1.5.70 Shield warrior buff?

[Grand_Wazoo]

Will the buffs to deadly throw and battle rage (mixed with the overhaul of items with chance to block) revive some sort of shield warrior build?

Not sure these changes are enough, but what do you think?

[Turgeon]

I think it will help but what gonna help too is 5he dmg done by shield slam. Now 1000% instead of 600%
i think that well be able to gain a couple trial lvl

[Romme]

It will definitely help, but it will still be way behind the current meta build

[Benedicto]

The Defender set itself must be buffed, not just the few abilities and the slight change in block stat..

[TheExorcist]

If I would ask the warriors out there:

Wat would it be for further advancement in trials?:

DW
Experience?

Still DW

Nobody would raise their hand and say: Shield Warrior

So why play a shield warrior? I absolutely had no idea/ i dunno?

Sad sad sad ehh?

[Turgeon]

Ill try it to see how far i can now go but ...

[davidz]

Just buff the defend and reflect some damage back to the mobs. Everyone will love that shield!

[Kardinaal]

The changes will most certainly help. Especially higher block value on items. This means less item stat slots needed to reach 3600 block, so more room for crit stats.

It will also make it possible to more easily use encrypted shield which needs LoH as a stat to work, and whatever stat boosts the lightning on rylockes deflector.

Also, you can use as 3rd skill (after Sb and dt) battle rage or shockwave which both get decent boosts to their skills.

And the defender set didn’t get any direct boosts, but the base dmg of shield block and deadly throw is boosted giving an indirect boost to the set.

If that’s enough to be meta? I doubt it. But it’s a substantial boost. But it’s hard to draw solid conclusions without knowing how many slots we gain from needing less block. Or how much critical block you can now stack without shield block.

Looking at all boosts in general, my best guess for the new meta warrior would be dw bleed again, with the healing from shockwave up and higher juggernaut set bonuses to crit and power.

[Kardinaal]

Another thing: more critical block could also open up hybrid defender/xxx set possibilities without using the shield block skill. perfect gear with block on everything now gives around 30% for 30% more shield slam. Since we get 25% extra block, that would go up to 55%.

Couple that with the higher base dmg and the 4 piece defender boost, and that’s a lot. And add to that 2 pieces of another set (juggernaut for the crit?). And no Sb, possibly no dt… offers a lot of room for skills to play with.