Starlight Wardens guide
Shields and blocking
With a blade, a spear or a wand your other hand holds a shield. It stops a monster's blow, and a monster's shots too, from the side you hold it toward.
The one rule
A zone on the ground: step out. A glowing monster: shield it.
A zone drawn on the ground always means move: no shield helps against it. A monster that glows and rears back is about to hit you: answer it with the shield, or a step.
Which weapons take a shield
The off hand holds a shield with a one-handed weapon. A two-handed weapon or a bow leaves no hand for one.
- BladeLeaves a hand for a shield
- HeavyNo shield
- TwinA blade in each hand
- SpearLeaves a hand for a shield
- BowNo shield
- StaffNo shield
- WandLeaves a hand for a shield
How to block
In VR
In VR there is no button: bring the shield between you and the monster, at about elbow height or higher, toward it. For what falls on you, a spat shot or a swoop, holding it over your head counts too.
Hold the shield on your left fist toward a glowing monster to stop its blow.
On desktop
On desktop, hold E: the shield comes up toward where you look.
Hold E to raise your shield toward where you look.
The perfect block
Raise the shield at the last moment and the block is perfect: the shield loses nothing, and the monster reels. A boss never reels, and a shot staggers nobody.
Guard
Every blow you stop wears the shield's guard. At nothing it breaks with a crack, stays dark for a few seconds and comes back half full. From behind you see through your own shield, and its pane shows how much guard is left.
What a shield never stops
Anything drawn on the ground: a charge's lane, a burst's circle, a slam's ring, a falling star, a pool. And a hit from a side the shield does not face.
Three shields
Try them on the rack in the training yard. Better shields are gear: earned, forged and worn from the Armory.
- Buckler: small, forgiving timing
- Round shield: the middle of both
- Tower shield: wide, slow to return