Lycosidae Viable?

I'm fairly new to pvp here so I've been looking around at what builds are available, and as far as I can tell there doesn't seem to be anything using Lycosidae at all. Is there something I'm missing about this shield? Because it seems like it would be really cool to make a sword and board elemental build out of this, or something along those lines...

Also, if there are any builds I've missed can you guys point me to them? I'm still getting a feel for pvp and don't really know most of the items available yet, so reading about what others have done tends to help me move in the right direction at least as far as uniques go.

From your post it's not really clear whether you're referring to high level or low level PvP content. For low level PvP, Lycosidae is arguably best in slot for 1h and shield melee builds, especially on a budget. Pretty much everyone uses it for melee builds, even at a high budget people opt to use it over Vagan weapons, since it allows you to get far more DPS on your weapon. Although melee isn't exactly the most popular build, so I could imagine why you might not see it too often.

For high level PvP content, it's significantly less useful. Accuracy is less important than in low level, not very many builds nowadays stack high evasion since most builds deal secondary damage, which can't be evaded. There are also a lot of stronger shields available in high level, Aegis is pretty much the most commonly used, and also by far the strongest (at least legacy is, though non-leg is still insane). You'll get far more out of an Aegis 1h melee build than you would using a Lycosidae.

Again, I have no idea what sort of PvP you're interested in, if you are interested in low level then the main reason you haven't seen Lycosidae builds is because nobody really makes build threads for LLD. It's significantly more straightforward than high level, since there's not too much you can do with 35 passives. LLD is also a fairly quiet community and doesn't have nearly as many people playing it nowadays than high level, which is why there are a lot more high level threads posted than low level.

If you're running it, avoid forested areas and stick open environments, particularly grasslands. As for climate, it's pretty cosmopolitian, just avoid obviously dangerous climes such as artctic. Caves are okay but too much time could lead to eventual regression and ultimately loss of eyes. You play things right and you could be looking at any where from 2 years to alledgedly 11, that's a lot more then most araneomorphae get.

I've been using Lyco on my 28 pvper in breach sc. Went templar for huge %dmg increase as well as giant life nodes. Counter attacks hit like a tank but attack speed suffers. 1.7k life 3k lacerate and counter attacks hit from 2.5k -3k each.

Current tree:




Gear:

Sorry for the late response.

@Shazamarang to clarify I was talking about LLD, and thanks for the confirmation. I hadn't seen many LLD threads, but the only shield anyone was using was Crest of Perandus so I wasn't sure if Lycos was just outclassed or something.

@VZ58 Thanks for sharing the build. :) How does does Templar play vs rolling ranger, in your opinion? Was leaning towards Templar, but the ranger has so many broken nodes it can abuse...

Hey,
- physical dmg weapon/build: still Crest is the best, in standard lld legacy version +5% block and 2x more hp is huge, only downside is must have min. 900 accuracy.
- ele dmg build: no doubt Lycosidae is the best.
gl

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DedeX wrote:

Hey,
- physical dmg weapon/build: still Crest is the best, in standard lld legacy version +5% block and 2x more hp is huge, only downside is must have min. 900 accuracy.
- ele dmg build: no doubt Lycosidae is the best.
gl

I have to disagree here. Lycosidae is inarguably the best shield for 1h melee.
Only if you don't have resolute technique ofc.

I would also argue that Lycosidae is better than Crest of Perandus, unless you have ways of getting 'Hits cannot be evaded' somewhere else, whether it be from either Resolute Technique or from Vagan weapons. Lycosidae allows for you to use higher DPS weapons, rather than Vagan weapons, and only sacrifices a little bit of it's defenses. A Lycosidae with a Vicious Mercenary's weapon has significantly more damage than a Perandus and a Vicious Vagan's weapon, and is only slightly worse in it's defenses.

For temp leagues it's a no brainer, Lycosidae is almost mandatory for 1h melee that aren't RT. Though, a legacy Perandus for a swap-out in standard might still be an alright option, even without Vagan weapons. Still far worse damage wise however.

Mkey, I have tested Lycosidae on my phys sword build during our last standard lld activity times (Calamity short reborn) and always was back to the Crest. I was not able to kill Kitty with Lycosidae etc, always died first, the same in 2v2 and 3v3. Dissapointed after spending a few ex for recrafing/ new rings for it. I chose defeance.
Yes, for dagger or other one shot potentiall build Lycosidae would be better.

There is small chance that after incoming tripple buff for swords my opinion will change :)
Lets have a hope for making melee great again :)

The real reason why lycosidae is bis at the moment is the huge added cold damage for triggers. This combined with the penetration nodes from ranger makes melee somewhat relevant. You will still get fucked by cws though