Active block should be able to block more hits

I feel there is little reason to use active block if it does not block things passive block does not block.

The stagger mechanic already exists so I don't think it would be to powerful. It would make active block feel better to use as now when you active block often you don't block the attacks. It's always better to either dodge roll or move out of the way.

Active block seems to be completely useless. Correct me if I am wrong, but when I tried it at low level it didn't seem able to actually block boss slams or AoEs at all and just behaves like evasion or passive block.

If that is the case, why would I ever active block random mobs? There's not a single situation where I would actually do this. Active blocking big boss hits is the only logical use case for it.

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Kashou#2868 wrote:

Active block seems to be completely useless. Correct me if I am wrong, but when I tried it at low level it didn't seem able to actually block boss slams or AoEs at all and just behaves like evasion or passive block.

If that is the case, why would I ever active block random mobs? There's not a single situation where I would actually do this. Active blocking big boss hits is the only logical use case for it.

From what I understand active blocks, blocks anything passive block can already block. It gives you 100% chance to block and enable the stagger downside. But yeah I don't see a reason to ever active block if you can dodge roll. Dodge roll evades all hits even most aoes, which active block cannot block.

So the only reason to active block is to use magma barrier atm. Which I have concluded to be pretty bad. I'm trying to make it work. But the amount of hits that seem to be blockable is just not. So it's a inconsistent mess, which is better avoided then interacted with.

I block all kinds of projectiles with Raise Shield. I believe that's the point. It's a directional block for physical projectiles. Arrows and bombs bounce off it, but it has to hit the shield. Magic I can't always tell.

I do wish Raise Shield was a toggle not a hold.

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anothervenue#1386 wrote:

I block all kinds of projectiles with Raise Shield. I believe that's the point. It's a directional block for physical projectiles. Arrows and bombs bounce off it, but it has to hit the shield. Magic I can't always tell.

I do wish Raise Shield was a toggle not a hold.

All projectiles and strike skills are blockable. But if you have enough passive block there is no point in using active block as they block the same stuff. And if you use active block you can be staggered, which is a pretty big downside. The upside is very minor if you already have 75% chance to passive block. Which is easy to get with currently shields and nodes.

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Sjatar#1090 wrote:

All projectiles and strike skills are blockable.

I don't think that's true. My main is a Magma Barrier Titan. There are certain non-AOE attacks that sure look like strikes or projectiles and I have failed multiple times to active block them. And I'm not talking about the attacks with the red glow and sound that cannot be dodged.

A few attacks come to mind:
- Some turquoise spirit-like projectiles coming from certain undead who have a tomb on their back or something.
- a regular cultist mob's slow charged up bleeding dagger strike
- Rathbreaker (hyena centaur boss) has a single vertical strike that can be dodge-rolled but not active blocked. It does not have the red glow or special sound denoting an attack that cannot be avoided.

All I want is consistency so I don't feel like I need to test out whether I can block an attack or not.

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Sjatar#1090 wrote:

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anothervenue#1386 wrote:

I block all kinds of projectiles with Raise Shield. I believe that's the point. It's a directional block for physical projectiles. Arrows and bombs bounce off it, but it has to hit the shield. Magic I can't always tell.

I do wish Raise Shield was a toggle not a hold.

All projectiles and strike skills are blockable. But if you have enough passive block there is no point in using active block as they block the same stuff. And if you use active block you can be staggered, which is a pretty big downside. The upside is very minor if you already have 75% chance to passive block. Which is easy to get with currently shields and nodes.

You can also take Turtle Charm from Warbringer and with a bit of investment end up blocking MORE hits with shield lowered than with active blocking. Actually even without accounting for the less block chance on turtle chance you still end up blocking more. Crazy.

When they launched the EA the passive block could only blocks hits from the front lol ... it would have been good if they displayed a similar creativity for nerfs when they cooked the ranged / ES characters but seems like their announcements about "making melee good" were nothing but PR tricks .

So now that passive block does what it is supposed to do , that dodge roll already allow the player to evade 100% of damage , what should be the point for active blocking ? Even if they decide to put "reflect damage back" & "buff by a ton the defenses" on it , i don't see why anyone would consider Raise Shield at all ?

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Sjatar#1090 wrote:

I feel there is little reason to use active block if it does not block things passive block does not block.

You do not "feel" that changing your block chance from X to 100% is a good reason to use it?

What do you think about it?

Leave you feelings aside, and tell me what is reason telling you.

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EightInchFloppyDisk#2190 wrote:

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Sjatar#1090 wrote:

I feel there is little reason to use active block if it does not block things passive block does not block.

You do not "feel" that changing your block chance from X to 100% is a good reason to use it?

What do you think about it?

Leave you feelings aside, and tell me what is reason telling you.

That 100% chance (as opposed to measly 75%) comes with massive downsides. It enables stagger, it makes you move like a snail, it nullifies your evasion, it disables Turtle Charm, you can't attack while doing it, and since you can't always tell if an attack is blockable or not, it may actually end up killing you while just dodge rolling or simply walking away could've save you.