I just used the new skull shield well into mountain biome and had no problem. Of course, it only blocks, but I found that to be plenty. It got it almost right at the start and never saw a reason to give it up until a couple of wolves hit me a bit harder than I wanted.

The silver shield works very well now against everything.

i havent been using any shield
just take a step back when you see an enemy begin an attack, then run up and smack it with a mace or sword

I've been using iron buckler in plains biome to much success. Just don't use it against the heavier hitters. Its a buckler not a shield. Use it like a buckler. Personally I like it for it's light weight and takes up less room on my back, so I'm not just a walking shield. Easily blocks the bugs and 0-star fulings. Pretty good considering it is low tier for the area

Bronze is good for its tier (unless you think you are going to parry a massive troll, think again), same with iron, silver etc. I ended up getting a stack of fuling ore using an iron mace and troll armor.

This is the same ♥♥♥♥ as stamina complaints. Granted I'm used to playing dark souls without putting levels into stamina so... meh. Most enemies take less than 3 hits to kill, unless they look like they will take a bit more to kill (like when I fought bone mass and my weapon broke so I made a new world and rushed to make a forge to repair it mid-boss). Even my character usually takes 3 or less hits to die. Seems fair to me. Unless they are starred, at which point you should consider playing a little more cautiously.

Also, you can parry into mace golf-club swing into normal swing into dead fuling

My Buckler works aboslutly perfectly.

The upgraded Bronze Buckler can parry trolls well so its useful.... Iron Buckler on the other hand..... the problem is the Draugr archers... they will guard break you with the buckler. so getting the banded is shield is probably preferable (however the devs are probably going to add the ranged parry back in next patch according to testers). Where the Iron Buckler really shines though is early Mountains if you are trying to parry golems.

They work fine for me for blocking and parrying. You're not going to block a troll with a tree using a buckler though.

Originally posted by FTZ35:

The upgraded Bronze Buckler can parry trolls well so its useful.... Iron Buckler on the other hand..... the problem is the Draugr archers... they will guard break you with the buckler. so getting the banded is shield is probably preferable (however the devs are probably going to add the ranged parry back in next patch according to testers). Where the Iron Buckler really shines though is early Mountains if you are trying to parry golems.

Do you mean ranged parry causing knockback? I never understood that. They might add it back?

Originally posted by Faceplant8:

Originally posted by FTZ35:

The upgraded Bronze Buckler can parry trolls well so its useful.... Iron Buckler on the other hand..... the problem is the Draugr archers... they will guard break you with the buckler. so getting the banded is shield is probably preferable (however the devs are probably going to add the ranged parry back in next patch according to testers). Where the Iron Buckler really shines though is early Mountains if you are trying to parry golems.

Do you mean ranged parry causing knockback? I never understood that. They might add it back?

They will add back next patch with the jack'o lantern (unfortunatly not the Jack'O meme girl from guilty gear)

The bucler being more risk-reward is a nice feature. And parrying a troll is op tbh.

Haven't tried it with a berserker yet but you can easily parry lox with the regular iron shield.

Bronze buckler is fine. There isn't a standard shield at that level, and it's better than the wood shield. Iron buckler is just worse than the iron shield, though, even for parrying.

Originally posted by Midas:

Iron buckler is just worse than the iron shield, though, even for parrying.

That is not true. With a fully upgraded Iron Buckler you can block for 40 and parry up to 100 damage. While a fully upgraded Banded Shield can block for 54, but will only parry up to 81 damage. The reason for that is the parry bonus multiplier, which is 2.5x on Bucklers and only 1.5x on Round Shields.

The advantages of Bucklers or Round Shields are obvious. Take the Buckler if you plan and are able to parry frequently. Take the Banded Shield, if you want the security of a higher raw block, if you tend to mess up the timing for a parry sometimes.

Just me but I've 100% used only bronze and iron bucklers so far and been fine blocking everything in my current progression biomes - meadow, BF (inc trolls), and swamp.

Originally posted by Mike:

Originally posted by Midas:

Iron buckler is just worse than the iron shield, though, even for parrying.

That is not true. With a fully upgraded Iron Buckler you can block for 40 and parry up to 100 damage. While a fully upgraded Banded Shield can block for 54, but will only parry up to 81 damage. The reason for that is the parry bonus multiplier, which is 2.5x on Bucklers and only 1.5x on Round Shields.

The advantages of Bucklers or Round Shields are obvious. Take the Buckler if you plan and are able to parry frequently. Take the Banded Shield, if you want the security of a higher raw block, if you tend to mess up the timing for a parry sometimes.

Iron buckler lvl 3 can parry 100 damage banded shield pretty less

Bronze buckler is fine. There isn't a standard shield at that level, and it's better than the wood shield. Iron buckler is just worse than the iron shield, though, even for parrying.

Originally posted by Midas:

Iron buckler is just worse than the iron shield, though, even for parrying.

That is not true. With a fully upgraded Iron Buckler you can block for 40 and parry up to 100 damage. While a fully upgraded Banded Shield can block for 54, but will only parry up to 81 damage. The reason for that is the parry bonus multiplier, which is 2.5x on Bucklers and only 1.5x on Round Shields.

The advantages of Bucklers or Round Shields are obvious. Take the Buckler if you plan and are able to parry frequently. Take the Banded Shield, if you want the security of a higher raw block, if you tend to mess up the timing for a parry sometimes.

Just me but I've 100% used only bronze and iron bucklers so far and been fine blocking everything in my current progression biomes - meadow, BF (inc trolls), and swamp.

I just used the new skull shield well into mountain biome and had no problem. Of course, it only blocks, but I found that to be plenty. It got it almost right at the start and never saw a reason to give it up until a couple of wolves hit me a bit harder than I wanted.

The silver shield works very well now against everything.

i havent been using any shield
just take a step back when you see an enemy begin an attack, then run up and smack it with a mace or sword

I've been using iron buckler in plains biome to much success. Just don't use it against the heavier hitters. Its a buckler not a shield. Use it like a buckler. Personally I like it for it's light weight and takes up less room on my back, so I'm not just a walking shield. Easily blocks the bugs and 0-star fulings. Pretty good considering it is low tier for the area

Bronze is good for its tier (unless you think you are going to parry a massive troll, think again), same with iron, silver etc. I ended up getting a stack of fuling ore using an iron mace and troll armor.

This is the same ♥♥♥♥ as stamina complaints. Granted I'm used to playing dark souls without putting levels into stamina so... meh. Most enemies take less than 3 hits to kill, unless they look like they will take a bit more to kill (like when I fought bone mass and my weapon broke so I made a new world and rushed to make a forge to repair it mid-boss). Even my character usually takes 3 or less hits to die. Seems fair to me. Unless they are starred, at which point you should consider playing a little more cautiously.

Also, you can parry into mace golf-club swing into normal swing into dead fuling

My Buckler works aboslutly perfectly.

The upgraded Bronze Buckler can parry trolls well so its useful.... Iron Buckler on the other hand..... the problem is the Draugr archers... they will guard break you with the buckler. so getting the banded is shield is probably preferable (however the devs are probably going to add the ranged parry back in next patch according to testers). Where the Iron Buckler really shines though is early Mountains if you are trying to parry golems.

They work fine for me for blocking and parrying. You're not going to block a troll with a tree using a buckler though.

Originally posted by FTZ35:

The upgraded Bronze Buckler can parry trolls well so its useful.... Iron Buckler on the other hand..... the problem is the Draugr archers... they will guard break you with the buckler. so getting the banded is shield is probably preferable (however the devs are probably going to add the ranged parry back in next patch according to testers). Where the Iron Buckler really shines though is early Mountains if you are trying to parry golems.

Do you mean ranged parry causing knockback? I never understood that. They might add it back?

Originally posted by Faceplant8:

Originally posted by FTZ35:

The upgraded Bronze Buckler can parry trolls well so its useful.... Iron Buckler on the other hand..... the problem is the Draugr archers... they will guard break you with the buckler. so getting the banded is shield is probably preferable (however the devs are probably going to add the ranged parry back in next patch according to testers). Where the Iron Buckler really shines though is early Mountains if you are trying to parry golems.

Do you mean ranged parry causing knockback? I never understood that. They might add it back?

They will add back next patch with the jack'o lantern (unfortunatly not the Jack'O meme girl from guilty gear)

The bucler being more risk-reward is a nice feature. And parrying a troll is op tbh.

Haven't tried it with a berserker yet but you can easily parry lox with the regular iron shield.