Originally posted by Hobo Misanthropus:

you can find yourself overwhelemed and block-broken with bad timing, a state at which you take additional damage (usually resulting in an instant death)

Can you explain what you mean by that? That doesn't sound like a situation that I've ever been in, and I only use bucklers. My understanding is that the worst case if you mistime the block is that you take normal damage (as if you didn't even try to block).

Certainly missing a parry can hurt. I missed a parry against a 2* fuling last night and it hurt, but I don't think it was worse than a normal hit.

Blocked attacks cause additional staggering depending how much damage got through the block, so in case of bucklers, you get more stagger if you block without parrying than you would with other shields because their block armor is worse and offset by the parry multiplier. So if you are staggered for any reason you will be subject for double damage, though I'm not sure if in case a blocked attack made you staggered only the leftover damage is doubled or all of it. But any subsequent attacks from other enemies will cause increased damage either way.

Originally posted by Hobo Misanthropus:

Bucklers are ideal for people who have trained their block skill up considerably

They can be very useful, but their usefulness at current game stages is actually reduced over time in comparison to round shields.

If your block skill is low, but you are are otherwise "skilled" as a player, you will benefit a great deal from use of bucklers.

But as your blocking skill increases to ever higher levels, you will eventually find that, if we use the carapace shields as an example:

1) Carapace buckler parry armor will eventually reach well beyond attack damage of any current enemy in the game
2) Carapace shield parry armor can protect you from any single attack and the skill-adjusted base block armor will likewise shield you from almost anything (it will go up to 150 or so at quality 2, enough for any normal enemy).

It's the same thing in iron tier, the last time a biome had both buckler and round shield available in same tier. Banded shield block armor is enough to parry strikes even from 2* draugr elite at maxed block skill. But in that phase of the game players likely won't have maxed skills at anything yet, so the effect doesn't come fully to fruition yet.

You could also see this as simply making lower tier bucklers more effective in higher end content, but I wonder where that will lead us. It also raises into question what the "ultimate equipment" in Valheim will look like for shields. Will all three different shield types be available in Deep North or some hypothetical extra tier beyond it?

Tower Shield is only useful in Co-Op Play, if you want to spec as a tank. You can actually aggro entire rooms and block-tank them while your allies hit them without fear of reprisal.

Round/Standard sized shields are a good mix all around. They can usually handle all but the worst threats in their quality-tier contemporary zone, but also still let you parry.

Bucklers are ideal for people who have trained their block skill up considerably, and for people who are good at crowd control. The parry bonus is great and can let you dispatch threads quickly, but you can find yourself overwhelemed and block-broken with bad timing, a state at which you take additional damage (usually resulting in an instant death)

Originally posted by Zep Tepi:

I am also not great with timing. I probably could get there with enough practice, but I haven't bothered to train parrying because it's iffy and there are workarounds.

I started off using tower shields because of their better blocking stats. Then I realized that I could get even more damage mitigation by not being hit, and that while blocking, I'm not attacking, but I am losing stamina and a small amount of health. The greys aren't just annoying, they're also teaching you something if you would learn. Don't stand still while things are wailing on you, even if you really want to get that third strike in. If you depend on the shield too much to face tank things, you're probably going to get into trouble.

So, now I pretty much only pull out the shield for archers, at least until they're close enough for me to whack them. Then I put it away because being slow is bad.

For the poor man's parry, get an atgeir. The secondary spin attack will stagger almost anything in range, without worrying about timing as much. They still have to be in range of course. It does eat stamina, so eat well, and do the greyling walk around as needed. Don't try to spam attacks any more than you need to. It works brilliantly against trolls, wolves and draugr, and not so great but doable for things that are resistant to pierce. You will likely need a secondary weapon, but when it works, it works.

Certainly, if you're not good at it, you should figure out alternatives to parrying, but, for the most part it's not hard once you figure out the mob timings. In most cases, you're given plenty of leeway to get the parry in, and, once you master it, it (IMO) is the most powerful aspect of combat.

I also disagree on the comment on the third strike. If you're in trouble then that makes sense, but for many (most?) weapons that third strike is the critical one, and will often stagger the enemy if it hasn't already been staggered, which obviates the need to move.

Learn to parry and you can one-shot most mobs in the game, at least with a sword.

I'd say the whole point of a shield is to get the shield parry to not only stun enemies but give you a window of 100% crit rate damage. So why not use the shield type that is best when parrying?

If you don't shield parry then you will either use the dodge rolls or the new Staff of Protection which can give you a 400 HP bubble shield at only 40 Blood Magic skill.

1st thing is there is a difference between blocking and parrying.
Blocking is just blocking.
Parrying is when you block slightly before the enemy attack comes in stumbling the enemy and inceasing it's recived damage by 2x for a short time period. (yes this also stumbles archers)

The Buckler is worse for Blocking but better for parrying because it has a 2.5x parry bonus instead of 1.5 for the round shield.

The difference between the shield types is "Large/Tower" and "Small/Buckler."
The large/tower ones have superior block power, but no parry multipliers. You'll never parry with a tower shield.
The small/bucklers on the other hand have less block power, but they have a parry multiplier. If you time the block properly you parry, which can stagger the attacking enemy.

TLDR: Towers are for just holding block. Bucklers are for punishing combos.

The heart is actually not a heart, its a celtic trinity knot, but that's your stagger bar. If it maxes out you will be staggered.

So, would this be a fair assumption:
1. Blocking is simply to absorb damage and is straightforward but doesn't really do anything but stop incoming damage.
2. Parrying is trickier (requiring timing) and block much less but can be used to give you more effective subsequent attacks?

If this is the case I suppose its a choice. The parrying seems more appealing but I am not really good at timing so maybe blocking is better for me.

Assuming the shields are of equivalent level:

• Large shields have the highest block value, but are incapable of parrying.
  
• Round shields have moderate block value and a parry multiplier of 1.5x.
  
• Small shields have the lowest block value, but a parry multiplier of 2.5x.

When you parry, your block value is multiplied by the parry multiplier. Due to the parry bonus, small shields can provide the strongest block values. This, combined with the staggering effect, makes small shields the best shields if one knows how to parry properly.

The meter that pops up when blocking is your stagger meter. Blocking damage fills up a stagger bar. If you block too much damage, you can be overwhelmed, which will cause the block to fail and stagger you for a moment. This stagger meter can be increased by eating food that increases your health.

Bonus info: Blocking costs 10 stamina. Parrying costs 20 stamina. Since bosses can't be staggered, using a large shield on them might be best for a strong block to conserve stamina.

This does make more sense now, when I read that Abominations and Golems are a piece of cake with a banded shield.... I was blocking and they both still wiped the floor with me. But I wasn't parrying, I was just raising the shield and waiting for the incoming blow. It came, and it hurt.

You can also parry with two-handed weapons (including dual wielded weapons like flesh rippers and dual knives, and even the spellcasting staves), but they are very ineffective in blocking attacks without parrying. One-handed weapons tend to have poor overall blocking characteristics, always wield some type of shield with them. With big enough stagger limit you will be able to parry and stagger ever stronger opponents, even if you take a bit more damage than you would with the block/parry armor provided with shields.

Another thing of note is how the game displays your skill-adjusted values with a given weapon or shield. An adjusted value's number and range is displayed in yellow inside brackets.

For weapons, the base damage value listed in weapon description and stats is the upper limit of damage. But for blocking it's the actual base value, or lower limit, and the adjusted value is higher since it's increased by your blocking skill. You can check the Fandom wiki for full block ranges since they are not displayed in game until your blocking skill is maxed out.

The wiki also has a convenient list of shields[valheim.fandom.com] to see which ones are roundshields (or regular shields), and which ones are bucklers or tower shields. Might be useful especially if you play the game in different languages. Might be that the naming conventions are not as clear in every language.

You will also need to learn what kind of blocks, and shields, work best with the given situation and weapons. Sometimes it's a better idea to absorb the attack so you can parry the next, stronger one, or another enemy. Enemies don't have identical stagger limits or stagger animation durations, even for their own attacks (different attacks cause different staggering animations when they are parried, test this with golems).

Currently there is only one shield in the game which confers a special effect: Serpent scale shield reduces piercing damage received, even if you don't actually block with it. However, its low block armor is rather insufficient for the current late-game biomes. It's a better idea to go in with higher-end tower shield (or other type) and the root harnesk instead (just mind the fire vulnerability).

I am also not great with timing. I probably could get there with enough practice, but I haven't bothered to train parrying because it's iffy and there are workarounds.

I started off using tower shields because of their better blocking stats. Then I realized that I could get even more damage mitigation by not being hit, and that while blocking, I'm not attacking, but I am losing stamina and a small amount of health. The greys aren't just annoying, they're also teaching you something if you would learn. Don't stand still while things are wailing on you, even if you really want to get that third strike in. If you depend on the shield too much to face tank things, you're probably going to get into trouble.

So, now I pretty much only pull out the shield for archers, at least until they're close enough for me to whack them. Then I put it away because being slow is bad.

For the poor man's parry, get an atgeir. The secondary spin attack will stagger almost anything in range, without worrying about timing as much. They still have to be in range of course. It does eat stamina, so eat well, and do the greyling walk around as needed. Don't try to spam attacks any more than you need to. It works brilliantly against trolls, wolves and draugr, and not so great but doable for things that are resistant to pierce. You will likely need a secondary weapon, but when it works, it works.

There was a very well thought out thread a couple weeks ago that explained in detail how and why your abilities are very dependent upon your level of health. Some folks like to skimp on food, saving it for their corpse runs I guess, but it's best to food up as much as you can for your biome level. You can test this at a GD spawner, in fact spending some time at a spawner is great practice, especially against the brutes. Also gives you lots of practice becoming fast on your feet, learning when to be defensive, back up, strafe, dodge roll, choosing different weapons. And at the lower levels it helps improve skill levels. It's like the skeles in the BCs, they are very good parry practice, especially if you can get 2 to 3 working in unison. It's a great place to see how the stagger meter works, how much parrying costs vs just holding up the shield. Better to know your weapons in a fairly controlled area than when you are facing a panic issue.
The other thing to look at is the color of your damage numbers. Using a great weapon an enemy is resistant to (gray numbers) isn't helpful, white better than gray, but seeing yellow numbers (weakness to that damage) is a wonderful thing.
Being old with slow reflexes, I depend a lot on muscle memory, just can't remember where I put it...

Tower shields can't parry. Medium and buckler shields (and weapons) can. Bucklers are great for parrying, but not as good as medium shields at static blocking.