Guild Wars Guru

Direction of Shield Defense Against Weapon Attacks

1 pages • Page 1
Celestial_Kitsune
Celestial_Kitsune
Krytan Explorer
• #1
Some published literature indicates that the armor is applied uniformly with spells, but with attacks it is only applied if the target is being attacked from an arc of approximately 110-140 degrees in front of the target (1, 2). Other experiments contradict these findings (3). Can anyone confirm that shield armor is non-directional? Was it always non-directional and people just miscalculated it or was it updated at some point from front to global defense?
a
arsie
Wilds Pathfinder
• #2
Never thought of this.

I've always assumed games just make it all round. Especially one like GW, where you don't get other benefits of positioning: like WoW Rogue Backstabs.
e
evenfall
Lion's Arch Merchant
• #3
AFAIK shield armor is non-directional. It was updated to global defense a short while after release.
Kale Ironfist
Kale Ironfist
Jungle Guide
• #4
It's been non-directional (if it ever was directional) well before Factions.
Biostem
Biostem
Jungle Guide
• #5
It doesn't make sense that shield armor would be uni-directional for the simple fact that, if it was, then there would be skills that would take advantage of your angle of attack; you'd see assassin skills w/ bonus damage if delivered from behind, you'd see extra damage from flanking your enemy, etc.

Simply put, if the direction an attack came from mattered, it'd be a more prevalent game mechanic...
Washi
Washi
Wilds Pathfinder
• #6
Isn't there a rule that says if you are running and get hit in the back it's always a critical? Or is just running enough and direction doesnt matter?
JR
JR
Re:tired
• #7
Shields are indeed nondirectional.

Quote: Originally Posted by Washi
Isn't there a rule that says if you are running and get hit in the back it's always a critical? Or is just running enough and direction doesnt matter? I believe it will autocrit if your target is running directly away from you as you attack them. If you were around when Bull's Strike triggered on 'fleeing' targets as opposed to 'moving' you would be able to relate. It was incredibly difficult to land a Bull's under those conditions, and is equally difficult to score an autocrit now.
C
Chthon
Grotto Attendant
• #8
I believe it was changed from directional to non-directional in a stealth update at some point. The original damage article reported it as directional, and I'd tend to think it was correct, since the article was right on just about everything else. Much later, someone (Deford I think it was) showed pretty conclusively that it's non-directional now. (Yes, I just found the link: here.)
Celestial_Kitsune
Celestial_Kitsune
Krytan Explorer
• #9
Thank you everyone for your replies