ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Playing up a bulwark in b40, and I'm noticing the following issues:

Foremost is that block is not a very effective mechanic for bulwarks, as their Defense rapidly becomes too high for block to operate in a reliable fashion - chances are good that the guy you hope to counterstrike against will simply miss next turn, throwing away your turn while everything else nearby zaps you.

Were block an instant ability with a short duration, it might have more value, but as it is any points sunk into Ripost are mostly wasted once your defense gets up to the levels you expect of a bulwark.

The other major problem I've run into with bulwarks is in the mid-late game, where damage shield effects become commonplace. Most of the shield spec. attacks involve striking an enemy 2-3 (or more) times in a single round, for relatively low damage per strike - which results in brutal damage shield retaliation, and aside from thick skin, bulwarks have no skills to help mitigate elemental damage. As an end result of this common circumstance, I find that bulwark characters often take a great deal MORE damage per round than an offensively oriented berserker with no defense or armor to speak of.

A skill in the shield line to allow a % of your armor to act against elemental damage would help a lot with some of these issues, I think.

Block reduces your defense by the block value on the shield.

This ranges from 15 - 220 on non-egoed/non-artifact shields and even higher than that on other shields. So I don't understand how your defense is out pacing those values late game (early game it certainly can).

As to relatively low damage, again I don't understand. Assault has always been a great damage dealing talent and it's even better if used after a block. Shield Pummel is also good.

Next beta True Grit is seeing some buffs which gives another option for elemental protection. For now you have access to ego shields with elemental resist (which will block elemental damage), an ego type that sees more elemental resist than any other off-hand option I know of.

Excellent. I was unaware of the defense reduction due to block - but yes, at this stage of the game, my defense vastly outstrips my shield block value - but it's good to know that will eventually correct, should I ever find a decent shield.

As for the 'low damage' - I didn't mean to suggest that bulwark damage is low overall, their single target damage is quite high. I meant to say that their damage per strike is low, made up for by a high strike rate, which renders them vulnerable to damage shields which tend to be mostly elemental damage that they have little native defense against.

Edit: Good point about the ego shield items - I've been tending to equip retaliation items in that slot (such as the Tooth) but in retrospect it may be better to keep an array of those on tap.

It's not a full answer, but I'd imagine that bulwarks would take to antimagic reasonably well, and they definitely have ways of handling elemental damage.

Vastin wrote: As for the 'low damage' - I didn't mean to suggest that bulwark damage is low overall, their single target damage is quite high. I meant to say that their damage per strike is low, made up for by a high strike rate, which renders them vulnerable to damage shields which tend to be mostly elemental damage that they have little native defense against.

When you say 'damage shields', I assume you mean shields that damage the attacker.

A lot of classes don't get any kind of elemental protection whatsoever. You should get resistances on your gear or go anti-magic. At least you can carry a ton of res gear and switch around, unlike rogues.

In my experience, it's usually a good idea early on to take a hit to your other stats to load up on appropriate resistances for that dungeon. Just how big of a hit is a matter of strategy.

Dungeons in the west mostly pack lightning, cold and fire damage types. If you skip the Dark Crypt and the Mark of the Spellblaze you won't see much blight or acid damage before the Prides. Light damage is only a problem when facing luminous horrors, but light resistance is also rare so there's no help there other than avoidance. Dreadfell has some darkness, but cold and lightning is a bigger issue there I'd say.

One movement infusion to run behind a corner buys you time to switch a few pieces of equipment. So, with 3 resistance sets, and some 'tactical repositioning' to switch gear, you can cover the first half of the game.