Question about Blessed Shield build

Crusader
1

Let me say first i started again after maaaaany years in this season.

Hello.
I have a few questions.
Playing Blessed Shield with Akhan Set.

First question, why everyone favors combust about holy ? More Fragments, faster build up to 100 and more targets. You can also use holy weapon passive.

Second Question is about the gems.
Why is Bane of the Trapped always in this build ? Dont think blessed shield is made for melee combat.

The Skill doesn’t do anything to the monsters to trigger that effect ( or you go to close) but you stand than in everything that elite monsters throws at you.
Is Zeis Stone not better ? longer Range , more dmg, better surfival.

And i thought about this. Zeis+Trapped gem.
Zeis has 20% Chance to stun, with holy Shield holy Version there are so many shields bouncing here and there multiple times , that the effect of trapped stone should be proct or ?

And in General how would you spend you Para Points, and still stacking as much CDR as possible ? 200% Area dmg worth it for example ?

Edit :
Btw, if this is not working as i thought, isnt that not still the best combo ?
Zeis for Ranged enemys, Trapped when they come to close.

Edit:
Another question, would pain enhancer or the tocix gem trigger the effect of bane of the traped ?

2

It’s a waste of time. Go with a top build.
icy-veins.*com/d3/crusader-aegis-of-valor-fist-of-the-heavens-build
take out the * to make link

3

Na.
I already have a very powerful Fist of the heavens char ( non season,europe, but you can look at her).

And i’m playing for fun. Not for Leaderboards.
Now i’m having fun with Blessed Shield

4

The Akkhan set has been modified to work with Condemn/Phalanx. Blessed Shield, at this time, can only be played efficiently with the Litany of Nightmares (LoN) set of rings or the Legacy of Dreams (LoD) gem.

Those two are good questions! The answer lies in that, realistically, mobs will end up in your face anyway in any scenarios more challenging that the most basic speed runs (for which the Vigilante belt build is much more efficient). The combust blessed shield build gives you a nice, concentrated area damage effect and the burns stack to top it off. So having the mobs bunched into a small area is simply more damage-efficient. Bane of the Trapped gives you the automatic 60% damage bonus. This is great, especially if you use something like Condemn/vacuum rune to pull the mobs into a bunch. And that bunch will always be right on top of you, right in Bane of the Trapped gem’s optimum damage territory.
Yes, the drawback is that you need to switch to heal-per-hit because you are using fire, not holy damage.

If your attacks exert some sort of movement control on the targets, then Bane of the Trapped will proc on those targets. Example: a mob at 50 blizzo-yards from you is stuned by the Zeis gem. This causes Bane of the Trapped to trigger while the mob is stunned. Accordingly, the direct answer to your question is no. Neither of the two gems which you named cause movement restrictions to their targets.

2 Likes
5

Thanks for all the answers.

Now i have a nother question.
I was lucky and got some good stuff.
Is there an Ias Breakpoint i should reach with blessed shield ?

6

The higher the better, of course:
Your relevant range of breakpoints is:
1.88 aps
1.94
2.02
2.08
2.16
2.24
2.33
2.42
2.53
2.64

1 Like
7

Thanks.
Puh, i would loose incredible much CDR if i go for max ias.

Is Blessed shield build so much based on cdr , like other builds ?

8

In the Blessed Shield scenario, you (the player) run what I call flat cooldowns, i.e., CDR which circulates at its own unmodified pace.

In such a scenario, we are going to have both Akkarat’s Champion and Iron Skin gaps. The question is, how long and how damaging are those gaps? Is your Attack Speed (AS) worth increasing at the cost of CDR?

The answer, to a great degree, lies in your ability to continue attacking while inside the Oculus circle. If you are being pushed out of it by overwhelming incoming damage, that’s 85% damage reduction to your own output as well! You want to stay defensive more, in such cases, as your AS gives you relatively mundane benefits compared to the massive 85% damage boost from the Oculus. Also, whenever you do not have Akkarat’s Champion up, you are losing another 35% damage (multiplicative) and a ton of armor, never mind the death-cheat (as per Prophet rune).

At the same time, by contrast, around 70% CDR is your absolute break point, as further items with CDR hardly provide any benefits.

In conclusion, when all factors are considered, your experimentation will determine your optimum stat distribution, as your personal game-style and game comfort come into play. Your AS gives you the obvious direct bonuses, but your defensives provide some serious tactical advantages. I suspect that somewhere around 66%+ CDR will be that right point for you but, ultimately, you yourself will need to make that determination.

3 Likes
9

Puh, hard decision. I have a perfect gyrfalcons with 1000/1000/10% dmg (Ashen item)
And a crafted one with 10%dmg 990 Str/7% Ias.

Primal Ashen 1000/1000/10% Crit /15% Blessed shield dmg. ( ashen item)
I have also primal Magefist 1000/1000/50/10

What would you do ?

Atm 60,92% Cooldown and 2.13 Ias with Laws of Valor

About the craftet ancient weapon with 10%dmg 990 Str/7% Ias. I could change that 10% dmg to cooldown or life on hit

10

Yes, indeed. As a disclaimer I, personally, have a house rule where I am not allowed to complete a GR push if I die during the run, so my choices will tend to be more survival oriented, with loss of precious seconds on my GR runs being something I simply accept as part of the game.

In context of my philosophy and my house rule for GRs, to comment on your items:

My weapon has 10% damage increase, 10% CDR, and life-per-hit. Attack speed would be the direct bonus, but I must stay alive if my efforts are to mean anything, so my life-per-hit choice here is a must. Applying that to your item I, personally, would drop Strength in favor of life-per-hit. However, CDR and/or Area Damage are also good, depending what you do with Magefist gauntlets and the shield (you seem to have three potential sources of CDR available, so see below).

Great item. I would add CDR here or attack speed. The second 1000 stat, vitality, is what would be replaced.

I am not sure what Ashen is…shield? Shouldn’t you be using Jekangboard? If so, add CDR in place of vitality…or Area Damage, if you are comfortable with your CDR.

Keep in mind that you lose 35% damage directly when Akkarat’s is down, so do not ignore CDR, as it gives you damage at this stage. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I suspect that having your CDR at 66%+ is going to work nicely.

Your CDR stats are not all 8’s, else your combined CDR should stand at 63.81%. My current recommendation, thus, is for you to go for CDR on both gloves and shield for now until you get your other CDR stats all maxed. Then 63.81% + one additional item with 8% CDR will push you to a total of 66.71% CDR. That will ad up to circa 7 seconds of Extra Akkarat’s per Akkarat rotation. That is a lot! Once you are at that point, now you can re-roll one of the CDRs back to Area Damage (or to attack speed on the gloves!) and see if that works better for you.

3 Likes
11

Thanks for all the answers.
Sorry for my late response.

Well, if i do, what you said, my char will be like a glass cannon

EDIT : and for all of that i have to find the gear again. Hard to get with everything you need

1 Like
12

Incorporate Shield Glare/Uncertainty rune into your build. It works surprisingly well to prevent incoming damage!

As I recall (it’s been a while since I played this build), the two skill variants that work very well are:

Variant A:

  1. your Blessed Shield/Combust, of course, 2) Akkarat’s/Prophet, 3) Iron Skin/Steel Skin, 4) Shield Glare/Uncertainty, 5) Steed Charge/Rejuvenation, 6) Laws of Valor w/rune of your choice.

Variant B:

  1. your Blessed Shield/Combust, of course, 2) Akkarat’s/Prophet, 3)** Iron Skin/Flash, 4) Shield Glare/Uncertainty, 5) Condemn/Vacuum, 6)** Laws of Valor w/rune of your choice.
    ** If you are being squishy, you may instead try 3) Iron Skin/Steel Skin and, 6) Steed Charge/Rejuvenation or Laws of Hope/Wings of Angels.

Also, your chest piece in the Kanai’s Cube should be Aquila Cuirass (while equipped on you should be Cindercoat).

As battle tactic, pull mobs toward you but do not let them surround you. You want a nice clump of angry density right in front of you, spam the mobs with Shield Glare/Uncertaintly to make them fight one another, then burn the whole ordeal with Combust!

1 Like
13

Thanks again for all the answers.
Yesterday i found a primal cindercoat. So Aquila Cuirass in cube.

Many say for LoD Blessed shield Stoneskin Gloves are must have, but i dont have room for that.

Atm im thinking what to roll on gloves. 7% ias oder 8% CDR.

Edit : i have now made 2 new Gyrfalcons ( but cant use them now…)
1-1000 Str/7Ias/23590 life on hit
2-1000Str/7Ias/24 Area Dmg and 11590 life after kill so life on hit not possible. And nothing changed so i coud cube. but with 200 Area dmg, is 24 so much important anymore ?

14

This one is the healthier option of the two. You can live without the Area Damage.

UPDATE!!!

I took some time to actually experiment with the new Blessed Shield build!

Important: you can take my previous advice about skill sets and flush it down the toilet. I was dead wrong. Here is my new, by far as of today, favorite skill setup for the Blessed Shield build:

Left Mouse) Blessed Shield/Shattering Throw. Holy Cause Passive is a must for proper survival chances, so go Holy damage on the rune! You were right in the first place to suggest so!

Right Mouse) Iron Skin/Steel Skin. This is your get-out-of-jail skill. You can, however, experiment with Steed Charge/Rejuvenation as that works as well.

  1. Judgement/Debilitate.
  2. Blessed Shield/Divine Verdict. I found the Uncertainty rune to have a scatter effect on the mobs. A raw 20% damage boost worked stronger for me.
  3. Laws of Valor/Invincible. Turns out I like even more life per hit (in addition to my flail and bracers)
  4. Akkarat’s Champion/Prophet

Passives: Fervor, Holy Cause, Towering Shield, Finery

My combined CDR is 64.27, by the way. I think one more 8% CDR would be more comfortable, but with the massive life per hit on this variant, this is enough. By the way, I know, I listed previously 63.81% as a complete CDR with two items to spare (gloves and amulet in my case), but forgot that I actually also was missing a point of CDR…64.27% should be the correct total CDR with two items lacking CDR!

Hope this helps!

15

@ Harnor

aha okay.
Well, gambled so much for fire blessed shield buld and now go holly?
A bit amusing. Why or what did you change your mind ?

16

No, no, no! Stay with Fire!!! Just use a Fire based Stone of Jordan ring to replicate the Fire multipliers into Holy! Then, to switch between the two damage types, all you do is change the rune on your Blessed Shield skill, so you can experiment yourself. No re-rolling of any kind is necessary. Keep in mind that Magefist and Cidercoat both must stay!

Here, see the url to my build: — maxroll.gg/d3/d3planner/11480087 —

Critically, while this setup gives me a modest 90% Area Damage…it also unloads an incredible 140% Holy Damage bonus and another 30% damage vs elites!

Also, note the Unity ring in my Kanai’s Cube. Make sure to equip one on your follower as well and make sure that follower is invulnerable! :slight_smile:

Finally, although I am using Squirt’s Necklace (probably a stronger option for a GR push), a Hellfire Amulet would work better for farming scenarios. You could then add the Long Arm of the Law passive for permanent AS and life-per-hit bonuses.

My information was based on old gameplay. Over the past 24 hours, I became curious enough to challenge my old knowledge. Ran about a slew of GRs with different build variants and the new one, which I shared, simply won as the most sturdy and productive…and fun, by the way. There is something really satisfying about watching the mayhem of a Shattering Throw.

2 Likes
17

Getting this gear would take years of farming but i got your point.
So, have to find/craft a jordan.

Any jordan right ?
Just have to use holy attack ?
Dont understand the new version of jordan

Edit : for Example
I have 20%Fire Amu, 20% Gloves+20% Armor and 15% blackthornes.
I have also a Andariels holy and a better 20% Blackthornes

How does it work together ?

18

Not exactly. It has to have Fire Damage bonus on it.
Basically what the new Jordan does, is you load as many Elemental damages onto your equipment of the kind that Jordan has. Jordan, then replicates that damage bonus into all other elemental forms of damage that your class possesses. In our case, my build has 140% Fire damage bonus (including the one from Jordan). That bonus is then replicated, so that my Holy, Lighting, and Physical damages also now have 140% damage bonuses.

Just fyi, I just ran some additional testing and a Hellfire Amulet (i.e., the ability to add and to make Laws of Valor/Invincible active at all times, has some major survivability bonuses!

2 Likes
19

Tried also hellfire Amu, but no chance.
Got a primal one with 20%fire/100%Crit dmg and 10crit chance and socked.

Btw, for “normal players” for what breakpoints should i fokus ? Cdr/Ias ?
I will never have that gear you showed me .
My Gloves are still not entchanted, cant decide cdr or ias.

Btw, have now a new Shield. 1000Str/8%CDR/10%Crit/15% Blessed shield dmg

20

CDR 64%+ in my opinion. I am running 2.16 aps with Laws of Valor Active. This build is obscenely squishy. You will need the CDR even with Laws of Valor up at all times.

1 Like