Shield AC

[Hammerdahl]

I know shield AC is very important because it is exempted from the soft-cap, but how much difference does it make? Would you use or ?

[WaringMcMarrin]

From talking to a Pally in guild all the extra heroics and hp on the newer shield will make up for the 7 ac you lose when switching to it.

[Brohg]

"how much better" AC on shields is better than AC elsewhere is class dependent, because how good AC in general is varies by class. For warriors, shield AC is twice as good. Sound good? For all other 15 classes, shield AC is (relatively) even better than that. For you, for knights, an AC gained on the shield is worth 3ac gained elsewhere. 1 shield_ac = 3 other_ac

As Waring has been told, while it's hard to make a direct conversion, heroic str/dex/agi are each worth at least an ac. 1 hstat some_ amount_ > 1 ac. The upgrade you're asking about gains you 15 hstats relevant to the AC comparison, which is pretty much a wash with the lost raw AC, and also a PILE of other benefits.

Go for it.

[Thessiuss]

Heroics & Shield AC IMO should be looked at individually. IIRC the parses i've seen do equate to 1ac in shield ~= 3ac elsewhere. It's been a while and i'm too lazy to do some digging for those parses.

TSW did parses with Heroics. Every 25 HAgi interval you gain 1% dodge (nothing in between) where as HDex gains parry & block with the same formula. I don't know how the HAgi gained through the shield affects the equation. However, if that extra HAgi pushes you over a 25 point interval, i would (personally) take the 1% dodge over a 5-10AC upgrade in the shield. Same goes with Hdex since it adds 1% to parry and 1% to block every 25 point interval.

is one of the URLs regarding the parses, is another (needs updated). Look about half way down for Yoda's posts. Most parses were done by Yoda but there are lots of other parses throughout TSW regarding heroics. I can scrounge up more if you'd like reading material.

In short, I'd go with the Shield of Blightwing, hands down.

On a side note, if you're a stickler for mana regen, the same rule applies to Hwis and mana regen. Hope this helps you decide and understand a bit more regarding future investments .

[varutia]

Same as the other guys, Shield of Blightwing is what I would use as well. The gain in heroics and hps are well worth the trade off in AC.