Perfect Block shuts down the strongest melee (PvP with commentary) - Dark and Darker

[@YourBoyBlinn]

are you a shield enjoyer? stop by the livestream starting tomorrow at 1pm ET! BOARD MEETING!!! kzbin.infoFEc2H_BmuLI

[@pbpb20901]

Underrated channel deserve way more subs

[@YourBoyBlinn]

hey I appreciate that very much!!

[@molo9521]

100% Calm, non toxic vibes with good info.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@molo9521 haha well maybe 98% calm?? welcome in!!

[@Bob21463]

I have a terrible longsword addiction, but I want to be your shield disciple whenever I see one of these fantastic videos.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

come by the next Board Meeting live stream, every Monday starting at 1pm ET.. lots of other shield enjoyers to welcome you into the fam!!

[@Iforgor777]

you’re a beast bro, not a lot of people enjoy shields because of how safe they are, and people tend to not find them fun at all but it’s cool to see you testing the limits with it bro. I’m not the best yet but I’ve got every char level 40, haven’t killed troll yet but have a pretty good grasp on PvP, mostly a no-axe barb enjoyer, fire mastery wizard and i find cleric really fun in 2s/3s.

[@Iforgor777]

but I tried your tech and even tried sword mastery too on fighter and it felt really good, I think the armor pen on morning star is too good to pass up and it pairs with the riposte perk but try out Viking sword and falchion with sword mastery instead of weapon mastery, I haven’t tried falchion but I bet it’s actually good because it’s first swing speed is so low and we don’t care about that because of our perk

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@Iforgor777 yup, those are good ideas! give the heavy swords a try with the shield tech & let me know how it goes for ya!! and thanks for the comments

[@tombofthememelich2192]

Sprint + Perfect Block is such a chad play-style! It says to the other player "This one bar of health is all I have, but I am going to negate so much of your damage that it won't matter and running is not an option!" Edit: I am curios about using terrain advantage with the shield. My neurons started firing when that cleric jumped on the chest and, therefore, could not hit Blinn's feat. If a shield fighter stays near stairs then the fighter can just back down the stairs to gain that advantage. Also crouching behind a low obstacle or even a mob corpse might be able to protect the feat while the heater protects everything else. This could make you invincible against rangers and force slayer fighter to close the gap instead of using surv bow.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

OH SNAP!! never thought of using the terrain to negate leg attacks.. it means if I stay/fight at the bottom of a ramp (for example) then opponents only have my upper body to attack.. another great observation Lichy!! ..also, thanks for the health bar chad props :) dropping second wind definitely took some getting used to!

[@CheckpointK]

For the Cleric judgment opening: You don't have to choose between accepting your fate or turning your back. Rotate yourself 90 degrees and attempt a side-ways strafe using the A or D keys away from them. This maintains your full movement speed, allows you to turn back quickly, and will give you a bit more space to use up some of the debuff time if you get hit anyway compared to standing still or using the slow S key to move back.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

thanks so much! someone else pointed this out and I should have clarified "turning my back".. what I meant to say is didn't want to be in a position where my shield was not in a blocking position, including the 90degree turn for quicker strafing. so many helpful people around here, it's awesome!!

[@micahs2073]

I could watch your commentary for hours, love it.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

awh, thanks for the comment!!

[@DiabloGoldSecrets]

For sure you need to heal before you loot! Thanks for exploring the lesser known abilities and trying stuff out so we can watch!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

my pleasure, thanks for stopping by!!

[@monsieurlyte6891]

Very cool info ! Can't wait to see what a neat and super worked on video is if this one is quick and dirty ! No real dead timers, packed with action and info. And I love your use of the "music to my eyes" fake expression, even if i'm still not 100% sure it's on purpose !

[@YourBoyBlinn]

hah totally came out organically.. whoops but a happy accident methinks?

[@algumnomeaihehe]

love the attitude G. "you can overcome" type beat, I see way too many people whining about stat checks and gear, and yes that affects things but not as much as meaningful combat interactions like kiting and blocking. strong work.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

hey thanks so much!! ive enjoyed much success with my shield vs tough cookies, so I hope others can too! good luck to you :)

[@koriusX]

another great vid, especially the fight at 6:40! Barbarians feel MUCH more manageable as a shield fighter than something like a wizard.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

totally agree!! the bonk wizards get my heart racing almost more than any other class these days.. damn magic staff "animation" doesn't look anything like it actually hits for haha. hope to see you tomorrow Korius!! :)

[@defaultdancer9360]

Hey great video as always. I would like to recommend and give a tip for fighting clerics. Since the best we can do is to tank the judgement, I think it is best to get in a defensive stance when you hear the judgement because it increases 50 magic resistence with the perk. I am not sure if you were aware of this when you fought the cleric or if it is not optimal. I know that it is also hard to pull it off because we are too focused on the fight. However, I do it and it seems to work well. I have also been using perfect block instead of second wind because if you can block every attack that means that you should win every fight if you play perfectly. Looking forward for more videos! Btw I found you in the dungeon and I gotta say that I thought it was someone else in the dungeon GGs because I panicked hard once I saw you. Last thing, I have Monday off so I will be joining the stream for once.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

awesome tips, thanks for the defensive stance reminder! hope to see you in the stream!!

[@defaultdancer9360]

@@YourBoyBlinnI could not make it unfortunately I was too tired. I’ll still watch the VOD though.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@defaultdancer9360 thanks & rest up!

[@TheMetasora]

Smooth transition 40 seconds in for the blocks 😮

[@YourBoyBlinn]

hehe I like it smooth :)

[@theovertyrant2620]

I'm just a Blinn enjoyer, I do go shield sometimes but there are some clientside shennanigans that makes it pretty difficult to sometimes find if you made the wrong move or not in places, so I try to focus on where I could have made a better decision but cases where blocks or at least partial blocks should have happened and they're clipping through the model often muddy the water.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

I definitely know what you mean!

[@wolftactical5421]

Very good tactics blinn! out of all the dirty nasty fighters now you're the cleanest one!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

teehee thanks Wolf!! trying to stay above the fray of the gross fighter meta these days!

[@matt-z5j]

3:05 I'm not sure if you are aware of this or not, but i'll just share just in case; using a and d to strafe puts you at the same movement speed as using w to move forward. Only s key to walk backwards will make you move slower. This means that if you want to space away from someone, you do not need to do a 180 and move forward to space at max speed, but you can simply turn 90 degrees and strafe away to create space.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

yes, thanks! I suppose by "turn by back" I meant look away from the Cleric, or more specifically "put my shield out of blocking position" -- appreciate the comment !!

[@santi838]

"Hey yoyoyoyo we good" *continues attacking you* lol

[@YourBoyBlinn]

EXACTLY! not falling for that one again.. haha

[@CameraOneClippy]

Great thumbnail, great vid! Excited for the Board Meeting stream tmrw!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

thanks Clippy!! happy Sunday

[@alucardv.8114]

FINALLY someone makes a video on this. Been running full shield mastery fighter to get better at pvp and PB absolutely floors barbs expecting to roll you in 2 hits.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

huzzah!! took me a while to get good enough to even try, but it's been going great so far!

[@StanTheMan56]

You lost the 2nd fight cause you got greedy. You could have healed but instead you decided to loot your rouge kill. If you had enough health to tank one more hit you prob would have won. Like you said being at full health is your biggest advantage.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

totally agree! no second wind, and not full up.. dahh!!!

[@StanTheMan56]

@@YourBoyBlinn I tell my friends the same thing, heal first then loot, loot means nothing if youre dead.

[@Jormmg]

That fight against the the cleric was *chefs kiss* and while I agree that perfect block is awesome, i don't see second wind necessarily as a crutch. It's more like a trade enabler for me. If I'm at like 1/2 to 3/4 HP and I know one or two good trades will end the fight I'll pop second wind and basically go full offense to close it out knowing that I'll campfire it back soon after this fight. I also use it to add pressure to longsword opponents or classes that can use the shield but aren't fighters. Like, I'm gonna sit here and block and get back to full unless you do something right now. If you fight, you better do it fast(recklessly), if you run, I'm going to shoot you and probably take that last bit of health from you. It's a very strong "checkmate" skill in my opinion.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

I definitely see Second Wind as a trade enabler, and have won many a fight I would have otherwise lost because of it!! (haha also lost a good number of fights to Fighters who popped it mid-combat). didn't mean to sound so flippant, but I do get a sense that many players are reluctant to move beyond it and explore other nuances of Fighter skills / playstyles because it's just so comforting to get back hp rather than adjust/improve hp management and combat skill :)

[@Jormmg]

@@YourBoyBlinn I didn't interpret it as flippant, just a preference thing! It is *quite*, almost too comfortable though I have to agree. Red bar go back up feel good.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@Jormmg I greatly appreciate you buddy!

[@lookingforsmalldads7588]

Awesome video, and something I love about almost every creator in the Dark and Darker side of things is that they're all super calm and soft spoken, not overreacting or trying every second to capture attention, just good and normal talking. Love it.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

hey thanks so much & good luck in your adventures!!

[@burneraccount4640]

Thank you for your uploads, I was losing morale to all the deaths on Fighter. This rewarding style has rekindled my motivation to keep going and fight further. Appreciate all that you do man.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

that's so awesome to hear, glad I could help rekindle your efforts with Fighter! keep me posted on your adventures!

[@MrKyle700]

As I have been experimenting with perfect block more I have noticed one more aspect I don't remember you talking about. It actually staggers pve mobs quite heavily sometimes. I've tried this on the Wraith, Skeleton Champion and Centipede so far with great success. It makes their attack recovery much longer and allows you to full block their attacks, where they would normally just bash you shield right away. It's actually a seriously useful PvE tool which surprises me. Combined with shield mastery it can make mob clearing a breeze

[@YourBoyBlinn]

nice!!! I meant to experiment with this, but totally forgot! I remember a previous wipe the buckler shield would interrupt the Skelly Champ, but awesome to hear perfect block allows that now! thanks for your report

[@charleshixon3558]

Perfect block really helps against those barbs with 2h weapons and crush. I still haven't really been able to find my grove with it though. Thanks for the video! From my experience it seems like its pretty good for the Round Shield as that one has really low impact resistance and its a little faster than the heater (not sure if I'm imagining this or not but it feels like its block animation is also faster) but the coverage of the heater shield is hard to lose. Give it a try with an arming sword, sword mastery and a solid amount of action speed to see if you like it. I've been playing more with the mace and shield since I started watching your vids.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

nice reco for the arming sword! and thanks for letting me know the vid has been interesting/helpful, it's always encouraging to hear!!

[@keeyajavan]

you my boi blinn! also becuz of you, i been getting better, you motivating me to jus get in there and get my hands dirty and get the pvp reps in, now i make so much money that i have to buy epic gear just to keep my slots free

[@YourBoyBlinn]

keeeeeya jaaaaavan!!!

[@Eizenz]

You are so motivational. Thank you for your in depth videos. Your commentary is great.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

hey thanks for the comment & nice to see you again! glad the vid helps with some positive motivation and hope you have good luck in the dungeon my guy!!

[@artemperesada3454]

0:24 quick and dirty video Brother the video is 50 minutes

[@YourBoyBlinn]

haha quick & dirty, in terms of this channel's vernacular, just means I don't put any extra effort into video editing.. really just slapping clips together and giving some combat commentary. wasn't meant to be indicative of video length!! :O

[@Btk780]

This is great, I love seeing new ideas. U actually caught quite a few people off guard and confused. I love it

[@Btk780]

23:38 just a little tip for people. In this situation when someone is tryin to shut the door in ur face, even if they body block, if u duck and crouch and hold w it's like a glitch and u can get pushed thru the door with them. Almost like the game thinks u r one

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@Btk780 oh!!! I'll have to try this, thanks!!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

thanks so much BTK!! >:D

[@alexandregreatrix1974]

Overall very good, like to see you evolving with the evolving meta while staying true to your build and coming up with counters. Keep it up!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

hey thanks very much!!

[@chemistry_vihta8573]

ARE WE JUST GLOSSING OVER THE 0:36 TRANSITION? IM BAFFLED

[@YourBoyBlinn]

editing magic!! haha

[@twistednapkins]

I scrolled down to see if anyone mentioned it and here we are.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@twistednapkins >:)

[@lepeyter849]

Does attacking while holding block keep the shield active? it looks like it on some of your fights. Almost like using shield slam

[@YourBoyBlinn]

I don't think so, or at least not exactly.. however the shield will still block during the short animation where it comes out of defensive stance (transitioning to a resting position) and if the attack catches you shield during that animation, you will block and not be staggered. at lot of really advanced shield users will try to time the release of their blocks to catch weapons during this shield animation phase, but IMO it's veryrisky!!

[@gamingwatherbottle7419]

the reason i've been dying so much is because of big melee with high impact power,i block but then i cant swing and i die also try popping perfect block a little later because you use it like a barbarians savage roar so by the time of the first strike half of ur buff is already gone,try using it more like shield bash rather than smite the later you pop it the better

[@YourBoyBlinn]

very good suggestions, thanks!!

[@Cam2ndacct]

This is cool, but I think I'm just going to keep playing landmine rogue while naked with a blue dagger to get gear.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

bahaha to each their own! good luck out there, and hope you stay warm.. the dank dungeon must get cold when you've got no shirt or pants on!

[@ozylocz4078]

32:00 “music to my eyes” lol

[@YourBoyBlinn]

ahhhh good ol' eye music! tasty that :)

[@maxi0969]

Said by one of the top "Reposter" players, the shield is their perfect counter, they cannot repost and die Trying to land the hits.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

music to my ears! >:)

[@abirdnamedsuki]

Are you forgetting to hold your block while clerics use divine judgement? With barricade you get an extra 50 magic resist if you hold your block up...

[@YourBoyBlinn]

yes, I definitely could have optimized that better! got barricade on to help with the magic resist, just get a bit frazzled during the fights sometimes!

[@abirdnamedsuki]

@@YourBoyBlinn Your counter warlock strategy with buckler and rondel for chasedowns leads you to walking into your own pool of fire when you try to counter phantomize. It would be cool to see how barricade affects that interaction, since firebombs are considered magic damage... 🙂😉 Oooh, and your darkplate armor! Maybe a comparison of fire damage ticks with full magic resist vs plate armor set with negative magic resist!! 😀

[@superrubim]

Excellent videos, great explanations and to the point. Gonna give the shield a serious chance because of this, man. Thanks!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

hey great! just remember to move the camera more than you think!! it's really hard to get used to, but once it starts clicking, you can win some pretty great fights!

[@WolfHreda]

Oh, Blin, I checked it out and the speed boost you get with Shield Mastery doesn't entirely negate the speed penalty for blocking, but it does make it only like -0.5 move speed.

[@k1ll3rd3ath]

With the buckler or with the heater?

[@WolfHreda]

@@k1ll3rd3ath Buckler. Even with the Heater, it's not too bad.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

ahh yes, appreciate you! even with the ms basically on par, I like running with the shield up when pushing rangers/casters, since I still have a blocking option! this is especially good vs warlocks who tend to aim at the center of mass when they are being pressured :) thanks for the additional insight!!

[@StaticStyx]

The fight with after the rogue with the copper barb is a great one to replay to learn how important timings are. This game is mostly about memory, and timings are 90% known quantities. At 8:29 you hilt block the zwei and attempt to punish that with a swing. You hit the wall, which is really bad. This meant that the timing pattern was hilt block > barb on wall hit stagger > you swing and hit the wall > you are on wall hit stagger > the barb's stagger ends > he swings and connects before your shield is up b/c you are still staggered. I think your recovery window ended and you were holding right click, essentially spawning the shield while the sword was still in your hitbox. That's why you did get a block off. Also, you used your ability while too far away, it was 3/4s spent before the fight was on. You likely would've won without that error alone. The cleric fight afterwards was played pretty loose. I think its correct to play aggressively. It pressures the opponent to kill you first and keeps the fight short to dodge 3rd parties. Swinging outside the safe timings is fine but it'd be better to have a plan for it. Read that he's running and try to get a bhop hit in, read that he's near a door/corner and has might do a quick ambush, read that he's scared and waiting for judgment....and just sit close to him. If he starts delaying judgement and you're gambling he's 1 hit, either bait it out or wait it out. If he claps his hands together he sure as shit isn't blocking or swinging for a second. Using the other guy's abilities to his disadvantage is something else to watch for. Players are going to buff up before they swing on you, especially a barb/rogue. Tapping perfect block before the barb has used his favorite buttons is like sprinting at a warlock only before he phantomizes.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

always appreciate these thoughtful comments buddy, even if it takes me a few weeks to make a reply!!

[@bluepawclaw]

Thank you for teaching those speed clerics a thing or two!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

happy to help! haha

[@howtoblankmiechel598]

12:30 dytch isn't banned?

[@YourBoyBlinn]

was he supposed to be banned? curious..

[@Namthre]

​@@YourBoyBlinn Known cheater, has been banned in the past.

[@shadedblue6893]

Question for you, Blinn, as someone trying to get more comfortable in the sword and board playstyle, my friend keeps telling me about how good Swift is now that it's buffed to 30%. I assume the reason you don't run it is because your armor is already on the lighter side?

[@YourBoyBlinn]

correct! If I was wearing more plate (and playing in duos/trios for example) I'd be inclined to swap out my barricade for swift :)

[@darkle.]

Really awesome video, i love the commentary!!!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

hey thanks so much!!

[@GallyG]

Watching that running warlock get taken out is so cathartic.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

YES >:) happy that makes you happy!

[@silvha]

My food is ruined. I left this video playing by default while having lunch.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

oh no! and also, thanks!! haha :)

[@crossc1988]

Just a Thought...Perhaps explain how Impact resistance works, How Impact works and what not, because not everyone knows. I had to pause your video to look somewhere else to get info on it and that might turn people away from ur channel.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

appreciate the note! since this is a 'quick & dirty' vid I try not to go into build breakdowns or other elaborations of game mechanics.. but rather just focus on combat & commentary. other vids on my channel go into mechanics in much greater detail! kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJmzZnqEYrl6bLcsi=pHp4pYHCKfVXOGu5&t=1217

[@crossc1988]

@@YourBoyBlinn it just makes it more user friendly to the people that dont know the game or mechanics, allowing u to reach and hold onto a larger audiance, you know? Doesnte ven have to be a huge indepth breakdown of impact just a quick "this is what impact does"

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@crossc1988 totally makes sense! just sometimes feels like a slippery slope bc there are sooo many little corners of this game that require explanation.. and if I tried to touch on them all, even at the very surface level, the vid would be even longer than 50mins! haha yikes :)

[@crossc1988]

@@YourBoyBlinn I get that, but considering your entire video is revolving around that one mechanic...

[@fingernubs3795]

Do you think using something like a rondel dagger could pair well with the shield mastery action speed buff? You seemed pretty well tuned with the flanged mace but I wonder if rondel could work against classes with higher speed attacks that don’t take as much downtime after getting blocked.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

hmmm, using the rondel as a primary weapon and looking to increase the action speed via shield mastery counter-attack sounds like it would be too fast to be effective.. since the dagger has a very short range, I feel like it would be prone to a lot of missing. IMO the best weapons to use with the shield mastery-boosted counter-attack are bigger slower 1-handers, since the swing speed is increased dramatically! rondels are sure good for chasing down warlocks tho!! >:)

[@fingernubs3795]

@@YourBoyBlinn yeah ur definitely right but I might still try it as a way to sort of spear head an all in on opponents, a block to start off with a quick follow up to all in with the rondel might prove to be useful but idk I think I’m just bored of the current meta 😅

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@fingernubs3795 not a bad idea!! let me know how it goes, I'm curious!

[@fingernubs3795]

@@YourBoyBlinn will do 👍

[@fingernubs3795]

@@YourBoyBlinn went better than I expected definitely, blocked a barbs first zwei hit (was running perfect block) and went all in, his kit went for about 3k so I instantly made my money back first game. (I got killed by a Druid the second game 🙁)

[@foolsgold2643]

I have a simple request: Warlock Shield + Kris. See if you can make use of it? I've found it just as good as fighter, but you don't have to dedicate your whole build to it, just one weapons slot.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

oof asking me to play as a warlock? just want to make sure..

[@foolsgold2643]

@@YourBoyBlinn you don't have to cast spells! curselock is lame. I promise as a platelock enjoyer it really just feels like another way to play fighter + a bag of magic tricks. expand your horizons! (although, personally, there is no greater pleasure then finishing someone with dark ray.)

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@foolsgold2643 bahaha awesome! you're brining me closer to the darkside.. now if only platelock had some way to temporarily boost movement speed :P

[@StaticStyx]

Posting as diff comment cause its about kits/builds. Fighter's close to having multiple different viable perks. You usually do a high dex build to help swingspeed and shield speed. But with perfect block, if you're going to usually have a light staggered shield, do you need it? That means you could go for more dmg/speed/PDR in your builds. Or knowing that most things you fight are going to medium stagger, you could use the adrenaline rush perk. a flat 15% action speed button might mean that your medium staggers feel more like light staggers, could combine that with the action speed under 40% health perk. 10% action speed gear is not hard to get through enchants, which means you might not actually need ANY dex on your gear. If you end up having EHP, how much do you really need second wind? Its a dead ability after one use, is noisy, doesn't damage the other guy at all, and broadcasts that you're low HP. If you flip between perfect block up and taunt up, you're going between attack and defense stances. Perfect block lets you punish their swings easily, taunt means that you have higher EHP as they swing for your legs for free hits. The only ability that's still dead is victory strike, which is super sad. I've always wanted to do a perfect block + victory strike knight. The idea of a finishing blow ability is really cool for a shield counterattack character. But you need to give up a timing to turn it on and its only good for one hit. Its bad to save 20% dmg abilities throughout a fight, and yet using it early won't give you any health back. The ability should be stack based. Turn it on and you gain a window with 10% dmg bonus. The more successful hits you have, the more stacks you get in addition to the 5% dmg bonus. Each stack is worth another 5%, so 2 hits is 15% dmg to the 3rd, and the 3rd stack gives 20% dmg bonus to the 4th. If you kill while the window is up, you're healed. Give it a huge cooldown because your victory strike turned into an L take.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

awesome notes! really great reco to stack action speed and not worry so much about Dex -- I agree that could be viable and open up other stats for build tech, thanks! I'm also interested in adrenaline rush, but am reluctant to replace sprint with it... playing without sprint and I start malding as soon as other players start pulling away and I'm left with no way to keep up. I too wish victory strike was better and you've got some great ideas on how that could be meaningfully and conceptually improved - hope one day to see some of those changes!!

[@swamprat69]

my fav part of not running second wind is it throws off other enemy players who are expecting the second wind for a visual queue that never comes

[@YourBoyBlinn]

heh it's funny because I'm also a player who expects second wind, and it took me a while to get over the expectation of its inevitable arrival! :)

[@LovReika]

Your videos made me try the game, I really really dislike it as far as I can tell so far- uninstalled it. Now your videos are making me wanna try again cause as jank as it feels you’re just so calm about it all and very thorough with how you explain things and it makes me wanna follow that lmao

[@YourBoyBlinn]

awh, thanks for the awesome comment! parts of this game are indeed super janky.. but it has real charm & I'm so glad this content inspires you to give it another try :) good luck in the dungeon!!

[@cole851]

Hey man I’ve got over a 1000 hours in the game, if you’d ever like a walkthrough my in game is “LiquorSchmurf”

[@defeatingvetis490]

I’m new to the game. Do you have to unequip potions to hide in darkness? Is that a common thing people do?

[@JoeMama-sw7xq]

yes they glow

[@shadedblue6893]

Depends on the playstyle in my experience, Bards who are 1) naturally loud and 2) glowing anyways after applying certain buffs often times won't bother hiding their potions, but it is certainly a thing other people do somewhat commonly. They will also turn off torches and wait in darkness if they think you will be walking past them.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

yup! keep those potions off your belt if you want to blend into the darkness!

[@defeatingvetis490]

Thank y’all for the replies. I’m going to try hiding the potions next time

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@defeatingvetis490 nice nice!!

[@TheRealPsilo3]

Great videos, thorough research. You may have commented in a video I haven't seen, but I would love to hear your take on Lantern shield's potential. Would be awesome to chat some time and share my fighter cooks with you. Have you ever been a guest on any of the Dark and Darker podcasts? If not I will definitely be dropping that into some suggestion boxes. Anyway, cheers man, keep up the good work!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

heya, thanks for your note! I'm still working out my feelings on the lantern shield.. excellent potential in *some* situations, but overall very slow in defensive stance and a low-sitting hitbox that makes it very difficult to protect the head from jumping attacks (which is the majority of attacks vs the shield these days). not sure if I'm going to give it a closer look until the honeymoon period is over with the quarterstaff -- but would love to connect to hear more about your fighter cookin, send me an email and we can find/set a date! also never been a guest on any podcast, and not sure if my game or streaming experience is great enough to justify an invite.. most people they have on are either much more knowledgeable or have been streaming for years and years, so I'm not going to hold my breath :)

[@NanashiHuy]

Can you try perfect block with one of the blockable two handers? like Spear/ Bardiche

[@YourBoyBlinn]

hmmm I tried some counter-attack meme build with the spear, but never thought to use perfect block.. will keep this one in mind!!

[@RealSweatyGamer]

@@YourBoyBlinn I've personally tried this and found bardiche was by far the most consistent to get blocks with, it's actually kind of crazy how easy it is to block projectiles. Using the lizard skin makes it even better by shortening your head hitbox. the first counterattack comes out so fast and with perfect block it's even faster 65% action speed on your first swing is insane for a weapon like the bardiche. I'd love to see a video on it, maybe perfect block and victory strike could be cool for a burst counterattack build.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

super interesting!!

[@JoshuaAdamStevens]

This is some really good shit and has inspired me to return to fighter.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

love to hear it!

[@JoshuaAdamStevens]

@@YourBoyBlinn from the time of my original comment and today I can say I smashed more people with this build then all the playtests combined lol thanks for the knowledge.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@JoshuaAdamStevens SO AWESOME TO HEAR!! thanks for coming back & letting me know

[@MacSacred]

I arrived at the same conclusion as you about trying to dodge mika vista (as a longsword fighter) Not worth trying to outrun it, but make sure to block anyway for the +50mr from barricade

[@YourBoyBlinn]

yeah you get it!

[@Beedo-]

fighters always been my fav class, but tbh using a buckler with counterattack/shield mastery is better/just as good as perfect block, you really need sprint and second wind to be a powerful fighter

[@YourBoyBlinn]

I wish I was better with a buckler! it's super super hard!!

[@Beedo-]

@@YourBoyBlinn nah i feel you it took me months to get confident using it, but now im a buckler boy!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@Beedo- huge respect for your grind!! hope I can gain that skill one day :)

[@chillvibes-420]

with a certain arked aim movement (hard to explain) top right middle down left middle while crouching, you can hit their head and legs with 1 hit and get considerably more damage in

[@chillvibes-420]

Note it only works when the enemy is angled appropriately, normally looking slightly to your left

[@YourBoyBlinn]

oh! super interesting... thanks!!

[@actuallymacbeth]

going to try this out - interesting, thanks!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@actuallymacbeth ikr sounds interesting!!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@chillvibes-420 nnnope must have missed it :(

[@robohead6120]

Why the flanged mace over the morning star? They are super similar, but the star has a little extra damage and speed on its first attack for countering out of block. It also has one more impact giving a better matchup vs heater shields. Am I missing something?

[@gnarwaster2232]

morning star can't be equipped by fighter so it has a -10% negative when being used with weapon mastery

[@dinen5000]

@@gnarwaster2232 not anymore :) weapon mastery has no penalty anymore

[@manaintolerantmage]

@@gnarwaster2232 Someone didnt read the patch notes. ;)

[@Daragh356]

Morning star is actually a bit slower, even more so than arming sword

[@YourBoyBlinn]

it's a personal preference mostly! from my POV, the morning star is slower, and also has a more diagonal attack pattern.. the flanged mace feels faster to me, especially out of the counter-attack, plus the first two attacks of the combo are very fast and have a more regular vertical attack pattern. so even though I am running weapon mastery (for my rondel) I don't choose the morning star because it feels slower and less controllable in my hand :)

[@polecat1337]

quick and dirty video... 50 mins long lol

[@despicabletaylor]

It makes my day go by quick so it's still truuu

[@dinen5000]

the perfect length

[@YourBoyBlinn]

yeah, I started out with quicker intentions.. but once I get yappin.. whoops!!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@despicabletaylor haha yay!!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@dinen5000 appreciate you saying that! :)

[@ProfessorPicke]

Shouldn't you just kite the demon form? he loses health

[@YourBoyBlinn]

yes, but I don't like to give warlocks any space. kiting/running players might also be what the demon expects, so the fact that I don't budge and stay in his face is unexpected :) I like that kind of thing!

[@mpbluewolf]

Music to my eyes

[@YourBoyBlinn]

haha classic eh :)

[@hellcat1609]

Hey @YourBoyBlinn, I know you mostly play shield, but would you cover the new viable options with the weapon master buff, I've been playing pseudo barb last few days seems pretty cool (felling + surv bow) you might be interested in rapier maybe now, rapier + buckler is crazy speed to catch locks and others..

[@YourBoyBlinn]

yeah thanks! so many options just opened up with weapon mastery.. I'm almost done a Buff Duration fighter build vid & will consider other weapon loadouts once that content is posted! appreciate the recos :)

[@hellcat1609]

@@YourBoyBlinn when you mentioned that, does the 3 stage sprint benefit from buff duration, I haven't played in a while, last time I played I think sprint was flat 50% or 40%

[@asketillus8679]

I’ve been doing bardiche fighter and it slaaaaaaps. In all honesty it just feels like a slightly longer, slower Longsword without the parry. But it’s more likely to 2/3 shot and they’re fairly cheap compared to Longsword, and don’t require as much perk investment

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@asketillus8679 another glowing recommendation! hmmmm >:)

[@xxDrone95]

If perfect block became more popular, people would just wait out the short buff before attacking. So it only works while its not common knowledge

[@YourBoyBlinn]

I suppose so, but the recharge is also quite fast, which might make things interesting!

[@xxDrone95]

@@YourBoyBlinn very true, maybe worth stacking some resourcefulness for cool down reduction? Wont be much, 1 - 4 seconds depending on how much res

[@hittite_gaming]

I mean this build still works for like half the weapons just because of the dex, only some barb 2 handers and the morningstar will even medium stagger the heater shield without PB.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

yes and I was super stoked to try PB because of the proliferation of those weapons these days!!

[@NukeOverlord]

Pretty sweet clips, but why do you sound so anxious and terrified? Lol

[@YourBoyBlinn]

that's just my style! this game hits me hard

[@DaBon23]

Finally, THE SHIELD. keep it up. you have a new subscriber. I hope my small contribution can help you grow the channel. Thanks for the valuable videos.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

thanks my dude!! welcome in, saw your comment on the other Executive content -- really appreciate the support & kinds words about the channel

[@Fusball18]

Wheres the buiiiiild info??? You posted a build tease and i see no build am i blinnnnnd?

[@YourBoyBlinn]

haha it's coming! finishing touches tomorrow, vid drop on Tuesday AM! slow cookin takes time!!

[@Mr64442]

impact power against mace is good friend c: with higher impact power on your block it means he takes a higher stagger of three they can take meaning you get more time to hit them with counter attack c:

[@YourBoyBlinn]

you know it!!

[@Mr64442]

ive been running it myself i find myself often dropping the move speed instead of dropping the heal and then going for my armet build which makes for a bit easier when you make mistakes and attack to few or to many times but my favorite thing is ive use this shield play to learn to block with only the middle strip of shield so when i swap to going long sword i am so good at blocking ive started even blocking arrows and fran axes! c: i do recomend though a single thing and thats to just try cross bow as a way of attracting players into you i find it works often as they dont want to let me reload but also dont want to go in

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@Mr64442 excellent points and great reco for the crossbow, I'll go back to that I think!! thanks

[@Mr64442]

@@YourBoyBlinn another recomendation is very small but simple of swapping dex out for strength c: i found having a very similar speed on each swing of aiming for 20 dex and 20 agility usauly gave me a set speed that was easier to work with c: and the strength gives some damage and health i usauly get it by swapping out the chest piece you run for the heavy gambeson. its very sim in stats and gives about the same move speed as it takes less from you

[@DudeSoWin]

Rogue has the fastest interaction speed so haste your rogue and demand a campfire, if they did not bring the free squire provided campfire simply friendly fire them down on the spot. Tell them its for sleeping on the Jokester perk's 63+ free stats and even going so far as to get it nerfed. Then chug all 20+ health pots they brought to feed the enemy team after they got yeeted and deleted doing some dumb fortnite sh*tplay. Tell them the potion chugging is for the loot timer on corpses. Rogue is the bad sport bringing nerfs to all our classes. Punish them by bringing multiple rogues into trios and forcing them to fight for the game's honor. I'm sick of this solo class that caters to wallhacking cheaters. At this point just give Ranger the stealth ability, and Rogue the ability to detect footsteps so regular Rogue players are on an even playing field with the cheater Rogues. Please just for one season to flush out all the stank.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

got a whole bunch of recos in there, wow!!

[@imperial_chicken8340]

would morning star be a bit better to run instead of flanged mace now that weapon mastery lost it's damage malus?

[@YourBoyBlinn]

comes down to my preference on the attack pattern.. I prefer the flanged mace because it's a bit easier for me to control, despite it doing less damage :)

[@imperial_chicken8340]

@@YourBoyBlinn morning star also has 1 more impact power I believe, but I agree. morning star's swing pattern made it feel noticeably worse to use when I was test running it

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@imperial_chicken8340 that's it! all comes down to a personal preference.. and for my tastes, the flanged mace takes the cake :)

[@somedyde8477]

9:00 you said that handle blocks are good against swei, good rule of thumb in this game. if its a 2 handed weapon handle blocks always force the opponent to recorver for a while, whether its a bardiche a zwei or a halberd. another thing is you can almost always jump and hit to avoid handle blocks and to force shield recovery even on buckler. one last note is you went for the block too long on barb, try to block last second to keep it unpredictable

[@YourBoyBlinn]

ahhhh having my block up too long vs the barb makes it easier for them to swing around my shield.. have to work on my timing, thanks for the tips!!

[@hittite_gaming]

The shields and weapons have an impact-block power system. Buckler/pavise has 6 BP, heater has 5, round has 4 and weapon blocks/lantern have 3. If the weapons IP > the shields BP, it staggers the shield heavily and the weapon's combo doesnt get interrupted. If the IP and BP are equal, both get a slight stagger. If the BP is higher than the IP, the weapon gets staggered more and the shield user can attack back quickly, and with this build you can even attack and then block again before the enemy recovers from the stagger. Perfect block makes any weapon unable to defeat your blocks. (Minimum block power is 3, on weapon blocks/lantern + the 6 from PB = 9. Barbarian's Crush + a warmaul is 7 IP, the highest in the game.) And yes, hitting with the sour spot makes the weapons impact power way lower and i think basically guarantees the IP

[@YourBoyBlinn]

absolute goated comment!!! thanks for posting for all to see :)

[@drakendae9612]

had me at quick and dirty

[@YourBoyBlinn]

which is maybe clickbait because this vid is long, and the fights are kinda clean? haha

[@drakendae9612]

@@YourBoyBlinn your content is great man keep it up

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@drakendae9612 thank you so much!!

[@darrenw8573]

Why mace over morning star?

[@chandlerh6418]

i think armor pen

[@WolfHreda]

The mace attacks a little bit quicker, but since he's using weapon mastery, I'd probably go with the morning star.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

it's a personal preference mostly! from my POV, the morning star feels slower, and also has a more diagonal, alternating attack pattern.. the flanged mace feels faster to me, especially out of the counter-attack, plus the first two attacks of the combo are very fast and have a more regular vertical attack pattern (which I find I can aim more reliably). so even though I am running weapon mastery (for my rondel) I don't choose the morning star because it feels slower and less controllable in my hand :)

[@CivRichieP]

been saying perfect block is good.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

you called it! too bad it took me so long to come around :)

[@gehtdirnixan7333]

The Blocking Mechanic in this game just sucks having to flip your camera like that, say what you want. I appreciate you trying to make it work but even when it grows to somerhing op or whatever it just sucks having to play like that.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

I know what you mean, but it's all we got!

[@Faceman2626]

Heal first, then loot

[@YourBoyBlinn]

whoops!! haha there might be a couple of instances where I break that cardinal rule? timestamps??

[@jordantiburcio4541]

Perfect block is perfect against the 3 weapons it's good against. Lol

[@YourBoyBlinn]

yes! and I feel naked without it!! haha

[@gladlawson61]

Haha i usually give up when people yell whoa whoa ehat are u doing.. hahaha i frreze and say sorry and then we adventure together and team up on other pvp.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

yeah I've got an open mind, but some people just put out an insincere vibe, ya know?

[@tomionliner9910]

u need to try build strenght over dex and same perks/ability

[@YourBoyBlinn]

interesting! I've never messed around with a Strength build.. hard for me to let go of Dex because without it, the counter-attack playstyle seems much less viable.. hmmmm

[@tomionliner9910]

@@YourBoyBlinn more dmg :D and lil bit more hp and u dont need second wind if u know how to block u get 0 dmg ^^

[@hittite_gaming]

​@@tomionliner9910problem is, you need a ton of dex to be able to block, counterattack and then block again before he gets another swing off. If you dont have enough dex, he will get a hit on you before the reblock.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

true true!!

[@YourBoyBlinn]

this is my biggest concern, and the reason I focus primarily on Dex for the counter-attack, shield fighter playstyle!

[@DarkerHeartbeat]

why are you running with your block out? wtf

[@charleshixon3558]

So, with shield mastery you actually run faster with the buckler up.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

@@charleshixon3558 or at least run at the same speed as I would carrying my heater, just with the buckler up I have a blocking option! thanks for your reply here, I appreciate it!!

[@ivanfranebijelic7009]

Two ideas for perfect block: Lantern shield has really powerful counters but low impact resistance, and the newly buffed Bardiche is extremely strong with shield mastery but also has very low impact resistance.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

nice ideas!! my only issues are: 1) the lantern shield is super slow and poorly positioned (low).. so I can't protect my head well, and can't push on rangers, even with perfect block boosting its blocking power to max :( and 2) I'm horrible with 2-hander weapons, since I often hit the walls and don't like how slow they are. hard to bump me off my heater+buckler combo!

[@ivanfranebijelic7009]

@@YourBoyBlinn After trying it out more, Lantern shield with perfect block is extremely difficult to get the riposte out, the impact is so short it's like trying to riposte a dagger. But when you do get it, the 3 hit riposte combo can instakill low pdr players. Been running it with the morning star and it's hella juicy.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

oh wow, thanks for the report!!

[@littlemonztergaming8665]

The inventory management throughout the video was really painful to watch, both in looting & switching to meds quickly. Spending some time practicing r-click switching to pots/bandies & always having them in the same place, using bandies more & r-clicking stuff into your inventory is almost necessary. It happens other times, but @ 45:00, cleric heals to almost full while you heal to 30% almost only due to inventory management. Yes, they are faster but if you took the time to heal every time they did then it becomes a battle of attrition. If you really don't want your pots to be seen, split a stack of potions into 1 each, then r-click when you need it. You only equip & drink 1 so there's no unequipping. Getting used to meding mid-battle pressures the enemy to push you otherwise you get free health, and gives you more health for the fight. I've won quite a few fights by pressuring the enemy via healing to make mistakes and push me unsafely. It can also be used to bait opponents such as bandaging at the start of a fight (when you don't need it), canceling, pulling out weapons.

[@YourBoyBlinn]

thanks for your note! apologies if my inventory fumbling is difficult to watch.. generally speaking I do what you suggest: I keep my pots in the same place in my inventory (right edge) and I do endeavor to keep solo pots and r-click to quick swap them in. IMO feels like I'm doing this in ~90% of all engagements (quick example of healing mid-fight @ 33:17) but for the ruby cleric at the end of the vid, I used my thrown utility and had gaps on the 4-column, which isn't typical, and I grabbed a pot stack in haste. also as mentioned, in that clip in particular I was extra frazzled because of my lust for that gear haha (48:09). as for looting, here too I'm almost always too excited to be thinking straight :) super easy to assess inventory in hindsight, but post-combat I can barely see, let alone make calm and calculated decisions regarding inventory management. lot's of things to keep improving!

[@bardicindecision]

Excited to try this out and report with results in the next board meeting 🫡

[@YourBoyBlinn]

excellent! looking forward to your report from the field