Shield/Broadsword and Parry

[cohRock]

I have a level 17 Shield/BS tank who my Mids plan was to take Parry at 18.  Now I'm having second thoughts.

1. The defenses of Shield are positional.
2. Parry is a low damage attack which provides Melee & Lethal defense when it strikes foes.  The Melee portion would still be useful, but his normal Lethal defense level is so low I don't think Parry would ever help it.
3. The base damage of Kick is just a tad higher than Parry.  It has an occasional knockdown instead of Parry's +defense.

Because of its limited usefulness and low damage for a Shield tank, what I am thinking of doing it is skipping Parry and maybe taking Teleport Target instead.  The other option would be to grab Fighting Pool powers, Kick, Tough, and Weave.  These are not in the plan right now, although my SR tank finds them useful.  The build would give up Hasten and Super Speed to make room.

[Nemu]

The melee defense can be extra buffer against defense debuffs, not a super great argument to take it because if ranged defense debuffs are already getting through your ranged defense they will continue to get through and cascade your melee defense buffer.

 

That's once your build matures though, for the leveling process there is no reason why you can't take it and have an attack that cycles quickly AND gives you a defense benefit. You can respec out of it once your build matures, you get plenty of respecs along the way.

[Sovera]

A aNemu said. Shield is melee, ranged, aoe. Parry is also melee. I suggest taking it while you level to shore up your defenses.

 

I also think that you can work it in and change slotting dedicated to melee defense into something else though wirhout looking at Mids I do not know how useful this approach would be.

 

 

[Without_Pause]

While I know it was Rad/kat versus Shield/bs, I was looking to dump DA once I hit 22 on my build as I didn't feel like it was worth it, and I had assumed DA was going to be a cornerstone attack to help Rad out in terms of mitigation. Maybe it was due to me playing red side, but I was dealing with a decent amount of ranged attacks so using DA just felt not needed outside of filling in an early attack chain.

[Yomo Kimyata]

Parry is a great power, even with a typed defense build.  But it's for safety, not DPS.

 

In theory, you could get 30%+ melee defense every 1.5-2 seconds, that stacks, for 10 seconds.  It's bonkers to keep 100% melee defense up constantly!

[Marshal_General]

1 hour ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

Parry is a great power, even with a typed defense build.  But it's for safety, not DPS.

 

In theory, you could get 30%+ melee defense every 1.5-2 seconds, that stacks, for 10 seconds.  It's bonkers to keep 100% melee defense up constantly!

Until someone who doesn't live by the sword shoots you from range!

[Sovera]

8 hours ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

Parry is a great power, even with a typed defense build.  But it's for safety, not DPS.

 

In theory, you could get 30%+ melee defense every 1.5-2 seconds, that stacks, for 10 seconds.  It's bonkers to keep 100% melee defense up constantly!

 

I don't think it stacks for Tankers though.

[Major_Decoy]

Honestly, I feel like the lethal portion of parry can safely be ignored.

 

For typed defenses, aside from Parry, Golden Avalanche, Guarded Strike, and Defensive Swing, anything that provides Lethal Defense also provides smashing defense. So if you're trying to increase your smashing defense, you'll end up increasing your smashing/lethal defense. So if you're building your defenses, you'll either end up getting lethal over softcap or smashing under.

 

For Positional Defenses, I think every attack that's typed lethal is also ranged, melee, or AOE. I think there are a couple of psionic typed attacks without position, and a few toxic attacks as well, but I can't think of any lethal without positioning.

[cohRock]

Thanks, everyone, for your advice.  I decided to go for the Fighting Pool and replace Parry with Kick.  It should be noted when I'm teamed with other melee guys, Phalanx Fighting can bring my Melee, Ranged, and AoE defenses from 40% to up to 75%, maybe more.  With Tough, his smashing and lethal resistances are greatly improved, combined with the S/L resistances from Deflection.  He'll pick up Weave late in the build (level 47), further improving all defenses.

 

It would seem that Shield Defense is designed for the teaming tank.  Phalanx Fighting helps me,  and Grant Cover provides defense and some debuff protection to nearby allies.  It's not really a solo set, and definitely not for a farmer with teammates sitting by the door.  I guess Parry would be nice solo, though.  Teamed, it offers very little.

Edited December 18, 2021 by cohRock

[Werner]

On 12/18/2021 at 12:34 PM, cohRock said:

It would seem that Shield Defense is designed for the teaming tank.  Phalanx Fighting helps me,  and Grant Cover provides defense and some debuff protection to nearby allies.  It's not really a solo set...

Oh, it makes a great solo set too, even if I agree that it was designed for the teaming tank. 

[StriderIV]

4 hours ago, Werner said:

Oh, it makes a great solo set too, even if I agree that it was designed for the teaming tank. 

Shield is just.... so robust. I love it haha. My Shield/Elec and Shield/Rad are 2 of my favorite tankers.

[cohRock]

5 hours ago, Werner said:

Oh, it makes a great solo set too, even if I agree that it was designed for the teaming tank. 

... and @StriderIV, I look forward to getting him  to 50 and checking it out in full glory. My tanks often skip the armor tier9 as unnecessary.  Would you suggest that for Shield?

Edited December 20, 2021 by cohRock

[Werner]

15 minutes ago, cohRock said:

My tanks often skip the armor tier9 as unnecessary.  Would you suggest that for Shield?

I think One with the Shield is OK, but unnecessary. I do have it, but I didn't waste any slots on it, and I almost never use it.

 

[StriderIV]

1 hour ago, cohRock said:

... and @StriderIV, I look forward to getting him  to 50 and checking it out in full glory. My tanks often skip the armor tier9 as unnecessary.  Would you suggest that for Shield?

+1 to what Werner said. It's good as a one slot wonder, just dropping one unique enhancement in there and using it as an "Oh crap" button haha. Although you won't find too many of those moments when fully built out with Shield.

[Onlyasandwich]

On 12/20/2021 at 5:13 PM, StriderIV said:

one slot wonder

Definitely agree on this front! Most of my shielders end up taking it for at least this reason.

 

However, if you have the new Aeon TF in mind, there are some further reasons you might be motivated to pick up a T9 oh crap power. If you can pop to 100% resist (as in total bonuses, not actual effective resist value - of course that caps at 90%), you will be immune to resist debuffs of that damage type. This isn't really relevant in most other content, but can be a boon on harder difficulties for Aeon.