[Shield] Directional Blocking

[WompyTree]

Mount & Blade for me has been a game where people who are highly skilled are able to successfully parry and block incoming attacks without an issue. Myself, I'm not one of these people and relied very heavily on using a Shield as a crutch, since it takes up an equipment space it balanced itself out.

Warband Shields.
- Takes up equipment slot, limiting options for equipment.
- Has limited durability before it breaks. Higher tier Shields typically have more.
- Slows character movement due to its weight.
- Simple to use and breaks after taking a lot of damage.
- Blocks arrows.
- Compensates for poor blocking/parrying ability.

In Bannerlord however, when using a shield you are forced to block each attack in melee as if you were not using a Shield negating the whole point of using the damned thing in the first place.

Bannerlord Shields
- Takes up an equipment slot, limiting options for equipment
- Durability amount typically reflects what Tier it is
- Also slows character movement due to its weight
- Takes a bit more damage before finally breaking.
- Blocks arrows.
- Requires 'matched' blocks to block effectively.
- Frustratingly underpowered.

I can understand if the Shield is a smaller size and you'd need to position it to cover your body, but I'm dying to axes and swords when I'm lugging around an Oval shield in a Tournament.

 

[Adrivan]

If you block with the shield towards your left side and the enemy hits you from the right, he will hit you.
But from what I saw you can just block in front of you (in the middle) and it will block 95% of the time, including hits coming from left/right. In some rare cases they will still hit you, but almost always blocking in the middle is ok.

 

[brognar]

Shields are massively forgiving in Bannerlord, especially large ones. You'll only get hit if it's very obvious your shield isn't protecting you and even then sometimes you'll still block the hit.

 

[Morderian]

from my eperience the Shield block when it is hit no matter which side you block (like it should), biggest factor in that is of course Shield size the Larger the better, i rarely had strikes ignoring it and that seemed to be a bug as it often came from the same direction of the shield but those were extremely rare

 

[KergitHorseArcher]

I can understand if the Shield is a smaller size and you'd need to position it to cover your body, but I'm dying to axes and swords when I'm lugging around an Oval shield in a Tournament.

Your blocking direction is not that important to stop you from getting hit but your shield must be covering you physically from attack. Instead of changing block direction you can simply turn your whole body. Also shield size and how you grip the shield is important.

 

[pada]

shields dont seem to break nearly enough compared to warband.

 

[InfinityFire]

I honestly feel that shields are much stronger than they were in Warband.

Even lower tier shields are significantly harder to break, and you only need to carry one around with you as they take minimal damage from arrows. I used to carry two shields in Warband (namely in the Prophesy of Pendor mod) as they would break very easily after a few arrows.

And as mentioned previously, shields will still protect you from a the vast majority of attacks of you hold them in the down (middle) position. Yes, attacks will still land if you're holding the shield to the left of your body and a sword is about to strike your right side... as the hit-boxes are somewhat more realistic. This is fair for archers as well as now you can aim for the legs or head, instead of just hitting an invisible barrier like in Warband.

I'm definitely not a 'parry god' of any sort and also rely heavily on shields to block incoming attacks, however a shield still does its job very well (even better imo) in Bannerlord.

Again, as others have suggested, if you are still having trouble blocking incoming attacks focus on where you are looking (where your body is positioned on the screen) - if you're facing the enemy, it's very, very unlikely that you will get hit. Just keep the shield in the down position, really no need to match directions at all.

 

[Diavolo]

shields dont seem to break nearly enough compared to warband.

Imo axes and especially 2handed axes should demolish shields. Meanwhile shields should be able to block almost an infinite amount of arrows.

 

[Colleptic]

Imo axes and especially 2handed axes should demolish shields. Meanwhile shields should be able to block almost an infinite amount of arrows.

Sure, but demolish is not the correct word here? Shields if used correctly would not be demolished as quick as they are in this game (unless in a tight formation, where you just have to hold the shield in one spot). Do not forget, a good shield user knows how to angle the shield to defect the weapons as well. It took me a while to get proficient with this, with Rotella/bucklers, but now compared to when I first started (and I am still very low skilled compared to many people) direct blows are very negligible or should I say, infrequent.

Direct damage to shields should go down with the "speed" function, the more maneuverable, the less direct damage it should take form melee. Add that, with the calculation if it is a direct shot/hit or a glancing it, should determine how much degradation the shield takes.

 

[maffa]

Large shields are both more convenient but also a liability. Sure you can parry 3 every 4 strikes even if you don't position it correctly sidewise, but if you dont cheese the game running in circles like a demented NASCAR car it's pretty complicated trying having a melee contest without seeing your enemy and the direction of the blows. It's a fair tradeoff i think.