Intended for and written during Diablo III v1.0.3b

This guide is here to help you understand:
Block Rate, Block Amount, and most importantly knowing what shield to choose

Alright, so here are the two most popular shields used in the game.. Stormshields and nicely rolled rare Sacred Shields...



VS



Let's get the statistical properties out of the way:

Stormshield:
Strength benefits barbararians, but to be honest, the only two classes using shields is really Monks and Barbs. Strength is good.
All Resist benefits everyone. You know this already. It's awesome. But one thing to consider, max at 70 resist.
Damage Redux is the special property. To reduce melee damage and elites? That's amazing. Stack them together, potentially 9% damage redux from an elite melee mob.
2 Random Prop is good too, you can roll a vitality and crit %. Or roll a secondary res for monks. This is the hit or miss.

Rare Sacred Shield
Random rolls: Basically it can roll 6 property stats that range from Str, Vit, All Res, Crit, Block Chance, etc etc.. It can be as good as a Stormshield in terms of properties

Conclusion: We can go endlessly to talk about properties so very quickly: Stormshields are good on the properties, but a nicely rolled Sacred Shield can acheive similar stats. Though one needs to keep in mind that damage redux do not spawn on shields. But that's for another guide.

Moving on...

Block Rate/Amount comparison

The point of the review is right here. Since the price difference between shields seems to be on Block Rate and Amount, this is absolutely crucial for you.

Question: What blocks better? A 32% block Stormshield, or a 25% sacred shield?

Is block rate the most important thing? NO, absolutely not. You wouldn't subsitute a 20% block buckler for a 10% block sacred shield, would you? So what else matters? Block Amount is very crucial too.

Stormshields spawn with a block amount of 2800 - (3710-3800) block amount. If we take the average it's about 3277.5 Block Amount

Sacred Shields spawn with a block amount of 3706 - 4706 block amount. If we take the average it's about 4206 Block Amount

The most important thing is preventing damage, not blocking. Which shields are better are preventing damage? <---- the only thing that matters.

The Real Life Situation

Situation: Mobs are hitting you 100 times, which shield blocks for more damage?

In every 100 hits, a 32% Stormshield blocks theoretically 32 times, blocking an average 3277.5 damage, which is 32 * 3277.5 = 104880 Damage Blocked

In every 100 hits, a 25% Sacred Shield blocks theoretically 25 times, blocking an average of 4206 damage, which is 25 * 4206 = 105150 Damage Blocked

Wow, so you're saying, in terms of block damage, the 25% sacred shield is better in preventing damage? Yes, I am.. Though they are almost equal.


Here is a small chart where Stormshields match the block damage of a Sacred Shield (+/-5%).
The higher block amount shield (by within 2-5%) will be underlined.

32% Stormshield = 25% Sacred Shield
31% Stormshield = 24% Sacred Shield
30% Stormshield = 24% Sacred Shield
29% Stormshield = 23% Sacred Shield
28% Stormshield = 22% Sacred Shield
27% Stormshield = 21% Sacred Shield <--- 1% difference
26% Stormshield = 20% Sacred Shield
25% Stormshield = 20% Sacred Shield
24% Stormshield = 19% Sacred Shield
23% Stormshield = 18% Sacred Shield <--- 1% diifference
22% Stormshield = 17% Sacred Shield
21% Stormshield = 16% Sacred Shield
20% Stormshield = 16% Sacred Shield
19% Stormshield = 15% Sacred Shield
18% Stormshield = 14% Sacred Shield <--- 1% difference
17% Stormshield = 14% Sacred Shield

As you can see, if you had a 21% Sacred Shield, you would be blocking very similar damages as a 27% stormshield would block at.

Conclusion:

-is blocking important? yes it's important because it's calculated after resists, so a flat block rate is huge
-is block % important? yes, but useless if your block amount sucks
-what's most important? taking your block % and multiplying your block amount, that is how much damage you are preventing!
-what should I buy? 32% Stormshield, or a 25% sacred shield? which one's cheaper?
-what shield do you use? this is my shield: http://i49.tinypic.com/2qa0dpc.jpg

Discussion is welcomed. You may email me at artanis_sa@hotmail.com or discuss below.

Thanks

This post was edited by dajusta on Jul 20 2012 12:52pm

I want to correct myself and say that damage redux DOES appear on rare sacred shields.

Nice writeup.
I agree and dumped ss for a rare with much higher stats for me a monk.

My dps actually went up because of the mass dex and crit.

storm is overpriced junk like many legendaries out there, u can build entire barb for the price of 32% storm

Very nice.. I was asking about this earlier today

what happen to you being all anti shield and "dual weld is the only way!!!"
haha.

and to op.
um... you can have more then 25% on a sacred shield LOL.

if i recall it was 29% or 27% (i know ive seen many 27% but forget what was max +extra block chance affix was, was either 7 or 9)
rare sacred shield with sex mods > then perfect stormshield 32% block and crit chance rolled stormshield.

i mean not to take away from ss, great shield for anyone to take anyday over some piece of crap you mf off a fallen in the sandy deserts of act 2... but rare sacred shield has the chance to get the best mods you need and WILL block more damage over time. Only thing is on rarity of findin that ONE sacred shield to trump all sacred shields for your specific class.

op shield + block chance and crit rating.

You should also take into consideration that almost all barbs use Helm of Command and maybe even justice lantern

That makes Sacred Shield that much more worth it

comparison was already done on reddit and that included the melee and elite %


vs every pack except for ranged white mobs the SS came out ahead

did that comparison take into consideration Helm of Command and justic lantern? I seriously doubt that if that was the outcome