Weapon Block: Elemental Attacks?

[Fishmonger]

it blocks elemental attacks, according to some sources i have read from. does this work with EVERY elemental attack? say, FOH or frozen orb, or tstorm? or does it not work at all in pvp?

[skygoneblue]

I'm pretty sure it can block pretty much any missle-class elemental attack. Now, say someone lays a Poison Explosion under you, I don't think that is blockable because it's not a missle attack.

Does that make sense?

[Fishmonger]

ah, has to be missile attack. so foh would NOT be blocked, and tstorm wouldnt either, but Frozen orb, blizz, and other such attacks would be blocked. im going to have to think this over.

im debating dual claws for my trapsin.

[skygoneblue]

Well, I'm not so sure that Blizzard would count, but you get the idea.

Here is the way I always look at it...

Dual-Claw:

Can block (at least some) elemental attacks - shields can't

Can grant TONS more +skills - very few shields can

Generally has low strength and dexterity requirements - some shields have huge strength requirements

In general:

Casters should not need shields for anything but arrows. If you are getting hit with melee attacks, you aren't playing your caster properly. Dual-Claw with Weapon Block can block arrows AND elemental missles. Plus, you don't need to pump the hell out of your dexterity to get a good block rating.

Assassins look really stupid with shields.

I hope this helps you a bit - as you can see, I'm not a big advocate of shields. :)

[Fishmonger]

Assassins look really stupid with shields.


There's the clincher :*).

now i have to go find some claws.

[skygoneblue]

What ones do you need? I have 2 Tucs and 2 JTalons on Soft Ladder.
I don't really want to part ways with them, but if the price is right.
Acct Name: Skygoneblue

[Fishmonger]

quick questions on that:

if i used 1 bartucs and 1 jade talon, how the trap cast speed be effected

how much faster cast rate is recommended for a trapsin

should i use fade or BoS? my resists are in the basement.

edit: yeah im somewhat interested in bartucs\\jade. first i need to work out my build though. im debating whether or not to use chains of honor instead of enigma.

[GenXCub]

fish, are you talking pvp or pvm? If pvm, I'd stay away from faster cast rate, that only affects mindblast. IAS affects trap laying speed.

[Lunatic]

Weapon block blocks just about everything. Only elemental dmg that's based on frame dmg (firewall , burning dmg from meteor / poison dmg / etc) can't be blocked with it. FoH , Blizzard , impact dmg from meteor , etc can be blocked with it.

[skygoneblue]

Eh, I think Enigma is a bit overrated, but that's just me.
It's great for magic finders, but that's about it.

The strength bonus isn't going to help a trapper at all.

Hell, why not go for some caster-type armor like Skin of Vipermagi (good resistances and skills), Que-Hegans Mage Plate (just flat out kick ***), etc.

[wildjinn]

Other unusual blockable attacks include frost nova, smite, and baal's hoarfrost (blue chevron of doom).

[belth]

I'm incapable of playing assassins without dual claws due to Weapon Block, it's too good a skill to pass up on...

[Fishmonger]

this is a pvp build. and ANOTHER question (i know im bombarding you with them, but i have a twang in my conscience when i dont fully research a build).

does mindblast still stun? it stunned in two parts in 1.09 (when you casted and whenever the person was damaged with lil swirly thing above his head). i heard that it no longer stunned in the beta, did they fix this?

[Soepgroente]

Mind blast itself doesn't stun. It just makes the swirley thing, if you then attack your opponent rapidly (many traps firing at once) then he goes into hit recovery very often. Then it 'stuns'. Same as .09 :)

[Lunatic]

Well MB itself does dmg too , so it does bring your oponent into stun after the first MB. :D But just MB isn't enough to get your oponent into stunlock. Traps are. :D

[Discord]

Wasn't there a thread recently where someone proved that Weapon Block doesn't block elemental attacks? And that even though we had previously believed that Weapon Block stayed at 50% chance to block while running, this was not the case since it basically didn't block at all?

While I agree with dual claw based purely on fashion, from a utilitarian point of view, there's basically no reason not to go with a shield. Especially if you're hardcore.

[Soepgroente]

Well MB itself does dmg too , so it does bring your oponent into stun after the first MB. :D But just MB isn't enough to get your oponent into stunlock. Traps are. :D
Well, by continious mind blast some sorcies with poor (no) FHR can be brought into stunlock for a few seconds actually :D 'specially if your shadow gets near.

[belth]

Wasn't there a thread recently where someone proved that Weapon Block doesn't block elemental attacks? And that even though we had previously believed that Weapon Block stayed at 50% chance to block while running, this was not the case since it basically didn't block at all?

While I agree with dual claw based purely on fashion, from a utilitarian point of view, there's basically no reason not to go with a shield. Especially if you're hardcore.

While I'm not sure what's been said here recently (not following boards with as much zeal as earlier), but personally I can guarantee Weapon Block blocked all non-framebased attacks, such as Blizzard, FoH, Blessed Hammers etc, last time I tried. While I could do very comprehensive tests in SP just by myself, I don't really like setting up TCP/IP games and since we know for certain Blizz has made a distinction between B.Net and SP (with the 4 "new" runewords), results obtained in SP aren't 100% sure to be the same as results on B.Net.

I can run tests by myself on B.Net though, but since I'm not rich enough to afford Chaos runeword(s), I can't test if WB is "disabled" during the movement while whirling or not. Recent tests by a few people have however showed that WB blocks nothing when you're walking/running (unlike with shields, where your block is dropped to 1/3 of your standing/attacking blocking rate, eg. 75% block while moving=25% block).

Personally, I don't see a point going weapon/shield - unless you absolutely must use a certain weapon for their mods. With proper skill and equipment planning, dual-claw setups can be (and usually) will make up the lost mods from a shield. Naturally this isn't always the case.

[slavic]

Weapon block blocks just about everything. Only elemental dmg that's based on frame dmg (firewall , burning dmg from meteor / poison dmg / etc) can't be blocked with it. FoH , Blizzard , impact dmg from meteor , etc can be blocked with it.


Thats the answer, im looking for since sum months =D
thanx!