1.2 Shieldtech PVP Impressions

[daibasu]

just for some clarification since i've seen several people here still

mixing up their basics.

 

attack types:

melee - able to shield

ranged - able to shield

force - not able to shield

tech - not able to shield

 

damage types:

energy - mitigated by armor

kinetic - mitigated by armor

elemental - not mitigated by armor

internal - not mitigated by armor

 

 

as of the current topic i have to say i haven't played ST since 1.2.

used to only play IF pre-1.2 but since a while everybody and his

mother is playing a darkness sin on my server and i felt we

seriously lacked damage in WZs so i went pyro which i usually

only played in pve when there was a dd needed somewhere.

 

hope all those new FotM marauders i keep seeing with my twinks

in the sub50 bracket make it to 50 fast, because even enjoying pyro

i really want to go back playing tank in pvp. and after the buff to HB

i think i will go 31 ST in pvp as well as opposed to my formerly

beloved IF. already love the polished ST playstyle in pve.

[me_unknown]

 

Shield reduces crit frequency thus burst dmg in pvp, making you MUCH easier to heal. In addition,

there is a lot wrong in this post. but i will only answer this one:

no, shield chance does NOT reduce the frequency of crits! plain wrong! they do not influence each other as long as the sum of shield chance and crit chance of the opponent is below 100% (which actually is the case usually).

if the sum is greater than you shield chance will get thrown off the table. so in this really rare situation actually your shield frequency gets reduced. but that'S nothing to worry about as it is nearly impossible.

 

also you guys seem to forget that you do not shield every kind of attack. you give up quite a lot of damage for a few percent of increased shield chance and absorb. beside the fact that it does not really increase your survivability over an IF build you lose a lot of damage. people are not focusing tanks, (why should they?) if they are not also hard hitting damage dealers. you need to hit hard to actually attract your enemy to hit you instead of the others.

[me_unknown]

Well if anything our shield chance has decreased a bit. But if Marauders and Snipers are mowing you down constantly, then shields will make a difference since most of their attacks can be shielded.

 

if it is a annihilation/watchman mara/sent then shield is quite useless against. sure many of his direct attacks can be shielded but the most part of their damage comes from their internal/elemental damage. you may shield a relativly high number of attacks compared to other opponents but you reduce only a very low number of damage.

 

and most important: the difference of survivability between IF and the current full ST builds in pvp is minor overall, but the damage reduction is quite big.

[daibasu]

and most important: the difference of survivability between IF and the current full ST builds in pvp is minor overall, but the damage reduction is quite big.

 

the damage difference between 31 ST and IF is also only minor when it comes

to pure stat-build. IF doesn't really have anything over 31 ST damage-wise since

HB and RB aren't that different in numbers. you base this solely on the equip

but a 31 ST can also wear pvp dps gear. i'd even say with HB off the GCD now

31 ST with the same equip as IF has superior burst while maintaining higher

survivability and better heat management for the cost of some utility.

[Sookster]

It should also be noted that you cannot shield or absorb a critical hit.

 

One reason why I equip a generator as ST while in warzones, sometimes I'll throw on the shield if there's a handful of shadow/assassins, their melee hits don't crit as often as marauder/sents do and shield works against snipers sometimes. I do better damage with a generator and don't notice that much of a difference, granted I lose the rocket punch refresh, which isn't that big of a deal.

 

ST PT is my favorite to pvp with as it fits my style the most.

[Ossos]

I feel like the concept of an ST BH in PvP is dead. It reminds me of the Shock-a-din (or whatever they called the casting dps-ing WoW Paladin). It was effective for a short time but ultimately you had to jump through wild hoops to make something that was not at all competitive.

 

From the looks of things, you can do some things to try and make ST more viable but when it comes down to it, you're just hamstringing your DPS for no apparent reason; and from the looks of the DPS output in pyro, the DPS you give up is simply too great.

Edited April 29, 2012 by Ossos