The Hidden Forest

Hi all, another donator question

I'm in the market for another donator item for my Paladin, and I'm not sure what to get. I already have my donator weapon, and am considering Ares, Shield of Immortality. Before going forward I wanted to get another opinion and see if the shield would be my best bet.

Thanks in advance!

I have the shield on my SK and I'm a little ashamed to admit how often I see "You have been healed by the gods for <insert my current total HP>!" - I've honestly wondered if the chance is higher than the stated 90%. That said, the stats/aug slots are nothing to scoff at.

Shield is awesome. Given how much extra Shield AC is vs normal ac (or at least was on live, I assume it isn't drastically different here) that alone is worth it, the clicky makes it even more so.

100% the shield should be your next donator for the tank mate, it's a fantastic piece of kit.

In all the times my shield has popped in the last 1.5 years or so that I've had it, I can honestly probably count the number of times it's failed on 2 hands so that is pure bad luck realistically.

And as the gnome says, the bonus shield AC in itself is well worth it too. (again, assuming it's not too different on THF than it was on live - Can you confirm this Vaion?).

I agree 100% as well. I just got this for my SK and it was worth it already.

The shield is a no-brainer if the aim is bang for buck with tank benefit. That said, it does depend on individual preference in relation to challenge.

Whilst the shield doesn't make you invulnerable - you'll die if the damage taken is too quick for the 20 second recast and it'll fail 10% of the time when it's up - it can quite easily become a crutch in scenarios where ability/capability fall short. It's all too easy to rely too heavily on it.

I got the shield for my warrior and the results were predictably brilliant. The main reason I got it was to have an anti-death touch option. But when it came to decide whether to get it for our two other tanks we decided against it. We want to be able to enjoy the challenge of the content and actually have something to look forward to loot on our tanks - the shields available via progression are great - and in the fights where the warrior uses the shield too often, we don't really feel we've achieved as well as when it's used little or not at all.

As with any donator item, for some it's a matter of balance and Ares is one of the least balanced items available, outside of the bps. But it is a donator item so balance doesn't come into the equation unless you want it to. If you are likely to only have one tank in raid content, I'd recommend it to help against death touches - any of those fights are challenging with one tank anyway - but if you want to donate without taking away a significant level of challenge in encounters, I'd suggest the tank Aug, which will boost your tanking ability nicely combined with the donator weapon and greatly help agro.

Thanks for the input guys, appreciate it. I went for the shield and am loving it so far! If I end up getting another donator item down the road I may pick up the tank weapon aug.

Yeah, it's another good piece. Personally I struggled to keep aggro from my Donor BP'd Rogue and having the aug helped massively.

Tank Legs are also a good buy for the aggro and rune.