Need some /shield guidance

[Nafsmar]

Hey there fellow brutes. I am a blaster at heart but want to experience the game from the mosh pit instead of the seats lol. I have decided on a War Mace brute. I am also liking the Shield secondary for thematic reasons and they look cool. Can someone (or a lot of folks) give me some guidance on how to slot up Shield. I am currently 16 from DFBs. I am pretty good at putting builds together - for blasters anyhow - but since I am newer to the melee game I would just like some advice. I do not plan to farm but would like to do +8/+0(or +1/-1 if necessary) stuff solo. I solo my missions but do like to team up for the TFS. Basically what I need to know is should I go for Defense or Resistance or try to get both. Any other tips/tricks are encouraged. Thank You

[Steampunkette]

So... War Mace/Shield? Should be a lot of fun!

 

Slot for Positional Defense. Grab the 2 Resistance IOs that grant +3% Defense and slap them into True Grit. Go for Weave and you'll be golden in no time flat with Soft Cap.

 

Ignore Grant Cover. Skip One With The Shield. The former is only useful on teams, the latter ignores recharge and becomes a 6 minute "Panic Button" that isn't -really- worth it.

 

Shield charge can be mapped with "/bind LShift+LButton powexec_name Shield Charge" so that shift-clicking a point in range of Shield Charge results in it firing off at that location. Makes it -vastly- simpler to use.

[Werner]

45% positional defense first, then as much resistance as you can fit in without compromising your offense by much. Also hit points, possibly Rebirth to give you the healing that you lack. Shield Charge is lots of fun, but they make you wait for it. If planning to run much incarnate content, maybe push onward to 59% melee defense, but I've not tried to pimp out a Shield Defense recently, so I'm not sure which goals are practical and which goals are not. On brief glance 59% looks doable with a bit of trouble. 45% is straightforward, though. Even 59% would fall apart quickly with defense debuffs, though, but at least it would help you soak the alpha strike.

 

I would personally try to fit Grant Cover in, even though I mostly solo, for the little bit of defense debuff resistance and recharge time debuff resistance. I hate defense debuffs. But it's only a small amount, so I'd drop it quickly if there were something else that I wanted.

Edited August 27, 2019 by Werner

[Marshal_General]

Grant cover is another place to stick a LotG +recharge in.

[Nafsmar]

Thank you for the advice. I have made a build with at least 45% Def to all 3 positionals and decent, albeit not great, resists. Also picked up 200+ hp along the way using no purples or ATOs.  Being that shield has plenty of places to slot LOTGs I do not need grant cover for that(I have all 5 slotted). My last selection is SJ so I may choose Grant instead. I will see how it plays out on test before finalizing it. In addition I most likely will not incarnate this guy. My Ice blaster is getting that honor. However who knows I may like Macing peoples faces off. LOL

[Marshal_General]

Mace to the face does have a nice ring to it!

[Steampunkette]

Incarnating just means "I kept playing the character after hitting level 50"

 

Doesn't matter what content you do, you'll get the XP to unlock the Alpha and all the others. No need to run the iTrials (Though they grant more stuff and all)

 

Even exemplared you'll get Incarnate XP after 50. And when you hit level 51 (Well, Vet Level 1!) you'll get a ding and a bunch of incarnate materials to craft with.

[ericc191]

Unless you're all about that $$$