Is a shield fighter build viable in solo HR? Dark and Darker

[@shonnyboyy5284]

Yo I’m the first guy you killed !!

[@shonnyboyy5284]

You fucked me up good shit love the vids!

[@jackalpwn42]

And the first comment on the video xD

[@YourBoyBlinn]

holy crap, GGs man!! never fought a plate dagger build before, you had me shook with the rushdown speed

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@jackalpwn42 yeah haha what are the chances!!?!

[@shonnyboyy5284]

⁠@@YourBoyBlinnhaha you were right i just go in and stab but your blocking through me off, GG love the play style

[@xtommydazombieex5181]

Bro I cannot tell you enough how awesome these videos are. Your so thoughtful, thorough, and tactical about your defense-first play style. You aren’t trying to show off. You’re honest and approach everything very smart in the time you spend in the dungeon. Keep this video line going good sir. I watch all the D&D players youtube and you are BY FAR the D&D KZbinr of the people!!!

[@xtommydazombieex5181]

Another thing in noticing is you have REALLY good quality fights because of your play style. It forces other players into your game of mind and out of their “slash first ask questions later”

[@YourBoyBlinn]

hey thanks for this super encouraging comment, I really appreciate it!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

it's been hard to train myself to slow down and essentially gamble on my ability to block.. but the more I practice the more reliable it get. glad this approach translates to entertaining fights for videos!

[@xtommydazombieex5181]

@@YourBoyBlinn I used your style to get my fighter to 15 yesterday and it was great. I feel like this should be the beginners guide to dark and darker honestly

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@xtommydazombieex5181 that's awesome! any idea what perks/skills you'll go after once multiclassing kicks in??

[@JD-tl4zs]

here's my recommendation: get rid of the sword+lantern secondary and get a crossbow. you aren't the kind of person who is going to chase people anyway. even when you were playing in the dark, you didn't use the sword+lantern combo. when you were running after the barb, you didn't use the sword+lantern combo. when you were running after the slayer fighter, you didn't use the sword+lantern combo. since you're someone who likes to sit in the dark and wait, and you don't like to make risky plays, and your build has a lot of dex, you are the ideal crossbow user. you could have opened on the warlock with a 90 damage shot to the head while he was opening that box. if you played it cool after that, it's hard to imagine how you could have lost.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

actually goated comment. in addition to getting over my gear fear, I can totally see how a crossbow would make sense in all the situations you described.. you're also correct that I only seldom switch to my sword&lantern -- excellent observation. thanks & I'll work on it!

[@baconstarvation]

Nice! This humility and passion to grow pvp skills is why i subbed just now

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@baconstarvation hey that's super cool of you -- very encouraging & I appreciate it!!

[@baconstarvation]

@YourBoyBlinn I'm a noob and dying a ton but expecting to turn the corner - Looking fwd to studying your vids!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@baconstarvation sounds awesome man, lmk if i can help with anything!!

[@rickybarnard6624]

The last I heard about Buff Duration for Fighter, its helpful for some skills like increasing the duration of Sprint, Taunt, or Adrenaline Rush but can also affect you negatively as extending Second Winds duration actually makes the heals come out SLOWER as its the same amount of health being healed over a LONGER duration. Higher health totals is the best way to improve Second Wind. Great video as always, this has to be my favorite Fighter playstyle.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

ooooohhh, this is a super helpful comment!! so makes sense to stack vigor for a BIS second wind, and can totally see how a longer buff duration actually slows down the skill -- maybe if I ever get confident enough to move away from second wind, I can use buff duration for adrenaline rush! thanks thanks!!

[@wiseg0at]

Really liked how you broke down each decision in the fight, good to unravel those really intense moments where alot is happening!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

thanks! almost impossible to do it live >:D

[@natew7749]

Dude your videos are amazing. Keep up the phenomenal work. Love the detail and analytics. I 100% copied your patented block 1st technique and am having a great time.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

wow this is such an awesome comment -- thanks so much & good lucking with baiting the fist attack! haha

[@SigMala811]

Hey man -- love your videos. I'm trying to get better at DnD and your stuff is really helpful. I also think it's great that you opened up about gear fear and such. I've played Tarkov as a main game for like 3 years now, gear fear is a universally paralyzing experience. That said, the best advice I can offer is to focus on your capabilities from a bigger picture perspective. The outcome of any individual raid doesn't matter, I always assume I'll lose my gear when I go into a raid. But what I do know is that no matter what I can make money and buy new kits. It's definitely a mindset thing. But if your back is against the wall you can always grind regular lobbies for a couple hours and make a bunch of money. So no sweat. Anyway, hope this made some sense. Thanks again!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

totally makes sense & thanks for your perspective! so glad my content is useful in some way :) see you around!!

[@faultywing]

You are really good at analyzing the fights before it goes down, looking forward to your future videos 💪

[@YourBoyBlinn]

thanks thanks, I appreciate that!

[@tolagan]

Hey brother. Another nice video with great fights. I quite like following the thought process in your naration style and im glad to see you having not only success, but fun with sword and board in HR. Im glad my comment was well recieved, the DaD community can be so passionate and opinionated that it often disolves to snarky or toxic comments (I have been guilty in the past and trying to do better). If i may offer my thoughts. - The first run against the Rondel fighter is likely the 'racecare fighter' build popularised by Firebox (Check out his YT), although his uses the fine cuirass and crusader helm to get close to 70% PDR - Personally i think a crossbow in your secondary will really help out when chasing people down and ending up in a position when you dont want to drop down to full commit, like agaisnt the Rogue on the catwalk. Nor do you need to initiate a fight with it because you like to be a sneaky snake (although i dont know how you resist the temptation toa free headshot). Additionally your build is so quick that you tend to keep the sword and shield out when chasing anyway (and in case they turn to fight you have your main playstyle out and ready to block). In the case of the OP Warlock when they can just phantomise to reset BOC and the completely busted Dark Reflection its gives you another tool so you dont kill yourself attacking them. IM please nerf already. - Gear fear. I totally get it, and im exactly as you describe. which is why i also preffer seing how far i can go from base kit. But gear come and gear go might as well use it to see if you can better roll the dice to take someone elses lunch money. - Have you considered looking for gear with Add true phys damage or Armor pen? I think this would really work for your style as lots of people are rolling high armour rating and it means each trade you will punching through so they panick even more. The buff duration bonus will not affect your Second wind as it doesnt change the 40% recovered ( maybe takes longer?). When i get back to my gaming station i am totally trying sword and board with high dex thanks to you. Looking forward to following the growth on the channel and game. Peace.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

hey thanks so much for this!! lots of great notes & I'm taking everything into consideration. can't wait to integrate all the awesome feedback I've been getting and further optimizing my HR build/strats. I've seen a lot of Firebox's content and that guy is a magician with build tech.. no one does it better IMO! also totally understand the need for a crossbow, at least for a distance chase weapon, if not for a silent snipe or two.. just gotta get over my reluctance for losing time/speed to weapon swap. super appreciate all your insight & hope to get your opinion on future vids! good luck out there!!

[@Hansdaddyslim]

You’re prolific in the DaD YT comments bro ahahaha

[@johnwayne4911]

kind of seems dex that high is not really necessary when you only do 1 counter attack swing back into block, move speed or resistances or vigor are probably more preferable

[@YourBoyBlinn]

very good observation! I think I have been pretty myopic on Dex because I want the fast block speed, but maybe spreading out the stats a bit more would be good because as you say, I'm not comboing in PvP.. something to think about for sure!! prolly vigor is best if I'm leaning on second wind, and could use the extra health in case my block is off.

[@georgechehade1411]

Either that or you could try and substitute the missed out dmg from a second hit by using a falcion. Making your 1 hit counter deal more dmg and still giving you enough time to counter. The falcion makes fighting in halways very awkward but using counterattack, your attacks actually come out decently fast after blocking your enemy.

[@randykeeling1916]

So much fun to watch. Thanks for walking us through it. I was so invested that warlock landing the last falchion hit actually made me jump lol

[@YourBoyBlinn]

awh thanks!! i didn't realize how much I move my head/body with my character until I got a webcam.. it's quite a visceral game!!

[@imbombayman]

Amazing video. Id love to see more like this. Explaining your gear, thought process, etc. during the fight is incredibly helpful. I like live commentary, but like you said it can be difficult to focus, and hindsight will reveal more. Keep it up bro!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

thanks so much, definitely more to come!!

[@Rwnds7967]

Been itching for another Bliinn video since the last one dropped. keeping it consistent, keeping the quality high. love it.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

awh, that's super nice of your to say -- I appreciate it!

[@elperrobarbaro]

Really cool analysis! i know you dont like it, but i think that you really need to start using a crossbow to deal free initial damage or finish off the runners. also using the franziscas a little bit more could come in handy. great video!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

thanks much! yeah, the overwhelming suggestions for the use of a crossbow are impossible to ignore! adjustment to my playstyle incoming!! good luck out there :)

[@jaykebrwn]

good timing, just finished your shield guide a few hours ago and have already been seeing a lot more success with it as a new player

[@YourBoyBlinn]

oh that is so awesome to hear. keep me posted on your progress!!

[@Manspice]

That's exactly what i needed to see bro! Thank you for all the help!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

great to hear it my guy!

[@sauronstea1758]

TL;DR buy cheap gear to conquer your gear fear! in respect to gear fear, i find that with your choice of base stats on gear, if you look for only a single stat to stack on green gear, you can stack some good numbers for only 300-400g. sure it wont be a competitive gear set but its going to make it so you dont just get demolished immediately by geared players. stacking all phys bonus, move speed, vigor etc in some use cases can be better then spreading your stats thin. conversely you can find all epic gear with desired base stats and all bad attributes for fairly cheap and reach some crazy base stats for a similar or better result. as for your defeat, from what ive seen there is a very small delay (something like 200-300ms) between what you see when blocking and what the enemy sees which is why it seemingly went straight through the shield. it was pretty cool to see your shield playstyle in HR, maybe you try out the low price gear stacking and boost that morale!

[@markusvonriva8556]

By far the best dark and darker videos. Very insightful

[@YourBoyBlinn]

thanks so nice of you to say, appreciate it very much !!!

[@Mojenn__]

as a longsword fighter, your videos are nice to watch as I can still learn some tricks and adapt the gameplay to the tiny shield that is my sword

[@YourBoyBlinn]

in many ways, I'm jealous of your tiny flat shield, since that shield is very sharp and you can swing it very fast haha. appreciate your comment!

[@BornToKill780]

Really liked this video. U did a great job breaking everything down. Don't worry I also get the same way when I wear my best gesr

[@YourBoyBlinn]

thanks much!! good to know the gear fear isn't just my problem :)

[@DiabloGoldSecrets]

Appreciate your videos as they got me back into the game (I quit a year ago when blocking fighter and fighter in general was terrible). Really think a crossbow would help you, and for gear fear, find some people to play with to distract you from it. I think you’d rock in 3s with a crossbow! Blocking PvP and pve for the team is your #1 role and #2 is sniping clothies with a crossbow. Also if a rogue opens on a teammate, the windlass used to one shot them.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

thanks for the comment & welcome back!! I think it's safe to say the game is way more polished now than it was ~1 year ago, hope you enjoy some success with fighter! and thanks also for the recos about playing 3s, and sniping clothies haha :) I've been playing more duos these days and it's def a much different (and in some ways more exciting) way to play than solo. keep in touch!!

[@FR4MPT]

Hey, i'm back with more fighter data and what works for me - Shield tech is very good in solo/duo normals, Slayer fighter works really well in HR solo/duo, and full PDR fighter works in Norm/HR trios. I tried using shield perks in trios as well but it kinda takes away some of the other perks i would like to have in that chaos situation. As always, great vid, keep making content.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

hey thanks for your report! glad to hear the shield tech has been working for you in some situations. totally makes sense for full PDR in Trios. can you elaborate on why Slayer was a bit better in HR? im curious!

[@scrubzbane]

Love this content. Exactly what I want to see

[@YourBoyBlinn]

awesome. looking forward to doing it weekly !!

[@merlin9487]

Nice video! I can learn how to fight from this explainer video Thank you and hope you can do more these

[@YourBoyBlinn]

happy to help, definitely more videos to come!!

[@tombofthememelich2192]

great video. The more you do HR in good kits the less nervous you will be I believe.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

haha yeah, I sure hope so!!

[@JD-tl4zs]

15:10 you really need to look through those boards very carefully when you enter here, they removed the lower floor mines module + upper floor mines module simul spawns, but they did not remove upper floor mines + west hallways simul spawns, and getting headshot from behind with a windlass crossbow here would have been a bad way to find out. it isn't out of the question for someone to tab in or come back from the bathroom and still be standing there. since you seem like such a slow and defensive player, i was shocked to see you didn't check

[@YourBoyBlinn]

ahhh thanks for the spawn info! totally right about the potential for someone to have an afk start and blast me through the boards. still lots to learn, so I appreciate you!

[@randykeeling1916]

Lolol the high speed sippies at 14:04

[@YourBoyBlinn]

haha yeah, turbo sippies!!

[@johnwayne4911]

its appreciated that you cover the normals queue, since thats where most of the fun is. theres no end of people making videos on 'highroller builds' that just don't work in normals. high roller is just inferior in terms of game balance, which is where the cookie cutter metas start to play a bigger role. it's just a completely different game when you factor in the insane curves on gear, not very fun.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

totally feel you here. normals is a totally different game IMO. it's fun and balanced, with no pressure or worry. just a clash of skills or hilarious low-stakes RP.. glad to hear the normals content is appreciated, because I don't think I'll be switching over to full-time HR anytime soon :)

[@JoaoFerreira-ii5fi]

Good stuff, bro. Good content, good advice, thoughtful comments, just need to find a way to comment without stopping the video, kinda breaks the flow. Cheers

[@YourBoyBlinn]

yeah I hear that.. just feels like if I wait til the end, too much stuff happens -- and I have too much to say to try and fit it in during the fight.. so maybe I just need to say less? :) thanks for watching!

[@Rwnds7967]

​@@YourBoyBlinn I thought this was a great way to breakdown moments and teach people how to improve. Not good for an adrenaline filled, action style edit but, as that isn't what you were going for, I think you hit the mark perfectly. I can see how it would disappoint someone who had expectations of a faster paced video but that isn't a problem with the video, only how it is presented to people before they click. Perhaps the lesson instead (if you want to be extremely humble about it) is to change titles and thumbnails to make the type of content more clear and stop this kind of disappointment in the future. But it honestly wasn't something I thought about until I saw this guy's comment and I think he is in a very small minority when it comes to this opinion. hope to see your channel grow more in the future :)

[@YourBoyBlinn]

thanks for this thoughtful comment -- I can totally see what you mean about adjusting the thumbnail and title to reflect the nature of the content better. hate to think I've built up an expectation for something, only to disappoint.. maybe another course of action in future vids is to let the combat play out uninterrupted, then go back for analysis. that way people can skip over the breakdown if they'd like, or stay put to hear my commentary.. does that sound like a reasonable approach? appreciate you!!

[@wolftactical5421]

Just in time baby!!!!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

nice! hope you enjoy!!

[@con7468]

15:45 Is that Jay? Good vid

[@YourBoyBlinn]

don't think so.. similar sounding voice, but a bit different methinks :)

[@alexbjork7982]

Looks really fun to be a blocking Boss fight

[@rubsome]

If you hit show details under your character you can see in depth stats like buff duration bonus

[@YourBoyBlinn]

..whooops! still learning, thanks for the tip!

[@diswazzi1683]

Daggers have no reason to be that difficult to block imo

[@YourBoyBlinn]

yeah I know what you mean!

[@48justice48]

are you wearing gloves in real life? and if so is that an important part of the build?

[@YourBoyBlinn]

bahaha yeah.. i cut the fingers off of cotton gloves because I get distracted by the feeling of my mouse if my hand is hot. it's lame I know, but is indeed essential! you also can't see the blanket on my lap, but that too is essential

[@peaglock3488]

With shield mastery and counter attack. Playing block first strat I’d highly recommend not stacking dex, I’d focus str or vigor or agi. With those two perks you don’t need anymore action speed.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

interesting.. I'll keep that in mind!

[@jojoyang5126]

4:45 There's a "Open Details" button under the stats so you don't have to calculate the buff duration bonus you got haha

[@YourBoyBlinn]

..whoops!! haha thank you!

[@johnwayne4911]

would really like to see a buff to the barricade perk for higher resistances when blocking since the mechanic of blocking itself is super janky and sometimes doesn't work like how it's supposed to.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

haha yes. I couldn't agree more! blocking can sometimes feel annoyingly fickle and capricious!

[@unbreakablesoul7082]

31:42 he is probably one tap, large delay when pulling wepeon out of phantomise, if u stick to him u most likely kill him especially if u drink a prot potion when hes in phantomise and he has BoC down, if u commit to the reset play its much better to grab a prot potion than a healing one, also i think the falchion is just the better wep overall.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

yeah I misplayed a bit while he was a ghost.. that's the HR gear fear methinks -- thanks for the prot>health pot tip, I'll remember that next time :)

[@foolsgold2643]

6:43 how did you change your shirt so fast

[@YourBoyBlinn]

haha it's a perk I have IRL

[@bignana423]

hey great vid but i was wondering how good the other shield skills are. For me when i was broke i would use the round shield with perfect block just wondering what your thoughts are on it?

[@YourBoyBlinn]

perfect block IMO is pretty situational (against heavy heavy swings only), so I'd pick something you could use way more often, like Victory Strike! good luck out there!!

[@Treeater77]

Against that Warlock, the falchion passed right through your shield. I don't know what happened after pt2, but they broke shielding. I used to block almost every attack, now it's 50/50 whether or not the attack will hit me despite having the shield positioned correctly. It's sad because it's one of the only mechanics that add skill to the melee of this game.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

totally agree about blocking being one of the only melee skill expressions.. sad that is sometimes can be so fickle

[@Chizukeki-qb1sk]

It seems that only the center of the shield has a hitbox, while the sides doesn't have any hitbox or colliders so weapons like falchions can hit you if you're not aiming the shield towards the attack. Also theres a problem with thrusting weapons where they can just pass throught your shield (rapier/crystal sword). A guy on reddit explains this very well: "The problem is that weapon hurtboxes aren't enabled until the "attack" part of a swing, where you're actually swinging the weapon. This is fine for lateral attacks, since you're winding it up somewhere around yourself before swinging it. With thrusts, the weapon is pointed forward, and the hurtbox is enabled when you start throwing the weapon forward. So this whole "penetrate the shield" thing happens because the starting position of your weapon's hurtbox is already well forward and past your opponent's guard before the attack section begins."

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@Chizukeki-qb1sk yeah I saw that thread.. didn't want to get stuck in the weeds, so didn't weigh in. totally a bummer that thrusts can just "pass through" the shield at a certain range -- have to keep that in mind! but I do find for the side swings (e.g club, falchion etc) those attacks ca be blocked very reliably IF you just turn the camera enough to the left/right

[@rockosdyingwish8115]

I like to do a lot of hr, zero to hero runs

[@YourBoyBlinn]

yeah nice -- what weapon/armor you prefer?

[@smeardeezz1835]

buff duration bonus doesnt work on skills only on spell buffs

[@YourBoyBlinn]

NOW YOU TELL ME haha.. thanks!!

[@a2j04vm0]

I think this playstyle has a big problem that the thrust attack of a rapier and a crystal sword can just go through the shield's model and hit you most of the time. Also it's influenced too much by desync.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

I agree to some extent, but I wonder if people misinterpret a slightly missed block to be "the rapier/thrust attack goes through the shield" -- from my perspective, if the thrust first hits an exposed part of the body (like a leg or shoulder) and then the shield hitbox is moved to touch the weapon, it SEEMS like the block 'just went through' -- but I've been able to sometimes totally block the thrust if my shield is in the right place to start.

[@a2j04vm0]

@@YourBoyBlinn I've tested with my friend, when close enough(but not close to where you block the rapier's handle), the attack will "always" go through the model and hit you even if the attack is completely on the shield.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@a2j04vm0 oh crap! thanks, I never had a chance to test that.. really appreciate the info & makes me nervous against thrusting weapons!!

[@AstridCeleste96]

Think you're the only defensive fighter I've seen play so slowly, disabling each light lol I would see you in game and assume I'm running up into a rogue not a shield wielding fighter!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

haha yeah that's kind of the idea! people don't often expect such a strong melee class to be lurking >:D

[@vegkr]

Who tf turns off every single torch dude. lol

[@YourBoyBlinn]

well I sure do! haha

[@NeverWolf]

dark reflection needs to be removed from the game entirely. free damage for doing nothing is completely antithetical to this game.

[@jacobhenniger]

Abilities with cooldown are cool for backliners, specifically because of shield tanks like this whose main job is to buy time.

[@bigbops2029]

@@jacobhennigeras of now I agree but before the hotfix today it was stupid.. you get hurt touching them, they could heal from melee and mage whether it’s off mobs or their hydra.. hydra alone is broken gameplay in the hands of anyone with more than 2iq. Was hands down the most broken class until today.

[@Midwestemoisme]

lmao “antithetical” antithetical to what exactly? this game is totally different one month to the next

[@wolftactical5421]

if you ever want to run duos let me know brother.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

would love to sometime! def need more practice in anything other than solos :)

[@wolftactical5421]

@YourBoyBlinn do you got a discord I can add I play long sword fighter and shield and sword fighter

[@SuperSpaceganja]

pause = dis

[@YourBoyBlinn]

haha dis = Death In Story?

[@kballsforever]

BRUH! That barbarian at 1:30 cannot stop getting bullied by fighters. I've run into them at least 2 times recently.

[@WaundersOJ]

your vids are great man

[@YourBoyBlinn]

thanks so much!! :)

[@uglyheadass1459]

Good video as always man keep it up hope you and dark and darker blow up soon!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

thanks to you, as always!!

[@uglyheadass1459]

@@YourBoyBlinn funny too cause I only play bard lol and you’re like the only dark and darker KZbinr I watch

[@YourBoyBlinn]

respect for bards! one day I'll give that class a try.. :)

[@sethwyrzykowski9176]

I really want to get good at blocking but random lag at point just makes me never pick it up sad

[@YourBoyBlinn]

yeah, I know what you mean -- but when it works, it really works!!