Spiral Knights - How the new 5* Savage Tortoise pierce shield compares the 5* Barbarous Thorn pierce shield

How the new 5* Savage Tortoise pierce shield compares the 5* Barbarous Thorn pierce shield

16 replies [Last post]

Mon, 03/03/2014 - 17:25

Mayaura

As you can see from this picture, the shields are comparable.

The Torto shield has more pierce. In fact, a regular Torto pierce shield has as much pierce def as a max pierce snarby shield.

Liewise, the snarby shield has more normal defense than the torto shield, probably a max UV's worth of difference.

Both give the same amount of health.

(The heat bonus pictured on the torto shield was a temp UV from the forge.)

I'll be using my new torto shields in beast levels that are shock or poison, and I'll give it a try in snarby shadow lair, which has a poison environment.

If you are wearing dragon helm and armor and have a 5* pierce sword that does at least medium damage vs. beasts, then you are already maxed out for damage vs beasts (or at least sword damage - you can still get a bit more out of your guns and bombs). In that case, the greater pierce defense found in the new torto shields might be preferable. especially in a poison or shock environment.

Mon, 03/03/2014 - 17:36

Dibsville

But Savage Tortoise has two status resistances, which are significantly more useful than the regular defense, as well as having a shield bash [that's actually useful].

Mon, 03/03/2014 - 17:43

Whimsicality

Savage Tortoise is more useful for tanking something along the lines of Silver Polyp or Poison Polyp spines, while BTS is more useful for offensive players than defensive players. Health and Status Resist have a higher effect for Shields' defense than, well, Damage type defense.

Mon, 03/03/2014 - 18:30

Fehzor

Because you know, the powerful shield bash is totally not worth mentioning in the face of sword damage med.

Mon, 03/03/2014 - 19:23

Wyvernoflight

Edit: Thanks to Dubsville for clarifying that status resists do indeed provide more defense.

Also, the shield bash is really annoying in parties. Think of how the polaris pushes things around. Swords keep things closer and makes them easier and faster to kill. Its damage (according to a thread about testing) is not any more than a typical shield, and hitting twice with a tiny amount of damage is pretty worthless for killing.

Mon, 03/03/2014 - 19:15

Dibsville

"so the status resistances are not as useful as you may think."

The giant thread that was made to test the defenses of shields says otherwise.

And just so you know, enemies deal status damage on their regular attacks too. Status resistances reduce the shield damage taken on any attack by a significantly larger effect than regular defense, assuming the shield has the proper status resistance. This is irrelevant in status-less stratums.

Mon, 03/03/2014 - 19:15

Wyvernoflight

Link please, I'm not very clear on that myself, just going off what a few people in the game tell me

Mon, 03/03/2014 - 19:19

Dibsville

"Link please, I'm not very clear on that myself, just going off what a few people in the game tell me"

http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/89111

"Also, the shield bash is really annoying in parties."

Then the person has no clue on how to shield bash properly.
Also, don't compare it to Polaris. You can fire 3+ Polaris clips in the time it takes to get off two shield bashes.

Mon, 03/03/2014 - 19:20

Sandwich-Potato

Oh indeed, the shield bash is annoying. So is a Polaris and a Brandish and a Vortex and that Triglav charge spammer and that BAB lobber. It's great, if you know how to use it well.

Mon, 03/03/2014 - 19:24

Wyvernoflight

Thanks for the clarification. So therefore it would be more useful in those situations, as it would provide significantly better protection overall.

And my comparison to the polaris has nothing to do with damage (sorry for the confusion), but rather the knockback. Solo, sure, go ahead and do whatever suits you best, but in parties, please don't go knocking things around when others spend time getting them clumped up.

Mon, 03/03/2014 - 19:29

#10

Dibsville

"And my comparison to the polaris has nothing to do with damage (sorry for the confusion), but rather the knockback."

My point being you could corner a monster and get it to the other side of the map with Polaris by the time you could shield bash a second time with a Tortodrone shield. It's nowhere near as annoying as a Polaris, and shouldn't be compared as such. At least the shield bash Stuns enemies, which is significantly more useful to your party members than Shocking the enemies.....

Mon, 03/03/2014 - 19:29

#11

Wyvernoflight

I wouldn't know about the specifics of the polaris because I never use it, but I had imagined that the range meant that the first blast pushes mobs back, but by doing so makes them too far to be hit by successive attacks.

Also, again, I'm not all that familiar with the attack patterns of both, but I know regular shield bashing pushes things in any other direction, but what I've seen of the polaris, it appears to be more consistant in that it moves them straight backwards.

Mon, 03/03/2014 - 19:35

#12

Dibsville

I have both a 5* Tortodrone shield and a Polaris.

I can use the shield just fine, in fact helping my party members.

Though... that may contribute to my party members being some of my best friends 99% of the time, so they know how I play and what to expect of me.
/shrug

Mon, 03/03/2014 - 19:44

#13

Wyvernoflight

I used to play with mainly randoms, especially in vana so that's probably where the differences lie. Friends always work best though.

Back to the original topic for any people who missed the answer: In terms of defense, Tortodrone is better for levels with shock/poison status, BTS is better for the things that do not have it.

Tue, 03/04/2014 - 15:55

#14

Drischa

The tortodrone shield bash's best application is breaking boxes.

I use slow weapons. The 5* shield can break any non-danger-room-prize room full of boxes in one shield bash. These new shields area godsend for someone like me.

I don't own a BTS but I'd say that a very large AOE stun upon request is probably pretty useful if you actually remember to use it and use it well, while damage boost is passive so you can keep swinging away without a care in the world.

Like so many things, it depends on your playstyle.

I would always take the tortoshield because while you can argue that things are superior in battle there's always the looks factor. It's mostly the only reason people craft a WHB.

Kind of depressing that I crafted an Ironmight shield not long before this event, lol.

Tue, 03/04/2014 - 18:21

#15

Dibsville

"The tortodrone shield bash's best application is breaking boxes."

http://i.imgur.com/9X0e2FE.gif

Wed, 03/05/2014 - 02:25

#16

Drischa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFUo8Y7pH2Q

Search

How the new 5* Savage Tortoise pierce shield compares the 5* Barbarous Thorn pierce shield