Arctic Buckler vs. Redbeards Crest (Twinks, 19)

[Valmilu]

Allright, first up is a rundown of the two shields.

Arctic Buckler
642 Armor
13 Block
+3 Stamina
+8 Spirit
+5 Frost Resistance

Redbeard Crest
547 Armor
11 Block
+6 Strength
+3 Stamina

First, a look at the extra armor vs the extra str:

For 1v1 situations vs casters:
Since armor doesn't affect magic damage, Redbeard Crest is strictly better versus pure casters.

For 1v1 situations vs melee:
The 95 point difference in armor equals 1.55% damage reduction. The 12 AP you gain from using the Crest instead adds about 2 points of damage to each of your swings, assuming an attackspeed of 2.80, which is the case with Cruel Barb. Dps-wise, we're talking about 0.71 added dps.

For targets hitting you back in melee it's pretty simple calculating which shield is better for 1v1. Your opponent would have to have an average swing damage (assuming swing time of 2.80) of 129 (after reduction from all your other armor) for the extra Arctic Buckler armor to offset the same amount of damage as the extra AP from Redbeard Crest adds to your swings (= 2). Converting to dps, that would mean that versus an opponent with a output higher than 46 dps (remember, that's after the rest of your armor reduction has been applied), you're better off with the extra armor from Arctic Buckler. Otherwise, you should stick to Redbeard Crest for that 1v1 encounter.

The conclusion above is assuming equal life totals though. Let's assume your warrior has 1.5 times your opponent's hp, which often will be the case versus rogues. Then each of his health points will be relatively worth more, since for every 2 damage you do, he will have to deal 3 to keep up. This would mean the break point between the shields is raised to a mitigated opponent output of 69 dps, and Redbeard Crest would be better in all cases below that number (which would pretty much mean all the time).

However, the second paragraph doesn't take dodging into the consideration. The hypothetical (well-twinked) rogue will most likely have a dodge rate of around 40-50%, lowering the dps break point considerably, since a warrior's dodge won't be that high.

Here is where the maths get out of hand slightly, since there are too many different builds with parry and dodge to take into consideration, but I think it's fairly safe to say, considering the numbers above, that Arctic Buckler will always be the better choise versus a fully twinked high dps melee opponent with and that Redbeard Crest will always be better versus low dps, low hp targets, i.e. non- and semi-twinks.

Note that proc enchantments are magical, meaning that Redbeard Crest most likely is the better choice vs dual proc-ench rogues with relatively low dodge%, especially if they haven't bothered getting AGM, libram enchantments and dodge rating on cloak. Incidentally, this describes your average rogue twink pretty well in my experience.

Redbeard Crest is the better choice versus most enemies, including most low-end melee twinks. Arctic Buckler is the better choice versus the high-end melee twinks.

For 1v1+X situations:
It would be easy to think that for each additional melee target hitting you, Arctic Buckler gets a larger advantage over Redbeard Crest, since you mitigate damage from all sources while your damage output only is increased to one target. However, this is false, as I will illustrate.

For simplicity's sake, imagine being hit by 5 targets doing 20 damage each swing. Your extra armor from Arctic Buckler mitigates 1.55% damage, meaning 1.55 points. Now compare that to one enemy hitting you for 100 damage each swing. You still mitigate 1.55 damage.

What matters isn't the number of enemies, but the total incoming dps versus your dps output. If their dps is below the break point mentioned earlier, as might be the case when you're facing multiple non-twinks, you're still better off with Redbeard Crest.

Other stats:

Please note that the text above has only considered the difference in Strength vs Armor. Here are the other traits:

The 1 point difference in block value does not make up for any noticable difference what so ever, since it only means that 1 additional damage will be subtracted from every 20th hit taken (5% base block rate).

The spirit can be entirely discarded, since it's useless.

Finally, Arctic Buckler has 5 Frost Resistance. This will probably never ever make any difference, but it *might* let you resist that pesky frost spell when you really need it. Still, you're much better off with Redbeard Crest when facing a frost mage, since a damage increase on every swing, albeit small, is better than hoping for winning the lottery.

Conclusion:

So, what does all this mean? Well, if my 19 warrior were facing a fully twinked agi-rogue, warrior, paladin or hunter, I'd make sure to bring my Arctic Buckler. If he were fighting multiple twinks, I'd use Arctic Buckler. If he were flagging, I'd sure as heck equip Arctic Buckler. For any other purpose - Redbeard Crest all the way.
Your block rate will be 5%. You could theoretically up this to 10% by speccing prot, but don't. Gimping yourself is never fun. (On a side note, make sure to put one point in Imp. Charge for seamless Charge -> Hamstring!)

For 1v1 melee:
Thorium Shield Spike does 20 - 30 dmg, making 25 average. This will happen every 20th hit you take, meaning you deal 1.25 damage every hit you take. +7 stamina grants you 70 extra hp. That means you have to survive 56 swings for your shield spike to be equal to those +70 hp.

However, like in the shield calculations in my previous post, we have to consider relative hit point value. If you're sitting on a beefy 1500 hp and are attacked by a 1000 hp rogue, we have to multiply shield spike damage by 1.5, since each point of damage you inflict is relatively worth more to him than each of your hit points is to you. In this case, the difference between +7 stam and shield spike will be offset after taking 37 hits. If he has a much higher dodge percentage than you, shield spike will catch up even quicker, since it can't be dodged.

For 1v1+X melee:
The number of opponents doesn't matter in this example either. What matters is the amount of hits you take, and how hard those hits are. Shield spike will be the clearly superior choice when attacked with frequent low-damage attacks, as is the case when swarmed by lowbies and non-twinks. Those 70 extra hp are much handier when you face a slow hard-hitter wielding a big 2-hander, like a twink warrior, pally or a hunter trapped in melee.

For pure casters:
+7 stam.

Summing up these two TLDR-posts:
Get both shields and you'll be set for all circumstances. Slap +7 stam on Arctic Buckler, shield spike on Redbeard Crest and swap between them as outlined above.

EDIT: Actually, the best combo for facing an agi rogue is Arctic Buckler with a shield spike, and the best combo versus casters is Redbeard Crest with +7 stam. The caster issue can safely be ignored, since good mage/lock/priest twinks are few and far between, but if you find yourself constantly facing rogues with two green glowing weapons and a nasty dodge rate, the spiked Arctic Buckler might be worth looking into. Still, if flagcarrying is your chief concern, I'd stick to +7 stam on it.

For pure flagcarrying, Nightwatch Shortsword with +15 agi is your choice.

Weapon
If we start by comparing Nightwatch Shortsword to Cruel Barb, we'll see that those extra 40 hp come at a HUGE cost in damage output. -11 minimum damage and -16 maximum damage means your damage range has taken quite a hit. Those numbers are calculated with the extra AP on the Cruel Barb factored in.

Protector's Sword (now easily obtainable) also gives a small hp boost (+20 hp) and only shaves 4 off your minimum damage and 6 off your high end.

As for weapon choice, I'd highly recommend Cruel Barb or Protectors Sword if your wife ever plans to fight someone in addition to running the flag.


Enchantment

15 agility has been proposed. That equals to 30 armor, which is 0.47% damage reduction. It also gives you 2.37% crit and 2.01% dodge.


Lifestealing will be compared to 15 agi in two aspects; damage vs and survival.

Damage
Lifestealing has been tested to be 6 PPM (Procs Per Minute). That means that it does 30*6 = 180 damage every minute, and heals for the same amount. This is upped slightly by using instant attacks like Hamstring and Overpower, but I won't take that into the calculations.

180 dmg / minute means 3 dps, or an average 8.4 damage added to each 2.80 speed (Cruel Barb) swing. For 2.37% crit to match that you would have to have average 2.80 speed (again assuming Cruel Barb) swings of 354 damage after armor mitigation. That won't happen. Ever.

For damage LS > 15 agi for a 19 warrior.

Survival
To simplify things, I'll assume every hit is to the face of the warrior, meaning he has ha chance to dodge every hit. The dodge% and armor mitigation% can thus be added, since both are entirely mitigated.

This gives us a total bonus mitigation of 2.48% from +15 agi.

The calculation is pretty easy from there. LS heals for 3 hp / second on average, meaning that if your incoming dps over a minute is over (3/0.024 = 121 dps, you're better off with +15 agi.

Then again, that calculation is heavily simplified, since it assumes you always attack and that your opponents never die. Remember that LS is better at killing them in the first place. Also, considering that you will spend a lot of time with your back to the opponent since you're running away from them, much of the mitigation granted by +15 agi won't actually apply in-game.


Conclusion:
While +15 is slightly better for strict evasive flagrunning, LS makes for a much better all-round choice.

My advice to you and your wife would be sticking to that Cruel Barb or possibly pick up a wsg reward sword and slap LS on it. If you can get your hands on Shadowfang, use that instead.


EDIT: What about Crusader?

Crusader has been tested to 1 PPM. That means it heals for less than LS on average (100 hp/minute), and thus is weaker for survival (not factoring in the extra damage blocked while having the +100 str, but I very highly doubt it would come anywhere near 80 dmg / minute).

Offensively, Crusader increases Strength by 100 for 15 sec. That means an average +25 AP or 1.79 dps, which doesn't come close to the 3 dps of Lifestealing, meaning that LS has a higher sustained and average damage output.

Crusader packs a lot more burst though, since it gives you a whooping +7.14 dps during those 15 seconds the buff is active. This damage isn't magical though, meaning that it's affected by armor reduction. However, it also means it can crit.

1 PPM means that it's less reliable. You can be really lucky and have it proc three times within a fight, giving you an extra 300 hp and massive burst damage throughout the entire fight, or it might not proc at all. The times when you're lucky you'll be amazed, but Crusader will at times be equal to having no enchantment at all.

There are really just two questions you have to answer before you decide upon LS or Crusader for a warrior twink.

1) Would you rather have a steady reliable bonus or more of an irregular rock-your-world experience?

2) Do you feel lucky, punk?
-ty battlegroundforums.com




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[wessdog911]

im not reading all that

[caraddict]

Very nice guide +rep :wave:

[Lead4u2]

im not reading all that

I don't think anyone cares what YOUR doing.

Nice guide.

[l337j0k3r]

Redbeard............

[Gamer]

Read it and found it interesting..
rep+

[Paperboi]

RBC is boe and sells for 6g (HORDE SIDE!!!!) yeah...hordeside


that is all....

[owned1]

RBC is boe and sells for 6g (HORDE SIDE!!!!) yeah...hordeside


that is all....

depends on the realm....

[Dream]

Honestly math is pretty much worthless. In theory if everyone plays there class perfectly class difference will make a huge difference.... more than the numbers do . If you've seen the World of Roguecraft series then you know that gear is not as important as what class you play so sorry to say but you just typed that all for no reason : interesting read but being able to play your class and the class you play outweighs the math

[Ripgut]

dude ur unlucky if its 6g i farm those and get 45g per shield

[fatmanpaddy]

Yeah, sorry to crap on happy time, and to wreck your long worked hours for this, but there's better.. =S

http://thottbot.com/i3761

And yeah, it's possible for 19's to get, you just have to be samrt, get no exp into level 19, and it'll take up about 85% of your level, and if your in ghost form + your high level friend is killing them (what i did) you get the kill, but no exp, i got about 50% through 19 using this method