Shield Charge

I would also enjoy a buff or rework to this skill

but what i have in mind would change armour and shields aswell

for example Colossal Tower Shield these should have higher block then Vaal buckler imo

BUT they should suffer alot of movement speed reduction as a result from their massive weight annnd shield charge should factor in the total weight of your shield and armour so the more weight you have = more dmg + knockback

Also the more armour stat you have should add weight which would add more damage to shield charge (could also make weight reduce knockback or sumin) WHICH would promote/force more tank builds (the "leather and steel" type passive of removeing movement penalties should be removed aswell) and not builds running around with 15k+ armour leap slaming at lightspeed makeing light evasion type builds the fast glass cannons they should be and the heavy tanks actually tanks.

edit: also weight could give leap slam more dmg but less range :)

I think the damage should be based on the shield's defensive stats. This is how I thought it would've worked when I started playing PoE. Something like "damage is XX% of shield's defenses." This would make it usable unarmed (but it would be OP with Facebreaker if the stats worked on shield charge without a weapon in hand.) and non-reliant on melee weapon. So no weapon wouldn't = unarmed attack. Being able to use shield charge without a melee weapon would make for way more possible and interesting builds and skill combos.
You should start movement slow and then speed up the farther you travel, and the recovery/recoil part after your shield hits should also be shorter or longer depending on distance, so you can do smaller hits faster.
Supporting the attack with melee splash is already AoE so it doesn't need to change as a single target.

Regards to the above poster, I don't really think the weight idea would be a good game mechanic is PoE. I would see it being really awkward. Suddenly Determination and Granite Flasks would make you super slow. And Iron Reflexes would make it so the only difference between armor and evasion gear (on a IR character) would be what colours you can easily get.

SHIELD CHARGE IS BUGGED, it misses moving targets no matter what 100% of the time. IF you over shoot your target it pushes them aside and does no damage.

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/887202

My proposed change would have Shield Charge damage and knock back enemies while charging and have a mana drain similar to Arctic Armor. While you hold the activation key down you use mana and the skill is actively damaging and knocking back enemies

AOE, Melee, Movement

Damage should scale off the shield properties, with reflect mod damage multiplied by a percentage applied with the skill.

Does Shield Charge give a guaranteed stun if you get the rull run-up? Could be handy against bosses with the right build.

I think there's a general idea that Shield Charge should hit stuff with the shield somehow. It doesn't. There isn't even an animation for bashing stuff with your shield. The shield is just a prerequisite - somehow holding a shield magically gives you the ability to run fast at enemies and hit them hard with your weapon, in a way that totally wouldn't work if you were just holding the weapon.

...yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either. Maybe the devs should just change this to a simple 'Charge' skill that works with any melee weapon setup, and think again about what they really want to do with shields.

henry, its great to see you're here reading our feedback.
good work on the game for the most part and thanks.

but this is maybe the first time,
im a bit dissapointed in a forum post from you. because...?
your answer is not helpful.

the only occasion it might be important to know that is when-
1)Curse on Hit is linked with shield charge and a curse.
2)Chernobog's Pillar shield is equipped (applies a curse on hit)
2)this implies that though you might roll a miss with weapon,
you possibly might still hit with the shield,
thus applying a curse or taking dmg from lightning thorns.

but i have the feeling if you miss with the weapon,
the knockback and stun (which is based on dmg dealt by weapon)
and additionally the possible onhit effect,
would not occur, and so i doubt that the shield 'hits'.

LazyZunde and Stiglitz have some good ideas/points above.
in the words of Incompetent,
'maybe the devs should think about what they should do with shields.'
maybe, shields are a bit op. i think dual wield needs something.
(i have posted about dw several times elsewhere)
i know the implementation of any of these ideas would take work.
but this is a seriously dead or useless skill with numerous flaws.

Visualize has an interesting idea too.
but in reality with mob micro desync the way it is, (every which way, all the time),
i realize that to make this work you would probably have to trust the client side
to see what the shield or character visually hit on the players screen.
at least in order for it to FEEL responsive with the knockbacks and such-
disregarding effectiveness of the skill at killing.
also it would need a 'cannot be stunned/interrupted' like cyclone,
which it SHOULD probably get anyway, or else
player would charge thru 3 rooms to desync back to first mob, which stunned him.

as said before, the best word to describe this skill is 'clunky.'
mobs MOVE. semi randomly in controlled programmed ways, varying on player proximity.
they move out of your path. shield charge isn't all that fast.
now for my suggestion to increase responsiveness, reduce clunky.
barrage has a 'charge up' time, much as shield charge has a charge to target time.
maybe reduced movement speed for .2 seconds while character hunches down, gets good footing.
then increased movespeed-yes, faster than it is currently-so you get to target b4 it moves.
the .2-.5sec recovery time after hit would prevent abuse as a movement skill.
but to keep its niche and flavor as a not-stand in place-and spam skill,
make a minimum charge distance.much as lightning warp.

you could also consider making it an aoe skill.
yes, hit a VERY small area directly in front of character at 'bash' point.
either that or additionally dmg all targets pushed aside.
maybe 20-40% dmg effectiveness on the knock aside,
and 50-70%splash dmg at the bash point.

firemind and other above have similar visions of the skill possiblities.

i've wanted to make a shield charge build forever.
my contender for top 4 favorite league characters is Leona.
if you've played her, you know how powerful and responsive and rewarding
her auto attack+Q reset into face bash with her shield feels.
might sound overly dramatic but those are important game design elements.

but shield charge is too clunky.
i am 100% confident that sometime in the next 2 years
GGG will touch it up in some way, or remake/modify it.

its such an old skill-id rather have it actually usable and fun to use
before a 'not-needed because it overlaps skill niche' new skill is introduced.
same way i would rather have sweep (which i want to use) or cleave
(which is fun every now and then when swapping around gem combos for 1-2 zones)
touched up or changed first.
this isnt beta anymore. existing, long ago released content should be complete.
(and hopefully close to balanced.)
changed only if some major change or problem occurs with theme or game mechanics.

molten strike is basically-finished content.
all that remains very likely is small number tweaks for balance.
3 balls, 5 balls, small balls, big balls, the number might change.
the inital hit might get some reduced damage effectiveness and/or conversion.
these numbers might change a bit.
but the theme of fire-hit and blobs of fire jumping out semi-/randomly is set.

molten strike DOES have its place. but we had:
lightning strike,ST,and infernal blow;
all of which are kind-of melee AND kind-of ranged
and kind-of ele AND kind-of phys
they kinda overlap. so we didnt NEED molten strike right away.
hell i dont think anyone expected it.
but it coulda waited till old stuff was polished and up-to-par.

+1 for zephiroth3 and GrindcoreTHRALL

I really hope shield charge will be revisited soon probaly in next patch. Just look at the skill changelog in POE Wiki. No change since 0.9.1 which is forever. Absolutely nobody use it as a main skill, and people just ignore it. So why it is even made?

Some biggest problems are stated above and I just want to confirm it as I tested it on my 91 shadow. I tried to go to RT to reduce miss chance but tbh, it doesn't matter because if you don't click on the mob OR the mob move 1 step, you are doing nothing.

I think it is very good to add new skill gems to diversify the skills but how about fixing (I am using the word because it is litterally unusable) the old skills like shield charge? Or at least remove it from the game if you don't have the idea for it because it can waste a lot of time for new players and unbalance when coming to gem reward in race because nobody use it.

Edit: Here are SOME of the gears I tested the skills on to prove I tried it seriously and I am not talking out of ignorance. Also tried on templar who has RT as I mentioned.

"

Mark_GGG wrote:

The weapon does the damage, the shield does the stun and knockback.

Could we get shield charge for unarmed chars then? They really could use the movement skill and a bit of stun would be great as well. No dmg is OK, else facebreaker would make this way OP...