48 = ~7 Damage, so you would be taking 41 instead of 48, while blocking. not worth it imo. [/color]

that's the equivalent of DR 7/- in that situation alone, and scales to more when getting hit harder...7 points is 7 points, and over 20-30 hits it adds up to quite a lot (140-210) of hit points prevented. It means you can stand there longer between casting quickened reconstruct, or use that extra time to cast more damage spells and kill stuff faster...it means less sp being spent on self healing so more can be spent on damage.

Not worth it?

Guess that's subjective.

I'll just say that one of my friends in game runs a WF wizard with shield mastery and when he turtles up, epic Laillat can't even do more 0-1pt a hit on him, he actually has to take off some gear to do elite just so his guards will fire. Same with several other elite raids.

[Bodic]

Since it takes 2 feats for a wiz its expensive.
I dropped extend on my FvS and took mastery.

DR ex: AA slayer arrow dropped to 425 using L&D

[Blank_Zero]

Since it takes 2 feats for a wiz its expensive.
I dropped extend on my FvS and took mastery.

DR ex: AA slayer arrow dropped to 425 using L&D

Maybe there's something to that...Having to take Shield Prof makes it a bit undesirable, but I kinda wanna try it out. If I hate it, a couple feat swaps isn't too terribly expensive.

[Rodasch]

Wizards are very feat starved

Toughness/SF/GSF/Wiz PL/secondary SF/Max/Emp/Heighten/Extend - Yes, its still REQUIRED./Quicken

if you don't have the Wiz PL you have a free feat, but should be used on Spell pen.

Wow, really? Playing a sorc would probably explode your head then. We only get 7 feats total (8 if human). That's feat starved. You get, what, 5 bonus metas? I hardly call 13-14 feats "starved"

[Barashkukor]

I'm planning grabbing it for when I TR my PM, since it applies before everything else. Or so I read, somewhere, which I of course can't find right now -.-

So that makes the above example 10 or 11 DR/-, and it also applies when not actively blocking.

Gonna try to fit in Improved Mastery as well, for an even 20%. Not sure what to drop for that though.

[Zirun]

Whether or not it's worth it depends on you.

I solo a lot, so I'll be using a shield most of the time anyways. I'm playing a PM, so I don't have great need for Quicken, and I don't really use CC spells a lot, so I don't need SF: Enchantment. I can also not take Extend or Empower if I want, and I might not, just so I can take Mobile Spellcasting.

Why not? Depends on you. If you don't tell them, people won't know you've "gimped" your character anyways. And if they do know, you probably don't want to play with them anyways, right? :P

[The_Brave2]

Taking extend is a choice, but i believe that is is REQUIRED for Haste/Rage/Displacement, they just dont last long enough. first off, if you are waiting untill haste runs out than you are waiting too long, in my experience people usually refresh haste around 30sec/1min mark, sp consuming? sure, but 1 second without haste is a waste, heh i rhymed. so you're only getting about 1min30sec per haste. Especially in ToD, casting a 2min haste is unacceptable. You should never rely on a bard to do your job. Most groups don't wait around for a bard to start, the obvious exception being Von6.

Back on Topic:
Granted it would be usefull, and in that situation 7DR is a nice addition, but i still don't think its worth having to trade out a feat, but i guess if you are already trading out extend, and you are planning on tanking horoth, go for it. Doesnt seem worth it for the majority of questing since you really never turtle up unless you're soloing and regaining SP Via Torc/Conc Opp, in which case you arent getting hit for much though 22 DR anywase. possibly 10's? 15's? in which case you would only get around 2DR from your feat.

[Blank_Zero]

You should never rely on a bard to do your job.

Casters' jobs are to keep everyone hasted?

Back on Topic:
Granted it would be usefull, and in that situation 7DR is a nice addition, but i still don't think its worth having to trade out a feat, but i guess if you are already trading out extend, and you are planning on tanking horoth, go for it. Doesnt seem worth it for the majority of questing since you really never turtle up unless you're soloing and regaining SP Via Torc/Conc Opp, in which case you arent getting hit for much though 22 DR anywase. possibly 10's? 15's? in which case you would only get around 2DR from your feat.

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.

[The_Brave2]

Casters' jobs are to keep everyone hasted?

Part of it, yep



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.


That depends on what part of chrono you're farming, personally iv never shield blocked since i farm the first kills, just PWK, finger, circle, wail, hypno, dance, drain, eleadars/niac's and your done. i cant think of any place where you are kiting the mobs where shield blocking would be better, possibly if you are farming the marketplace and you get overwhelmed by orange named devils, but then you just throw down a dancing globe/web/hypno and your fine, possibly if you are regaining sp for that purpose only it would be nice, especially if you are trying to solo epic content. its all about where/how you would use the shield mastery that would make it worthwhile or useless.

Possibly if you are doing the DPS method of Chrono farming it would be worth it to stand in the firewall you are using, but then i would argue you aren't being efficient

[Blank_Zero]

Possibly if you are doing the DPS method of Chrono farming it would be worth it to stand in the firewall you are using, but then i would argue you aren't being efficient

I was also thinking eVON5 farming, where you can't insta-kill the zombies.


Generally, if I'm on my Bard, I keep everyone around me hasted, cuz I self cast it at ~5-10 seconds remaining.

I solo a ton of content. So maybe it would be of good benefit to have this setup. Like I said, if I hate it, I'll trade it out. No big deal. I did it with Stunning Blow on my Monk.

[haku-ba]

I was also thinking eVON5 farming, where you can't insta-kill the zombies.


Generally, if I'm on my Bard, I keep everyone around me hasted, cuz I self cast it at ~5-10 seconds remaining.

I solo a ton of content. So maybe it would be of good benefit to have this setup. Like I said, if I hate it, I'll trade it out. No big deal. I did it with Stunning Blow on my Monk.

Actually, you ARE doing it wrong if you think you can't instakill the zombies in VON5. Get Forged to show you how to do it the easy way. We farmed it for scrolls and it is a VERY easy scroll farm with all insta-kills.

[Blank_Zero]

Actually, you ARE doing it wrong if you think you can't instakill the zombies in VON5. Get Forged to show you how to do it the easy way. We farmed it for scrolls and it is a VERY easy scroll farm with all insta-kills.

Meh. I'm lazy and kiting is mind-numbing.

Just trying to find ways to break up the monotony.

[haku-ba]

Meh. I'm lazy and kiting is mind-numbing.

Just trying to find ways to break up the monotony.

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