Sacred Guides: Shift Key Shielding

[Schot 415]

Heyas all

 

Just wanted to share something I stumbled across some time ago. Albeit I was aware of the shift key's quirky ways I never gave it much attention. You see the thing is that when you hold down the shift key when standing near a foe your character will begin a sort of back and forth motion. It looks kind of like a skeletons parry animation. For the longest time I had written it off as another one of Ancaria's strange ways but recently that changed.

 

After a bit of testing here and there it turns out that holding down the shift key while under attack can significantly reduce the damage you recieve from foes. In the case of melee attacks on you holding down the shift key appears to act as though it has increased your defence, reducing the # of hits the enemy lands on you. What's more interesting is that holding down the shift key can reduce magical attack dmg to about half the expected dmg. I tested this against an Orc Shamman. When he casts meteor strike on me while I'm holding down shift the dmg I recieved was exactly half the norm.

 

Now here's the catch. The shift keys defensive function is dependent on your proximity to the foe and it does not appear to work if you are holding a bow, staff or on a horse. As far as proximity goes just give it a try and you'll see.

 

So there you go folks. Something to toy with. I really haven't played around with it extensively and quite possibly there is more to be understood. I imagine it being very useful for close quarters builds or maybe even if you've been frozen in place by an enemy spell and are being pounded on by a mob whilst waiting for a CA to regen. That's happened to me more than a few times.

 

And here is a DivX video example of using the shift key to defend against attacks:

REMOVED VIDEO BECAUSE STAGE6 DIED... BOO HOO.

 

In the above video I have recorded 3 different examples of Shift Shielding, (Or how about just "shifting"?). The first is against skeletons melee. The second is against A skelly mages fireballs. The third is against an Orc Shamans Meteor strikes. As far as reducing damage is concerned the amount at which the damage is reduced varies greatly on the types of attack. If I had to guess based on these 3 examples I would say that Shifting is most effective at reducing physical damage but further observing is needed to be sure.

 

Cheers all and good game.

[gogoblender 3,304]

Schot you've done it again. Discovered something entirely new in the game...and here, years after the game's release! I'm glad you've decided to publish the findings...and for everyone else here, we've done tests with my Seraphim regarding this new Shift/Shielding...and for my seraphim, I was able to reduce damage by about 50%

 

yah...for a seraphim that's a lot. And we're talking net damage here...not a reduction of potential damage that a monster can cause.

It's still new and I guess we'll have to figure out how to find utility with the discovery...but once we get the hang of it, pressing that extra button could become a big part of the game..and at no extra cost of magic timers or CA timers!

 

Another great find Schot... Brilliant

 

 

gogo

[Funkilicious 1]

Heyas all

 

Now here's the catch. The shift keys defensive function is dependent on your proximity to the foe and it does not appear to work if you are holding a bow, staff or on a horse. As far as proximity goes just give it a try and you'll see.

 

Thanks Schot, definitely will try this with my Funky Angel (seraphim) being melee she is up close and personal with all enemies and now that she is in platinum will benefit from the extended defences. Will give it a test on Stumpy McFunky (Dwarf) as well, try to get back to you with some results.

 

Kudos Schot, always thinking

[Nihilith 0]

Schot, you're just disgusting me

How can you still find tips like that ! What lead you on this way

I'm jealous !

 

Anyway... I'll give it a try and tell you about that !

 

And Schot... you're just... rha, I'm out !

 

Nihi

[Waaah 0]

Wow! The last time I checked, the "shifting" didn't work. Maybe I've done it wrong, maybe it has been secretly (or even randomly without actually wanting to do this?) added in one of the patches.

Great find, got to test it!

Thanks

[promatolya 5]

nice going dude !!

[myles 2]

I have always thought that was only for scaring children!

 

It actually does something?

[Guest FrostElfTwin]

Schot, once again, you de man!

[CelticRedLady 0]

OMG - I am loving all the tips for Sacred on this site ---- You guys are amazing. Thanks for the tip... gotta run - time to go try it out...

[Nihilith 0]

Ok

I gave "Shifting" a go yesterday. Schot is absolutely right.

Standing in front of a melee skelly. taking 40 dmg per hit (bronze, level 12 char and a level 19 skelly)

Shifting in front of the same melee skelly. Taking 1-2 sun dmg per second

 

here's a shot, caught in action as the vampire was dodging the blow. My vamp makes a quick back step to avoid the hit.

 

 

Enjoy !

[gogoblender 3,304]

I was just using this last night..VERY amazing for low level bronze toons.

 

gogo