I am naturally drawn to a shield and a sword, always been a tank in MMOS; yet in this game, I cannot seem to be able to stand my ground and succeed, shields seem to take a far rear seat to dodging, which is usually why I always, grudgingly, end up ditching the shield. I have chosen second skin and shield master, worn stamina heavy armor to be able to withstand the blows, but to no avail; they just get me killed.
Anyone using shields for real? I see videos of folk donning shields but they never use them, they always use dodge instead of remaining in their position and deflecting damage while dodging constantly instead of blocking; Iâve yet to see anyone using a shield other than for⊠I donno, ornamental reasons? I would have a lot to learn from you, I need your guidance; this appears to be a dodging game, with shields on the side. It really frustrates me how I always end up having to dodge attacks because I am getting pounded when I try to stand my ground and block.
I carry a Scorpion Ward in Exiled Lands, Shield of The Grey Ones on Siptah. I sometimes use a shield as a secondary to a truncheon while trying to knock out named thralls.
The problem is that they can sometimes seem as though theyâre done attacking, then attack for one more hit (usually this is the case with normal enemies rather than bosses). Itâs annoying and Iâve been caught in that numerous times. You just gotta watch for the patterns and sometimes do your best.
Yes, itâs true that dodging is more important than youâre used to, more on this below. But firstâŠ
A) Weapon choice
Iâve only played CE in PvE, so if PvP is somewhere on your radar someone else will have to help you there. Having said that, I almost exclusively use shield & 1H-mace (for melee, obviously there are plenty of times when you use ranged weapons instead).
Maces are awesome at any level of progression. The standard, craftable maces have Shieldsmash & Sunder.
Shieldsmash - ignores when the opponent parries, in other words your attacks canât bounce like other weapons can. Even though itâs called "Shield"smash, I think it ignores weapon parries too, not just shield parries.
Sunder - removes 10% of the targetâs armor protection for a short duration, can stack upon itself up to a total of 5 times each for a maximum of 50% armor removal. This is a awesomesauce for any humanoid NPC that has armor, which is most of them, especially in the more difficult areas. On top of which, there are plenty of animals and mythical creatures (especially in the more difficult parts of the map) that have armor even though it might not look like it visually. And considering youâll be using a 1H weapon, you can swing it more often, stack up those sunders and keep them going without the effect expiring.
Also, the higher class maces that you find as loot often have additional abilities (example: Mace of the Grey Ones also adds a bleed). And once you start finding legendaries⊠oh boy. âMomentumâ is arguably the best 1H weapon in the game, maybe even arguably maybe even the overall best weapon for PvE when combined with an epic shield.
In addition, there is a case to be made that you should carry a backup weapon that does other effects against unarmored targets, in which case 1H-Axe (bleed, cripple) and 1H-shortsword (bleed, good DPS) are also good choices. I donât ever bother with 1H-swords, because Cripple rarely matters in PvE, itâs not like Conan is full of enemies who try to run away.
B) On the topic of dodging
Yes, this game involves learning how to dodge, itâs part of the game and it canât be avoided. Some people describe this as being âmore skill basedâ than other games, I would describe it as being different skills than other games. Tanking requires skills, theyâre just not the skills that matter the most in this game. Conan has a more interactive style of combat, your movement to engage and disengage with the enemy matters much more than other games. If you donât learn how to dodge, if you donât choose to make it important to teach yourself how to dodge, then you will inevitably run into opponents that will just crush you. Enemies have special abilities too - shieldsmash, sunder, bleed, etc. or theyâre just so powerful that shield and armor wonât be enough against them. You might as well start practicing your dodging with weak opponents so you can get good at it. The end result is that you simply cannot use a âstand there and take itâ playstyle in Conan. I spend years playing mostly DPS with some tanking in other games, and I got my butt handed to me in Conan until I learned that you simply have to learn a different set of skills here.
The best way to avoid damage is to not get hit in the first place.
The priorities are:
a) Dodging is your first line of defense
b) your sheild is your second line of defence
c) parrying with your shield can sometimes matter a lot, other times it wonât matter at all, you have to learn which enemies it matters with. Anyone can use a shield, but not everyone is good at it.
Thank you. All I have been doing is dodging for 5k hours of gameplay so, I can face any foe, but thatâs just it, I dislike rolling, I would like to be able to stand my ground and face the foe, but alas, I will just forsake the shield and focus on the sword; what good is a shield when you canât solidly use it against a boss /shrug.
P.S. The Bane of Khosatral Khel and Elâs drinker are very powerful, not to mention the Predatory Blade =]
Yes, love shields - with axe or sword for the most part, less so with mace. It is especially handy against archers. Wish it was a bit more âtankyâ using a shield but oh well. Also wish it was a tad faster putting up the shield, sometimes it feels just a bit too sluggish. Oh and donât try to use shields against foes swinging 2h hammers or axes, itâs not gonna end well for you, so remember âdodge, duck, dip, dive and dodgeâ.
I have not used a shield against other players, so no clue how that would fare, probably not that great I could imagine. Too bad though, wish we could go shield wall with our mates against other attackers, but then again we also canât use a spear one handed with a shield (I guess you could try with a javelin, just donât right click)
I donât give shields to thralls, they just ainât smart enough to actually use those effectively it seems or only when it makes little sense. The lads not putting up shields when arrows fly is kinda like dying of thirst in the rain.
Thatâs the thing. If you are going to end up doing that anyways, there is absolutely no point in wielding a shield. Too bad. I have managed to block Red Motherâs spin move, and have had no problem against two handers, itâs just the fact they seem slow and unresponsive.
Well in all fairness, using a shield against a massive 2h weapon is generally not recommended, so I donât mind and against 1h weapons and archers it fares reasonably well, plus I just love to bash em in the face with the last attack, itâs just plain fun.
I do think shields could do with a bit of fine tuning, but itâs not all bad either. That said, maybe a large legendary shield should be a bit more of a bulwark that withstands more than a regularly crafted shield, but I very rarely use those anyways, I just get myself free star-metal shields and transmog them to look like simple wooden round shields.
Odd, heh, my experience with shields against two handed weapons has been completely different, I can block the swigs of the undead bosses both in the Nameless city and Klaelâs stronghold with no problems. Even in early game, I could block a Cannibal Brute every time.
Wait, so after 5k hours of gameplay youâre âjust asking a questionâ as through youâre new to the game, even though you obviously already know the answer. That seems rather⊠passive-aggressive.
I mean, at some point you have to just decide whether you want to play this game or not. These are game mechanics that were deliberately chosen by the original designers of the game because this is the âlook and feelâ they wanted for combat in CE. They explicitly, purposefully prevented players from being able to fight CE bosses like a 5-man party running WoW dungeon. At some point in the distant past they sat around a table and said, âNo, we donât want that style of combat in our game, weâre going to make sure it canât work that way.â
But again, you already know that soâŠ
Which, in spite of my previous points is fair. You have the right to desire anything you desire, but if you want the game to change for you then the only option is to start presenting that as a Suggestion post to the devs, which is 100% legit for you to try. But no oneâs going to be able to suggest anything to you that will let you play that way with the game in its current state, because with the current design thatâs simply not a thing. Which you already know soâŠ
Itâs plenty good, as long as you use it when itâs going to be effective and donât try to use it when you know itâs not.
Shields are quite effective for a large portion of the game, theyâre just not going to let you go toe-to-toe with bosses. But you already know that soâŠ
