Achievment path - are all shields bucklers?

[ScaleBalancer]

I now have a level 15 Guardian, and am considering where to put my AA points, and am thinking of going down the STA path, but the second level says it is for Bucklers, I think i would like to do this, but only if this skill uses ALL shields, and not just bucklers.  is there anyone out there who has this skill and can tell me if they can use it with any shield, or only with those specifically designated bucklers?  Thanks<div></div>

[Israphil]

It only works when you're using bucklers. If it didnt...um...yeah, it'd be even most busted than it is.<div></div>

[Judist]

<P>In VERY general terms, you have 4 shields available.</P> <P>Buckler - least protection<BR>Round - low protecion<BR>Kite - medium protection<BR>Tower - high protection</P> <P>Each offers avoidance, once again this is in general terms. The tower gives the best chance to prevent attacks.</P> <P>Here's the thing, with 8 points STA-D (which adds avoidance) the buckler becomes <STRONG>much</STRONG> more useful. You'll will be able to tank anything non-epic easilly with that buckler. No lie, up to lvl 48 so far with my Guard alt and I alway tank in offensive stance with a buckler. Even against yellow and orange ^^^ conn mobs. Of course you'll want full mastercrafted+ gear for this. Point it no one was ever gonna take aggro from me due to my added DPS+taunts.</P> <P>I wouldnt downplay that AA line based on the shield type. The amout of damage from reversal and double attacks is very nice for a guradian. And STA-D makes is possible to keep your avoidance above the kiteshield level. The basic choice for the buckler line is STA 4-4-8-8-0. </P> <P>For added avoidance you can use INT 4-4-8-8-0 which will add haste and parry.</P> <P>If anything you can do like I am, go the STA-INT lines until you hit lvl 70. Then if you plan to be a raid tank you can respec your AA's for the best avoidance benifit against epic's. In a balanced raid, you'll have classes that generate hate for you and the buckler line isnt really necessary.</P> <P> </P> <P>All information was gathered based on Mastercrafted gear of the same tier. There are many different types of shileds between mastercrafted, legendary, fabled. Some are much more useful than any others. Some even add armor mitigation in the form of +32 vs crushing, vs slashing, vs piercing, ect...</P> <P> </P>

[Oneira]

<div></div><div></div><blockquote><hr>BeatinGuts wrote:<div></div><p>Here's the thing, with 8 points STA-D (which adds avoidance) the buckler becomes <strong>much</strong> more useful. You'll will be able to tank anything non-epic easilly with that buckler. No lie, up to lvl 48 so far with my Guard alt and I alway tank in offensive stance with a buckler. Even against yellow and orange ^^^ conn mobs. Of course you'll want full mastercrafted+ gear for this. Point it no one was ever gonna take aggro from me due to my added DPS+taunts.</p> <p>I wouldnt downplay that AA line based on the shield type. The amout of damage from reversal and double attacks is very nice for a guradian. And STA-D makes is possible to keep your avoidance above the kiteshield level. The basic choice for the buckler line is STA 4-4-8-8-0. </p> <p>For added avoidance you can use INT 4-4-8-8-0 which will add haste and parry.</p> <p>If anything you can do like I am, go the STA-INT lines until you hit lvl 70. Then if you plan to be a raid tank you can respec your AA's for the best avoidance benifit against epic's. In a balanced raid, you'll have classes that generate hate for you and the buckler line isnt really necessary.</p> <p> All information was gathered based on Mastercrafted gear of the same tier. There are many different types of shileds between mastercrafted, legendary, fabled. Some are much more useful than any others. Some even add armor mitigation in the form of +32 vs crushing, vs slashing, vs piercing, ect...</p> <hr></blockquote>Beatin's suggestions are very good.  One recommendation I have different from him is to consider the WIS line together with the STA line.  8 AA's in Belly Smash equals a 12 sec phy mitigation debuff of 1020 in addition to 300+ damage from the belly smash itself.  That means a considerable increase in your damage during that time.   I just macro the shield bash + belly smash together, then once the belly smash lands I spam my CAs, then after 10 seconds I let the buckler reversal + 76% double attack do the rest while the belly smash refreshes.  30 seconds later if the fight is still going on, i do it again.  I've been able to spam almost all of my CA's during the debuff time successfully, so i'm getting a lot more damage in.  Then auto-attacking with buckler reversal for the next 20-30 secs proves to be an effective combination.  So another option is:   STA 4-4-8-8-0                                    WIS 4-8-4-8The downside of this is that the 8 point you could throw into the 4th WIS ability, adding 320 phy mit isn't that good anymore because of the diminishing returns on mit.  However, it still makes a difference all the way up to T7.  When I hit the 5000ish phy mit plateau I'll probably respec to the INT line for that reason, but leaving belly smash behind will be hard to do!One difference though, is that I am on a PvP server, which obviously influences my choices greatly.  I'm going to have to sit down and think real hard when the time comes whether there is anything better out there than the buckler reversal line + belly smash combo for fighting against other players.  I'm not sure there is a better choice of warrior AA's than that for PvP.<p>Message Edited by Oneira on <span class="date_text">12-18-2006</span> <span class="time_text">09:56 PM</span></p><p>Message Edited by Oneira on <span class=date_text>12-18-2006</span> <span class=time_text>10:00 PM</span>

[ScaleBalancer]

<div></div>thanks alot you guys, this is somewhat very helpfull, i say somewhat becausenow i will have to do some hard thinking.  <span>:smileyhappy:</span><div></div>