In my opinion, the shield is the worst by far of Guardian off-hands. Which is sad, because to me a shield is the quintessential weapon of the Guardian. My main gripe with the design of the shield is that there is no block ability! It is a shield. By design that is what all shields are for. I have no idea why the focus has what I think is the best block in the game, yet the shield has none. Personally I’m of the mindset that the Guardians focus 5 skill and the shield 5 skill should be switched.
I also think that Shield of Judgment should have it’s CD reduced or maybe a damage increase. I really like the aesthetic of a shield on my Guardian, but I always ask myself “Why am I using this offhand when the Torch provides far more damage and the Focus far more utility and arguably greater defensive capabilities?”. I don’t really post much, but I am just trying to see how the rest of the community feels about the shield in respects to the Guardian profession. I think the Guardians shield could use a polish.
I understand that the shield is supposed to fill a supportive role but I feel that that’s the place of the focus. It seems that every other profession uses the focus as a supportive off-hand. I think that the shield is a very important symbol of the Guardian and should be extremely effective in all situations, not just group situations.
Amen to this OP. I was just thinking this today when I was fighting Angry spirits, the guy blocked 3 attacks with a shield up as he guarded and I’m like “We don’t have this?”. I also think Shield SHOULD have waaay more defense then it gives us. Even if it’s really bad I still use my shield even though I barely use those 2 skills. It just fits the Guardian look first of all. I won’t use anything else. So yes, please do something with the shields.
Well i agree with you.
Even the warrior has a block abilitie with his shield but guardians don’t. Little bit strange.
Now i m running with the mace/focus because of awesome defence abilities but would rather have mace/shield.
So please Anet swap the #5 skills.
From reading the forums, I know I am in the minority, but I like the shield best as an off hand. I run a shouts build and the shield gives me access to an interrupt that also heals/blocks ranged.
It doesn’t do the best damage or give the most blocks, but imo it gives more utility then the torch or focus. 3 effects in 1ability, 2 trigger just by pressing the button and a 3rd that heal and gets pretty good scaling with +healing power. I would argue knocking something down is pretty much the best ability a guardian gets and its on shield 5. For most PvE enemies it wastes the cool down on their ability if you time the interrupt right (not very hard at all since most moves charge up for a second or 2)
At the end of the day if you don’t like it don’t use it.
What? The 5 skill on the shield is an instant aoe that interrupts. That alone can change the flow of battle. I’m getting close to my dungeon master title, and I can honestly say this offhand is amazing and should not be changed. A block will save you; a utility aoe will save your party.
Example: In TA with those Nightmare hounds. Party member A has been knocked down and is being mauled by 3x hound. Just roll in and pop 5. Proceed to win encounter because primary DPS did not die. You are now a hero.
Edit: And why the hell does anyone even want a block on a shield? We have Aegis for that and if timed correctly it works amazingly well.
Warrior shield skills are way better than ours though. Thing is, Guardians are suppose to be shield experts, but our blocks are count based, not duration based. Warriors have duration based blocks. Only thing we have is shelter. Warriors have better block system than Guardians, but sadly most Warriors don’t go that build. Might as well transfer Warrior block system to Guardians…
I guess having Aegis up every 40 sec/30 sec with appropriate trait or to be able to trigger it at will by activating the Virtue AND a shield that blocks would be kind of OP. If you time it right and/or are good with it you could have 3 blocks in a row at some point.
This is probably the reason why we do not have the block ability, just guessing here… but then again we have it on the focus weapon so the reason is not even that one… dunno really.
But I like the shield as it is. I like to follow the knock back ability of it by using the sword teleport/or meditation utility skill for a great (and fun) cc+burst chain. Also I think that shield and mace have great synergy. They allow you to have up to 8 sec of protection (not counting shouts) plus the increased armour of the shield it’s a good damage mitigation. So overall shield is a more constant defensive ability than focus which allow you to block 3 hits, followed by a blind if you want but then what? nothing until a new blind comes off cd because Shield of Wrath is on a 45sec cd. I see shield as a better tool for longer fights and focus for pvp/shorter fights.
The current skill set of the shield feels awkward mainly because it has limited solo pve use and provides no block. Once you look beyond that, the shield is arguably the most powerful offhand to use in pvp. Imo the protection boon is more balanced that block as it mitigates all damage for that duration. Blocking can range from being amazing to an absolute waste depending on what gets blocked.
5 remains a staple to bunker guardians in pvp and can quickly turn the tide of the fight if enemies are without stability. I agree this has less uses in pve but the shield if far from terrible. It is much more effective in long drawn fights which is why more guardians use it as an offhand, as opposed to a torch or focus.
From reading the forums, I know I am in the minority, but I like the shield best as an off hand. I run a shouts build and the shield gives me access to an interrupt that also heals/blocks ranged.
It doesn’t do the best damage or give the most blocks, but imo it gives more utility then the torch or focus. 3 effects in 1ability, 2 trigger just by pressing the button and a 3rd that heal and gets pretty good scaling with +healing power. I would argue knocking something down is pretty much the best ability a guardian gets and its on shield 5. For most PvE enemies it wastes the cool down on their ability if you time the interrupt right (not very hard at all since most moves charge up for a second or 2)
At the end of the day if you don’t like it don’t use it.
I use a Sword/Shield in one set and Mace/focus in the other set, by switching back and forth and using my abilities at the right time, I can spend an entire fight healing, blocking damage, blinding the target, and reducing damage received for myself as well as the party. Now that would be possible with my set-up, even with the /5 skills switched, but i don’t use the shield to block my own damage, that’s what the focus is for. I use the shield to apply that -33 % damage buff to the party and also to interrupt, push back, and knock down the enemy. Then i hit the /5 button again to give nearby party members a significant heal. If you want blocks, blinds, and regeneration- go focus. If you want damage reduction, interrupts, knockdown, pushback, and burst healing- go shield. Seems to me that being stuck on the “image” as opposed to function is simply a fantastic way to kitten yourself.
I use a Sword/Shield in one set and Mace/focus in the other set, by switching back and forth and using my abilities at the right time, I can spend an entire fight healing, blocking damage, blinding the target, and reducing damage received for myself as well as the party. Now that would be possible with my set-up, even with the /5 skills switched, but i don’t use the shield to block my own damage, that’s what the focus is for. I use the shield to apply that -33 % damage buff to the party and also to interrupt, push back, and knock down the enemy. Then i hit the /5 button again to give nearby party members a significant heal. If you want blocks, blinds, and regeneration- go focus. If you want damage reduction, interrupts, knockdown, pushback, and burst healing- go shield. Seems to me that being stuck on the “image” as opposed to function is simply a fantastic way to kitten yourself.
Thank you for saving me the time required to more or less say the exact same thing. Group protection is a non-trivial effect, especially when you consider how low our HP pools are (this is why our hp pool is so small).
-Fildydarie
Hutchmistress of the Fluffy Bunny Brigade [FBB]
From some tests that I ran, it appears that the Shield of Absorbtion does not actually count the absorbed projectiles as blocks. I tested this with the Valor Grandmaster 25pt trait Might of the Protector which is supposed to give stacks of Might every time you block an attack. I had tried against multiple different types of projectile classes, but I was never able to see the buff proc from shield of absorbtion.
What really boggles my mind is from the Wiki, it states “The shield is an off-hand only weapon and can be crafted by a weaponsmith. Shields always grant at least one skill that blocks attacks.” I was under the impression that most of the wiki was hosted/built by ANet themselves, but could be mistaken. If that is infact the case. . . there is some serious misinformation going on. As it sits right now, guardian shield does not actually have any block ability.
I would fully support switching shield/focus #5 abilities as the change feels it would bring the offhands more in-line with their theme. Also, the Focus #5 Shield of Wrath animation even involves multiple shields. The description of Shield of Wrath (again from the wiki) -Create a shield to block the next three attacks. If the shield is not destroyed, it explodes and damages nearby foes.
It would be pretty cool if the shield had an ability that blocked a certain number of incoming attacks and set the attackers on fire for a brief duration. Would give the shield a place in burning builds as well as fit the role of a shield better than its current implementation.
To this day i still think they simply need to swap both Focus skills to the Shield and both Shield skills to the Focus, no changes in skills etc – just a strait swap.
The Shield would then have a regen, blind, damage & condition cure on skill 4, and a BLOCK! that BLOCKS! the next 3 attacks or damages nearby foes if it doesn’t on skill 5.
—-
Now before anyone states “but that would be OP” (yes i actully got that said to me before when i suggested it) – we can already do this by using the Focus. I just think the Focus skills suit the Shield so much better (you know, as it actully BLOCKS!).
It would (or perhaps, should) be such as easy change to do aswell, as no skills get adjusted as they are only swapped to a different weapon set.
Animus: “It would be pretty cool if the shield had an ability that blocked a certain number of incoming attacks and set the attackers on fire for a brief duration. Would give the shield a place in burning builds as well as fit the role of a shield better than its current implementation.”
I was thinking about something like this. What if they tweaked Shield of Judgment’s functionality? Make it a channeled block skill, and for every block, a circular wave fans out from the guardian, damaging nearby foes, and applying protection to nearby allies.
@Lucavern: The wiki is hosted by ArenaNet, but the content is almost exclusively community-contributed. They do not act as content stewards at all, aside from what they choose to do as individuals and fans. So, yes, the wiki is wrong, although I seem to recall that the “at least one block skill” is traced back to an interview in early development before the guardian had Virtues, and was more of a “this is how we look at weapons” than “this is what you will have.”
-Fildydarie
Hutchmistress of the Fluffy Bunny Brigade [FBB]
To this day i still think they simply need to swap both Focus skills to the Shield and both Shield skills to the Focus, no changes in skills etc – just a strait swap.
The Shield would then have a regen, blind, damage & condition cure on skill 4, and a BLOCK! that BLOCKS! the next 3 attacks or damages nearby foes if it doesn’t on skill 5.
—-
Now before anyone states “but that would be OP” (yes i actully got that said to me before when i suggested it) – we can already do this by using the Focus. I just think the Focus skills suit the Shield so much better (you know, as it actully BLOCKS!).
It would (or perhaps, should) be such as easy change to do aswell, as no skills get adjusted as they are only swapped to a different weapon set.
I agree with this 100%. Just doesn’t feel natural to be in plate armor carrying around a focus item in the offhand, anyway.
Personally I like that Guardian shield is more magic-oriented than Warrior shield, but the abilities and traits could be made a bit more interesting and somewhat more useful. I personally like both shield abilities, but #4 should be Shout-range (regardless of max allies), and #5 should remove forced channeling, rather just give the ability a timer to heal and perhaps reflect projectiles.
Well, the name of the profession is Guardian. What is the role of a guard in real-life? No, not to protect themselves but to protect some other more valuable asset. You take the bullet and die to keep your employer/their valuables safe.
A lot of Guardian design choices make sense when viewed in that light. :P
This is just an aesthetics issue plus the 90 toughness on shields. If having 90 toughness on the focus wouldn’t create balance issues then it makes no difference if they swapped the abilities. I think they should, that protective bubble is a very spell castery type of thing and blocking is something for a shield. Let us be knights if we want to be.
Personally, I run mace/shield for dungeons. Originally, I was very meh about the shield for not having much of a tank-oriented blocking skill. Once I started playing with the idea of being support instead of a traditional tank, I found the shield to be very useful. The 4 skill can significantly reduce damage people will take on trash or bosses. I’d rather this be a general AoE than conical front wave, but as it stands, getting the Protection boon on melee players really helps. The 5 skill is really, really useful to soak a couple ranged shots then pop it for a not-insignificant heal.
I don’t think swapping these abilities with the Focus will do much. It’ll just make people complain about the Focus.
I took a break from the guardian and leveled up some light armor toons. This is when I began to realize just how kitten important the protection boon really is. I love the shield, the 4 ability provides more protection for coverage in between shouts and AOE damage, and the 5 ability is great for reading downed players, npcs. Not to mention its uses to bunker guards on points. Aoe knockback is always welcome in m book.
.. so that leaves torch.. but sadly focus seems to be the best off-hand.