I finally killed the Echo Knight on my big sword build and decided to start playing around with new build concepts. While I’ve been loving my dual dagger and my mage builds, I can’t help but feel frustrated over what I presumed would be the most basic idea: sword and shield.
I realized that light and medium shields were of no use so I gave up on them early, but I dropped a Falstead Barricade and decided to test it out… What exactly is the point of a great shield, a shield that weights as much as an entire two handed weapon, that can’t even block damage?
I’d understand if the shield let elemental damage through while blocking 100% of physical, or even if you allowed the guard to break by running out of stamina taking a big chunk of physical damage on the attack that broke through, but what is the point in using a great shield when it blocks damage the same way the small piece of wood you find at level 1 in the beach?
I thought, naively, that every shield class had a purpose. I imagined light shields had bigger parry windows, medium shields compromised between parrying and dmg reduction and that great shields would be 100% physical resistance, but with the same parry window as going shieldless… Instead, the only mechanical difference between the 3 types of shield is the stat needed for it, no changes in how they block dmg, no changes in their parrying… So, why exactly do the shield classes exist in the first place?
I agree great shields should full-block physical damage. Most medium shields should too, honestly. Souls does a decent job of this by making some shields require less stamina to block. Might be a decent system to emulate here, it works well over there.
But that being said, great shields do generally have a higher armor stat in NRFTW. So they are technically different.
It just tanks build diversity is all. What do you need to make a light or medium shield viable? Well, you need to upgrade it to have a lot of defense, have a blood gem on it and Enchant it so you get health on block, then you can use it to protect yourself from damage… What do you need to make a great shield viable? Why, literally the same thing.
It could be interesting if great shields were more rewarding for on-block stats, while light shields working better for on-parry ones.
I like the way shields work in Soulsborne, but I feel it’s not a path NRFTW wants to trod. Their way ends up leading to demanding over the top aggression from enemies to counter the possibility of over dependance on shields, something I don’t think a game with a less immediate response perspective like NRFTW can afford.
I might be biased because it was my idea, but I really think modeling the shields around parry vs block would be good. Say a light shield gives you 50% dmg reduction and doubles your parry window, while a medium one gives you 75% reduction and 1.5x parry window, and a great shield gives you 100% reduction and the same parry of no shields.
Now there is reason to build around the item, think about what gems and enchantments you want in each of them and each type would reflect best for a playstyle.
Maybe even get rid of “light, medium, great” and just classify shields by “buckler, kite, tower” so you don’t mandatorilly lock a playstyle to a weight class
I agree on this. I was so excited to start a Spear and shield character. But after seeing medium and great shields were no different apart from stats, it was just easier rolling with a medium to not need so much Equip Load stats. They should add more mechanics to the different types like what youre suggesting.