it does look the thralls are less dumb with them or am i wrong?

got a couple of cormags, and they were doing quite well , full combos with shields on their hands.

Thralls got a new AI system in the Age of War. It isn’t completely implemented yet, and currently looks mostly the same as before, but they should be getting smarter as the new system is tuned - in theory.

I haven’t tried using them with a shield yet personally, but perhaps if they are using them better, it could be the first sign of improved AI.

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I would say its RNG. I haven’t looked at their combo tables with the latest chapter, but as of the last one (Chapter 3), they were using their normal tables.

I’m going to try and abbreviate the explanation here a bit. But the way Thralls and all NPCs work is they path to the player and when they reach a certain range (determined by weapon) they execute a combo at them. That is all they really do. The combo selected, does most of the work.

So how they choose the combo is based on what weapon they use. And the quality of the thrall. Tier 1 and Tier 2 thralls use the basic table. Tier 3 and 4 use the advanced one.

The basic table has all the one and two attack combos. Light, Heavy, Light and Light, Light and Heavy, and Heavy and Heavy. Don’t remember if Heavy and Light are in there too. But you get the idea.

The advanced table has all the attacks from above, as well as the three hit combos and four hit combos. It also has an entry for special attacks. Special attacks are the kicks, overhand 2-hand sword attack, backflip on daggers, and block with a shield.

Let’s talk about the special. For a moment and why shields are bad on thralls. Thralls when choosing a combo will on occasion pick special to attack with. Some weapons doing this randomly isn’t so bad. But it also means your thrall will randomly backflip when they don’t need to (if using daggers) or block when it doesn’t make sense. What makes block really bad is when they choose that, its for a few seconds. They cannot start another combo until it finishes. Decreasing overall DPS.

I also didn’t mention it in the basic table. This is me recalling the table from memory, but I don’t believe thralls will use specials if they use only the basic table. But don’t quote me on this. It might be in there and I don’t actually remember. Someone who has poked in that section recently can confirm or correct this.

Recently they have added more weapon types to the tables. It used to be that Katana would use Two-Handed sword, and other weapons used tables that didn’t fit their type. They’ve gotten a little smarter. But not much.

The new AI system Tephra is speaking of seems to be this unfinished system or non-implemented system that will make Thralls (and enemies) smarter. But that’s been in there for a long time and I’m beginning to think it was a feature planned that got abandoned. But who knows, maybe they’ll surprise us someday.

Anyway, the reason why the thralls are using ‘good’ combos with a shield, is they are simply choosing the combos with the shield animations on them. It has nothing to do with the shield, but the combos associated with the weapon. Mace + Shield, Broadsword + Shield, and Axe + Shield all have some decent combos with the shield, and the thralls are just choosing to do them randomly and it has decent effects. Even a broken clock is correct twice a day.

But I wouldn’t recommend keeping shields on them. They will randomly use special and block when they don’t need to. It might randomly prolong their longevity when fighing NPCs, but I wouldn’t recommend it on large bosses that can go knock someone down through block. In this case you want a weapon that deals more damage over time consistently. Anything plus shield doesn’t exactly work for that.

But if its giving you results you like with your playstyle, by all means. I don’t know if the animations in the combos make up for it. Maybe they kinda do.

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