The State of Shields in Bannerlord

[Berg_Of_The_West]

One of the biggest issues with shields is that they crumble like crackers to any 2-handed "great weapons".

I agree that weapons such as axes and potentially the falx should be able to break through shields relatively easy.

However, weapons such as 2-handed Swords, menavlions spears, and glaives seem to be very powerful in almost all fields of combat including breaking though shields and armor..

I propose that shields could either benefit from and increase in hit points, increased armor value, or a combination of them both.
I would also propose that 2 handed swords, menavlions spears, and glaives should have a significant decrease to "armor piercing" damage.

What are some other opinions on the state of shields or how they can be improved?

 

[lockefeer]

Quite the opposite actually. Shields are too strong at the moment.

 

[Athenon_FireBlood]

Do not buff shields... seriously wtf. They're already pretty tanky.
If you don't want your shield to be destroyed switch off your shield and go in your 1v1. Get it back when it is better for you. Shields are meant to absorb arrows, tank a 1hit couch and defend yourself out of a bad situations. If your reason is that you can't block once you get your shield destroyed then you just don't get how the game work. You'll have to improve at some point in your dueling block skills.

If your shield break it is for a balance reasons, not for realism.

 

[Ikea Knight]

I think the problem with all balancing in multiplayer is that you have to put every mode into perspective.
Hardly anybody uses shields in Siege as most players use two handers if possible.
In Captain they feel okay and in Skirmish they still feel too strong / necessary.
Playing mostly skirmish, my main problem isn't the health but that there is no effective counterplay other than destroying it.

 

[Clsy]

i would say shield are okay at the moment, the shield's armor is arguable tho

but the problem is cutting damage
this thing currently are good at literally everything

 

[Caps]

some 2h weapons like the glaive can kill shields in 2 hits... (not even gonna talk about lances) meanwhile 1h weapons need 40-60 hits

 

[Percival!!]

I think the problem with all balancing in multiplayer is that you have to put every mode into perspective.
Hardly anybody uses shields in Siege as most players use two handers if possible.
In Captain they feel okay and in Skirmish they still feel too strong / necessary.
Playing mostly skirmish, my main problem isn't the health but that there is no effective counterplay other than destroying it.

If no one uses shields in siege that explains why they are always complaining about archers

 

[Charades]

Shields are fine in this meta, the problem is getting a one handed swing off before the next glaive strike comes in.

 

[Caps]

Shields are fine in this meta, the problem is getting a one handed swing off before the next glaive strike comes in.

ok

 

[Shemaforash]

You can’t balance tdm captain mode and skirmish all at once...

 

[K M]

Quite the opposite actually. Shields are too strong at the moment.

i am in the team sword and bord, so i am a bit biased.
shield durability is fine but damage reduction could be even higher, if you block right.

anyway, here are two examples,

Spoiler: shield health after one hit - 2h sword and 2h axe

1h is similar, but about half the damage

You may say, this is just a peasant shield. Right, there are tougher shields, but i do not play the higher classes that often, so my sample size is limited here.
In the end it makes no great difference, you a few hits more.

Spoiler: shield health after one hit - 2h axe vs large shield

Why use a shield in the first place? Well, it looks nice and lots of **** is flying through the air.

Spoiler: shield health after one hit - missiles

It was mentioned before, some weapons can eat shields pretty fast. The falx is quite good at it, i guess the damage sweet spot is more forgiving, so it hits with full force most of the time.

Spoiler: shield health after one hit - 2h falx and cavalry with glaive

Long story short, if shields bother you, then bring an axe and trick them to use a wrong block angle.

 

[Caps]

i am in the team sword and bord, so i am a bit biased.
shield durability is fine but damage reduction could be even higher, if you block right.

anyway, here are two examples,

Spoiler: shield health after one hit - 2h sword and 2h axe

1h is similar, but about half the damage

You may say, this is just a peasant shield. Right, there are tougher shields, but i do not play the higher classes that often, so my sample size is limited here.
In the end it makes no great difference, you a few hits more.

Spoiler: shield health after one hit - 2h axe vs large shield

Why use a shield in the first place? Well, it looks nice and lots of **** is flying through the air.

Spoiler: shield health after one hit - missiles

It was mentioned before, some weapons can eat shields pretty fast. The falx is quite good at it, i guess the damage sweet spot is more forgiving, so it hits with full force most of the time.

Spoiler: shield health after one hit - 2h falx and cavalry with glaive

Long story short, if shields bother you, then bring an axe and trick them to use a wrong block angle.

you didnt seem to understand what the issue was, the issue is that 1h weapons deal far too less damage against shields (especially if you compare it to the glaive here)

 

[Athenon_FireBlood]

I think the damage is fair. People tend to go Mace with the sergeant for the weapon speed and sword with other class for the same reason. TBH if your plan is to **** on infantry shields... sure take axes as a team and it will work fine. It,s just that the meta is still changing a little and people don't play much axes at the moment in party play.

 

[Caps]

I think the damage is fair. People tend to go Mace with the sergeant for the weapon speed and sword with other class for the same reason. TBH if your plan is to **** on infantry shields... sure take axes as a team and it will work fine. It,s just that the meta is still changing a little and people don't play much axes at the moment in party play.

work fine...it takes an ridicoulus amount of hits

 

[K M]

Yes, 1h will inflict less damage, but 40-60 hits is exaggeration.

Spoiler: a few 1h examples

With a sword or a club you need a lot of hits, with an axe only a dozen bad hits or six - seven good ones.
If the shield is to brittle, then it adds no combat value. It protects only partly against arrows, it slows you down, you have less reach and inflict less damage.

 

[Caps]

Yes, 1h will inflict less damage, but 40-60 hits is exaggeration.

Spoiler: a few 1h examples

With a sword or a club you need a lot of hits, with an axe only a dozen bad hits or six - seven good ones.
If the shield is to brittle, then it adds no combat value. It protects only partly against arrows, it slows you down, you have less reach and inflict less damage.

someone tested this just sayin, no one is using these classes in skirmish btw

even for those shields to break it will take endless

Maybe i wasnt specific enough aswell 1h weapons against heavy infantry shields, thats the problem even an axe takes far too long to break it. Its double the amount of hits it took in warband. 40-60 was with a sword btw, axes were around 30-40 if i remember correctly. If i happen to find the clip ill link it.

I would lower the couche damage to shields and 2h damage from horses it adds nothing to the game. Its just frustrating to be crippled, if the shield breaks in combat you can still use the enemy as cover or take him down with you at least.

 

[K M]

"no one uses this class in ... " is a venturous statement.
anyway, what is the point of the shield, if it lasts just a few hits from a sword?

 

[Roberta]

Warband balanced itself out in different modes because you could buy what you needed. In siege a good player might fight 10-15 unique players before dying. They needed a better shield, so you just spend the money on one. In battle you would just buy a middle priced shield because you needed to have less weight. You can't do these things in Bannerlord because of the stupid pre built classes.