BiS Shield

[Warrlordd]

Higher chance to block = better. Your healers will notice that you reduce nukes more often via blocking. Also, Bulwark is only GUARANTEED to do anything at all if u have enough of a block rate. With the Noct Hoplon, you are playing the odds. Not a smart choice for a tank, I think.

[LevyLilium]

Actually, i've both HA kite and Noct Hoplon, and I prefer Noct Hoplon for most fight.

Why?

Parry and Block are random, and won't be usefull until you can force it. You can't force parry, but you can force block with bulwark.

Block strength have a far higher impact on damage reduction than block rate have on blocking chance. And you can raise your blocking chance to secure some block for bulwark.

With my Noct, i have a damage reduction of 42%, which turn Bulwark better than Sentinel when taking physical damage.

To me, the lost of the few pourcentage of blocking rate is really nothing considered to the damage reduction Noct give. It's just the best shield in the game, far better than HA shield.

Trading 11% block reduction, for losing 4% block rate, 1 VIT, 1 STR and few stats is worth it. Expecielly with bulwark.