Thoughts on New ShieldsFollow

With the release of 2.4 come two extremely hawt rep shields from being Exalted with the Shattered Sun Offensive. Both are in the general ballpark of quality that you find Nightbane's shield (Kara) and the tank's badge shield.

Dawnforged Defender
Sunward Crest
Shield of Impenetrable Darkness
Azure-Shield of Coldarra
Shield of the Wayward Footman

Dawnforged

4872 Armor
122 Block
+31 Stamina
+33 Block Value
+18 Dodge Rating
+13 Hit Rating

Sunward

4872 Armor
122 Block
+31 Stamina
+26 Spell Damage
+18 Block Rating
+13 Spell Hit

Nightbane

4872 Armor
122 Block
+33 Stamina
+33 Block Value
+22 Defense Rating

Badges

4668 Armor
115 Block
+31 Stamina
+33 Block Value
+22 Defense Rating

Now, I threw the Shield of the Wayward Footman in there for benchmarking purposes because come on, we're Paladins. The Wayward Footman is our bread and butter until one of these puppies comes along. I won't bother analyzing it becasue frankly, I don't think there's any dispute that it is the inferior shield.

Previously, in this bracket the competition was between the Azure-Shield and Nightbane's shield. Nightbane's shield clearly wins out in this respect in terms of Armor, Block Value, and marginally Stamina. The differences aren't huge, and a tank who couldn't get into Kara or wasn't having luck with Nightbane (Or would rather surrender the shield to the other tank for a solo roll on the Panzar'Thar :D) could easily pick up a shield that is, for all intents and purposes, equal. The Azure-Shield even looks better.

In steps the new shields. I propose that they are both superior to Nightbane's shield and are better itemized for their respective purposes.

The Dawnforged provides the same Armor and Block Value as Nightbane's shield. It loses 2 Stamina and 22 Defense in exchange for Dodge and Hit Rating. The Dawnforged provides more PURE avoidence than Nightbane's shield, though Impenetrable Darkness will put you closer to uncrushable (with the block from Defense) AND will contribute a good chunk towards your 490 Defense goal if you aren't there with your other gear. The added Hit Rating is a nice boon when you're throwing your shield or taunting, or just trying to get hits to land (and thus proc SoR or SoV).

The Sunward Crest again provides the same Armor as both the Dawnforged and Nightbane's shield. It sacrifices the 33 extra block and has the same -2 Stamina that the Dawnforged has. In return, it gets 26 Spell Damage, 18 Block Rating, and 13 Spell Hit. This shield offers less PURE avoidence than either Nightbane's shield OR the Dawnforged. Despite this, it offers MORE towards uncrushability (through the Block Rating) than either of its competitors. Furthermore, it provides the same Block Rating as the Shield of the Wayward Footman (though lacks the Defense) making the step up from our bread-and-butter shield significantly easier in terms of maintaining uncrushability. The spell damage is gravy, and is a significant boon considering it's coming from a shield. If it were not for the Spell Hit Rating on this shield, I would say that it is PERFECTLY itemized for a Paladin tank. The two major abilities that we need to hit all the time are Avenger's Shield and Righteous Defense. Both of them work off of MELEE hit. Our Judgements (not seals mind you) are the only real significant abilities that Paladin tanks will use that work off of Spell Hit (As the Maintankadin forums have PROVEN through combat log parsing that the FIRST TICK OF CONSECRATION IS ONLY A SHOCKWAVE AND DOES NO DAMAGE WHETHER IT IS RESISTED OR NOT) and so it isn't really the most desirable stat in the world. I would love to have seen both the new shields stack Melee Hit.

If I were advising a Paladin tank on which shield to roll with, I'd make the following suggestions.

If you are easily uncritable AND uncrushable and you have a better threat weapon than a Crystalforged Sword or Continuum Blade (ie. the Gladiator's Gavel, or the new Cudgel of Consecration) that provides ~200 Spell Damage on its own without enchants/consumables... Pick up the Dawnforged.

If you are easily uncritable but ride close to the uncrushable line, or are still using a ~120 Spell Damage weapon (or even later if you want the extra threat)... Pick up the Sunward.

If you are recently 70 with a bit of gear, very little SSO rep, and a guild that wants to take you to Kara... Grab Nightbane's shield if it drops.

The only reasons I would suggest the Azure-Shield now is if you only have 2 hours a day to play and would rather run a heroic than do dailies -- OR if you only play one or two days a week (or less) and thus would not be able to keep up on your dailies for the rep. In which case, you get a good shield for the time invested.

Edited, Apr 15th 2008 11:19am by Losie

The Crest of the Sha'tar is positioned right in between the Wayward Footman and the Azure-Shield. It is clearly inferior to the four I'm looking at but OVERALL a much better shield than the Wayward Footman.

The reason I didn't mention it is because it's not a shield that many Pally tanks get. At the gearing level, most NEED the Wayward Footman's block to stay uncrushable and they just can't do it easily with the Sha'tar, making the first upgrade that really doesn't sacrifice their ability to tank a Kara boss one of these shields.

Not to mention Sha'tar rep is more elusive than the secret of the resurrection to many. It is a very nice shield, but it really wasn't part of what I was comparing. Mainly I was looking at the two new shields and comparing them to the two shields that are comparable to them. The Crest of the Sha'tar is NOT in the same league as either of these four shields. The Wayward was only inlcuded as a benchmark.

You mean:

Cudgel of Consecration?

I like it quite a bit. Previously, you had to live with either a ~120 Spell Damage weapon, or the crappy Gladiator's Gavel for a very long time. The Cudgel is a very nice upgrade that gets you over the 200 Spell Damage barrier and is relatively easy to acquire. With a 15 Stamina gem (Solid Empyrean Sapphire) it gives the same stamina as a Crystalforged Sword and with a Solid Star of Elune you only lose 3. All while gaining a fairly large chunk of intellect.

What I don't like about it is that it is placed for a very short-lived life. The Season 2 Gavel will be available soon offering more Spell Damage, and the gear level required to beat Kael on Heroic reliably time after time (given that the mace DOESN'T drop every time) means that you will be in a position to acquire one of the other BETTER spell damage maces shortly after you get this.

Still... if you're trying to make that push from Tier 4 into Tier 5 (and thus are still using either a ~120 Spell Damage weapon or a Gladiator's Gavel) this is a nice upgrade to help you hold up better in the new content.

I used Crest of the Sha'tar over the Badge shield because I could not justify spending 33 Badges for the slight difference in stats. If you have the Sha'tar rep, or can get it soon, use that over the Badge shield because it just doens't provide enough "bang for the buck" imo.

That said, if your SSO rep is going to get exalted before Sha'tar, pick up the shield from them that suits you better. Personally I would take the Sunward over Dawnforged any day. I'd use it over Nightbane's shield as well: looks great and itemized much much better for a Paladin tank.

However, I was blessed with Grull giving up the Aldori Legacy Defender, so I don't get to use these new shields =/ Yes, I'm actually somewhat bummed about that. I like how these new rep shields look.

About the Gavel, I personally wouldn't worry about it. I think Losie is right, it might work out better for an Alli Paladin trying to use SoV, but it's a little too slow for my taste. SoV isn't used often enough, by me, to make good use of a slower weapon. If you think you can get some good use out of it though, go for it! Try it out, and see how it does in comparison.

Lastly:



I have to strongly disagree. The Azure one looks like someone took a turtle shell and used a Badazzler to turn it into a piece of woman's jewelry. Not my thing =P