Shields

Railos

Railos

Novice
can we get clarification on the effectiveness of shields. From what I’ve come to understand in Denver, a slash blocked at 50%or more is blocked vie shield or weapon. Whilst a thrust of any contact at all was taken. Thus allowing useful application of deflection while giving greater variety in combat. Any marshals please clarify.

I do hope to not see shields made useless as anything but mage targets.
 
Hiya Railos. I'm a Denver marshal, so you may want a local marshal to weigh in with this. I am only answering here since you mentioned Denver. The Alliance Rulebook says on page 94...

Blocked and deflected shots do not count.
If the block was weak and the swing hit with
about half or more normal force then the hit
should count.

For me, I take almost anything that hits me, regardless of 50% or not, but I give others leeway up to the 50% since that is what the rulebook states. For the most part, even in Denver, shields are king (I personally use a shield).

Thrusts are difficult as we do not want to hurt anyone with them. So almost alwyas everyone I know take 100% of thrusts because we don't want to encourage very hard thrusts.

Kendrick/Mike
 
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Shields do take a lot of practice to learn how to use effectively, but once you've got a handle (HAH) on them, they're a lifesaver. Just like any other armament, really.
 
Cedric said:
Blocked and deflected shots do not count.
If the block was weak and the swing hit with
about half or more normal force then the hit
should count.

For me, I take almost anything that hits me, regardless of 50% or not, but I give others leeway up to the 50% since that is what the rulebook states. For the most part, even in Denver, shields are king (I personally use a shield).
Click to expand...

Pretty much this. If I feel it, I take it. There’s not really a viable way to adequately judge what 50% of the force of an incoming blow is. Sometimes it’s better to just err on the side of caution and take whatever shots you can feel.

I would also like to vouch for the effectiveness of shields on the field. They are an incredibly powerful tool when applied properly.
 
I would argue that they are the easiest to learn and the best secondary available in the Alliance system.

I take anything that hits me with any kind of actual shot, regardless of strength and whether it hit the shield. Makes it easy.
 
Parzivel said:
I would argue that they are the easiest to learn[...]
Click to expand...

Oh man, speak for yourself. I'm one of those people who swings my shield out of the way whenever I go in for a strike. Maybe someday I'll learn, but until then I'm the literal worst. ._.
 
"Easiest" doesn't necessarily mean "Easy". Easier than two weapon. Easier than effective Polearm. Easier than effective Greatweapon (*cough*). Easier than....effective Staff (*bursts out laughing... pees self*)
 
Parzivel said:
"Easiest" doesn't necessarily mean "Easy". Easier than two weapon. Easier than effective Polearm. Easier than effective Greatweapon (*cough*). Easier than....effective Staff (*bursts out laughing... pees self*)
Click to expand...

The ONLY time I've seen Polearms used effectively was as they were intended to be used - as an organized line - and they were scary effective. (Of course, they were used by a group of organized and regimented Earth Templars...)

Staff is good for blocking and only blocking as it is mandated by Alliance. Many of the common uses for a staff in martial arts are straight up not allowed, and the hand placement destroys the versatility of the weapon.

One of the biggest drawbacks to effectiveness in two handed weapons in this game are the low damage output, in my opinion.
 
I'd say two handed weapons are penalized by low damage output, lack of thrusting and size limitations. But ya..they aren't great normally.
 
Shields are definitely king, as evidenced by the amount of Scholars willing to shell out 12 Build for them (and would probably pay more).

1) You can only verbalize so much damage, which affects the usefulness of two weapons, even if you're good at feinting.

2) You don't need to verbalize anything to let a shield soak a hit.

The only downsize to shields is that they're packet-magnets. I'd also agree that they aren't all that difficult to learn how to use effectively, though as with most martial skills, there's a very high skill ceiling. I've seen guys do insane spinning defenses with a punch-grip shield...

Sincerely,

One of those Scholars.
 
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