Blue Protocol: Star ResonanceShield Knight Shield Spec GuideBest build and how to play the class.

Basic ATK

Blade of Justice

Skill

Vanguard Strike

Ultimate

Radiant Infusion

Slot 1 - Mandatory

Judgment

Slot 2 - Mandatory

Sacred Blade

Slot 3 - Mandatory

Zeal Crusade

Slot 4 - Mandatory

Radiance

Holy Sigil - Holy Sigils are our main resource; we have 5 of them and what we use to cast our core abilities - Vanguard Strike and Sacred Blade, which require 3 and 1 Holy Sigil to use, respectively. After a Holy Sigil is used, it goes on cooldown for 10 seconds, with each Sigil having its own separate cooldown. Many of our talents and stats focus heavily on reducing Sigil cooldown and granting them back to us for free.

Photon Energy - Our energy bar resource, which is used solely to cast our most powerful self-healing ability, Judgement. We can hold up to 100 (120 with talents) Photon energy at a time and primarily gain it through using Holy Sigil spenders. For every 1 Holy Sigil an ability costs, it grants 10 Photon energy; an ability that costs three will therefore grant 30.

Lightforged Barrier - Lightforged Barrier is a buff stackable up to 10 times baseline, which lasts 25s and grants us 2% increased max HP per stack. Getting hit will reduce our stacks by 1, but gaining any stack amount will refresh its duration. The HP increase from this buff is a true final multiplier, meaning it multiplies other sources of HP% increase and flat HP, and it can be massively enhanced thanks to our mastery. This buff is also used as fuel for many of our best abilities, making it the heart and soul of our kit.

Radiant Shield - While technically not a resource, another one of our main mechanics is Radiant Shield. Many of our talents and some of our abilities will grant us this with varying degrees of scaling. The common theme among all sources of this thought is that we gain a shield based on our ATK, which blocks 50% of incoming damage, with the other 50% hitting our HP. We can accumulate a shield equal to our maximum HP (200,000 HP = 200,000 maximum potential shield).

Note

There is extreme synergy between Lightforge Barrier and Radiant Shield as the larger our total life pool, the larger our maximum shield max becomes. Despite being a “shield” does not scale with the %increase shield stat. However, it scales with the shielding improvement from Versatility.

Fixed Skills

• 

  Blade of Justice
  - Our Basic Attack is a 4-part melee sequence which we won't really be using unless no other abilities are available.
• This ability can be enhanced, evolving into Condemn when certain talents trigger.
• Vanguard Strike - Consumes 1 Holy Sigil to deal damage and generate 2 stacks of Lightforged Barrier. Also generates an extra 2 Photon energy per enemy it hits, up to a max of 10.
• This ability can be enhanced, evolving into Vanguard Hunt when certain talents trigger.
• 

  Radiant Infusion
  - Our Ultimate deals AoE damage around us and Dazzles enemies, forcing them to move toward us, which is fantastic for fishing in ranged enemies into melee so they can be cleaved. Upon use also grants us 1 Holy Sigil and 10 Photon Energy every 2 seconds for 10 seconds, prioritizing Sigils with the longest cooldown remaining. During this period, you’ll be able to spam Holy Sigil spenders and use
  

  Judgment
  liberally for fantastic sustain. Finally, this ability also grants us a massive personal shield, and with talents, is also capable of deploying a shield that may benefit our party members as well!

Mandatory Skills

• 

  Judgment
  - Our only Photon Energy spender and the signature ability of both Shield Knight specs. Consumes 45 Photon energy on use to deal AoE damage and heal us based on the amount of HP we’re currently missing. At max Advancement, this heal is 40% of missing HP, meaning at half HP we can recover 20% of our total life pool with one cast. This also has a minimum healing effect of 5%, even when we’re close to maximum life. This ability allows us to be our own healer and is so accessible that you’ll have no problem spamming it constantly.
• Although you’ll gain plenty of Photon Energy, it can be a good idea to hold enough in reserve to cast Judgment on demand in emergencies.
• 

  Sacred Blade
  Consumes 3 Holy Sigils to impale enemies with a giant light sword, dealing damage in a small AoE while generating 5 stacks of Lightforged Barrier.
• 

  Zeal Crusade
  - Consumes up to 8 Lightforged Barrier Stacks to summon a holy aura for up to 16 seconds, with the duration being determined based on stacks consumed (2 sec per stack). This aura deals damage to all enemies around us frequently, heals us by 1% max HP per enemy hit up to a max of 5% and also restores 1 Lightforged Barrier every pulse. We always want to wait until possessing 8 Lightforged Barrier before using this ability and want it active for as long and consistently as possible.
• The pulse speed scales with attack speed.
• 

  Radiance
  - Hurl five shields toward nearby enemies (max 1 shield per enemy), interrupting them and taunting them on hit. Then, for the next 10s fire an additional shield every 2 seconds and reduce incoming damage by a % of your max HP while also automatically countering red flash boss abilities as well. Each shield that lands also generates 10 photon energy. This ability has a 70-second cooldown and is our main defensive tool to use either as an opener in combat or to save for when things get rough.
• The damage reduction from this ability scaling off of our HP further incentivises the stacking of Mastery.

Skill Priority

Radiance

>

Judgment

>>

Zeal Crusade

=

Sacred Blade

= Vanguard Strike >

Divine Circle

>

Blade of Justice

=

Radiant Infusion

Advance

Radiance

Zeal Crusade

Sacred Blade

Divine Circle

Blade of Justice

Radiant Infusion

If you want to create your own Talent tree, check our tool:

Talent Planner

Important!

All gear & talent related info is based on extensive in-game testing, parsing, theory crafting and simulations. If you want to learn more about how damage works to understand our decisions, check out our Damage Formula Guide.

Here are the best modules for Shield Knight - Shield - listed in priority order:

1. 

   Resistance
   - Provides increased Max HP% and a ton of Endurance, boosting our maximum shield potential, healing, life, and damage. Also provides magic damage reduction for further defensive benefit.
2. 

   Armor
   - Provides some flat armor, which is always welcome, but also 6% attack damage reduction, further boosting our tankiness.
3. 

   Attack SPD
   - Grants us up to 6% ATK SPD to further accelerate our rotations speed and help us churn through our Holy Sigils and photon energy. Also has ATK to boost our shielding output.
4. 

   Strength Boost
   - The combination of strength and ATK boost overall shielding output while granting us some bonus armor. These stats, in combination with some Armor penetration, also boost our damage.

Attention!

The best Shield Imagines are incredibly flexible with what’s best depending on the content you’re running and the Imagines your other support party members are using. Below is a guideline of what we recommend for different content types. Also, tank-based Imagines have some of the most unique effects in the game, often meaning they don’t have direct equivalents. Because of this, there is no exact F2P substitution; check out our purple Imagine listing for more info.

ATTENTION!

The list of Imagines below is not a ranking; each listing can be equally useful if the right situation arises. Read the descriptions to understand when to use each.

Trash Clearing

Frost Ogre

/

Golden Juggernaut

+

Tempest Ogre

Bosses

Golden Juggernaut

/

Frost Ogre

+

Airona

Top Gold Imagines

• 

  Airona
  - When cast, summons Airona who performs a short prayer before reviving up to 4 downed teammates. Airona is powerful in standard play to resurrect teammates, but also has another use. By equipping our invulnerability, we can survive guaranteed raid wipe mechanics; therefore, the group can forgo completing these, we can invuln them, then use Airona to bring the team back. Incredibly highly valued to have on tanks for raids.
• 

  Tempest Ogre
  - Upon activation, Tempest Ogre generates a vortex that draws enemies in from a large distance away. Its passive also makes the user take 5% less damage, making this a great option for tanking in dungeons. Tempest Ogres' pull radius is frankly absurd, allowing you to group entire rooms in dungeons, boosting clear times a disgusting amount.
• 

  Frost Ogre
  - Frost Ogre deals some of the highest resilience break damage in the game on use, allowing us to break enemies far more quickly. Breaking bosses before major mechanics or before they leave the arena can be a huge benefit to the party’s overall damage. Also incredibly effective at controlling large packs of enemies.
• 

  Golden Juggernaut
  - Grants a 30% HP shield to you and your allies on use at Advancement 0. Allies shielded by this effect also deal additional damage with their hits. Golden Jug offers great offensive and defensive capabilities, serving as a good “oh shit” button while also improving the party's damage somewhat.
• The additional hit granted to allies can Crit and Lucky Hit, has a 0.5 second cooldown, and is unique, meaning only one of these buffs can be held at a time
• The 8% Shield increase does not scale our Radiant Shield and the 30% HP Shield on use is separate from it as well allowing of a theoretical max shield of 130% of HP.
• 

  Tina
  - Tina buffs the party with a 50% cooldown reduction for 20 seconds, and once a party member is affected by this effect, they can’t be affected again for 60 seconds (Advancement 0). Tina is considered the best Imagine for support roles due to her buff, allowing classes to go back into their burst window more quickly.
• While powerful, Tina is usually best run on sustains. You should only prioritize running it over tank choices if they don’t have it or you’re confident in coordinating up and downtimes.

Top Purple Imagines

• 

  Brigand Guard Captain [A5]
  - Grants a passive 12.5% Endurance and an additional 20% on use, massively boosting our HP. Plus, the next 9 times we’re attacked, we instantly recover 20% of our missing HP. This is an incredibly good option when handling groups of enemies to recover HP quickly. Not as uniquely powerful as most of our gold imagine choices, but an outstanding F2P accessible choice to fill in blanks in your build.
• 

  Void Arachnocrab [A5]
  - After receiving 10 hits, increases Armor by 1125 for 15s. Upon use, it transforms you into Void Arachnocrab and grants invincibility for 5s. This is a great option to gain additional armor and also an invulnerability without changing out one of your skill slots.
• This Imagine can become one of our best when aiming to cheese certain boss mechanics, especially in combination with Airona
• 

  Mighty Colossus [A5]
  - Transform into Mighty Colossus and charge at the enemy, dealing more resilience damage the longer you charge. Mighty Colossus also passively increases Resilience Break Efficiency and is a good alternative to Frost Ogre if you’re aiming to break enemies often and don’t have him yet.

Important

Both Haste and Mastery are valid choices for Shield Shield Knight, with both being strong in their own way. Going all in on Mastery will improve max HP scaling and tankiness while going for Haste boosts rotation speed, shielding frequency, and improve cooldown uptime. Which is better for you depends on your circumstances; you can also go for a 50/50 split.

• Sapphire - Strength (Haste)
• Emerald - Strength (Mastery)

Shield Shield Knight’s “Rotation” or gameplay rather boils down to maintaining Zeal Crusade for as long as possible while also establishing and maintaining the Indomitable Courage buff at the same time as keeping Sigils on cooldown at all times and ensuring Photon energy never caps out. Just by doing this, you can expect to be at maximum Lightforged Stacks most of the time.

Here is what to do:

• Optionally use
  

  Radiance
  if available (you can save it if you want as a survivability cooldown)
• Optionally use
  

  Radiant Infusion
  if available (you can save it if you want as a survivability cooldown)
• Use
  

  Sacred Blade
  and Vanguard Strike to establish 9 Lightforged Barrier
• Use
  

  Zeal Crusade
• Ensure Photon Energy never overcaps by dumping it with
  

  Judgment
• Spam Vanguard Hunt until 10 stacks of Indomitable Courage
• Then continue to use
  

  Sacred Blade
  when able, otherwise use sigils on Vanguard Hunt/Strike, dump all Photon Energy into
  

  Judgment
• Use
  

  Zeal Crusade
  whenever available, with the goal of keeping it active as long as possible.

Continue along with the above while attempting to remain standing in the

Divine Circle

Judgment

Can Shield be played on auto?

As a tank, Autoplay will never be ideal due to the loss of control it incurs, but with that said, if that’s not an issue for you, Auto can play Shield Shield knight fairly well, with the exception of the fact that it doesn’t prioritize building stacks of Indomitable Courage early on in the rotation.