Speculation on how shields will work | Forums

[Killerbrian26]

The idea of a shield with the current art of battle system seems odd to me, so I've been speculating on how it could be implemented into the game and here are some theories I've come up with and what I think the likelyhood of them being implemented is.

They're purely Aesthetic/Don't play into the combat
The shield is only used in animations when you would normally block an attack or only provides an armor buff.
I see this theory as the least likely do to how intuitive, bland and silly it would be. There would be no reason to have a shield other than the weapon that goes with it.

They cover a zone you are not
The shield covers one of the adjacent zones you are not. IE, if i'm guarding left, it guards my right.
While I see this theory as plausible, I do not think it is how Ubisoft will implement the shields do to balance issues like shield-users being overbearing.

They block while you attack
The shield covers the zone you attack from giving you protection where you wouldn't normally have it.
I see this as the most plausible way to implement the shield. I think it would feel intuitive and give reasons to play shield-users, while being relatively balanced. There is also some evidence to show this such as in the cinematic launch trailer (link here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSHXXks53YY ), around the one minute mark, you see a viking block a samurai's attack while simultaneously attacking him, though this was not showing actual gameplay. As well as this, in the vikings campaign mission they showed, a sword and shield using viking can be seen moving his shield with his sword, covering the same zones he guards.

Have a theory of your own or disagree with mine? Post a comment below.

[Eiddard]

I think it will be different for knights and vikings.

I will not discuss the Knights because we have 0 information to work on, but we can actually see gameplay from the viking sword + shield(it is from an NPC).

Here we can see a right stance for the shield + sword viking.



Here we can see the top stance, and I would say slightly the left stance.



More gameplay



And Click Here for a playlist made by me of videos about the same mision but all played by different persons, the guy with sword+shield always appears in the bridge part before the final boss.

[DerHerbman]

I think it will work as a separate Block mechanism like in real life I think. The thing is that you most likely will have short weapons with the shield, so you can block and attack faster with them to stand a chance against long range weapons. So lets say you go into left stance. Your shield will be at the left side and your sword on the right like you said, they cover a zone you are not. The balance would be that you don´t have reach, but you are more covered.
You can see how he swings the shield when he attacks so I don´t think it will block while you attack.
I think the shield is also good for some special moves! Do you see whow he is holding the sheld over his head? Maybe he is then immune against arrows?
I´m now going to look up some medieval shield fighting on YT

[V4nClief]

I hope it's as we speculate and honestly would make the most sense.

[Casp3r42]

It will likely allow you to attack and block from a direction simultaneously. He will likely also have combo's that utilize his shield as a weapon (shield push off a cliff? )

[Altair_Snake]

My money is on it being cosmetic. But I was wrong about shields before. I thought they wouldn't be allowed in playable characters.

However I do expect the shield classes to have some defensive advantages, just not stuff that provides exceptions to the 3 directions thingy. They could for instance, have better parries. The guard breaks vary quite a bit from class to class, so I wouldn't be surprised if the parries vary, too. And they could also have abilities that focus on defense, like taking less damage, or healing (The Warden has healing).

EDIT: I also wouldn't be surprised if their Guard Break would deal damage by itself, besides allowing a free hit. It could be something like a shiled bash along with a cut. And then you'd still get a free hit (like everyone gets a free hit, apparently). The Warden gets two free hits and apparently two strong free hits if he throw you against a wall. The Raider has that very long carry-run and apparently a damaging wall splat and still gets a free hit after that. So, a damaging vanilla guard break doesn't sound absurd to me and it would fit the "theme" of a shield.

[V4nClief]

I'm thinking it will be more integrated than just cosmetic left stick may control movement but if pushed in you might have free range to move it in any direction. Then again this is just wishful thinking as I'd like to be able to master both shield and sword as part of mastering the art of battle.

[Sparley]

If you block a heavy attack you still take a small amount of damage. Maybe classes with a shield blocks all the damage?

[V4nClief]

If they want it realistic even if you're skilled with a shield it should take something out of you on the lines of stamina. If I'm beating you repeatedly on the shield with a very heavy great eventually you're going to exhaust from blocking and im either going to break through one way or another or you better roll and recover.

[AvarusTyrannus]

My guess would be that it works same as the other archetypes, but is more effective in some way. Easier to parry, no damage bleed, harder to stun, immune to projectiles....something like that.