sword and shield buffs so that they work how sword and shield are expected to work

[zoobmer]

both historically and in games, the purpose of wielding a shield is to absorb attacks which would otherwise hurt you and your allies. Warframe is simply a strange outlier in this fact, as wielding a shield simply means wielding a melee weapon. here are some changes that will give sword and shield the unique properties of wielding a shield.

• they should have the unique feature of 98% block chance, while other weapons can't get above 90% (without mods)
• they should have the unique feature to reduce damage from AOE attacks, which stack multiplicity with Warframe abilities
  • for example, if a shield reduces damage by 90%, and a Warframe ability reduces damage by 90%, then the damage taken will be calculated as 10% times 10% which equals 1%
• they should have the ability to taunt enemies. this can be achieved by
  • a special sword and shield mod, which makes enemies more likely to attack you than your allies, or
  • by one of their moves in melee 3.0 being a taunt
• there should be some insensitive for players wielding a sword and shield to actually be attacked. this could be achieved by
  • sword and shield proving the player buffs if they block damage, or
  • sword and shield harming the enemy in some way when their damage is blocked

please note: sword and shield don't need every single one of these changes to be implemented in order to be effective as a sword and shield. however, I do belive that some combination of these changes would change them for the better.

fellow tenno: please add any other potential changes you can think of in the comments.

Edited June 2, 2019 by zoobmer

[OricSharp]

Sword and Shield weapons do actually have access to...I'm pretty sure all of these things, as it is. And some of them aren't just available to Sword and Shield.

Every attack in the 45-degree arc centered on your crosshair is blocked, so I have no idea what you're driving at with this Block Chance stat mention. Sword & Shield does have an 85% Block Resist in general - or 90% in the case of Silva & Aegis Prime - meaning the S&S stops 85% of incoming damage, or 90% in the case of S&A Prime. This is the highest Block Resist currently available, although Sword and Shield is not the only weapon class with this much reduction. This reduction does apply to AoE attacks, as far as I can tell, as any Warframe and any melee weapon can block such things as Scorch flamethrowers, Fire Blast and Rippling Shockwave. Parry Chance (in case this is what you were talking about) is something different; it's only present when using the Parry mod, which allows for automatic parrying (opening up the opponent to a Finisher) if blocking while channeling. Timing a Channel properly allows for successful parrying (opening up opponent to Finisher) without using a mod at all, and blocking while Channeling is also called Parrying, which <sarc>isn't confusing at all.</sarc>

Taunts and team support: Look into Guardian Derision for a taunt mod - at max, it reads "Blocking taunts enemies within 15 meters to target you instead of allies." It isn't S&S exclusive, but why should it have to be? There's also a mod (Electromagnetic Shielding) that transfers up to half the damage taken by nearby allies (up to 12 meters away) to you while you're blocking.

Incentive for the user to be attacked: Ack & Brunt receives a stacking bonus to damage by blocking elemental attacks; Silva & Aegis/Silva & Aegis Prime receive a stacking bonus to Status/Critical chance by blocking any attacks at all. Cobra & Crane, and Sigma & Octantis, do not receive any block-bonus, probably because they can be thrown. To deal damage to your enemy, you'd want the new Amalgam Javlok Magazine Warp mod; while this does require a Javlok to be equipped to use it, it grants up to 6000% damage reflection while Parrying (Blocking while Channeling), and up to 90% extra Channeling Efficiency specifically while Parrying.

As for something that isn't already in the game, how about:

1 - Restoring functionality; allowing melee weapons in general to manually block again regardless of loadout, thereby allowing better access to Guardian Derision and Electromagnetic Shielding, without limiting loadout options.

or

1a - Adjusting current function; checking whether a gun is available to swap to and able to be fired when Block/Aim is pressed, instead of allowing/disallowing it at the beginning of the mission based on Loadout status? This would allow for manual blocking (and thus access to Guardian Derision, etc) if the user was disarmed of their primary/secondary weapons, out of ammo, was running a Spear Gun/Sword and Shield loadout (perhaps trying to emphasize the new Javlok mod) and threw their Spear Gun, or some combination of circumstances that culminates in effectively only having a melee weapon.

2 - Buffing specific things; allowing Cobra & Crane and Sigma & Octantis to receive a buff on block that enhances their Shield Throw action in some way.

3 - Expanding existing concepts; allowing the Shield portion of the weapon to be used in conjunction with a single-handed Secondary, with access to blocking during gunplay as a result - not as extensive as Gun-and-Glaive, more like Gun-and-Block, with only enough complication in the moveset to allow for "Shield Bash" and "Full-Swap to Melee."

[Lone_Dude]

I'll be okay if they just fix the momentum of combos so I don't fly across the room every time I decide to hit something more than twice.