I have allways daunted on this, i like the shield myself, but hardly ever use it. Its defence is crap, the only reason players use it is because of its ASI increase. I Completley support this thread +1

like many people i also think its overpowered. but instead of the increased speed on the next versions, just add more defense.

At the moment the regular Swiftstrike is already very OP.

It's a 5* value shield at 3* price with a double UV, ASI High to Guns and ASI High to Swords...

The best shields in FSC are for instance :
- the Grey Owlite (or Crest of Almire) that is impossible to break unless on purpose
- the BTS for Extra sword damage
- or the Swiftstrike for double ASI Bonus

Funny enough, the swiftstrike is the only 3* shield that 5* players ever use. And there's a reason for it, at 3* it is already worth a 5* shield.

The current 3* Swiftstrike would make sense if it was a 5* shield at 5* price.

The Barbarous Thorn Shield is already considered slighlty OP with Medium to Swords only. A swiftstrike with real defense and ASI Medium to Guns and Swords would just be ridiculously OP (even if i would love to have such a thing)

About what you said :

"(try heading down without a shield someday, it'll tell ye about yer evasion stories, hit and run, dodges etc.)"

or

"Consider what I said of sacrificing being defensive and get into the speedy action of evading and swiftness."

I didn't say it at first because it's off topic but, well thank you, but you won't need to teach me all about that...

I ran a few dozens FSCs in full proto armor and shield for fun. Sometimes even by reverting my controls, with left becoming right, up becoming down, just for the lulz... So i guess i know more or less what you're talking about.

Anyway, everyone pretty much agrees that any kind of upgrades to the current swiftstrike would just make it even more OP than it already is.

Do it drunk with friends... It's hilarious in FSC because of the trojans, the fire traps and spikes. You try dodging and end up running towards the charging trojan or into a fire... xD

If it ends very badly at Vana you can still revive after resetting the controls xD

Here's an idea:

5* Swiftstrike:

-- Higher Defence (Normal Damage)

-- Only a Medium ASI bonus.

That way you have an ASI counterpart to the BTS. The drawback is that the ASI is lowered to 'Medium' and the damage protection is Normal only.

Split the shield in 2. One line for swords, another for guns. There you can have more defense.

Something like that then ?

3* Swiftstrike Nerfed to ASI Low and splits into 3 Lines afterwards :

- 4* "Current" Swiftstrike with Universal ASI Medium (Almost same defense as 3* Swiftstrike)
- 5* "Current" Swiftstrike with Universal ASI High (Almost same defense as 3* and 4* Swiftstrike aka Paper Shield)

- 4* "Fast Sword" Swiftstrike with Sword ASI Low (A bit less Defense than Dark Thorn Shield)
- 5* "Fast Sword" Swiftstrike with Sword ASI Medium (A bit less Defense than Barbarous Thorn Shield)

- 4* "Fast Gun" Swiftstrike with Gun ASI Low (A bit less Defense than Dark Thorn Shield)
- 5* "Fast Gun" Swiftstrike with Gun ASI Medium (A bit less Defense than Barbarous Thorn Shield)

I would love to have the Fast Sword 5* one. It really might still be OP though even if it has less defense than a BTS.

After 4* it could branch into sword and gun attack speed branches where the 3* has universal +3 and the other two have +2 speed for their own weapon type bonus with some more defense. Some defense. Not to match it to 5* lines, a little more defense than it had as 3*. The 3* would still be useful for hybrids while the upgrade branches specialize in a weapon type. Both branches at 5* and 4* would only give +2 for their own weapon attack speed but would have more defense than the little 3*. Upgrading could still be an improvement but sometimes you just want the 3* in spite of its lower defenses.

Making it a BTS with attack speed is out of question, especially giving it resistances (status resistances are for defensive shields, Swifstrike is the exact opposite of that; BTS has no status resistances either) but branching its upgrades to specialist options would allow for more varied equipment. For example:

Swiftstrike (3*)
• ~2.7 bars normal defense
• ~4.3 bars health
• +3 universal attack speed

Uncommonly known fact: attack speed does affect bombs, the speed you raise the bomb over your head before the charging starts. It also allows you to shield faster if you are trying to shield shortly after beginning a charge.

Compared to average 3* shields, Swiftstrike has half the defense (in damage) and no status resistances (most shields have one or two full status resistances), but +3 universal attack speed. Anyone who says this shield should rival Owlite/Jelly/Skelly/Crest of Almire in defense is stupid. That is not what this shield is at all. It sacrifices defensive effects for offensive effects. That is what this shield is. Just to humor the few people who are still reading this thread, what if we had some 4*+ branches come from this thing? It would have to share the offensive characteristics as the 3*, similar to how the Snarbolax shield consistently gives sword damage; but not with the same defense or consistency. First of all, the majority of bombers (who are very few to begin with) gain little to no use from that attack speed bonus. A charge buff would also be useless later on when they get VDemo and/or MadB with a H10 bomb for full charge buffs. Rule bombs out, they can have their own specialist shield. No, young little Swiftstrike can grow up to aid swordsmen or gunslingers specifically.

Since ignoring my shorter posts seems to be a common pass time around here I am going to reiterate this: one gives attack speed for swords, the other for guns. They would both only give +2 attack speed for their respective bonus but have a little more defense and a status resistance. One status resistance. Not two, not seven, one. Before we run off to distraction-land, population us, I am going to list the stats for the 4* branches here to compare to the 3*:

4*
• 3.8 bars normal defense
• 5.2 bars health (not the standard 4* shield health)
• +2 [sword or gun] attack speed

Offensively this shield is worse than its 3*, but if you only care about the attack buff for one of the two weapon types your main loss is a single bonus on attack speed. Other than that you get more defense. Congratulations.

5*
• 4.5 bars normal defense
• 6 bars health (also not the standard shield health for its star rank)
• +2 [sword or gun] attack speed
• Full resistance to [poison for sword, freeze for gun]

Again, less attack speed, but you get more defense bonuses to play with. If you are using Vog/Nameless/Justifier set you would have max attack speed anyway, making that last point useless. For the 5* status resistances they are different because they have different play styles. With swords you want to keep your damage up, which poison wants to interfere with. Silly poison. Trying to make swordsmen do less damage. Now they are going to throw you in a dumpster. Gunners get freeze because the status prevents mobility completely, which is a significant threat to mobile gunners. You want to stay light on your feet, not receiving the cold shoulder.

Here are some links. Do whatever.

Someone else do something.

After reading all this I will put in my input. And I will cover all of it as much as possible.

Currently we have a 3* starts shield with ASI High. We are suggesting a 4* and 5* version, also one for guns and sword respectively.

Here's my input.

4* Universal Swiftstrike
Name: Gust Force Buckler
Defense: On par of 7/8 of a 5 star shield.
ASI High

OR

Defense: On par with a 4 star shield
ASI: MED

5* Swiftstrike
Name: Galestrike Buckler
Defense: On par with a 11/12 of a 5 star shield
Speed bonus: ASI High

OR

Defense: On par with a 5 star shield ASI Med

Gun Swiftstrike
Name: Blitzstrike Series
Same as above for guns

Sword Swiftstrike
Name: Slash Strike series
Same as above for swords.