by The Shieldbreaker is a character in Darkest Dungeon that is only available through the “Shieldbreaker” DLC; Come on, it’s a DLC specially created to introduce her… something quite rare in my opinion, but anyway, just so you know.
It is about a character that the truth is that he has just balanced the entire cast of Darkest Dungeon characters since it was quite necessary to have someone who specialized especially in enemies with high Protection and also those that protect other enemies. (currently we didn’t have many options for those types of enemies). It does good honor to his name, I assure you that.
He seems like a very good frontline character to me. But hey… let’s not get ahead of things and go with the analysis + build in detail of this fantastic character.
THE FIGHTS AGAINST THE SERPENTS
The Shieldbreaker brings with it a certain problem and that is that during camping it has a 50% chance of leading your group to a battle against several snakes in which it will receive a lot of stress and our objective will of course be to defeat them. When this is going to happen, it will comment something like “something is tormenting you tonight” (or something like that); this will replace the typical ganks and those camping skills that prevent us from ganks will be ignored.
This will happen a total of 7 times (in different camps) with 7 predefined battles (increasingly complicated) in which we can obtain rewards such as Trinkets of this class and the new resource “Aegis Scales”, which will protect us from the next source of damage to the character that we put them on. When you exceed 7 (it doesn’t matter if it’s with different Shieldbreakers) these battles will stop appearing and instead the Shieldbreaker will get a juicy buff of +1 SPD, +10% Damage and +10% Protection for 2 battles (so in the long run term will spread the thing quite a lot).
If we beat one of these battles, the Shieldbreaker will get a buff of -33% stress and +3% CRIT while the whole party will get -15% stress for the whole mission (so it would go a long way in the Crew ). If he fails (reaching death’s gates) he will be healed from death’s gates and will get a +33% stress debuff and -3 PRE, so try to get that as much as possible.
BEST COMBAT SKILLS
These are the 4 abilities that we recommend (remember that you can only equip 4):
- Drill : It is a very powerful movement that can be used in all positions except the last one to hit any of the enemy’s positions. A simple hit with pretty decent DMG, good CRIT chance, and armor piercing (so it will ignore the enemy’s Protection, ideal for enemies like the Cannon for example ). We will also move one position forward when using it.
- Stun : Attack similar to the previous one but that we can use in any position (we will also move 1 forward). It does less DMG and has no CRIT bonus, but it’s great for those enemies who protect others like it happens very often in the Cove or on bosses like the Collector when he summons the Man-at-Arms since we will bypass the protection , remove it and we can even push him.
- Viper’s Kiss : Its best ability to face the offense for its good DAMAGE, CRIT and for applying a good amount of Infection on the passing enemy. It can only be used in first position to hit one of the first 2. We will go back when using it, but as you have already seen, going back to the first one will be easy with our 2 previous abilities.
- Snake Influx : This one is more defensive support for itself and is VERY good. We will move forward and apply 2 blocks to ourselves (which translates to bypassing all DMG from the next 2 attacks) and also gain a Speed buff . We will not be able to do it if he is in the last position, which of course is not his ideal position.
The movement kit is really incredible.
BEST CAMPING SKILLS
The Camping Skills of the Shieldbreaker are quite good , although really of all of them there are only 2 that seem really good to me. She has buffs for her teammates, which is always important, and a buff for herself which I think is great given her character role on the front lines.
- Snake Eyes : 3 cost. All companions gain +15% to Pierce Armor for 4 fights. Ideal as I have already commented for bosses like the Canyon or areas like the Cove .
- Snake Skin : 3 cost. I really like it as it will give Shieldbreaker +15% Protection and Health for 4 battles. Ideal to face the lucky snakes or in general for all situations, which in the end is a front-line character.
- Embrace of the Viper : 2 cost. Shieldbreaker gains +20% Infection and Infection Resistance. It doesn’t seem very good to me, but it can come in handy depending on the situation, the head of the Corps would be a good example.
- Encourage : 2 cost. The one that I recommend the most of the “common for all” (except the Flagellant who does not have them for whatever reason), we will restore 15 stress to a partner.
They are not bad at all, especially the first 2, which I highly recommend.
BEST TEAMMATES
It is a character that is recommended to take especially to the Cove thanks to its good abilities to avoid defenses and protections and also of course for the Ruins since the Infection is also quite relevant there and there are also usually some enemies with high Protection.
She will get along well with characters who don’t have too many problems with her moving a lot, with those who also apply Blight and of course with the Jester (especially when it comes to fighting against Snakes).
- Frontline Characters : Many are the characters that can share the first 2 positions with him effectively, such as the Leper , the Grave Raider , the Crusader , the Bounty Hunter or the Man-at-Arms among others. Even a Flagellant (but I don’t recommend it if you go to the Ruins).
- Plague Doctor / Jester : The Jester is to help you reduce your stress in case the snakes appear in the camp, when they can no longer appear, the thing will not spread so much.
- Vestal / Occultist : Both are good option to heal. I recommend the Occultist more for the Cove because of his good DMG against the Eldritch and also against the bosses because of his Depletion that reduces their Damage (it’s phenomenal). If you want safer healing, the Vestal is your best option.
BETTER TRINKETS AND TRAITS
In the face of Trinkets and Traits facing the offense, it will be great for us to increase our melee DMG and our chance to apply Infection (and of course increase the CRIT, that is always appreciated). Regarding the defensive section (I recommend that you also invest in his ability to endure for being a front-line character) what I would recommend most is PROT (it is a direct Damage reduction), but Evasion and Life additional can also come in handy.
