Also known as Parrying, this skill is absolutely required in order to use shields effectively and to benefit from the Armor Rating they provide. There are five different kind of shields and the better your Shieldfighting skill is, the better shield you will be able to use. If you don’t have the appropriate skill to use a shield you will benefit from the shield’s Armor Rating but won’t be able to block and deflect attacks or even make progress in your skill.
When fighting with a shield, you have a chance to block or deflect an incoming attack:
- Deflecting an attack means you successfully used the shield to make the hit slide without taking any damage.
- Blocking an attack means you managed to partially use the shield to defend an attack which makes it so that you’ll only take 60% of the original damage.The higher your skill is, the more you will deflect instead of blocking. Smaller shields with greater mobility have more chance of allowing you to block and deflect, although they will have lower Armor Rating compared with bigger shields.Below you can find the percentage of skill required to fully benefit from each kind of shield:
Type Shieldfighting Buckler 10% Small Round Shield 35% Round Shield 50% Kite Shield 60% Heater Shield 70%
