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* Fury cost: None
Note that description; this skill increases the chance to block '''and''' the amount of damage blocked. That makes it sound as if shields in Diablo III will now block a % of the time, but will only block some amount of damage. In Diablo II, a shield completely absorbed all physical damage from an attack it successfully blocked. It sounds like this will not be the case in Diablo III, and that makes for some interesting dynamics. Certain types of shields might absorb 10 damage, others up to 20, and so on.
In retrospect, blocking was overpowered in Diablo II. That a shield gave your character up to a 75% chance to completely erase all incoming physical damage hardly seems fair, and was certainly not realistic. How can a weak Sorceress or Necromancer with a little wooden plate on their arm completely stop the damage from a massive polearm? If the Diablo III system works as Shield Specialization makes it sound, the use of shields should be much more interesting in D3. It would make two-handed weapons more viable, for one thing, since a player wouldn't be giving up 75% damage reduction by using them.
[[File:Shield-barb2.jpg|center|Two views of a low-level [[Barbarian]] with a hand axe and [[buckler]].]]
