Blade Shield

Spinning blades slice enemies who stray too close.

Blade Shield is the last blade skill (Traps tree, level 30, requires Blade Fury). It is a buff on the Assassin herself: for its duration a ring of blades strikes everything within a few yards of her once a second with a share of her weapon damage. The numbers that decide it are the duration, 120 seconds at level 1 and 348 at level 20, and the 75% weapon damage every tick carries, with the mana — 65 at level 20 — as the price of a recast.

The numbers

Duration is Param1 (3,000 frames) plus Param2 (300 frames) a level at 25 frames a second: 120 seconds at level 1, +12 a level, 348 at level 20 and 468 at level 30; the Basin notes this is D2R's figure, against 15 + 5 a level in the old game. The skill's own damage is MinDam/MaxDam (HitShift 8, read as written): 1–30 at level 1, then +5 a level to level 8, +6 to 16 and +7 from there for both ends (LevDam1–5 are 5, 6, 7, 7, 7): 112–141 at level 20, 182–211 at level 30. Both read lvl, so +skills count.

Three things do not change with level and are left out of the table: the blades carry 75% of the weapon's damage (SrcDam 96 of 128, which the Basin notes is D2R's share, 1/4 in the old game); the radius is 4 yards (Param4 is 6 sub-yards); and the tick is every 25 frames (Param3, "Periodic Damage Delay"), once a second. Mana is 27 at level 1 and +2 a level (lvlmana 2): 65 at level 20, 85 at level 30.

How it works

Blade Shield is a state on the Assassin (aurastate "bladeshield", periodic 1) that can be cast in town (InTown 1). The Basin's page says it uses the cast rate, strikes every target within melee range the moment it is cast and once a second thereafter until it expires, and that recasting it fires an extra strike each time. Its range adder is 0: only the target's size sets the reach, not the weapon's.

Each tick is a weapon attack that rolls Chance to Hit and deals physical weapon damage, see Dealing Physical Damage. The Basin's page lists what rides on it beyond what Blade Sentinel carries: -% target defense and Ignore Target's Defense, flat "Damage +", +% skill damage, -% enemy resistance, chance to cast on attack (only on a successful strike), Prevent Monster Heal, and life and mana stolen per hit. The Basin says +% damage does not apply to the skill's own 112–141, that cold length is reduced like the damage while poison length is not, that with two claws only the primary claw counts, and that the blades do wear the weapon's durability. The skill's level is fixed when cast; the weapon's damage and modifiers are read on each strike.

The Basin says Blade Shield's damage is not returned by Iron Maiden, and that it can be up at the same time as Cyclone Armor, Bone Armor, or a Sorceress armor.

Synergies and +skills

DmgSymPerCalc reads the hard points in Blade Sentinel and Blade Fury and multiplies the sum by Param8 (10): +10% damage per hard point in either. +skills raise Blade Shield's level — duration and skill damage — but not the synergy. Blade Shield's own hard points are a +10% synergy to Blade Sentinel and Blade Fury. The Basin says the Shadow Warrior and Shadow Master can cast it too.

Against players

A player's hit on another player is cut to 17% of its value (difficultylevels.txt PlayerDamagePercentVSPlayer) before anything else, see Player versus Player. The Basin's page says nothing else specific about players.

Build notes

• One hard point gives two minutes of a 75% weapon hit on everything in reach every second; the level after that buys 12 seconds and 5 to 7 damage a tick.
• The leech, chance to cast on attack and Prevent Monster Heal on the weapon all fire once a second without a click.
• Mana grows 2 a level and is paid once a cast: 65 at level 20 for 348 seconds.
• A point here is +10% on Blade Fury and Blade Sentinel, and theirs come back as +10% on every tick.