Why doesn't anyone invest in Blade shield? I realize the general concensus is "It sucks", but I would really like a detailed explanation of why its a "waste of points".
Venom works with it, so why can't a poison-based Sin be viable? It damages anything within your weapon range once per second with physical and and poison damage, and other sources of damage, plus certain mods work with it as well.
To be honest all things considered I think this skill is awesome, it's like turning your weapon into a Paladin aura with limited range.
First off, it relies on AR to hit, but doesn't offer any AR boost. As a result, for the majority of Assassin builds, it will very, very, very rarely hit.
Second off, it cuts all damage by 75%, and doesn't offer any ED. Blade Shield would need to hit 16 enemies to equal the power of a single attack with 300% ED.
Third off, its cost is huge. It takes 65 mana when maxed, and you pretty much *HAVE* to invest skill points in it, because it only has a 20 second duration at slvl 1.
Fourth off, it wears down weapon durability, which is a *HUGE* negative.
Fifth off, it really doesn't carry much of ANYTHING in the way of useful mods. It carries damage mods like ED% and Critical Strike, as well as elemental damage, but it quarters them. It carries leech, but doesn't deal enough damage to make Leech worthwhile. It doesn't carry CB, or ctc on striking, or OW. It carries PMH, but there's no point, since you'll be dealing PMH to the monsters you're damaging, anyway. About the only interesting mod that it carries is CtC On Attack, but the only ctc on attack worth anything is the ctc Frozen Orb from Rift, *AND* it converts the "ctc on attack" to "ctc on striking", so if you only have a 5% chance to hit, you'll almost never trigger that Frozen Orb.
Basically, it really doesn't mesh with any existing Assassin builds. Trappers don't have enough AR, damaging enough weapons, or enough skill points to make use of it- and besides, they prefer attacking from a range. Blade Fury 'sins have enough AR, skill points, and damaging enough weapons... but they prefer keeping their distance, and Blade Shield wears down weapon durability (which is a huge negative, since BFury Assassins usually use Ethereal weapons). Elemental Martial Artists have the weapons to use Blade Shield and they like being in melee range, but they usually don't have the AR or the skill points to optimize Blade Shield. Kickers have the skill points and are melee builds, but they usually have very bad AR when not kicking, and they usually don't carry good BShield weapons (they don't care about weapon damage and frequently use Ethereal weapons).
Until Blizzard lets BShield carry as many effects as BFury, BShield really isn't going to have much use.
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