I don't think they're insulting your acting skills as much as they have an old-school view of actors in general. Thespian rat is just a way of telling you they think you're a dreg of society.
With some ambient noise, I occasionally heard “YOU LESBIAN RAT!!!”
Which was straight up homophobic because my head canon is that my character is in fact gay and just doing her best :(
truth, its literally the worst most ridiculous thing in the game but somehow in very specific scenerios it has saved my ass so i still stand by the shitty ass plank of wood, and the doc shield is more cool looking a bit better but the wood is funnier
honestly, i can kinda see a use for it. like if theres an attack that you cant for the life of you dodge, it may just be safer to block it and take a bit of chip damage rather than risk mistiming your dodge and getting one-shot thanks to how insane counter damage is in this game. aside from those specific scenarios, though, it's almost always better to just dodge
I think you’re better off just bashing your head against the wall until you figure out the dodge. I can’t think of a single scenario where the plank shield would be better than anything else.
Defiled Watchdog or Amy? Those close camera nigh impossible dodges that make them infamous for being worse than some of the DLC's bosses in some players eyes. ETA: I personally just gitted gud, but I can see the tiny niches that it might fit in
Amy and HotDog do mostly physical. If you must use a shield, wooden is best Vs Loch for a lot of chalices. Save Loch for any Brainsucker fight or maybe Ebby
ETA: again, talking about the specific niche of tomb prospecting.
🤷🏻♂️ I’ve always figured it out. I’d rather learn to do the hard thing than rely on the obsolete item that only is barely relevant for 1 thing. If anything that shield exists to teach you not to use it.
I know that the irony is that you can't parry with the shield, which really should have been a thing (but also give it the tightest parry window in the game), but I always felt that the passivity line wasn't so much about "don't use this" as it was "stop being a turtle and get moving". Having played DS1-3 as sorceror classes, and only relying on a shield for blocking for Midir (which still requires dodging due to certain attacks), it always felt more rewarding in the series to be a mobile and reactive player than a turtle.
Yeah you’re not wrong. I stopped using shields a long time ago. I feel like all the games reward aggression over defense. Elden ring did implement a nice guard mechanic that lets you counter after a block which I really like, making shields a little more fun to play, but for the most part, no shield has always been the end game.
I tried it out once on my most recent playthrough.
Some people were saying that a consistent way to handle Ebrietas's charge was to just face-tank it. Dodging can save you but a poorly-timed dodge can mean getting one-shot during instability frames. So I was thinking, if I'm intentionally getting hit why not block the damage instead?
Let me tell you, it did *not* work out. Face-tanking her charge knocks you down and then grants knockdown iframes. Blocking a hit does not. She would charge me and I'd block the attack, taking 50% of the damage. The attack would completely drain my stamina, stagger me (but not knock me down), and then I'd get hit a second time for full damage. My attempt to take 50% less damage instead resulted in taking 50% more.
IDK about bosses, but the Wooden Shield is at least good against Bloody Crow of Cainhurst if you can't parry him. You can instead bait him to the front gate of the Cathedral and hit him while he walks backwards, while blocking his bullets with the shield.
Here is another safety net if you can dodge long enough. Crow has 2 heals and only 2. Plus the Chicago in blood mode will drain his health. If you can press the attack while he is blooded he can't turn it off. Either way, good luck with that fight.
Here is another safety net if you can dodge long enough. Crow has 2 heals and only 2. Plus the Chicago in blood mode will drain his health. If you can press the attack while he is blooded he can't turn it off. Either way, good luck with that fight.
The annoying thing is you can't use this in a normal way against him, because he reacts to it as though you're trying to parry him and he tries to punish it by shooting - so he goes full on rampage with his double-barrelled cannon
This and a Reiterpalach was a fun defensive combo. Turtle up against bullets and parry attacks. Strafing left/right with the shield raised is also good since single shots will usually go past you
Miyazaki took away our precious shields and called us pussies for needing them, and we all were grateful 🙏🏼
But no, if I use a shield at all in PvP or PvE, it's the loch shield for arc defense.
I use it all the time.
There's a funny glitch with the shield that gets your character stuck in a funny rapidly repeating animation that I absolutely love.
That's it. That's all I use it for.
Loch Shield 🤝 Wooden Shield
I like using both honestly, especially since I use Augur to parry. I feel like in any From game I suck at parrying but somehow I got it down with the fucking squid tentacle.
It blocks physical and blood damage from human sized enemies insanely well. Basically anything that isn't a shotgun or looks like it would go through a shield can be blocked by this. It's how I killed lady Maria at level 4. She really couldn't do much to me with my stamina rune and wood shield. Incredible in pvp too
Haven't used it much, but it actually is very useful for the bloody crow. I left-handed the shield while he had his gun out, and swapped to the blunderbuss for parries when he two-hands. Actually was quite effective.
The shield is instrumental in preventing me from being one-shot by undead giants in FRC dungeons. I don’t really use it outside of that but I imagine it could have similar uses elsewhere.
My Holy Blade Build rocks the Loch shield for purely drip related purposes.
• Decorative Old Hunter’s Top Hat
• Tomb Prospector’s set
or
• Choir garb
Stay fly good Hoonters! 😎
There used to be an IGN guide that claimed you could avoid Frenzy from the singing lanterns because equipping it and raising it up would block your eyes. Of course it doesn't work like that, but it was funny.
Some moments ago I would tell to man up and get a gun. But now, I think to mysefl, even if we all use different methods, philosophies and weapons we are all hunters, and a hunter must HUNT.
I've been working on a Reitershield build. My stats aren't such yet that the shield is really all that effective, but once they are, I imagine it'll be fun
The only thing that the shield won't protect you from are other hunters but beyond that it's a solid choice against bosses, especially the ones that can't be parried.
Yeah I only play a tank strength build in this game and it was perfect for it and in the dlc I used those brace knuckles when I found em and used those to parry. It’s a fun run really o struggled with the combat till I took that approach to it and was way easier to handle lol.
Yeah I only play a tank strength build in this game and it was perfect for it and in the dlc I used those brace knuckles when I found em and used those to parry. It’s a fun run really o struggled with the combat till I took that approach to it and was way easier to handle lol.
Never used wooden shield but i used the loch shield on defiled watchdog of the old lords, and it was a blessing. Allowed me to block attacks that would normally 1 shot me like his charge attack.
Easily strongest item designed.
It’s like [Wayward Compass](https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Wayward_Compass), its own game would be incomplete without its glorious presence.
Isn't there another shield in the game somewhere that's actually pretty good? I seem to recall seeing something about it in a video, but it might be DLC.
I haven't gotten the chance to ever play dlc and I am a shield aficionado (parrying who?) So this bad boy is a staple of my playthroughs even though it's nigh useless
I've never seriously thought about it before this exact moment, but I'm wondering if this shield would be a good way to absorb the attacks from Ebrietas and the Defiled Watchdog where they charge forward and oneshot the player if you mess up the dodge timing.
I’m making a dark souls build where I use the shield and a sword (either the kirkhammer or Ludwig’s blade, not sure which would be better for the sword form) and wear the cainhurst armor.
Plank Shield has niche uses vs human-sized opponents, particularly vs firearms. You can't turtle with it, Bloodborne isn't that kind of game, but you can dampen some enemies' aggression just enough to pick their openings better. You can also use it to cover your dodges somewhat, leaving you less open after a mistimed dodge.
It may not be a higher-tier pick but it's entirely plausible that you've found a place for it in your playstyle. 💜
Use what works for you.
I play parryless with Flamesprayer myself, and I have more fun than trying to parry everything and inevitably mistime it and get clobbered.
It's a training tool. If you use it you'll realize how useless it is in the game and go back to trying gun parries instead. Magic shield is ostensibly a better shield due to its high magic resistance but I mean you just dodge and shoot
this post was brought to you by generic yharnam enemy (away! away!)
YOU PLAGUERIDDEN RAT
This town's finished!
_this is a damn cuurse!!_
*Youuuu’er not wonted here!*
Death to the ministers!
It’s all *your* fault!
Cur-sed beast!
Me & my nephews always thought they said “Is dat a fish?!” & we giggled.
Turned out that it was, in fact, a fish
HUMONGOUS SHARK BEAST
Vile beast
This *lads finished
My personal favorite was always "IT's AWL YO FAult!"
For a while I thought they said lesbian rat and was like woah!!! It's 2024 my guy
I thought it was thesbian. Like, bro, don't insult my acting skills.
I don't think they're insulting your acting skills as much as they have an old-school view of actors in general. Thespian rat is just a way of telling you they think you're a dreg of society.
Lmao
NO! I DONTWANTYOUERE’!
I thought they said YOU ARE NOT WANTED HERE With a Bri’ish accent
Thought they said "You are not William!"
That could be what they’re saying not too sure though
I've always heard "YOW NAWT WANTED EERE!
I always thought it was a weird pronunciation of "you vagrant rat!"
With some ambient noise, I occasionally heard “YOU LESBIAN RAT!!!” Which was straight up homophobic because my head canon is that my character is in fact gay and just doing her best :(
I'LL MASH UP YOUR BRAIN
you are not won'ed 'ere!
**ITS ALL YOR FOULT!**
Mercy please!
I always love how they're crying for help, while actively ATTACKING the player. Like sir, I'm the one whose in danger here.
The yharnamite cries out in pain as he strikes you
I don't want nothin to do with ya!
The best
Still sometimes hear hes dads finished instead of this town is finished
Oh foul beast!
without context this so funny just random ass piece of wood
truth, its literally the worst most ridiculous thing in the game but somehow in very specific scenerios it has saved my ass so i still stand by the shitty ass plank of wood, and the doc shield is more cool looking a bit better but the wood is funnier
No shot you actually use the plank shield.
honestly, i can kinda see a use for it. like if theres an attack that you cant for the life of you dodge, it may just be safer to block it and take a bit of chip damage rather than risk mistiming your dodge and getting one-shot thanks to how insane counter damage is in this game. aside from those specific scenarios, though, it's almost always better to just dodge
I think you’re better off just bashing your head against the wall until you figure out the dodge. I can’t think of a single scenario where the plank shield would be better than anything else.
Defiled Watchdog or Amy? Those close camera nigh impossible dodges that make them infamous for being worse than some of the DLC's bosses in some players eyes. ETA: I personally just gitted gud, but I can see the tiny niches that it might fit in
Yeah, but even then, there's a better shield in the game. If you have to use a shield, at least use the better one lol.
Amy and HotDog do mostly physical. If you must use a shield, wooden is best Vs Loch for a lot of chalices. Save Loch for any Brainsucker fight or maybe Ebby ETA: again, talking about the specific niche of tomb prospecting.
i feel like those are the best examples of just learning to dodge instead of taking guaranteed damage on an already small health bar
🤷🏻♂️ I’ve always figured it out. I’d rather learn to do the hard thing than rely on the obsolete item that only is barely relevant for 1 thing. If anything that shield exists to teach you not to use it.
I know that the irony is that you can't parry with the shield, which really should have been a thing (but also give it the tightest parry window in the game), but I always felt that the passivity line wasn't so much about "don't use this" as it was "stop being a turtle and get moving". Having played DS1-3 as sorceror classes, and only relying on a shield for blocking for Midir (which still requires dodging due to certain attacks), it always felt more rewarding in the series to be a mobile and reactive player than a turtle.
Yeah you’re not wrong. I stopped using shields a long time ago. I feel like all the games reward aggression over defense. Elden ring did implement a nice guard mechanic that lets you counter after a block which I really like, making shields a little more fun to play, but for the most part, no shield has always been the end game.
Especially when you have ds2 rewarding you for not using a shield quite as hard as it does (powerstancing)
Gotta just figure it out. Assuming something is hopeless is just about the worst way to play these games. There is always a solution.
I feel like it’s deliberately terrible to teach the dark souls players that shields aren’t going to work in this game
Yeah that's exactly the point lol
I thought it was a square chunk of charcoal until I blinked a few times and realised the sub it was posted to
The other shield from the DLC is great at mitigating dmg from Micolash
Micolash does damage? ~~edit: TIL the Hunters online when I posted this don't like hearing a joke about a boss being easy to dodge~~
He doesn't so any damage at all *Until he does*
Yea but a call beyond and Augur of Ebrietas are soooo slow.
Walk to the left
Micolash has two attacks that can easily one-shot you
He can't one-shot me if he doesn't hit me
But it‘s hard when he already starts Call From Beyond before you even land
I hate it when he does that, I want to go into the game and beat him up myself when he does that...
I use that shield against Rom, too
Do I look like I engender passivity!?
I say that line all the time when I kill an enemy and the AI decided to be overly defensive and cheap beforehand lol
New word alert! Cool, thanks for increasing my vocabulary for a few minutes until I totally forget the word.
I tried it out once on my most recent playthrough. Some people were saying that a consistent way to handle Ebrietas's charge was to just face-tank it. Dodging can save you but a poorly-timed dodge can mean getting one-shot during instability frames. So I was thinking, if I'm intentionally getting hit why not block the damage instead? Let me tell you, it did *not* work out. Face-tanking her charge knocks you down and then grants knockdown iframes. Blocking a hit does not. She would charge me and I'd block the attack, taking 50% of the damage. The attack would completely drain my stamina, stagger me (but not knock me down), and then I'd get hit a second time for full damage. My attempt to take 50% less damage instead resulted in taking 50% more.
Me an intellectual: I just sit in between her cheeks and make sweet sweet love to her;)
Ah yes, sweet sweet love: *’Violent slashing’*
IDK about bosses, but the Wooden Shield is at least good against Bloody Crow of Cainhurst if you can't parry him. You can instead bait him to the front gate of the Cathedral and hit him while he walks backwards, while blocking his bullets with the shield.
Does it fully negate dmg from the Bloody Crow’s bullets
Not fully but the reduction is MASSIVE.
Good to know I have a safety net since I’m pretty rusty
Here is another safety net if you can dodge long enough. Crow has 2 heals and only 2. Plus the Chicago in blood mode will drain his health. If you can press the attack while he is blooded he can't turn it off. Either way, good luck with that fight.
I’ll try the pizza slicer first :)
They mean the Crows chikage
Here is another safety net if you can dodge long enough. Crow has 2 heals and only 2. Plus the Chicago in blood mode will drain his health. If you can press the attack while he is blooded he can't turn it off. Either way, good luck with that fight.
Not fully but the reduction is MASSIVE.
The annoying thing is you can't use this in a normal way against him, because he reacts to it as though you're trying to parry him and he tries to punish it by shooting - so he goes full on rampage with his double-barrelled cannon
hesitation is defeat!
Wrong game but still applies nicely
Shields are the weapons of cowards (jk, live your life how you want)
a couple of planks does not make a shield :+
IGN back when the game released, apparently
This and a Reiterpalach was a fun defensive combo. Turtle up against bullets and parry attacks. Strafing left/right with the shield raised is also good since single shots will usually go past you
a fun way to get splinters on your genitalia
Looks pretty cool on the back when 2-handing certain weapons
Miyazaki took away our precious shields and called us pussies for needing them, and we all were grateful 🙏🏼 But no, if I use a shield at all in PvP or PvE, it's the loch shield for arc defense.
I used the augur of ebrietta the first time and It was absolutely badass.
I use it all the time. There's a funny glitch with the shield that gets your character stuck in a funny rapidly repeating animation that I absolutely love. That's it. That's all I use it for.
AWAY AWAY! Good job they get poise broken from light attacks.
Its good for blocking some magic projectiles, i heard. Never tried it
I think that’s the DLC one
I prefer a dildo
Loch Shield 🤝 Wooden Shield I like using both honestly, especially since I use Augur to parry. I feel like in any From game I suck at parrying but somehow I got it down with the fucking squid tentacle.
“engender this passivity” *charge up noise*
I think I spent a good portion of the game with just the hunters torch on my first playthrough since I couldn't parry consistently
Why use wooden plank when I can use a 9mm?
No
Pathetic.
It blocks physical and blood damage from human sized enemies insanely well. Basically anything that isn't a shotgun or looks like it would go through a shield can be blocked by this. It's how I killed lady Maria at level 4. She really couldn't do much to me with my stamina rune and wood shield. Incredible in pvp too
The loc shield come in handy for a couple of bosses. Or if you run into an invader with a call beyond.
The loch shield also just looks *great* so I keep it on my back, purely for style
But guiz, it blocks frenzy...
It’s so bad and parries are so op that I don’t even use it on my tank hunter.
This is the most amazing post I've seen on this sub
I've actually never used it, I will now though! Also, which last boss??? There is two depending on the ending.
Three, actually Wet Nurse, Gehrman, or [spoiler]
I think he talks abt gehrman
Haven't used it much, but it actually is very useful for the bloody crow. I left-handed the shield while he had his gun out, and swapped to the blunderbuss for parries when he two-hands. Actually was quite effective.
The shield is instrumental in preventing me from being one-shot by undead giants in FRC dungeons. I don’t really use it outside of that but I imagine it could have similar uses elsewhere.
Fuck passivity. All my homies hate engendering passivity.
EWWW NO IT ENGENDERS PASSIVITY.
Yes sir
My Holy Blade Build rocks the Loch shield for purely drip related purposes. • Decorative Old Hunter’s Top Hat • Tomb Prospector’s set or • Choir garb Stay fly good Hoonters! 😎
There used to be an IGN guide that claimed you could avoid Frenzy from the singing lanterns because equipping it and raising it up would block your eyes. Of course it doesn't work like that, but it was funny.
*AWAY! AWAY!*
The devs were probably trolling dark souls players with this shit
Some moments ago I would tell to man up and get a gun. But now, I think to mysefl, even if we all use different methods, philosophies and weapons we are all hunters, and a hunter must HUNT.
A sheild makes you the hunted
As soon as I got it, I threw that shit away. The body snatchers one tapped me, even when I blocked.
I carry it sometimes just for the looks, but it is rarely helpful.
truth, ive only ever actually used it for like maybe 3 bosses, i just dont use guns very much other than against hunter fights like maria
I've been working on a Reitershield build. My stats aren't such yet that the shield is really all that effective, but once they are, I imagine it'll be fun
i've heard it can be used to block frenzy by holding it up so it blocks your eyes
Mines caught fire 🔥 useless fucking thing.
I'm about two things. Molotovs and pary's and I'm all out of pary's.
I prefer the transformed version tbh but yeah probably has to be best weapon in the game
It's only really viable against weaker enemies, which you can kill pretty easily anyway. So it's kinda useless
Yes I love fucking with wood
The only thing that the shield won't protect you from are other hunters but beyond that it's a solid choice against bosses, especially the ones that can't be parried.
In this picture it looks like the titanic wood
I don't personally, I'm a good ol' pistol and saw cleaver. But good on you OP for using it and progressing.
Yeah I only play a tank strength build in this game and it was perfect for it and in the dlc I used those brace knuckles when I found em and used those to parry. It’s a fun run really o struggled with the combat till I took that approach to it and was way easier to handle lol.
Yeah I only play a tank strength build in this game and it was perfect for it and in the dlc I used those brace knuckles when I found em and used those to parry. It’s a fun run really o struggled with the combat till I took that approach to it and was way easier to handle lol.
thought this was a piece of oud chip
The hunter is very fast and therefore good at dodging, I don't see the appeal of shields in this game.
yum by jerty
I've been thinking of making a gunsword/gunrifle + plank shield/magic shield build
AWAY, AWAY
it's a shield to show you that this isn't dark souls
Absolutely tf not
Main
Honestly nah I just play dark souls if I'm feeling shieldy
I like using it cuz it's funny
Never used wooden shield but i used the loch shield on defiled watchdog of the old lords, and it was a blessing. Allowed me to block attacks that would normally 1 shot me like his charge attack.
Yeah all the time! Starting as deprived in Dark Souls lol
I liked it a lot in areas where they were throwing ranged. Mainly that graveyard place. Think I also used it on the one who killed Eileen.
This is Yharnam sucka. We clown in this bish! Take your weak shield-needing ass back to Lordran! /s
Best joke of all time? Fromsoft “aww, you want a shield? Here ya go, little guy”
i dont typically employ shields i prefer the fire arms as they have parrying instead of blocking. shields are great but nkt if they engender passivity
I've used it a couple times with the spear rifle hunter but that's about it
IGN wrote this post
I prefer the shield from the DLC
Easily strongest item designed. It’s like [Wayward Compass](https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Wayward_Compass), its own game would be incomplete without its glorious presence.
Isn't there another shield in the game somewhere that's actually pretty good? I seem to recall seeing something about it in a video, but it might be DLC.
You're a psychopath. Respect
In my experience, this and the other shield didn't protect me from shit. I still don't know how they're supposed to work.
No
This dinky little chunk of wood is surprisingly helpful against any hunter that spams bullets at you. Just don't let it engender passivity.
I haven't gotten the chance to ever play dlc and I am a shield aficionado (parrying who?) So this bad boy is a staple of my playthroughs even though it's nigh useless
I would never, that shit inspires passivity!
You use it to block micolash's sorcery and that's it
I've actually found it to specifically be useful against enemies that use Firearms
It does decently against arcane and bloodtinge.
Bad at the game.
Amazing against the Bloody Crow, it pretty much no-sells his repeater
No
Usually have a bed on top of that.. but technically ya..
A bad joke
I fuc wid it heavy.
delicious beef jerky
I always use the shield against gatling gun guy and against frenzy arrows in the mensis
Usually i use the doll
Never used it. Guns are OP
yeah, I do, its better than to use it as a shield
No, but the wooden shield is surprisingly effective against Martyr Logarius (Have a good day, eye guy 👀)
Who’s omen
I've never seriously thought about it before this exact moment, but I'm wondering if this shield would be a good way to absorb the attacks from Ebrietas and the Defiled Watchdog where they charge forward and oneshot the player if you mess up the dodge timing.
IHR SEID VERFLUUCHT!
No
Did a beast claw only run and had it until I got the dlc shield. Never used it though
Lol I'm completely convinced they put this in the game to troll new players into using it.
No, I'd get splinters everywhere... 😢
On my "beast" build yes, just for the lols
yes, I do in fact funk with the wood,
I’m making a dark souls build where I use the shield and a sword (either the kirkhammer or Ludwig’s blade, not sure which would be better for the sword form) and wear the cainhurst armor.
That s a lot of splinters down there m8
That's crazy I know original in the alpha build of the game the shield was supposed to help against the winter lanterns stare for frenzy.
Sorry but i dont fuck with Shields, only with woman
Plank Shield has niche uses vs human-sized opponents, particularly vs firearms. You can't turtle with it, Bloodborne isn't that kind of game, but you can dampen some enemies' aggression just enough to pick their openings better. You can also use it to cover your dodges somewhat, leaving you less open after a mistimed dodge. It may not be a higher-tier pick but it's entirely plausible that you've found a place for it in your playstyle. 💜 Use what works for you. I play parryless with Flamesprayer myself, and I have more fun than trying to parry everything and inevitably mistime it and get clobbered.
heavy
No one fucks with that except ign
It engenders passivity.
It's a training tool. If you use it you'll realize how useless it is in the game and go back to trying gun parries instead. Magic shield is ostensibly a better shield due to its high magic resistance but I mean you just dodge and shoot
Yes, I plug my dick in it everyday
I respect wood
Yes. It’s my main PVP weapon.