Latest revision as of 03:02, 8 August 2014

Shields return as an item type in Diablo III. As in previous games in the series, shields provide blocking, which absorbs some set amount of damage with every successful block. Shields roll with powerful defensive properties, including huge boosts to Armor, Vitality, Life%, Life Regen, and more. They can also roll with good offensive bonuses, such as to Critical hit Chance and mainstat, but will never provide the DPS boost that the other, non-defensive off-hand items deliver.

The trade off with a shield is much less offensive might than is provided by a two-handed weapon, or more commonly (for Monks and Barbarians) by dual wielding. Other classes have special Off Hand items that add huge offensive bonuses, but unlike shields, do very little for defense: sources (Wizards), mojos (Witch Doctors), or quivers (Demon Hunters).

Legendary Shields[edit | edit source]

Legendary Shields in Diablo 3 and Reaper of Souls. All regular shields can be used by any class, though in Reaper of Souls they are used mostly by Crusaders, who also have special Crusader shields as well. See the individual articles for full stats and details on these hand-warmers.

Items of level 61 and higher can only be found or crafted in Reaper of Souls.

Legendary Shields:

12) Coven's Criterion Act 2 5 Horadric Cache only
12) Denial
23) Wall of Bone - Crafted
31) Defender of Westmarch
31) Eberli Charo
31) Freeze of Deflection
31) Vo'Toyias Spiker
50) Lidless Wall
60) Ivory Tower
60) Stormshield
70) Hallowed Defender - Crafted Set
70) Wall of Man - Crafted
70) Hallowed Barricade - Crafted Set

Legendary Crusader Shields - Crusader restricted

12) Salvation Act 5 Horadric Cache only
31) Akarat's Awakening
31) Hallowed Bulwark
31) Hellskull
31) Jekangbord
31) Sublime Conviction
31) The Final Witness
?) Amazonian Parma - (Season One Legendary)
70) Piro Marella - Crafted

Shield Changes in Diablo 3[edit | edit source]

Shields.

Shields are much changed in function in Diablo 3. They are less effective defensive tools than they were in Diablo 2, since they block a much lower percentage of attacks, and only absorb a set amount of damage, rather than 100% of physical damage with a successful block. These changes are meant to provide a more compelling reason to upgrade your shield, and to make two-handed weapons and dual wielding more viable.

In retrospect, most fans agree with the D3 Devs that blocking was grossly overpowered in Diablo II. In that game, the ability to use any shield to completely negate up to 75% (the maximum blocking rate) of incoming physical damage was unbalanced, and made dual-wielding or using a two-handed weapon a far less viable tactic than going with a one handed weapon and a shield. Diablo III's shields are meant more as a form of damage mitigation, decreasing a percentage of the incoming damage, rather than an all or nothing source of damage spikes, as shields were in Diablo 2.

Monks and Shields[edit | edit source]

Monk with shield.

At one point during their development, Monks could not use shield. (Or many other types of weapons.) Bashiok offered an explanation of this in a pair of forum posts in early March 2010 ^[1]

Bruce Lee would not use a shield, and neither would the monk. We have shields. Everyone but the monk can wield them. Of course that’s subject to change.

It did. A Monk was first seen using a shield in August 2010, during the Artisan Video and the Monk remains able to use shields as of the Diablo 3 Beta.

Shield Skills and Class Skills[edit | edit source]

Two views of a low-level Barbarian with a hand axe and buckler.

During development the Barbarian had a variety of shield-based skills and passives. These were gradually removed during development and in D3v no class had special shield-related skills. This changed in Reaper of Souls when the Crusader was added to teh game with a variety of special shield talents.

The following are shield skills the Barbarian had during development, preserved for posterity:

Shield of Iron

Max points: 3
Description: Increases your chance to block attacks.

Shield Slam

Max points: 1
Description: You have a chance to hit your target with your shield and interrupt them.

Even earlier in development, before traits were introduced, the Barbarian had a Battlemaster skill called Shield Specialization that granted considerable blocking bonuses. Here are the stats for this skill, which was removed from the game in 2009.

Shield Specialization
- Passive Skill
- Max Rank: 15
- Description: Increases the Barbarian's chance to block with a shield and the amount of damage he can block.
- Rank 1: +8% chance to block, +6 damage blocked.
- Fury cost: None

Media[edit | edit source]

A cool skull shield in the Blacksmith's display.
Barbarian with shield.

References[edit | edit source]

↑ Class-Specific Weapons - Blizzard, 11/3/10

[1] Class-Specific Weapons - Blizzard, 11/3/10

[1]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Shields return as an item type in Diablo III. As in previous games in the series, shields provide useful defensive properties, plus a wide variety of magical modifiers.
+[[File:Amazonian-parma-equipped.jpg|thumb|250px|Crusader with an [[Amazonian Parma]].]]
+Shields return as an item type in Diablo III. As in previous games in the series, shields provide blocking, which absorbs some set amount of damage with every successful block. Shields roll with powerful defensive properties, including huge boosts to Armor, Vitality, Life%, Life Regen, and more. They can also roll with good offensive bonuses, such as to [[Critical hit Chance]] and [[mainstat]], but will never provide the DPS boost that the other, non-defensive off-hand items deliver.
-The trade off comes from substituting a shield for two-handed weapon, dual wielding weapons, or using one of Diablo III's various off-hand items, such as [[orb]]s, [[mojo]]s, or [[quiver]]s that can boost damage and stats, without providing any defensive utility.
+The trade off with a shield is much less offensive might than is provided by a two-handed weapon, or more commonly (for Monks and Barbarians) by dual wielding. Other classes have special [[Off Hand]] items that add huge offensive bonuses, but unlike shields, do very little for defense: [[source]]s (Wizards), [[mojo]]s (Witch Doctors), or [[quiver]]s (Demon Hunters).
+==Legendary Shields==
-==Shield Changes in Diablo 3==
+[[Legendary Shields]] in Diablo 3 and Reaper of Souls. All regular shields can be used by any class, though in Reaper of Souls they are used mostly by [[Crusaders]], who also have special [[Crusader shields]] as well.  See the individual articles for full stats and details on these hand-warmers.
-[[File:Shields1.jpg|left|thumb|100px|Shields.]]
+* Items of level 61 and higher can only be found or crafted in Reaper of Souls.
-Shields are much changed in function in Diablo 3. They are less effective defensive tools than they were in Diablo 2, since they block a much lower percentage of attacks, and only absorb a set amount of damage, rather than 100% of physical with a successful block. These changes are meant to provide a more compelling reason to upgrade your shield, and to make two-handed weapons and dual wielding more viable.
-In retrospect, most fans agree with the [[D3 Devs]] that blocking was grossly overpowered in Diablo II. In that game, the ability to use any shield to completely negate up to 75% of incoming physical damage was unbalanced, and made dual-wielding or using a two-handed weapon a far less viable tactic than going with a one handed weapon and a shield.  Diablo III's less powerful shields are meant to increase the difficulty while easing the difficulty spikes (players will take more hits in D3, thus each hit doesn't have to be so potentially lethal)
+'''Legendary Shields:'''
+* 12) [[Coven's Criterion]] {{c_slate|Act 2 5 Horadric Cache only}}<br>
+* 12) [[Denial]]<br>
+* 23) [[Wall of Bone]] - [[Blacksmith Plans|Crafted]]<br>
+* 31) [[Defender of Westmarch]]<br>
+* 31) [[Eberli Charo]]<br>
+* 31) [[Freeze of Deflection]]<br>
+* 31) [[Vo'Toyias Spiker]]<br>
+* 50) [[Lidless Wall]]<br>
+* 60) [[Ivory Tower]]<br>
+* 60) [[Stormshield]]<br>
+* 70) [[Hallowed Defender]] - [[Blacksmith Plans|Crafted]] {{c_green|Set}}<br>
+* 70) [[Wall of Man]] - [[Blacksmith Plans|Crafted]]<br>
+* 70) [[Hallowed Barricade]] - [[Blacksmith Plans|Crafted]] {{c_green|Set}}
-The function of shields is quite varied, both from how they worked in Diablo II and between different types of shields in Diablo III. For example, here are the basic stats for the lowest and highest base type of shield in the game, as of beta patch 10.
-[[Buckler]]
+'''[[Legendary Crusader Shields]]''' - {{c_slate|Crusader restricted}}
-* 8-47 armor
+* 12) [[Salvation]] {{c_slate|Act 5 Horadric Cache only}}
-* +10-20% chance to block
+* 31) [[Akarat's Awakening]]
-* 6-10 block amount
+* 31) [[Hallowed Bulwark]]
-* +2 max random magical properties
+* 31) [[Hellskull]]
+* 31) [[Jekangbord]]
+* 31) [[Sublime Conviction]]
+* 31) [[The Final Witness]]
+* ?) [[Amazonian Parma]] - ([[Seasonal Legendary|Season One Legendary]])
+* 70) [[Piro Marella]] - [[Blacksmith Plans|Crafted]]
-[[Sacred Shield]]
-* 1000-1159 armor
-* +8-17% block
-* 240-320 block amount
-* +4 max random magical properties.
-As you can see, the Sacred Shield has vastly higher armor, it's capable of absorbing much more damage per block, and it can spawn with up to twice as many affixes. However, the % chance of blocking is actually lower. Also, while the stats remain in flux, high level monsters can routinely hit for much more than 320 points of damage, thus even when a player's Sacred Shield did block, it would not absorb anywhere 100% of the incoming damage.
-[[File:Buckler1.jpg|frame]]
+==Shield Changes in Diablo 3==
-Note that shield functions and stats have changed repeatedly during development. To the right you see the stats on a starting gear Buckler as of August 2010; it had a considerably higher % chance to block, at that point in development.
+[[File:Shields1.jpg|left|thumb|100px|Shields.]]
+Shields are much changed in function in Diablo 3. They are less effective defensive tools than they were in Diablo 2, since they block a much lower percentage of attacks, and only absorb a set amount of damage, rather than 100% of physical damage with a successful block. These changes are meant to provide a more compelling reason to upgrade your shield, and to make two-handed weapons and dual wielding more viable.
-* Armor: 78
-* Chance to Block: +25%
-* Block Amount: 6-10
-* Durability: 25/25
-* Sell value: 1
-==Off-Hand Non-Shields==
-Besides shields, there are a number of other items that can be equipped in the off-hand slot. These are all class-specific, with only one class able to use each type.
-* [[Orb]]s -- [[Wizard]]s only.
-* [[Mojo]]s -- [[Witch Doctor]]s only.
-* [[Quiver]]s -- [[Demon Hunter]]s only. (And only with a bow or xbow in the other hand.)
-All of these off-hand items provide +damage, as well as various offensive modifers, almost like equipping a second weapon. They do not serve to block attacks though, and only spawn with offensive modifers, rather than defensive bonuses such as resistance or dodge or other shield-type modifiers. (Wizards and Witch Doctors can not dual wield their main casting weapons, though Demon Hunters can dual wield one-handed crossbows, and can even use one with a shield.)
-[[Barbarian]]s and [[Monk]]s do not have any special off-hand items, but they can both dual wield all sorts of one-handed melee weapons. Also, the Monk has class-specific [[fist] weapons, while the Barbarian has [[Mighty weapons]] that no other class can equip.
+In retrospect, most fans agree with the [[D3 Devs]] that blocking was grossly overpowered in Diablo II. In that game, the ability to use any shield to completely negate up to 75% (the maximum blocking rate) of incoming physical damage was unbalanced, and made dual-wielding or using a two-handed weapon a far less viable tactic than going with a one handed weapon and a shield.  Diablo III's shields are meant more as a form of damage [[mitigation]], decreasing a percentage of the incoming damage, rather than an all or nothing source of damage spikes, as shields were in Diablo 2.
@@ Line 60: / Line 56: @@
-==Shield Skills and Traits==
+==Shield Skills and Class Skills==
 [[File:Shield-barb2.jpg|thumb|300px|Two views of a low-level [[Barbarian]] with a hand axe and [[buckler]].]]
-No shield-specific skills remain in Diablo III as of the beta test. Two of the Barbarian's passive traits boosted his shield abilities earlier in the game's development, but both are long gone as of early 2012.
+During development the Barbarian had a variety of shield-based skills and passives. These were gradually removed during development and in [[D3v]] no class had special shield-related skills.  This changed in [[Reaper of Souls]] when the [[Crusader]] was added to teh game with a variety of special shield talents.
-* Current list of [[Barbarian_skills#Passive_Skills|the Barbarian's Passive Skills]].
+The following are shield skills the Barbarian had during development, preserved for posterity:
-Formerly, the shield [[traits]] were:
 [[Shield of Iron (trait)|Shield of Iron]]
@@ Line 87: / Line 81: @@
-While there are zero It's widely-speculated that the sixth class, to be added in [[D3X]], will specialize in some sort of sword/shield tactics, as that niche of combat is entirely missing from vanilla Diablo III.
+==Media==
-==Shield Media==
-Images of characters using shields in Diablo III remain fairly scarce.
 <gallery>
@@ Line 100: / Line 89: @@
 </gallery>
-{{Clear|left}}
-==Shields Listing==
-The table below details the Shields in the current Beta game files.
-<item type="list">Shield</item>

Difference between revisions of "Shields"