Thoughts on wigfrid’s shield balance

[ParisSnicker]

The shield has proven to be powerful for its low cost and ease of use. Even a new player can kill a dragonfly within 3 days. 
I wonder if Klei could reduce the guard time to around 1.3s so that the shield would be more difficult to use, but reduce the cool down time for the skilled players.

[NoodlemanNed]

i think the low cost is pretty deceiving since the shield's durability is quite low as well. overall i would say the cost:durability ratio is fairly bad, and the main reason i think the shield of terror is a better weapon than it.

its still not terrible, being available earlygame is a big upside and the block ability has a few great use cases like being immune to a tier 3 shadow rook, or tanking the celestial champion spinny for a few extra hits.

the real issue with the shield is that against every enemy that isnt a tier 3 shadow rook, youll still need to kite while using the shield due to its cooldown, and messing up while doing so will obliterate its durability.

overall i think the weapon is almost in a balanced state, the only thing i would like changed is the final perk on its tree. it says you get 10 extra damage on your next hit after a parry, however you currently get 0 extra damage. and personally i think it would be nice if they gave a higher bonus for counter-attacking faster, that way it rewards better timing and gives a good reason to actually use the shield for defending rather than swapping to another item to avoid losing half your weapon to 1 faulty dodge.

also if the solution is to just not get hit, other weapons do more damage. if you arnt getting hit this item is strictly inferior to a hambat.

[ParisSnicker]

7 hours ago, NoodlemanNed said:

i think the low cost is pretty deceiving since the shield's durability is quite low as well. overall i would say the cost:durability ratio is fairly bad, and the main reason i think the shield of terror is a better weapon than it.

its still not terrible, being available earlygame is a big upside and the block ability has a few great use cases like being immune to a tier 3 shadow rook, or tanking the celestial champion spinny for a few extra hits.

the real issue with the shield is that against every enemy that isnt a tier 3 shadow rook, youll still need to kite while using the shield due to its cooldown, and messing up while doing so will obliterate its durability.

overall i think the weapon is almost in a balanced state, the only thing i would like changed is the final perk on its tree. it says you get 10 extra damage on your next hit after a parry, however you currently get 0 extra damage. and personally i think it would be nice if they gave a higher bonus for counter-attacking faster, that way it rewards better timing and gives a good reason to actually use the shield for defending rather than swapping to another item to avoid losing half your weapon to 1 faulty dodge.

also if the solution is to just not get hit, other weapons do more damage. if you arnt getting hit this item is strictly inferior to a hambat.

like your idea, better defense timing should be rewarded, it's a lot fun. maybe the faster you react, the less cool down time.