Shield/X Advice

[OPLOT]

Privet tovarishchi!

 

Looking to play CoH again after discovering the private server scene, but I am having trouble nailing down a secondary to pair with Shield.  I browsed the forums over the past day or so and I can see there isn't really a bad choice, but I would love some advice on what synergizes particularly well with Shield.  Electric Melee comes to mind with the double dunk of Shield Charge into Lightning Rod, but are there any other secondary sets that plays nice with Shield?

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

Edit: I ultimately went a different direction and made a Rad/Rad tanker as it is the best fit for a concept that I could not get out of my brain.  I really appreciate everyone's suggestions and I am looking forward to making a Shield/X tanker sometime soon!

Edited December 2, 2022 by OPLOT
Soviet jargon and update

[Oysterhead]

Shield's only real gap is a self heal, Dark Melee is a nice pairing for offering that. I did a Shield/DM tank and enjoyed it! Rad Melee is another option for that reason as well.

[Warboss]

As you already said, there really is no bad pairing, just tactics and play style. I'm partial to Fiery Melee, and with the current changes I'd recommend it even more. On a Tank I'd also highly recommend Axe. Recent changes provide Axe Cyclone with the ability to draw in mobs closer to the Tank. If you want the double teleport, then savage melee would also be an option.

[OPLOT]

22 minutes ago, Warboss said:

On a Tank I'd also highly recommend Axe. Recent changes provide Axe Cyclone with the ability to draw in mobs closer to the Tank.

 

That sounds pretty tasty, I'm liking the sound of that!

[OPLOT]

26 minutes ago, Oysterhead said:

Rad Melee is another option for that reason as well.

 

I like the sound of this a lot as well!

 

I believe I recall seeing that Shield can be END expensive, is this true?  If so I know that Dark Melee is a popular choice for END heavy primaries, but I don't think Dark Melee is where I am looking to thematically take the character.

[Oysterhead]

55 minutes ago, OPLOT said:

I believe I recall seeing that Shield can be END expensive, is this true?  If so I know that Dark Melee is a popular choice for END heavy primaries, but I don't think Dark Melee is where I am looking to thematically take the character.

Yea shield can be pretty rough on endurance on its own. Rad Melee is also really hard on endurance, it has an aura in it and all of its attacks are big, slow, high end cost ones. Shield/Rad Melee would feel a lot better leveling if you've got all the +recovery unique IOs ready to slot in as you go and some -% end cost IO sets where doable. Savage Melee, one of Warboss's recommendations, is relatively light for endurance costs and its mechanic helps with that too. Savage Melee is great fun on a tank with the area size and target limit increases!

[MistressOhm]

I'm running Shield Defense with War Mace, and while the animation times are noticeable except on the T1 or T2, the whole set is extremely visceral for a melee fight.  It's obvious that Guardian Centerfold is contributing a lot of business to Paragon's dentists. 

 

Jawbreaker and Crowd Control coupled with Shield Charge make for a good 'keep them off their feet' combo, and Jawbreaker's knockup is not only useful for 'juggling' a mob, it's visually fun to ragdoll something straight up (and when ranged characters hammer it at the apex it's like skeet shooting and you're the trebuchet launching them into the air.)

 

Keep in mind though, that War Mace does primarily Smashing damage, which a lot of mobs get resistance to fairly early on.  It does have a stun mechanic (and if memory serves, the chance for Stun goes up with subsequent hits).  This makes for a crowd that isn't hitting you but also isn't running away.  As pointed out earlier, Shield Charge doesn't have a self-heal, so you might want to pick up something from other pools to top yourself off in tough fights or if a big hit slips through your Defense.  I'm using the placate, fear, and self-heal from the Presence pool as ancillary crowd control. mostly for theme.  

 

And while the aesthetic of the Shield Defense pool is pretty imposing, unlike other sets where you can keep your defensive toggles on and stroll around, SD defaults to a "bring it" combat stance with the shield out when any Shield Defense toggle is running.  It's a minor thing, but it does exist.

 

Lastly... the 'clank clank' sound of the mace against the shield with War Mace's Taunt is similar to this: 

 

 

So I really LIKE taking on Warriors in the game!  

[Psyonico]

Shield/Rad is a bit of a beast combo, but it's very endurance heavy.  Mine didn't get endurance under control until incarnate level.

 

Another option to think about is Savage Melee.  It has a stacking +recharge/ +endurance reduction secondary effect that should help your endurance bar in check.

[ninja surprise]

Stone Melee pairs well, and Shield has a good rock-looking shield to pair with it. Stone hits hard and Shield's +Dam makes it better.

[StriderIV]

My first 50 on Homecoming was a Shield/Elec Tanker. The combo of Shield Charge and Lightning Rod is just too much fun. Honestly one of the most “fun per click” heroes I have ever had. Plus, you just feel Godly 😂

[tidge]

I am leveling up a Shield/Battle Axe right now, and it is brutal on Endurance consumption. It should be much more manageable with full enhancement set slottings, Accolades, etc. It's been fun on PUGs, even as leveling up. I'm not that keen on the status protection being a click, and having to slot for knockdown protection came as a surprise... but these have been manageable.

 

It looks like this may be one of the few characters for which I don't pick an Epic (or Patron) power pool, the primary/secondary offer most everything I want. I am using the Force of Will pool for ranged options/travel/mules and just a handful of other pool picks for mules.

 

I miss the ability to emote dances with the Shield Toggles active more than I miss the self-heal.

[aethereal]

1 hour ago, tidge said:

I am leveling up a Shield/Battle Axe right now, and it is brutal on Endurance consumption. It should be much more manageable with full enhancement set slottings, Accolades, etc. It's been fun on PUGs, even as leveling up. I'm not that keen on the status protection being a click, and having to slot for knockdown protection came as a surprise... but these have been manageable.

 

Shield gets Knockback protection/resistance in Active Defense, you shouldn't need to slot for it.

[tidge]

4 hours ago, aethereal said:

 

Shield gets Knockback protection/resistance in Active Defense, you shouldn't need to slot for it.

Active Defense is a click, an I supposed to keep it on autofire?

[aethereal]

1 hour ago, tidge said:

Active Defense is a click, an I supposed to keep it on autofire?

I mean, up to you.  Lots of people do put it on autofire.

 

For the clicky-mez-protect armors, personally, I try to just develop some discipline about checking whether they're available between spawns, rather than keep them on auto.  It's easy to get all of them to greatly-more-than-permanent, so I generally think that clicking them on cooldown is a bit of a waste, and if you do let their coverage drop and get mezzed, it's generally not that hard to recover, but that's a matter of personal taste.

[tidge]

While leveling, it is one more Endurance cost that I can't quite carry (on auto). I've just slotted it for a single IO recharge and I've been using it as necessary. The final build (minus Incarnates) looks like it should have enough Global Recharge that I could single-slot it for Endurance Reduction, I suppose.

[twozerofoxtrot]

4 hours ago, tidge said:

Active Defense is a click, an I supposed to keep it on autofire?

 

Whether you do or not is certainly up to you but you always try to keep it up, and if possible double stacked.

 

The reason being that AD contains a nice chunk of Defense Debuff Resist and it stacks on itself. With all your sources running and AD double stacked you should be around 85 DDR at level 50.

[Erratic1]

On 11/25/2022 at 11:19 AM, Warboss said:

As you already said, there really is no bad pairing, just tactics and play style. I'm partial to Fiery Melee, and with the current changes I'd recommend it even more. On a Tank I'd also highly recommend Axe. Recent changes provide Axe Cyclone with the ability to draw in mobs closer to the Tank. If you want the double teleport, then savage melee would also be an option.

 

I recently started a Shield/Fire Tanker and it has been one of the smoothest Tanker experiences I have ever hard. Easy to soft cap defenses, had to grab Miracle/Numina/Performance Shifter for endurance but once done, really has been quite nice. With the high defense and the extra damage from Against All Odds, was able to up difficulty settings and grind out xp a bit faster too.

 

 

On 11/25/2022 at 12:52 PM, Oysterhead said:

Yea shield can be pretty rough on endurance on its own. Rad Melee is also really hard on endurance, it has an aura in it and all of its attacks are big, slow, high end cost ones. Shield/Rad Melee would feel a lot better leveling if you've got all the +recovery unique IOs ready to slot in as you go and some -% end cost IO sets where doable. Savage Melee, one of Warboss's recommendations, is relatively light for endurance costs and its mechanic helps with that too. Savage Melee is great fun on a tank with the area size and target limit increases!

 

One of my early characters on Homecoming was a Rad/Shield scrapper. Endurance was a struggle even using every IO and trick I knew. Nice damage but you will struggle with endurance for a while.

[Erratic1]

5 hours ago, tidge said:

Active Defense is a click, an I supposed to keep it on autofire?

 

 Two level 30 crafted IOs and it should recharge about 4 seconds before it fails, IIRC. Auto-click definitely.

[tidge]

To reiterate: getting the power to perma isn't the issue, especially at level 50 (and beyond). I'm leveling the character, so:

• I don't have the second slot to spare,
• The Endurance cost (of this as an auto power) is on par with one of the more tiring attacks... risking a drop of the toggles

I am positive I can have these addressed with the level 50 build and keep Active Defense on auto without even considering Incarnates.

 

My solo play experience with small spawn sizes has been that I haven't really needed it except as a click. Larger spawn sizes and PUG TFs make it more necessary (especially for a taunting tank). As I turn up the spawn sizes in solo, the Endurance issue is maintaining primacy because I need to do button-mashing to clear each spawn of mobs. I admit, this is all a sort of 'first world problem'... with more slots there are a LOT of ways to address diverse issues. In the play experience for this character, the Endurance issue will probably be the last one fully addressed.

[Erratic1]

If you're talking you do not have a slot to spare, cannot afford its endurance cost, and not needing it at level 6, when it first comes available, sure.

 

I am pretty sure my usual habit is to give Active Defense a second slot and double up recharge reduction by 20 even though enhancements at that level will not allow it to be perma. But as soon as that is possible, on autoclick it goes.  Yeah, it costs a moderate amount but that is every 2 minutes.  Compared to a toggle, that it works out to 10.4 endurance/120 seconds = 0.087 end/sec--hideously cheap. But as you note, the real world consideration is if you can afford it when it fires. However its firing is not a surprise. You can know exactly when it is going off with power countdown. To my mind it is more worth it to pop a blue if need be if things look close than be without. 

 

But speaking real world, I have absolutely no memory of endurance failure caused by Active Defense firing or it even being a concern across multiple characters. That bit about 10.4 endurance every 120 seconds means you are infinitely better off slotting endurance reduction in things firing oh so much more often--your attacks. That is, of course, after slotting Stamina for three Endurance Modification enhancements. With Against All Odd doing a reasonable chunk of damage lifting (unless down to your last couple of guys) you can even afford to slot Endurance Reduction earlier than otherwise.

 

I was not planning to need to know, but as stands at level 44 (though I did not do this recently, so it may have occurred somewhere in the late 30s) I dropped Stamina to two slots, with Performance Shifter: Endurance Modification and Performance Shifter: Chance for +Endurance along with Mircale: +Recovery and Numina's Convalescence: Regeneration/Recovery. Honestly, that does not leave her that much better off than 3 slotted Stamina but I am going Energy Mastery with her and along with a dollop of Endurance Discount once when fully IO slotted so things will be fine in the end.

 

But yeah, I do agree endurance is probably the last thing that gets addressed (and that's been true of all my shield characters).

 

 

[ironjoe]

Privyet Comrade,

 

Shield/Electric and Shield/Dark are two common combinations I see the most. Shield/Electric having that fun two hit combo of Shield Charge and Lightening Rod. Shield/Dark having a way to get a heal in with Siphon Life.

 

For myself my main Iron Joe is Shield/Super Strength which is what I consider a high risk/reward combo to play. Having double Rage and saturated Against All Odds does some incredible damage but you have to learn to manage the Rage crash.

 

Also with noticing the greeting if you like playing a Russian, Soviet or Communist themed character, then Special Section 8 might be a good fit for you. Please ask about joining in our SG communications: https://discord.gg/spExs3c.

 

https://fbsa.homecoming.wiki/wiki/KGB_Special_Section_8

 

[Erratic1]

1 hour ago, ironjoe said:

Privyet Comrade,

 

Shield/Electric and Shield/Dark are two common combinations I see the most. Shield/Electric having that fun two hit combo of Shield Charge and Lightening Rod. Shield/Dark having a way to get a heal in with Siphon Life.

 

 

Heal and endurance recovery along with a nice way of buffing damage on top of that which Shield provides.

[MistressOhm]

A lot of Shield tankers put Active Defense on auto, but... yes there are End and Recharge concerns until you have the slots to fix them.

 

Personally, I only tap it when I'm going up against something that I know actually has a knockback component (Family Consiglieri's, some Council, Clock Princes, BP Avalanche and Storm Shamans, and so on.)  It does disrupt the flow of battle a bit if you run up against something that could knock you off your feet, and you have to wait for the recharge to finish... but at the same time, I'm not trying to set speed records for clearing a +1/+3 map either (I pair up with a Fire/Rad Corruptor, so we clear the maps pretty effing fast, as it is.)