I may start a little gunslinging so I want to know what a good 2*-3* shield I can start with that's good for people who use guns. I have no idea what I should chose, and thanks to all who help.
OH and I might as well knwo what armor and helm are good too, thanks again
I may be Wrong. Can someone Prove this?
- Swiftstrike
- Owlite
- Jelly
- Skelly
- Crest of Almire
If you're good enough to only need to shield projectiles, yes. It'll cover pups and polyps but not howliters but in those places you'll probably be carrying a shadow shield.
Well, if it had a Normal/Shadow Defence Maximum! UV on it, will it be a bit more Viable?
No shield is going to be all purpose even if it had max UVs since UVs will always be less than a "natural" defense.
What about Dragonscale shield? Pierce+ele pprotection + fire resist = win! But for 2-3* swiftstrike is the biz. I'm even beginning to run Swiftstrike in T3 as the game gets nurfed piecemeal to the point where it may soon be all I use.
Also Dragonscale is the only shield in my opinion that looks just as kool if not kooler than Snarby shield.
I don't recommend Swiftstrike unless you know for sure your playstyle doesn't involve using the shield. You can get one and use it in Tier 2 if you want, but once you start running Tier 3 you're probably going to want something else at first.
Like Traevelliath suggested, Owlite, Jelly, Skelly, and Crest are all good (and actually are the exact shields I have). Also the Plate shields are pretty good, too. Owlite is probably your best beginner shield.
Armor for a gunner should be the gunslinger line that starts at 3*. From there you'll most likely want to continue on to either full Nameless or Nameless/Justifier split.
"I don't recommend Swiftstrike unless you know for sure your playstyle doesn't involve using the shield."
The shield works fine (swiftstrike) when you use it to bump a mob away and contiinue shooting at it rather than use it to sit there and tank damage till you can attack again.
Yeah, I don't really consider shield bumping using the shield.
My understanding is that the Owlite shield is favored mostly because it has good defenses against Vanaduke, who remains the only tier 3 boss in the game and a popular farming location. The fact that it is resistant to two hated status effects is nice, but all statuses are really the same as long as your shield is up, and they don't seem to do very much damage to your shield even if it is not resistant, so I would not base your decision entirely on that. And I don't think it's true anymore that elemental is the most common damage type; piercing and shadow seem roughly equally represented now.
If you want a fully generic shield that starts at the 2* level, Plate Shield is probably the way to go. Of course, a more specialized shield will give you a head start in crafting a complete set, if you ever want one, and there can be advantages to having a "preferred enemy type" if you adjust your tactics accordingly.
And I think the Bristling Buckler is probably a defensible choice for a piercing shield even if you don't use swords, because it has a slight advantage over the Jelly Shield in normal defense, which is a valuable stat. That is largely a guess, though.
I second the suggestion of Bristling Buckler, because most Gunslingers still dabble in swords a bit. Very few devout gunslingers ONLY use guns. Most use a few bombs or the occasional sword. Even my Gunslinger Loadout for FSC has a DA in there for the occasional scary moment.
Owlite has the following things going for it:
* Elemental shields you well from constructs, which are very prevalent enemies
* Fire and Shock resist
* Is quite good at 4*
* Is popular and starts at a low star value which makes it easy to pick up
* Has no competition from other shields, as it is the only Elemental shield that isn't Heater, and nobody likes Heater, so there's no real concern that you might have picked the wrong shield
* Excellent FSC shield (and to be honest, gearing for FSC is pretty much priority one; you want your first 5* set to work in FSC, and after that you can pick up other stuff)
I also recommend Owlite, at least until you're able to get your hands on a Crest of Almire. I believe Shadow defense on shields is more useful than Elemental overall, since you can kite most elemental monsters around if your shield breaks but you're out of luck if you're dealing with Greavers/Devilites/Kats. Of course if you have both and you're capable of swapping before the level that's even better.
As far as armor goes, the best general purpose armor is the Nameless set. It gives +4 ASI, which is better than +2 damage most of the time. Elemental and Shadow defense are much more helpful than Piercing in PvE, so don't get Justifier.
I'm a pure gunner, and I ONLY use a Swiftstrike Buckler, everywhere I go (and I solo Vanaduke a lot). It's a great choice that I would have no second thoughts about recommending to gunners all the way through tier 2.
In tier 3 though, it takes a lot of skill to use, and a different idea of what shields are supposed to do. All through t3, swifty will break in either one or two hits, so you have to manage your aggro well so as not to get caught in a pile of monsters, and learn to weave through bullet hell because your shield isn't going to stand up to it. It's basically a bumping shield; you only ever activate it to push away encroaching zombies or deflect the occasional stapler. I can't really recommend it unless you're comfortable using a shield in this way.
To test your skills out without making an investment, try gunning in t2 with a proto shield equipped. This should simulate about how running around with a Swiftstrike in t3 will be. If you figure out how not to get hit, definitely use Swiftstrike. Other than that, there aren't any shields that really benefit gunning specifically, so any other one will do.
The knights above just recommended good shields in general.
There is no good shield specifically for gunners, because the devs decided to only give swordsmen a specific shield.
For the armor and helm, it's easy : there is a set called gunslinger with gun ASI on it : pick it and stick to it for now.
For the shield, you have several options :
- going offensive, which means swiftstrike buckler, will get you ASI : high, but it's very bad as actually shielding it. The sole reason of using it is the ASI : high on it.
- going defensive, which is what most players do, you'll have to choose a shield according its resistant. Generaly, owlite line is a safe bet because it have resistance against the most deadly status (fire and shock) and have elemental resistance, which is the most common
- if you want a shield specifically to farm RJP, which means a lot of jellies, you'll want a piercing shield. Since you are a gunner, the snarbolax shield is out, you'll want either a Jelly line shield or a defender line shield (I would choose the first).