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So not sure what the formula is for blocking now, but against high level content shields are so horribly gimped compared to what they used to do. My aegis zeta in ravana only blocks for 22% mitigation, that's barely more than a parry, I'd hate to see what something like the diamond shield is doing :(
That str and dex update that no longer increases block or parry :-(.
It's not just the STR and DEX change though, there seems to be some kind of level correction function going on. Against Ifrit HM I was blocking 30%, hullbreaker isles 28%, Ravana 22%.
If there's some kind of level correction going on, then I'd wager that kite shields will start approaching 30% reduction again when i170+ shields are in our hands.
They have to allow room for shields to grow. When we are lvl60 i300 or whatever the 3.x series caps at we will be back to ~33 block STR and block rate. Each lvl increase will reset shields if they didn't they would be extremely over powered.
I've heard of kite shields blocking upwards of 30%. My guess is the Zeta block strength is just not as good as the new shields you will be getting.
Likely to inspire you to get the new weapons when they come out.
I'm worried that the chances to block become so nonexistent, that you roll out without a shield and still have things good as though you had it.
Parry is flat 20%
Shields grow with stats and ilevels. A 130 zeta shield is substnatially lower than 170 you will have once you hit 60, let alone start progressing through patches.
i noticed it as well. But i'm more wondering if our block rate got gimped as well. Because assuming it's the same (no testing done), as we continue to level up our shields we'll get near 100% block rate w/o bulwark and even if it's 20% migration that's still a lot of physical damage shaved off. Paired with our new healing ability and damage reduction ability, I can see using sword oath being more common, This is assuming of course our block rate has not been nerfed as well, I don't know because I've done no testing.