So I opened a chest and lo and behold, this shield drops. It's a Rainbow and at first I'm pretty happy. However, I'm perplexed at what character would actually use this item. It's clearly a fighter's shield, but that didn't clear things up for me. Bear with me now and let me explain:

Every fighter I've seen so far uses either a slow 2H weapon or two faster 1H weapons. I've probably seen dozens (hundreds) of fighters. I've only seen maybe one shield user and she spec'ed to a big 2H as soon as something better dropped. Shields are impressive and can stop up to 20% of incoming non magical attacks, but it seems that most players opt for the better dps of a larger 2H weapon or dual wield.

The only thing I could think of is that maybe a hybrid may use this, but even then, a 1H weapon plus a shield doesn't sound that great.

Anyone play with a shield/1H weapon combo as a fighter or hybrid? If so, how effective do you find it? Please note that my mage uses a shield and I like it very much. I think shields for mages make a lot of sense, because their 1H weapon doesn't have to do damage and the shield often has great stats and resists.

I'd like your thoughts since it would be nice to see a way to use this gear.

I am working of a 'battle mage' which uses a shield. My build is based off of pbaoe spells and soul rend. So my melee damage is very low.

The only thing I could think of a fighter using a shield is if they are only going for a pve tank. High armor rating and resists, endurance, etc. Just get the aggro of the main boss or group and let the mages/rangers do the dps.

As far as pvp goes, there may be a time when a shield comes in handy. If you are fighting a pure dps fighter or crit ranger, I am sure a shield will come in handy with the boost in armor rating and chance to block. However in fights where your opponent uses magic attacks, a shield truly is useless.

Most shields are crap, I did use a Buckler of the Dreaded Brown Eye for a time when farming Abby but I found it was better to use a 2H Staff... I dont know any fighters that use shields actually.

Two exceptions to the "shields are crap" rule are:

• Shardian, works well in PvP as a anti-ranger shield when paired with a Uber Wand...
  
• Buckler of the Dreaded Brown Eye good for mages, never tried it in PvP.

I've seen a few nice non-rainbow shields but I dont have any to link

DarthNinja
lvl 100 Arch Ninja

Sure, I use a shield in pvp against everyone except mages and I think I have been pretty successful with it.

I used the Shardian and Uber wand for a long time on my mage, until they were like 15 levels below me in fact. It's a really nice combo to have. Other than that I don't see any other shields dropping that make me ooh and aww at all. My fighter tried shields for a while and it didn't work very well either. Fighters allready take a long time to kill stuff. Shields just make it take longer. Hopefully someday there will be a reason for them but as for now I'd skip on them for fighters.

I used the "manhold cover" rbw for as little bit...just because I had to since its title was too much to NOT use, lol. Wasnt bad, but I was more effective with 2 1h than the shield. And I had Shadow Queens Hangnail for about 10 min - that thing blew chunks.

It seems that its better/more productive to KILL the things that are going to hit you before they actually do rather than try and block them when they land a successful attack. You kill mobs faster that way, gain more exp and can do more overall dmg in general. Since we can spam pots all day long in DR too, shields definitely take a back seat.

Either they need to revamp/boost the shield mechanic and/or make shield skills (which has been suggested and I support) before I think I'll seriously use a shield again. The numbers just dont add up is all.

Oh, this post was mostly regarding fighters I suppose I should add. I did use the "brown eye" shield and brain on a stick for my mage for 10 lvls and it was great, since brown eye has +int, reflect dmg and spell bonuses while giving mages a needed blocking/def chance.

Shield Sucks too hard to kill and takes ages, get damn potions

Shield Sucks too hard to kill and takes ages, get damn potions :p

Basically the reason most fighters dont use shields are because they are made to be tankers-"duh", adding a shield will onli reduce the amount of damage they can withstand, which they can actually take. Most fighers would rather concentrate on damage for fast farming or drilling with 2 handed or dual wield.

I use shields for HP, Defense, and reflection. i'm a mage for the info.

Shields just seem underwhelming until 90+ b/c you gain 20% speed from DW right at level 1. Meanwhile you dont get 20%+ Block until L90+, so the damage from DW outweighs the incoming pervention til late game. Stephen mentioned adding at least 3 shield skills so I am looking forward to that.

I use a shield in my current build. For me, my dps is from int based abilities like Soul Rend, Ring of Fire, and Gaseus Blast, so for me a shield is better than duel weild or 2h.

To ressurrect a dead, but now pertinent topic:

We ARE getting shield skills! YESYESYESYESYES ::runs around like a kid that just opened a cool christmas present:: Good thing I stack my rbw shields away while everyone else tosses them out! ::shines up contrarian and ye ol' manhole cover::

I told ya it would happen, just had to be patient. :D

Me too Teclis Prime, glad i kept that pile of odd rb shields that no one wants. I'm thinking that "I'm rubber" will be a popular mage skill, especially for AoE mages.

Think it will finally bring the Sissi Staff down from its pedestal? Although lots of Mages already use Shardian anyway.

I am a fighter and i use a sheild (Shardin) cause of the END and great defense

I'd use sheild if there was a one handed range wep.

Shields are best used for pvp, or possibly farming melee bosses like abby. Shardian pwns all. And I think the new shield skills will be most useful for pvp, but I see a big hubbub about them being broken, and you may only be able to counter the effect by using it yourself like bill in some cases. But since the first one(don't remember name but it has a chance to know down) will definitely be used by mages mostly there's no way to counter that. Only time will tell.

And, another notice: I heard from Spetsdod he found a new emerald or such alike shield in the icon pack that wasnt there before the last patch, sadly.. I dont know the name anymore, and it isnt uploaded, so you have to search for it yourself.

== Edit ==

Woo! 1337 posts, Im l33t :D

Congratulations to LegendRunner for being 1337!

Grats on l33t

Oddly enough, I used a shield for about 15 lvls then dropped for dual wiels wands then fell in love with Ma'ne Aegis....just wish it had better than a 3% block though :(

I'm a little confused with the icon pack stuff, where he found this shield, what icon pack. I'm a bit lost, i've been to thetownstons.com. I've seen the "jade" armor, and the crimson armor(i want just for the aesthetics, it just looks cool IMO) that blue ninja like mage armor. Where are these coming from, are they just icons for stuff that the devs have just not put in-game for one reason or another(scrapped, not ready, etc) or were they removed from the game entirely.

Also i'm wondering what happened to some the the rbs in there, New Fangled Spangled Tabbard, Amulent of Yawn-Bore, Santoros Vise, Ichabods Cap, Horrific Taint, all of these i've never seen in game ever. Rigid Milwaukee Brace, Coopers Cooler Splint, Hommo Erectus Stirrups, i've seen these soulbound on some lvl 100s that have had them for a long time, but only once for each, and on 3 different lvl 100s. And lastly Mad Bling and Foil Covered Think Box, i've seen these both non sb in market once before, i've seen mad bling SB on a character viewer on someone that doesn't play anymore. So are any of these still around at all and a possible to get in a drop? Or did devs remove them from the rb generator, so they're only here where people still have them?

Has anyone besides me thought about how much more useful Offensive Guesture will now be as a skill for PvE combined with shield skills? In even average mob situations, with both skills activated, there will be a bunch of knockdowns and one should be able to keep the speed buff at max easily. Tanks like myself should be able to even more efficiently do their "job" in groups. Again, I'm obviously excited, lol.

Ran Rotty last night with Contrarian and Country Fried amulet on with other ranged reflect gear, in a group of mages. Buffed retribution, and then OG, and watched rottys health drop as I beat up his boys then dropped him from 1/2 health instead of full. Can't wait to see how good this works with the new skills added to the mix. :D

From what little I've heard about the old-school rbs, it seems they are still around but are very rare now. I saw a lvl 80 something (if I remember correctly) Coopers Cooler Splint in market a couple weeks ago. I tried to get it, just for novelty's sake, but the trader didn't like what I had to offer. :(

ooooo who had it hehe

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Has anyone besides me thought about how much more useful Offensive Guesture will now be as a skill for PvE combined with shield skills?

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Read my mind, that's one of the first things I'm gonna try after I've had fun with Barf-o-Rama. :)

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ooooo who had it hehe

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Can't remember ;) ...heh no, actually, I can't. The fool probably sold it when he couldn't find what he was looking for in trade.

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The fool probably sold it when he couldn't find what he was looking for in trade.

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I makes me really sad when people sell their mythics just because someone didn't trade them immediately, i've held stuff for over 2 months, and then i get something i really really wanted/needed for that rb that just seemed to take up space.