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.
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 orbs, mojos, or quivers that can boost damage and stats, without providing any defensive utility.
Shield Changes in Diablo 3
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)
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.
- 8-47 armor
- +10-20% chance to block
- 6-10 block amount
- +2 max random magical properties
- 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.
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.
- 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.
- Orbs -- Wizards only.
- Mojos -- Witch Doctors only.
- Quivers -- Demon Hunters 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.)
Barbarians and Monks 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.
Monks and Shields
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 Traits
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.
- Current list of the Barbarian's Passive Skills.
Formerly, the shield traits were:
- Max points: 3
- Description: Increases your chance to block attacks.
- 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
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.
Shield Media
Images of characters using shields in Diablo III remain fairly scarce.
A cool skull shield in the Blacksmith's display.
Barbarian with shield.
Shields Listing
The table below details the Shields in the current Beta game files.
<item type="list">Shield</item>
Contents
References
- ↑ Class-Specific Weapons - Blizzard, 11/3/10
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