Shield Oath makes Sheltron useless.

[CaptnYesterday]

I really like the previous sheltron better. I rather take the 30secs cooldown than this 50 oath bullshit. I swear this oath gauge feels forced upon PLD.

Was going to say this. They added it to sheltron to justify the gauge. Plain and simple.
So they added magic defence to sheltron and then took sheltron mostly away. We call that a "derp"

[pandabearcat]

You can sheltron every 20s in sword stance.

You can sheltron every 2 Holy Spirit + 2 blocks (and you get one block free with sheltron...), which takes all of 3 seconds to do (~20s again, if you include the combos needed get the mana for it).

So...basically, you can use it even more often, but with more control over when to use it.

[Furious]

Was going to say this. They added it to sheltron to justify the gauge. Plain and simple.
So they added magic defence to sheltron and then took sheltron mostly away. We call that a "derp"

You can use sheltron approximately 50% more often under the new system, while in shield oath.

[CaptnYesterday]

You can use sheltron approximately 50% more often under the new system, while in shield oath.

Nope. Reasons:
1. "50% more" is gated behind your 2xHoly Spirit, which takes away from other meaningful actions if the only reason you are casting Holy Spirit is to activate Sheltron. Clunky AF
2. Holy Spirit is not free. Now you are eating into mana that you may have wanted for something like Clemency, right?
3. Pre L64 content does not even have this situational option

Just because you can technically do something does not negate the argument that, in 'real world' terms, is still a loss. We still call it a "derp".

[Kyt]

Holy spirit is essentially our damage rotation now though. After you get far enough in threat your rotation is literally holy spirit til oom, then authority combo to gain mana back. You have a ridiculous amount of oath at your disposal. Along with that, clemency is easy to plan. If you know the encounter you know exactly when you're going to need something like clemency and you can just plan ahead.

[Reynhart]

"50% more" is gated behind your 2xHoly Spirit, which takes away from other meaningful actions if the only reason you are casting Holy Spirit is to activate Sheltron.

What "meaningful" action ? Holy Spirit has the highest potency in a single GCD of PLD's whole skills...

[TheGodchild]

I swear this oath gauge feels forced upon PLD.

They honestly should have just left Sheltron alone and kept the oath gauge and its related usage to 60+ gameplay where its more relevant. It feels weird that a mechanic designed around 60+ skills for heavy building impacts something pre-60 so heavily. The 50 oath cost is ridiculous, and a 5 second cd is pointless when mechanically it can take longer then 30 seconds to rebuild that much oath outside of popping Bulwark for the block chance boost every 2-3 minutes. It makes Oath feel like something you need to hoard specifically for boss fights and nothing else.

Pre-SB Sheltron was an awesome mitigation skill when you knew something big was coming, you needed MP or shield swipe was off cd. If its so easy to build oath at 64+...why is an early 50 skill being strangled so viciously for no reason other then they needed to crowbar in a mechanic to make oath a thing at earlier levels?

[Kyt]

It makes Oath feel like something you need to hoard specifically for boss fights and nothing else.

Again, holy spirit is going to be a heavy part of your rotation. You won't need to hoard oath because you'll have a ton of it.

[TheGodchild]

Again, holy spirit is going to be a heavy part of your rotation. You won't need to hoard oath because you'll have a ton of it.

At 64+, sure. What about 52-63? I was more implying that pre-64 content you're just going to be hoarding oath for boss fight sheltron use and nothing else because its hard to build up in shield oath and that's the only use for oath in that level range.

[Kyt]

The game and class balance are balanced around lvl 70. Samurai's entire life changes after they hit 66, and summoner is incredibly slow until you hit your later SB spells. Call it a design flaw if you want, but that's how things are. You don't need sheltron for anything under max level anyway