Shield Skill Follow

Im not sure if this has been covered on the forums, but i havent seen any solid answers on 3 things.

1. Is it worth it to stack Shield Skill+ gear at 75 with capped shield skill... i have AF boots, Shield Torque and Sinfender Sword.. giving me +22 to skill

2. I have not merited shield yet, as i recently just got 75. I need to cap shield skill.. so id like to know where to do that, my shield skill is at 235... (yes, i am a victim of level sync) and if i should merit shield before or after reaching cap..

3. and lastly, while leveling my shield skill, will i level it faster if i do or do not wear shield skill + gear

thank you, that is all

Edited, Sep 20th 2009 6:44pm by alldon

From what I understand, you'll skill up based on what your 'true' skill is at, but your actual block rate will be improved with merits. So in that sense it benefits you to merit shield before you cap it, to the extent that it will make capping it easier.

Granted, that should be read more as "if you have the merits handy, go ahead and spend them before you skill up," not to put off capping it until you merit. Since you're pretty low right now, I'd grab /RDM and head to the Den of Rancor and start holding black mandies at the zoneline as long as you can.

To address that first question, it's sometimes worth it to add +skill gear even when capped, but consider the alternatives for each slot. Specifically, there are a lot of mobs you'll want a Joyeuse for instead of Sinfender, especially once you get Chivalry/Atonement.

"Too much shield skill" is a very subjective term. It depends on the size of the shield, as well as the enemy's level and stats as they compare to yours.

"More shield skill than the point of diminishing returns for the current task at hand" would probably be a more appropriate way of phrasing it.

I know that for me, around 310 shield skill is my point of diminishing returns for exp mobs and Campaign mobs when using a size 3 shield.

I'm not sure if it's even possible to hit a soft cap with size 4 shields, especially on endgame mobs like HNMs, mainly due to equipment slot limitations and the fact that there simply aren't enough items in-game, from what I've seen, to bring that skill number high enough to hit a soft cap.

Has anyone experienced a point of diminishing returns with a size 4 shield? And if so, what was it?

Cheers,
Goobs

If you're blood tanking, it actually wins out even more than that. It doesn't have the -accuracy on it, so in all actuality, I'd prefer this over Mac for anything I was straight tanking.

I'd personally still choose my Joyeuse over Sinfender, though, for most things.