One more post, let’s talk DPS tech.
Siege Breaker adds 6 second cooldown, but it has +100% more damage. More importantly you don’t get halved ricochet amount and bouncing works on you, so you don’t need a minion. At most you can grab 10 Ricochets total, so in an ideal scenario you vs. boss alone, you get:
Hit → 1. you → 2. boss → 3. you → 4. boss → 5. you → 6. boss → 7. you → 8. boss → 9. you → 10. boss → return.
In other words, you get 6 hits from one Shield Throw.
You have 6 seconds cooldown, let’s say you stack cooldown everywhere and get 100%, so now you’re at 3 seconds cooldown, that would be equivalent to 2 hits per second with 100% more damage.
The spam ST variant would bounce off of Manifest Armor since it cannot have Throwing Arm. That’s also -4 bounces. Additionally its ricochets are halved, so 6 / 2 = 3. That means in the abovementioned ideal scenario you only get:
Hit → 1. minion → 2. boss → 3. minion → return.
This is offset by the fact that you can spam, so throwing speed is a must-have. Let’s say you manage to get 4 attacks per second, giving you 8 hits per second.
So with enough attack speed, Spam beats CD version of ST, despite the damage difference.
Sigeon’s relatiate with ST proc
Sigeon’s can proc up to 2 times per second, but you cannot always/reliably proc it on bosses. If you could, it would change the numbers:
CD: 2 hits per second from use + 12 hits from (2 procs per second * 6 hits per attack) = 14 hits per second at 100% more dmg
Spam: 2 hits * 6 attacks (4 uses and two procs per second) = 12 hits per second
So if you can reliably proc Sigeons, the cooldown variant gets better.
Shield Bash combo
There’s also Shield Bash, adding +5 ricochets for next ST. With this effect active, it’s (6+5)/2=5.5 rounded up to 6 ricochects for Spam variant:
Hit → 1. minion → 2. boss → 3. minion → 4. boss → 5. minion → 6. boss → return.
So SB combo upgrades our damage to 4 hits per ST.
Similarly it’s 10+5 = 15 ricochets for the CD variant.
Hit → 1. you → 2. boss → 3. you → 4. boss → 5. you → 6. boss → 7. you → 8. boss → 9. you → 10. boss → 11. you → 12. boss → 13. you → 14. boss → 15. you → return.
So SB combo with the CD variant gives us 8 hits per ST.
However SB doesn’t scale with attack speed, so it has a maximum speed of 2.2 attacks per second, so while the CD variant is unaffected by this, weaving it into a SB - ST - SB - ST combo on the spam version would mean lowering our overall speed. A simplified calculation for the combo can be done like this:
ST: 4 attacks per second, ST takes 1/4 = 0.25 seconds
SB: 2.2 attacks per second, SB takes 1/2.2 = 0,454 seconds
So one combo would theoretically take 0,704 seconds, or have the speed of 1,42 combos per second.
Spam: 1.42 * 4 hits per ST = 5.68 hits per second with SB combo
Previously we had 8 hits per second, so as you can see Shield Bash isn’t good for Spam version, but it is very good for the Cooldown version.
So for a spammy ST build I would go for Sigeon’s with maximum attack speed and flat reflect bonuses where available.
With the Ring of Shields deficiency shown in the GIFS one post above, there is little to no reason to use Ring of Shields on the spammy build. All masteries can get their bouncing going with Manifest Armor.
That means VK isn’t yuck.
ST converted to void can use the % more void dmg bonuses from Singular Purpose node and from Devouring Orb, there’s extra 30% throwing speed + echo chance in Void Knight, also some flat throwing void damage, void pen and void leech, so VK easily beats Forge Guard in damage.
And Paladin is the king of Physical and Fire Shield Throw.
Holy Aura with its permanent 18% throwing speed, 48% throwing damage, 50% physical or fire damage, and all of that DOUBLES on HA activation. There’s an offset to the resistance loss in Sanctuary Guardian, there’s free Frailty and Armor Shred in Force of Devotion.
For some reason Increased Shield Throw Critical Strike Chance exists, so capping crit on any mastery isn’t a problem.
Thoughts?
