Bulwark

So I'd like to direct your attention to this L46 cooldown called Bulwark, a Paladin ability.

Every time I've used Bulwark during a large pull, or for a tank buster lately, I feel like it doesn't mitigate any damage at all. It's like the increased block rate doesn't even matter. I've been a career Paladin for a long time, but I don't remember having any issues with Bulwark before. Although I'm pretty confident there is something I'm not seeing here. I hope I'm not the only one feeling like something is wrong with this ability.

If anyone proficient at math or something could shed some light on this, I'd be very grateful.

If you feel that way, perhaps you aren't facing front against the mobs. Block/parry don't work if the attack is magical too. It is bound to block attacks during large pulls. For tank busters though, 100% reliability is for you to use Sheltron if you know it's going to hit you.

First, I'd like to say that Bulwark isn't true mitigation like "Rampart" or "Shadowskin".

Bulwark only increase Block Rate by 60%. There's that other 40% where it DON'T trigger.

Couple Bulwark + Sheltron, and you're safe.

Bulwark is an additive 60% block rate increase, coupled with your natural block rate so if you had a 20% block rate and used bulwark you'd have 80%. If you have a tower shield you'll notice you block less than with a kite shield during bulwark because of its naturally lower block rate, but each block mitigates more.

Never use bulwark alone for a tank buster, couple it with a proper cd, even a minor one like foresight or Shelton.

You only block or parry when facing an enemy so anything behind or on your flank won't be blocked, locking on to an enemy helps make sure you're always facing them.

You also cannot block or parry while casting, so if you're using stoneskin or clemency during bulwark you're negating the effect.

Finally you can't block magic attacks, so if the tank buster is magical or the trash pull is magic only (like elementals) then bulwark or any cooldown to do with block/parry is redundant.

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Originally Posted by Jim_Berry

First, I'd like to say that Bulwark isn't true mitigation like "Rampart" or "Shadowskin".

Bulwark only increase Block Rate by 60%. There's that other 40% where it DON'T trigger.

Couple Bulwark + Sheltron, and you're safe.

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It's less than 40%. Your shield has a base block chance of >0%. :0

Never couple Bulwark with Sheltron. That's silly. Sheltron is an instant block. Assuming you have say 15% block rate with your base, using Sheltron alone is +85% block rate. If you use it with Bulwark active, you're sitting at 75% natural rate, so Sheltron is only doing the extra +25%. Unless a physical tank buster comes in the duration of Bulwark, Sheltron is strictly pointless during those 15s.

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Originally Posted by Cabalabob

Finally you can't block magic attacks, so if the tank buster is magical or the trash pull is magic only (like elementals) then bulwark or any cooldown to do with block/parry is redundant.

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It's not redundant. Redundancy implies that you're stacking something with one effect on top of something else with the same effect when the additional thing is not necessary. A good example is the above - using Sheltron during Bulwark is redundant. Stacking parry on a Paladin is redundant.

Using Bulwark or Sheltron against a horde of elementals is useless, pointless, or ineffective, not redundant.

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Originally Posted by Sarcatica

If you feel that way, perhaps you aren't facing front against the mobs.

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Why any tank would ever turn their butt to the boss is beyond me. Don't worry.

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Originally Posted by Cabalabob

You also cannot block or parry while casting

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Honestly, I was not aware of this. It's information like this that makes me not regret having to look like an idiot for asking these questions. Thank you kindly. =)

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Originally Posted by JackFross

It's less than 40%. Your shield has a base block chance of >0%. :0

Never couple Bulwark with Sheltron. That's silly. Sheltron is an instant block. Assuming you have say 15% block rate with your base, using Sheltron alone is +85% block rate. If you use it with Bulwark active, you're sitting at 75% natural rate, so Sheltron is only doing the extra +25%. Unless a physical tank buster comes in the duration of Bulwark, Sheltron is strictly pointless during those 15s.


It's not redundant. Redundancy implies that you're stacking something with one effect on top of something else with the same effect when the additional thing is not necessary. A good example is the above - using Sheltron during Bulwark is redundant. Stacking parry on a Paladin is redundant.

Using Bulwark or Sheltron against a horde of elementals is useless, pointless, or ineffective, not redundant.

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If a tank buster is coming and you're only using bulwark you're leaving yourself at the mercy of RNG, if you have Shelton up you guarantee that you will reduce the tank buster with a block and then also have an increased chance to block everything that comes after, if you have no cd's up except bulwark and Shelton when a physical tank buster comes you should most definitely use them together, you'll want to block multiple hits to make sure you don't get 1 shot after the tank buster and you want to KNOW you're going to block the tank buster itself.

Yes you could use them sequentially but then you leave yourself open to animation lag so it's simply safer to use them together.

redundant
rɪˈdʌnd(ə)nt/
adjective
not or no longer needed or useful; superfluous.
"an appropriate use for a redundant church"
synonyms: unnecessary, not required, inessential, unessential, needless, unneeded, uncalled for, dispensable, disposable, expendable, unwanted, useless

The problem with Bulwark is that there are (technically) three distinct types of shields in the game; Bucklers (high block rate, low block strength), Kite Shields (medium block rate, medium block strength), and Tower Shields (low block rate, high block strength). The devs kind of fail us in that bucklers haven't been seen at endgame since 2.x, and 3.2 endgame contains no tower shields either, but that's sort of beside the point.

Bulwark should be a 100% block chance, but that would create a situation where Bucklers and even Kite Shields are basically strictly inferior to Tower Shields - choosing between three defensive cooldowns that have the same duration and cooldown, only one is ~15% damage reduction, one is ~20%, and one is ~30% is kind of a no-brainer.

What I wish they would do is give the skill some built-in detection of what kind of shield you're using, and have the cooldown and/or duration change based on that, with the block rate set to 100% in all versions to eliminate RNG.

Bulwark with a Tower Shield could have a 10 second duration and a 180s cooldown, making it a similar (somewhat weaker) cooldown to Sentinel.
Bulwark with a Kite Shield could have a 15 second duration and a 120s cooldown, making it a similar (somewhat weaker) cooldown to Rampart.
Bulwark with a Buckler could have a 20-25 second duration and a 90s cooldown, making it into a high-uptime, low-effect cooldown similar to a Warrior using Foresight and Bloodbath.


I don't really expect that to ever happen, but it would definitely help Bulwark feel like a reliable part of the Paladin's toolkit instead of the loser skill it is now.

Honestly the worst part of Bulwark is its Recast time. All tanks have cooldowns that are a little on the dicey side and not intended for mitigating TBs (if you use Bulwark on a TB and nothing else... yeah.) but when used properly smooth out incoming damage and provide spike mitigation. But none of them have a fucking 3 minute recast.

That having been said, I don't think PLD needs defensive buffs. Its more or less fine where it is on mitigation if you ask me.

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Originally Posted by Cabalabob

Yes you could use them sequentially but then you leave yourself open to animation lag so it's simply safer to use them together.

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This is all fair, for sure, there's just never a situation where you should run into that problem, if you've been properly rotating cooldowns. At the *very least* you'll still have Foresight, Rampart's ugly little brother that nobody wants to talk to. Most times it'll be ramp > sen > ramp > hg > ramp > sen > ramp > ???????? (with Sheltron for each if they're physical) and it's really rare that you'll encounter a fight that throws that much shit at you to actually make all of your stuff be on cooldown, assuming you handle stuff properly. As a last ditch effort to save yourself from a mistake, yeah, but in general, you shouldn't be stacking Sheltron and Bulwark. Like... except in that very -very- rare circumstance you just lined up.

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Originally Posted by Syzygian

That having been said, I don't think PLD needs defensive buffs. Its more or less fine where it is on mitigation if you ask me.

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The 3-minute cooldown on Bulwark is definitely annoying as hell. It feels like a niche utility cooldown, but it's way too long to be used like that. You basically need to use it when you need/want a string of consistent blocks and almost have to work your cooldown rotation around it, because of how long its timer is.

Like in A1S, I would roll (since I didn't tank that fight in ShO, even for the buster) Awareness and 10-15s later Foresight after each buster to keep my incoming damage more consistent through the final runoff before the jump, since it's likely to die to that final cleave. I *WISH* I could have used Bulwark there, too, but it was a 2-minute spread, not 3-minute, so Bulwark could be used once, but not the second time. :\

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redundant
rɪˈdʌnd(ə)nt/
adjective
not or no longer needed or useful; superfluous.

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It's a matter of usage. You don't use "redundant" the same way you use "useless." Synonyms aren't always interchangeable. :0
The Redundant Department of Redundancies Department doesn't have nearly the same punny meaning as the Useless Department of Uselessness Department, for example.