Week Fifty Seven is here, and it brings our newest equipable item, shields. The first iteration released this week is the wooden shield, a Tier 2 item that blocks up to 75% of damage when used to defend against enemy attacks.
The shield can be equipped in your off-hand and used with a melee weapon or tool, but be aware it will suffer durability decline when used, at the benefit of your health bar.
Shields
Shields have been added as an equipable off-hand item.
The first version, the Wooden Shield, is crafted at the Crafting Bench and costs 14 wood, 12 fibre, 4 leather and 2 iron ingot. These can either be held on their own or with any one-handed melee weapon such as a hunting knife.
You can block up to a 90° angle in front of you, reducing damage by up to 75% using the right click on your mouse. The use of shields consumes a small amount of stamina, similar to any action with a melee weapon.
The shield takes damage when used to defend you from attacks, and will lose durability over time, so be prepared to repair it on the go.
We decided to add shields to open up some new gameplay and combat opportunities. As ‘jousting’ is currently a strategy for some creatures we wanted to provide an alternative and start to expand players' and creatures' reactions in combat. The shield allows players to quickly block an attack if there is no time to move or to keep the creature's focus on you while your co-op players deal the damage. With new creatures and behaviors on the way, the shield may come in handy in the coming patches. This is just the first shield to be introduced to Icarus but expect more with various skills, stats and modules in future. - Jake Dodunski, Project Lead
