I was thinking about getting a new shield and heard people suggesting the Volcanic Plate Shield. It's stats seem quite nice but the Ironmight Plate Shield seems to be more useful?
I really haven't heard anything about the Ironmight Plate Shield.
Which one should I get?
Ironmight Plate is good against beasts, slimes, lumbers, and Trojans, while Volcanic Plate is good against all fire-themed enemies, Lumbers, and Trojans. Take whichever you value more.
Depends, my suggestion would be Volcanic but let's look at some facts:
Ironmight Plate Shield:
*Has what I believe is 11 Units of Normal Resistance (-22HP)
*Has 6 Units of Piercing Resistance (-12HP)
*Provides immunity to Stun-Status
Volcanic Plate Shield:
*Has what I believe is 15 Units of Normal Resistance (-30HP)
*Provides immunity to Fire-Status
*Provides immunity to Stun-Status
Now, based on some info, each unit on the shield is approximately -2 Damage on Tier 3. (Imagine the bar having exactly 100HP)
An Example is let's say a Wolver does 50HP per bite (On Elite, they do), an Ironmight Plate Shield has 6 Units of Piercing Resistance so that's -12 Damage per bite. Which equals 38HP per bite instead of 50HP. This means that an Ironmight Plate Shield will break in Three Hits (38x3=114HP) compared to a Volcanic Plate Shield, which will break in Two (50HPx2=100HP). Where if you had Piercing Low on it, the damage would decrease from 50HP to 49HP, effectively allowing you to survive the exact same amount of hits as Ironmight Plate Shield.
Now, as you can see, it's not a massive difference... then status comes into play:
Let's say that this Wolver is an Ash-Tail. It has a moderate chance of inflicting Fire:
Ironimght Shield lacks Fire Immunity, so it'll end up in two variables: One without Status being applied, and one with it being applied. The numbers are about 28HP-30HP for each Status from non-elite monsters so...
Ironmight would see a variable of 38HP - 68HP per bite. This evens out to I think 50% for a chance of inflicting Status, not sure.
Volcanic would only see 50HP. Thanks to its immunity to Fire, it'd only see the first variable.
It's really dependent on your situation but I honestly see Volcanic being a much better choice than Ironmight:
*Volcanic is much more useful for end-game than Ironmight Plate Shield.
*If you pick Volcanic, you're losing -12HP per hit from forms of Piercing damage.
*If you pick Ironmight, you're gaining +12HP for Piercing but losing a difference of -8HP for Normal, you're also losing the immunity of Fire-Status for your Shield.
As far as I see it, Volcanic seems more useful in some specific scenarios/dungeons despite my preference for Ironmight.
Glacies numbers don't lie, so there's a good base to start on. Preferably I use my Ironmight for Trojans, Lumbers, Monsters with Pierce Damage, and general tanking purposes. Volcanic can do the same, albeit more useful on fire-related areas/enemies, yet you'd have to risk having to UV it for a measly Pierce low+ to get the same effects that Ironmight brings.
So I guess it all comes down to preference and how skilled you are in these scenarios that Volcanic covers easily.
Sorry to yank this thread from it's slow spiral into senescence, but as the new owner of a Heavy Plate Shield with UV: Pierce Low, i have a question (possibly more).
Glacies, could you (or anyone else) expand on that last bit of juicy, juicy information?
More specifically:
I realize that a list of my current 5* shields might also be relevant to the decision between Ironmight and Volcanic, so just in case: GOS, BTS, Dread Skelly, CoA, APS, Aegis-reskin. I realize I'm not in dire need of a new shield, but those eternals piling up are just begging to be spent.
For shields, status defense is more important than type defense (since status defense grants immunity). Most status "damage" you take will be split type: it will have a status component and type component.
For example, zombie breath in FSC only deals Fire, and it won't deal damage to your character--it will only inflict Fire. However, when you have your shield up, the Fire component deals damage to your shield (and thus you will see it chip away at your shield's HP). If your shield has native Fire resist (and thus, Fire immunity), the Fire breath will do no damage to your shield whatsoever.
For what it's worth, the reason Volcanic will be preferred over Ironmight is due to its usefulness in FSC. It tanks Trojan hits better (since Trojan smashes are Normal and Stun--it can take about 3 smashes) as well as Vanaduke smashes. The pierce component is almost completely wasted if you are doing FSC runs, and Pierce damage enemies (Wolvers, Slimes) are among the least threatening to deal with in the game.
Pherro, Glacies has probably done more research on shield strength than anyone else. His big thread on the topic is here:
Ironmight isn't that useful since BTS or Dragon Scale can cover your piercing defense needs.
Volcanic is more useful due to its fire resistance, so it's used sometimes in FSC
So if you have to pick one, get Volcanic.