- Shieldbreaker
- Nightmares
- Strategy
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Contents
- 1 Overview
- 1.1 A Note on Leveling and Upgrades
- 2 Skills
- 2.1 Pierce
- 2.2 Puncture
- 2.3 Adder's Kiss
- 2.4 Impale
- 2.5 Expose
- 2.6 Captivate
- 2.7 Serpent's Sway
- 3 Camping Skills
- 3.1 Snake Eyes
- 3.2 Snake Skin
- 3.3 Sandstorm
- 3.4 Adder's Embrace
- 4 Nightmares
- 5 Trinkets
- 5.1 Class Trinkets
- 5.1.1 Fanged Spear Tip
- 5.1.2 Cuirboilli
- 5.2 Trinket Set
- 5.3 Spectral Speartip
- 5.4 Notable Neutral Trinkets
- 5.1 Class Trinkets
- 6 Quirks
- 6.1 Good Quirks
- 6.2 Decent Quirks
- 6.3 Bad Quirks
- 7 Teammates
Overview
The Shieldbreaker is a damage dealer with a lot of secondary utility and rank flexibility. Actually, "rank flexibility" is a bit misleading—all of her abilities move her, except for one!
Her strengths include:
- A decent attack that can hit every rank and ignores PROT, allowing her to deal very consistent damage.
- Utility skills that remove Guard and Stealth while at the same time dealing high damage relative to other utility skills.
- High speed, especially once her weapons are upgraded.
- Skills that deal a fair amount of Blight.
And her notable weaknesses include:
- Low survivability: she has below average health, especially for a front-line hero, as well as relatively low resistances.
- Low damage: her base damage is low for a damage-focused class, and all but one of her attacks have damage modifiers below 100%. Since trinkets and buffs increase attack damage multiplicatively, they are relatively less powerful on the Shieldbreaker than on a hero with high base damage, like the Hellion—compared to Iron Swan, it's much harder for the Shieldbreaker to achieve an instant kill on the rank 4 enemy.
- Because she is constantly moving, her teammates must also be flexible enough to accommodate her.
- Nightmares: the Shieldbreaker may have a flashback while camping, forcing the party into combat and inflicting an extremely high amount of stress on the Shieldbreaker herself.
That said, in spite of her weaknesses in raw damage and survivability, the Shieldbreaker's flexibility allows her to excel in many areas where other pure damage dealers suffer. Many late-game enemies and bosses (e.g. the Ghoul) have high PROT, for example, which the Shieldbreaker can essentially ignore. The Shieldbreaker's kit can also trivialise many boss mechanics (e.g. the Garden Guardian).
All-in-all, the Shieldbreaker is a very flexible damage dealer who excels when given some support—recovery, stuns, tanking, and so on.
The Shieldbreaker functions well in rank 1, or in dancing parties. As with all dancers, she has a natural tendency to move forward as the battle progresses, and her teammates must be able to adapt accordingly to shifts in position.
A Note on Leveling and Upgrades
Compared to other heroes, the Shieldbreaker is particularly weak at Resolve Level 0 but scales much better with levels. This is for a number of reasons:
- Most Weapon upgrades follow a standard pattern, granting +1 speed each at levels 3 and 5. However, the Shieldbreaker gains +1 speed at weapon level 2 and +2 speed at level 3, making her weapon upgrades particularly cost-effective.
- Level 0 Shieldbreakers are especially weak to the Bleed, Blight, and Stress inflicted during a Nightmare. However, once they reach Level 1, they become much more resilient.
For these reasons, it is recommended to bring a Shieldbreaker on a short expedition to raise her to Resolve Level 1 before bringing her on a medium or longer expedition.
Skills
Pierce
A consistent melee attack that can hit any rank. Its low damage is somewhat mitigated by the fact that it has full Armor Pierce which ignores PROT. This will be her standard attack most of the time.
Puncture
Another attack that is ranged and can target any rank. It has very low damage, but it's offset that it ignores and bypasses Guard, pulls them forward and always gives Guard break for two rounds. This skill and "Pierce" have been her two main skills that have been used by many in her kit.
Adder's Kiss
A powerful melee attack that can be used only in the front (rank 1). It's somewhat similar to Highwayman's Point Blank Shot but can target ranks 1-2 and applies good amount of Blight to the target.
All things considered it's a good skill with also a strong Blight.
Impale
A very low damage ranged attack that hits the entire enemy group and can only be used at the front, however there a bit strange things to note however:
- It cannot blight until this skill is upgraded to level 3, and the blight it applies is lower than Adder's Kiss and Captivate.
- Shares the same Accuracy with Pierce, Puncture and Adder's Kiss.
While the skill looks weak with it's low damage and DoT unless run a DoT team that uses Blight or Bleed or have 2 Shieldbreakers both with Impale and have Resolve Level 3 or higher in the build composition, these however require trinkets and a good team for it work.
Expose
As the name of the skill suggests, it exposes a single enemy. Bypassing and Breaking their Stealth and gives a large Debuff lowering their Speed and also increasing Crits received. And moves the Shieldbreaker back.
The skill is situational at best as it has average accuracy but shines in Veteran or higher quests, but can also reveal the Stealthed Rattlers during her Nightmare Flashbacks.
Captivate
The only Skill that doesn't move the Shieldbreaker around! It can only be used in and targets ranks 2-3 similar to Slice Off by the Jester.
But deals extra damage to Marked enemies and inflicts the same amount Blight used by Adder's Kiss but has average accuracy, and the Mark bonus will need some team synergy for maximum mileage to make use of.
Serpent's Sway
Main article: Status effects#Aegis
Her defensive and valuable skill that gives her 2 Blocks on her and has a Limit of 2 uses per battle. It can negate any incoming direct damage to the Shieldbreaker to offset her low HP or in emergencies if she's near or at Death's Door. However there are a few things to note about block and the skill itself:
- Only prevents Direct Damage and does not prevent nor negate Stress Damage nor prevent getting Horror.
- The Aegis Blocks don't negate Bleed or Blight DoT nor will prevent the Hero from bleeding or getting blighted.
- Bleed or Blight DoT won't consume a single block, but bypasses it and deals damage to the Hero.
- The Hero can still be Stunned or Moved around from attacks.
- If the attack on the hero misses or dodges it. The Block won't be consumed.
- Attacks that deal Low DMG and becomes 0 DMG (Due to PROT) will be blocked and still counts as an attack, consuming 1 Block.
- Blocks can stack up to 2 max.
Despite these weaknesses it's still a great skill and can block a devastating attack like "Treebranch Smackdown" or even preventing a devastating CRIT, bringing her near or into Death's Door.
This also counts for other heroes using an Aegis Scale as well, but do note that the "Scales" only give 1 block and are quite rare, they're only given as drops and rewards from Shieldbreaker's Nightmares or when fighting the snakes in normal encounters once you beaten all her Nightmares. But they can stored for a future expedition however.
Camping Skills
Note: All Camping Skill Buffs and any effect lasts 4 battles.
Snake Eyes
Costs 3 Time, and gives every of her companions +15% Armor Piercing.
A very powerful camping skill that greatly increases her companions damage especially on bosses that have PROT such as Shambler, Brigand Pounder and the Miller for example.
But it also does well in normal fights against enemies with PROT such as Ghouls, Bone Captains and Swine Reavers for her allies as well outside of bosses.
Snake Skin
With 3 Time Cost. She gives herself +15% PROT and +15% MAX HP.
This Increases her survivability and is a decent camping skill to offset her Low HP for 4 battles.
Sandstorm
Costs 2 Respite and makes a single Companion unable to be Marked while the buff is up.
While situational it's also strong in the right place and location, since some enemies at higher levels have a huge damage bonus against Marked heroes such as Fungal Scratchers, Large Carrion Eaters and especially against the Swine King which is valuable for the Arbalest/Musketeer since they cannot remove the Marks on themselves.
Adder's Embrace
Gives +20% to both her Blight Skills and Resistance. For a Time Cost of 2.
Greatly increases her skills to blight her enemies while also increasing her resistance to it as well. A very good camping skill for that alone.
Nightmares
Main article: Shieldbreaker/Nightmares#Strategy
The Shieldbreaker's Nightmares present a significant risk to the party on any Medium or Long expedition, and it is prudent to prepare for them before embarking.
Before camping, you can swap both combat and camping skills for all the heroes mid quest before using the Firewood for camping.
However winning against her nightmare battles, yields powerful rewards such as Aegis Scales which can be stored, and her unique trinkets. Defeating all her nightmares will give her powerful buffs instead while camping, and it's the only way to obtain her unique trinkets aside from the Spectral Speartip.
Trinkets
While most Heroes can obtain their respective trinkets from quest rewards, as drops or bought from the Nomad Wagon. Her normal trinkets cannot be found randomly, and can be only obtained from defeating the snakes within her nightmares. Except for the Spectral Speartip which can be bought from the the Nomad Wagon.
Class Trinkets
- Venomous Vial - Handy for augmenting the Blight chance from three of her skills, but lowers her blight resistance and avoid taking it into a nightmare since the Shieldbreaker becomes more vulnerable to the snakes' venom or in the long run such as the Weald in higher levels where most enemies can blight her.
- Shimmering Scale - A decent selection until you unlock the complete set. It provides +10 PROT to increase her survivability with a minor +5% Stress. Despite the small drawback, the downside can become problematic in nightmares unless you can offset it.
- Dancer's Footwraps - +2 SPD bonus is nice, and Move Resist is icing on the cake since the Shieldbreaker can reposition herself with ease.
Fanged Spear Tip
Since the Shieldbreaker can't Mark enemies on her own, she'll need extra help to make the most of it. It will maximize the damage you're getting out of Captivate though.
- Despite saying the it does +35% DMG vs Marked, it does +25% DMG vs Marked in reality because of the -10% DMG.
Not only it also lowers her DMG quite a bit without Marks, if you plan on using this trinket consider bringing heroes that have Mark skills or putting her on a Mark Team.
Cuirboilli
Extra HP is good which increases her survival, and the -2 SPD penalty can be neutralized with the Dancer's Footwraps or any other trinket that also negates the SPD penalty such as Feather Crystal or Crescendo Box for example.
Trinket Set
While most heroes have to get their Crimson Court DLC Trinket Sets from venturing into the Courtyard itself, the Shieldbreaker however is unique that she doesn't require the Crimson Court DLC activated for her set, as it can only obtained from fighting her 6th and 7th nightmares respectively.
- Obsidian Dagger - Greatly improves the Debuff and Blight rate, which improves her skills that can debuff or blights her foes. This trinket can effectively replace Venomous Vial.
- Severed Hand - Provides defensive bonuses that make her heavily resistant to Blight and also reduces small amount of Stress. And it's all it provides, however it's main use is to complete the set.
- Set Bonus - Wearing the full set. The PROT and HP bonus combined make the Shieldbreaker tanky enough to match your usual frontliners. The one downside from this Set is that she can't be Guarded, but if she gets into danger, she can always use Serpent Sway to block any incoming direct damage.
Spectral Speartip
While this Trinket boosts her damage and her HP by 15% and give a decent blight chance for her blight skills, but the biggest drawback is the +5% Random Target Chance despite the small number.
The stats of the trinket don't look that bad, but the chance to target someone else than your intended target can mess with your plans. Especially using Puncture to break a guard, only to pull the wrong target for example.
The best use and niche for this trinket is if you excessively use Impale or with 2 Shieldbreakers with one using Spectral Speartip and spam Impale as their main attack in normal fights, and that's the only thing good going for this trinket.
The price of 65 Comet Shards and considering they can only be obtained in the Farmstead is slightly pricey as well.
Notable Neutral Trinkets
- Stress Reducing Trinkets - Trinkets that reduce her stress such as are nice like the Book of Relaxation for fighting against the snakes in her Nightmares, but it does not lower the horror stress damage over time.
- Feather Crystal - Similar to Dancer's Footwraps as it gives +2 SPD but also +8 DODGE at a cost of less move and stun resistances. But it can be replaced once you get the Footwraps for her however.
- Mildred's Locket - While any hero can benefit from using this trinket, the Shieldbreaker aside from using against the Miller is a notable candidate that she heavily benefits just not from +3 SPD but also the Blight resistance it provides and even excels outside of the Farmstead thanks to the SPD bonus it provides. It can replace Severed Hand and supplement Obsidian Dagger without the full set's penalty of being unable to be guarded, and you'll only miss out on the full set's PROT and HP bonus.
Quirks
Shieldbreaker has high speed especially when she's at full level with her upgrades but making her even faster is very valuable as she usually attacks first starting with a Puncture on backline targets, but she has some notable quirks that you give her however.
Good Quirks
- Speed Quirks - Increasing her SPD not only makes her attack first in the party, starting with Puncture to pull enemies hiding in the Backlines or target the front with Adder's Kiss, Quirks like On Guard or Luminous are good picks for her.
- Hot to Trot - Thanks to her high SPD at higher levels, The quirk gives her a large accuracy and damage boost and a decent CRIT chance at the First round, can be used in conjunction with speed increasing trinkets or quirks such as On Guard.
- Tough - Greatly increases her Survival since she has low HP.
Decent Quirks
- Accuracy Boosting Quirks - While she benefits from quirks such as Natural Swing, but remember that she also has the Training Ring district that always gives her +4 ACC, but ACC is also important against enemies with High Dodge. However you should always lock-in Corvid's Eye regardless.
Bad Quirks
- HP Lowering Quirks - Quirks like Fragile and Soft greatly decreases her survivability with her low HP despite her skills giving her 2 Blocks, she's still susceptible from DoT such as Bleed or Blight which bypasses them.
- Stress Increasing Quirks - Those that increase her stress such as Nervous becomes more problematic at her Nightmares, especially Zoophobia and Fear of Beasts since the Snakes are all Beast type enemies in the fight.
Teammates
Because the Shieldbreaker's skills require her to move around, she is best paired with heroes that are rank-independent or have movement skills of their own.
- A Crusader with Holy Lance is an ideal dancing partner due to his low SPD, allowing for consistent turn orders, and his recovery skills, which make up for the Shieldbreaker's lack thereof.
- Similar to the above, the Man-at-Arms is a solid support who can compensate for the Shieldbreaker's lack of survivability. He can also dance with Rampart and his slow SPD.
- The Jester is a rank-flexible support whose stress healing can greatly help during Nightmare battles. Note that both the Jester and Shieldbreaker are relatively fragile, so care must be taken to bolster the team's defences.
Conversely, the Shieldbreaker should not be paired with the Hellion or Leper—both are heroes who need to occupy rank 1 in order to be maximally effective.