Spiral Knights - New Class: Shield Bearer

New Class: Shield Bearer

12 replies [Last post]

Thu, 12/29/2011 - 23:14

Spookydemi

You read that right. The wiki actually has a section for the shield bearer, but why not create an actual class for the great defense. In a perfect team, a swordmaster (offense), a bomber (defense), gunner (support), and.... whatever the 4th player wishes to be, probably another swordmaster.

The Shield-Bearer

This class boasts the most default health and defense of any class, making the player who chooses said class the sentinel of the team. The shield-bearer, would function as the team's wall, pressing himself against enemies, either by pushing them out of the way, taking hits for his allies, and even attacking with charged shield thrust (like the enemy Trojans). When using the shield, this will become the technical two handed weapon that some players have been talking about. The shield requires two hands simply because the shield is too large/heavy to hold with one hand, however, it can be used with one hand with some restrictions to the Knights weapon layout.

This is also the cost of having increased HP and defense compared to other classes. Because this class is unique, there are certain restrictions to it's abilities. Such as being only able to have 2 active weapon slots, instead of 4 slots. Slots 3 and 4 would be disabled while slot 1 and 2 are open. This works for users who only have the default weapon slots open, so even beginners can enjoy this new, intriguing class. Although if said Knight were to switch back to his weapon slot items, he doesn't get the advantages of the shield, and the shield will function like any other shield.

The Shield-Bearer Levels

2 Star Armor/Helm - +4 HP, Reduced Running Speed
3 Star Armor/Helm - +5 HP, Reduced Running Speed, Barrier Defense increase by 10% [small], Barrier duration: 7 seconds.
4 Star Armor/Helm - +7 HP, Reduced Running Speed, Barrier Defense increase by 13.5% [medium], Barrier duration: 10 seconds.
5 Star Armor/Helm - +10 HP, Reduced Running Speed, Barrier Defense increase by 18% [Large], Barrier duration: 13 seconds.

Note: The Barrier can only be used once the shield has been heated to level 5. For those you who played Lockdown, then you know about the barrier the shield user can make. The Barrier will have a similiar effect to that. AND the barrier can only be activate when using Shield-Bearer class armor/helm.

Armor Names & Status Defenses/Weaknesses

Spiral Sentinel series - Excels in Normal/Piercing defense. Med defense against Stun/Fire, Med weakness to Shock/Freeze

Trojan Guard series - Excels in Elemental/Shadow Defense. Med defense against Shadow, low defense against Fire/Shock/Freeze. High weakness to Stun/Piercing.

Almire Elite series - Excels in Normal/Shadow defense. High defense against Shadow/Fire. Med weakness to Shock/Freeze

Shield Names

Rammstein series - Shadow damage, Slight chance of inflicting Curse
Impervious! series - Normal damage, Good chance of inflicting Stun
Spiral Brigade - ???

Movelist

Attack Key - A two hit combo with knock back (i.e. Heavy Blade weapons like Troika)

Charged Attack - A forward thrust, sending enemies flying back with increased damage

Barrier Buff - Once the shield bearer's shield has reached level 5, the barrier can be used once the shield is charged. A small bar will appear either on the left side or on top of health bar to indicate the "cooldown" or recharging for the barrier. 20-30 seconds to prevent abuse of this skill. Remember, this skill can't be used unless it equipped along with it's armor set.

This class also introduces something that's in the game, but puts a strong emphasis on it, and that's armor set bonuses. The helm, armor, and shield can be used without each other on the same knight, however, the bonuses and effects of the Shield-Bearer only activate once you use all pieces of the same set/class type. This is to ensure the use of the class. In a sense, carrying around a giant shield that doesn't do much except restrict how many weapons you can hold is a bad idea for a shield, but used in tandem with same class type armor and helm make it mighty. The Shield-Bearer class can also act as the team "medic" so to speak, once all pieces of a 5 Star armor set are used, the Knight is granted the ability to break the set HP maximum (if there is one), so the Knight has plenty of spare HP to revive team mates with. In effect, this knight becomes the HP resevior of the team.

ANYWAY, here's the TL;DR version.

Pros:

+ No HP cap at 5 Star
+ Barrier Buff
+ Higher base HP than other armor sets/classes
+ Higher defense than other armor sets/classes
+ Can act as team "medic" for revives.
+ Can take more hits than any other class

Cons:

- Reduced running speed, as much as 10-15%
- Slow attacks
- Barrier cooldown time
- Bonuses cannot be used unless used with same armor set (No HP cap, barrier, etc.)
- Disables 2 weapon slots
- An easier target for fast enemies (fiends, wolvers)

Thu, 12/29/2011 - 23:30

Holonimbus

Wow that's awesome...I would love to be able to use this class.

But one question, how does the shield charge work? Do you hold down the shield key, like you would for charging any other weapon, then let it go?

But anyways, you have my support for this :D

Thu, 12/29/2011 - 23:38

Spookydemi

@Holonimbus

I guess I didn't think that part through, I suppose the attack with shield would be done with the attack key, same goes the charge attack. As for the buff, once the barrier meter fills, the Knight can press the shield key to activate it.

Thu, 12/29/2011 - 23:50

Holonimbus

So you wouldn't have to hold

So you wouldn't have to hold down shield while attacking?

Thu, 12/29/2011 - 23:58

Spookydemi

Nope

It's sorta backwards. Now that I think about it, for the sake of not confusing players with button mapping. Let's say the attacks are done with the shield key and that barrier buff is done with the attack key. That sounds better, good job pointing that out to me. :3

EDIT: Or said player has the choice to do either. Use the shield key to attack, or the attack key to shield. I guess it's a matter of preference. Since technically, in this class, the shield IS the weapon.

Fri, 12/30/2011 - 11:08

Holonimbus

Ah I see, that makes sense. I

Ah I see, that makes sense. I would really want to try this out!

Fri, 12/30/2011 - 11:18

Holonimbus

Oh, and a suggestion: What if

Oh, and a suggestion: What if you included ASI (attack speed increase) and ADI (attack damage increase) bonuses for the armor, so that ASI would decrease the time it takes for the shield to come up, and ADI to increase your shield damage (obviously)? And CTR for the third set?

I think Rammstein would have ADI, Impervious would have ASI, and Spiral Brigade would have CTR, what do you think?

EDIT: About the shield taking up two slots, does that mean that you have to have weapon slots unlocked to carry more weps? I think that is what you meant, but I wanna make sure :D

Fri, 12/30/2011 - 12:25

Juances

It's a defense class, hard to

It's a defense class, hard to solo with it and in a game that favors offense. And we don't need it. i mean if there are videos of people soloing vanaduke and using only proto gear, why would we want more defense when it's already useless?

Hey, no one likes ancient set and hearth trinkets are cool only in lockdown. Another example is the popular wolver series and BTS, everyone wears them in favor the damage bonus, forgetting about defense and guess what, they don't have any problems with it since their super damage covers their weaknesses,

Sure it may help random groups of begginers, but we'd need a general rebalance to make it actually important later on.

Fri, 12/30/2011 - 13:58

Holonimbus

@Juances Well maybe this

@Juances Well maybe this wouldn't be a very good class, according to what you said, but its still a cool idea (it would be like a novelty class) ~~And there will always be someone out there who would want it anyways (like me)

Fri, 12/30/2011 - 16:34

Nicoya-Kitty

I like the ancient set. I can

I like the ancient set. I can go afk in the middle of a T1 arena and come back 5 minutes later and still have half my health.

Fri, 12/30/2011 - 16:47

#10

Holonimbus

^^ That's exactly why I would

^^ That's exactly why I would love this set - I wouldnt die so much from my bad latency
(On that note, I have died 3 times in a row yesterday while cornered by a trojan in an arena, solo, because it was so laggy that I couldn't get away...Dx)

Fri, 12/30/2011 - 20:41

#11

Spookydemi

Incorrect Juances...

While the option of going solo is there, the point of this game is collaboration between players to reach their goal. There have been many times when I need aid of allies and none can come to help me. This game doesn't favor offense, that's your opinion. Even with good armor and weapons, you have to be defensive to stay alive (this includes dodging attacks, another defensive tactic, and using the shield). But hey, if you want to go for pure power, by all means run head first into a pack of wolvers with no shield, you'll be dead before long. Remember, it's not the gun that makes the man, but rather the inverse.

Juances, you mentioned that this game needs balance, well adding a class system to the game would help with balancing. It's well known that swordmasters get the greatest selection of armors and weapons, with bombers behind them and gunners dead last. Adding classes would not only rebalance the game, it would add a little variety to gameplay. If OOO continues to add ultra hard boss fights like the Shadow Lairs (without the ridiculous 1.8 thousand energy free), and more elaborate enemy a.i., the Shield-Bearer could very well be useful. Heck, the classes are technically already in the game, but there's no real reason to stick to one class seeing as you can get benefits from all of them if used correctly together. You know what I call that?

Freestyle or Jack-of-all-Trades

@Holonimbus

To answer your question, no, you don't need to buy additional weapon slots to use this class. It'd go something like (a visual example in text!)

(1) - Calibur
(2) - Autogun
(3) - Shadowtech Alchemer
(4) - Blast Bomb

These are your 4 weapon slots, remember that the bottom two slots need to be unlocked by buying them with crystal energy. With this class, slots number 3 and 4 would be unusable while your in the Shield-Bearer class. Slots number 1 and 2 are still open for use. This is good since it allows players the option of using the shield for the class, OR if they want, to switch back to some traditional weapons, in this example, Calibur and Autogun. Here's how it would look in your Knight's equipment window while in the Shield-Bearer class.

(1) - Calibur
(2) - Autogun
(3) - Shadowtech Alchemer *DISABLED*
(4) - Blast Bomb *DISABLED*

Hope that answers your question.

Fri, 12/30/2011 - 22:40

#12

Holonimbus

Okay

Oh I see, that's what I thought :)

Search

New Class: Shield Bearer