An Analysis and Discussion about a subpar Shield Passive Notable: Greatest Defence

Good Evening.

TL;DR: If my understanding is correct, the Notable Greatest Defence is underperforming and should be brought in line with comparable Notables Lay Siege or Offensive Stance.

Let me begin by saying that this is very much a Micro-feedback on an observation as I analysed the Passive tree for my Mace & Shield Warrior. My hope is that this lets someone from GGG take a closer look and help with balancing this early access game.

Behold my Effortpost!

So I looked at the available Shield Passives found the Shield shaped cluster above the Resolute Technique Keystone.

There I saw the Notable Greatest Defense:
2% increased Damage per 75 Armour or Evasion Rating on Shield.

So I checked at mobalytics what kind of increased damage I can expect with my current shield. then I checked with an endgame shield with perfect roll.

The most Powerful shield with the highest base rating is the Expert Stone Tower Shield at Level 75, with 182 base Armour.
Now, in the hypothetical best case where we get the highest possible god rolls, we get +276 to Armour, and 50% increased armour.

(182 + 276 ) * 1.5 = 687 Armour
now with the Greatest Defense we get +2% increased Damage per 75 Armor.
(687 / 75) * 2 = 18.32% increased Damage.

erhm. what.
Ok, now I could be missing something or misunderstanding an interaction here.
After all, What about +x% increased Defenses From Equipped Shield?

If Greatest Defence uses the modified values then... its still bad.
in the Warrior Area of the tree there are 6 of these with a total of +130% increased Defenses from Equipped Shield, so that would be a a factor of 2.3

687 * 2.3 = 1580 Armour.
1480 /75*2 = 42% increased Damage.

IF! this is indeed the case, it still requires ridiculous investment going all over the place on the tree, and is still lackluster compared to just picking 2-4 damage nodes somewhere else instead.

But I suspect this doesn't even work due to the language of the nodes. It specifies The Rating on the shield, not the multiplied Defences on the character we gain. after all, the number on the shield does not increase when we take these smaller +x% increased defences from shields nodes.

and remember, this is a god-roll shield at endgame level 75! throughout most the of the game, this big notable is WORSE than a basic 10% increased damage when equipping a shield.

How does the GREATEST DEFENCE compare to other Shield Passives? in the Mercenary Area, and the templar's big Shield Clusters, we find Lay Siege and Offensive Stance. They are Identical:

+1% increased Damage per 1% chance to block.

(I wonder if they stack?)

Now, we know that Block chance is capped at 75%. Max block is achievable, so this notable would grant us a +75% increased damage. very nice, and rewards us for taking +x% increased block chance everywhere on the tree.
if I'm right and increased Defenses on Shield does not work with Greatest Defence, than Greatest Defence has no synergy with anything.

But the Comparison gets worse. A Warrior can strap a splintered Tower shield on his arm, and get a 26% block chance. with Lay Siege, he can get 26% increased Damage, with no further investment, with a white, level 1 shield.
Something the Greatest Defense cannot achieve with a perfect Roll, perfect base, Rare Level 75 Shield.

Now my suggestion? well there are a number of ways to change the numbers to be comparable. maybe increase the +2% damage, or decrease the Stat requirements. Even in the best case where it does synergise with the Increased Defenses on Shield nodes, it cannot compare with the alternatives.

or Perhaps, we can make it 2% More Damage per 75 Armour or Evasion? then the small number and lack of synergy would be more than fine. (Thank you Mace Cluster for the precedent of MORE damage in the passive tree)

I would like it if someone can confirm my Analysis, or debunk it if someone has a better understanding of the mechanics here.
I'm sure as we playtest this Game more we will find many other underperforming or overperforming Passives in the future.

I'm wondering this too and would like to have answer

I was planning my build and when I realized it's so bad I thought I'm wrong and searched it and reached this post. I think it needs a massive buff and a clarification on if %increased from equipped sheild works before or after this node