Managing artifact powers

curmudgeon62 · April 2017

Just got my Burning Mace and am wondering what artifact power to use. My at-wills are Shielding/Radiant, but the artifact power for Shielding Strike just says other at-wills can refresh it. Does that mean Oath or Valorous can apply the shield or do I need to still use Shielding to get it?

veywiil · April 2017

The temp hp on shielding strike only last so long, 15 seconds IIRC, this refreshes that but doesn't add more temp HP. Thus making the bonus from the artifact weapon esentially worthless. Besides the temp HP you get from shielding is almost nothing to began with seeing as it's 9% maximum after 9 slow strikes, IIRC. Thus, the only thing left is the damage, which I already ruled out in my post above, making the enitre ability of shielding strike, literally pointless. In any dungeon content the minute amount of temp HP (3% every 2 seconds if you are spamming shielding) is insulting.

veywiil · April 2017

Greetings! I can tell you for certain that shielding strike is not the way you want to go! Shielding strike hits harder than other at will powers, but hits alot slower. Don't believe me? Try Oath Strike verses Shielding Strike, it's alot quicker. I hear you asking, but why does speed matter? Well most of a paladin's damage comes form Encounter powers, or what encounter powers trigger. Let me give you an example of my favorite layout. Since you have shielding Strike I assume you are asking for Oath of Protection.

Burning Light, Circle of Power, Templar's Wrath. Aura of Courage, Aura of Wisdom. Oath Strike, Radiant Strike.

What the above allows me to do is have alot of damage which generates threat. Have a ton of Temp HP through high damage, thanks to Templar's Wrath. And my filler is a quick chain of Oath Strike, that gives Echoes of Light a better chance to Proc, so I can use Burning Light and Templar's Wrath alot more!

So for artifact main hand bonus I would go almost entirely with Oath Strike's bonus. As for offhand, go with Aura of Courage, or Aura of Wisdom bonus. Any more questions feel free to ask here on the forums or PM me in-game!

curmudgeon62 · April 2017

So what does the shielding strike bonus actually do? My understanding is that is proc's off the other strikes, not shielding strike itself.

thrilk · April 2017

One problem is that almost every pally runs Radiant Strike as their other at-will, and doesn't Radiant Strike not fully refresh the shield like the others? Personally I would go with Oath Strike as your other at-will and skip shielding strike. I believe the power for oath strike is 6% more damage.

armadeonx · April 2017

Most classes (possibly all) have one at will that works in conjunction with whatever one you've slotted. It's a bonus or effect power that works in combination with the other one and is regarded differently.

On my DC it's BoB which boosts team defence & offence, on my CW it's RoF which freezes enemies, on my GWF it's WMS which decreases enemy DR and on the Pally it's Radiant Strike which boosts your RI and DPS. That's why they have a different rule for the artifact power.

Re Shielding Strike, I used to use it a lot and I liked the big 'lump' damage and I found the shield helped a little, but I came to the same conclusion as Veywill, that rate-of-fire is much more important as it increases Divine Call generation and doubles your chances of triggering Echoes of Light (Shielding Compared to Oath & Valorous), these in turn increase AP gain.

Managing artifact powers

Best Answer

Answers