Fiona Shield Selection Guide

[Invertex]

Index

Preface [A1]

- Personal Preference [A2]

Guide

- Ainle
- Ruins of Sanctity [B2]
- Hoarfrost Depths [B3]
- Hilder Forest Ruins [B4]
- Fomorian Base [B5]
- Sewers [B6]

Other notes

- Gauntlets [C1]
- Retrospective Use [C2]
- Labyrinth [C3]
- Hero Mode [C4]

Contributors [D1]

- Use Ctrl+F and the code (i.e. [A1]) to jump to the section you're interested in



[B]Preface [A1]

Fiona as a class has two main weapon types, but also has a secondary choice of two types of shields. These are classified into Small and Large. Unlike the split between weapons, they do not alter your character's moveset aside from the following.


Counter
Only available for Small Shields, offers heavy stun, but only after a block. They only real reason to use a Small Shield.

Guard (R9)
Only available for Small Shields again. At R9, you have the option to combo off of a perfect guard into either Smash 3 or Smash 4, not as useful on boss fights.

Heavy Stander Counter
Like all counters, this is only available for Small Shields. It does not actually use shield durability from what I've seen and it's pretty useful to get back on the boss (which is when most will use counterable attacks). However, it occasionally doesn't reach far enough and sometimes it's better to slide back from HS. It also eats stamina really fast (~60-70 stamina per HS+Counter), which potentially makes it the least useful counter.

Downward Counter
Small Shield only. This is potentially the least useful counter, only used when you take a hit. However, as Standing Endurance does not always activate, it can be a bit problematic to input correctly as most of the time you aren't anticipating getting hit. Otherwise it's very similar to HS Counter.

Heavy Stander
Uses a lot more stamina when used with a Small Shield, and also causes you to be knocked back a fair distance, this can actually be beneficial as it sometimes knocks you out of the range of an attack. Large Shields will hold their ground when this is used. It is also used often to cancel smashes (Heavy Stander Guard Cancel), and Large Shields can cancel faster at the cost of haivng a slightly longer start up time. I will often use the abreviation of "HS" for this.


Now it is not advised to be a pure "Small Shield Fiona" or a "Large Shield Fiona". It is often better to switch between shields based off which mission you are running. Some bosses offer lots of Counter opennings, others only have smashes and thus a Small Shield offers no benefits. This guide exists to list my personal choices in each mission. Naturally this is aimed at newer Fionas who would like some insight on each battle, before having to do them.


Personal Preference - What it means [A2]
Some missions do not clearly favour one type of shield. When both shields perform equally, I list the choice as personal preference. Now there are a couple of factors that tend to affect shield choice in these situations.

First is how offensive or defensive you are, more defensive players that perfer to be safe at all times will tend towards Large Shields while offensive players that want to deal stun will go towards Small Shields. Second is how well you know the boss, the more familiar you are with a boss, the easier it is to take advantage of every possible openning. Third would be the type of run you're doing, many runs end in the boss getting stunned in a loop by people using chain hooks. Times like these may call for using Small Shields in order to make clearing trash mobs faster. Lastly there is also the factor of which weapon you use. Swords can benefit greatly from the increased speed of Large Shield HSGC, while hammers can take advatage of a Small Shield and R9 Guard's effect to easily decimate mobs with Butterflies and Stigmas.

In the end, it all boils down to which one you feel like using, there aren't any serious downsides to either shield in these situation.



Boat 3 - Ainle


42 - Regrets... Too Late
Pros (Small Shield) - Both of these bosses have moves that can be countered, and countering tends to be key on double bosses. If you can stun one boss, you can focus on dodging the other. Spark is actually fairly easy to dodge, especially as you'll be moving around a lot from Moonchopper (who is easily countered). Spark also has an offhand projectile that offers a counter openning once you've defeated Moonchopper.

Pros (Large Shield) - Being a double boss, there's also the risk of getting overwhelmed by two barrages of attacks. Spark also has a moveset that's almost completely made out of smashes.

Recommendation
Solo - Small Shield
Party - Small Shield

- - -

43 - Shadowed by Darkness
Pros (Small Shield) - Blood Lord has a fairly small moveset, and each move can be dodged just by running and using the roll. He also has a single move which can be countered, which can be used to inflict stun once you can predict it.

Pros (Large Shield) - Blood Lord is also one of the more hectic raid bosses, with his teleportation. It is much easier to use a Large Shield and just HS whenever Blood Lord appears near you. He also tends to link long strings of smashes together, meaning Small Shields have to make an effort to dodge while Large Shields can just reaction HS.

Recommendation
Solo - Small Shield
Party - Personal Preference

- - -

58 - The Weeping Queen
Pros (Small Shield) - The large ammounts of soldier spiders that Weeping Queen spawns are very problematic. Fiona has troubles dealing with them without the ability to counter them all to death.

Pros (Large Shield) - However, the Weeping Queen poses an even larger threat then that. She is almost as hectic as Blood Lord, often burrowing underground and appearing next to someone when she wants to attack. She also has no moves that can be countered, and her attack patterns are a lot harder to dodge.

Recommendation
Solo - Large Shield
Party - Large Shield




[B]Boat 4 - Ruins of Sanctity


43 - Nightmare at the Ruins
Pros (Small Shield) - Both spiders have moves that can be countered. Most people are very familiar with these spiders either due to Hidden spam or AP spamming here. You'll naturally inflict a lot more stun as well.

Pros (Large Shield) - Due to there being two spiders, the slide caused by Small Shield HS can lead to trouble if it causes multi-aggro. The spiders both also require you to be in guard before attacks come out in order to counter, and for newer players it is nearly impossible to predict. Also tanking down with both spiders on you is the easiest way to survive.

Recommendation
Solo - Large Shield
Party - Personal Preference




[B]Boat 5 - Hoarfrost Depths


42 - Patrolling the Depths
Pros (Small Shield) - This boss is extremely easy to read (as with most of the first bosses of each boat). He has a nice mix of smashes an normals, but using HS on either smash will get you to a safe range which the boss cannot attack from. His normal attacks all have long startup, and his 3 hit combo can be countered on every single hit.

Pros (Large Shield) - Unless you really can't block his spinning move in time, no reason to use these.

Recommendation
Solo - Small Shield
Party - Small Shield

- - -

43 - Snowman Alert
Pros (Small Shield) - He has the trademark knife slash of most Kobolds from Boat 2. You can counter this of course.

Pros (Large Shield) - However, there have been runs where I never see him use it. He's a lot more reserved on his use of the knife. Every other attack is a smash, and you might need to defend for a while when he summons his clone thing.

Recommendation
Solo - Large Shield
Party - Large Shield

- - -

43 - Windgun
Pros (Small Shield) - If you stay close to him, he will constantly use moves that are easily countered which causes for fast stuns.

Pros (Large Shield) - None really.

Recommendation
Solo - Small Shield
Party - Small Shield

- - -

44 - Greedy Kobold
Pros (Small Shield) - The boss has no smashes. That alone should be all I need to say. Countering him is tricky, but it is very doable.

Pros (Large Shield) - None.

Recommendation
Solo - Small Shield
Party - Small Shield

- - -

45 - Ocean Scent
Pros (Small Shield) - This boss has a habit of doing multiple slow predictable normal attacks, he even has a very slow spin2win style attack that allows for multiple counters in a short time frame. Both his smashes are easy to predict, one having slow start up and one as a combo ender. Both can be HSed easily and they are usually combined with normal attacks to allow you more stun.

Pros (Large Shield) - Unless you really can't see him preparing his hammer or you can't block / block / counter / HS his combo, none.

Recommendation
Solo - Small Shield
Party - Small Shield

- - -

46 - The Yeti, an Ancient Race
Pros (Small Shield) - The boss' attacks are fairly easy to HS, and he can be lured to throw ice (his only normal attack) by simply walking backwards. The miniboss is also quite a pain to deal with if you aren't carrying a Small Shield.

Pros (Large Shield) - The boss only uses smashes if you stay right in his face.

Recommendation
Solo - Small Shield
Party - Personal Preference

- - -

46 - Appearance of a Small Bear
Pros (Small Shield) - The bears all only use normal attacks, trivializing the miniboss encounters. The boss himself can easily be chased into a corner where you can chain counter his backflip (which is a normal).

Pros (Large Shield) - The bears that come with the main boss will start to only use smashes if the boss blows his whistle. This is where Large Shields can just sit in HS and not get stampeded by a pair of raging bears.

Recommendation
Solo - Personal Preference
Party - Small Shield

- - -

47 - Big Horn Yeti
Pros (Small Shield) - The miniboss is the main boss of "The Yeti, an Ancient Race", so Small Shields work well on him.

Pros (Large Shield) - The boss only really uses chained smashes, and has no counterable attacks. While you'll slide to safety with Small Shields, stamina will be an issue.

Recommendation
Solo - Large Shield
Party - Large Shield

- - -

48 - Hoarfrost Hollow in Flames - Large Shield
49 - Yeti King - Large Shield
50 - Madness - Personal Preference
51 - Irukul - Large Shield
52 - Proof of Courage - Small Shield
52 - Unfinished Buisness - Large Shield
52 - Two Moons - Small Shield
52 - The Howling Soul - Large Shield
52 - Revived Fear - Large Shield




[B]Boat EX1 - Hilder Forest Ruins


53 - Beginning of the Memory
Pros (Small Shield) - This boss has his double swing and elbow jabs that can both be countered, often to great effect. His only smash can be avoided with a mix of dodging and sliding out of range with HS.

Pros (Large Shield) - The number of elbow jabs can be a bit unpredictable, and his smash is a pain to dodge at times. If those two things are getting to you, then a Large Shield might work out better.

Recommendation
Solo - Small Shield
Party - Small Shield

- - -

54 - Investigation
Pros (Small Shield) - He has one smash, and it's a long startup fireball type move. His other moves are all easily blocked and countered. Meperdu also shows up as a miniboss here so see "Beginning of the Memory" for that.

Pros (Large Shield) - If you still hate Meperdu, use one of these. Most of the time the boss gets stun looped by a single person using chain hooks.

Recommendation
Solo - Small Shield
Party - Small Shield

- - -

54 - West Hilder Forest
Pros (Small Shield) - The boss consists mainly of normal attacks that can be countered. His one smash is very slow and is easily HSed or dodged.

Pros (Large Shield) - He can get to Meperdu levels of annoyance though if he manages to actually eat a Bloody Shade. At that point, elbow jabs start flying and it might be safer to just hide in HS and wait.

Recommendation
Solo - Small Shield
Party - Small Shield

- - -

54 - Habitat for Wild Plants
Pros (Small Shield) - The boss (Famenu) enjoys going spin2win at times. When he roars he will proceed to rapidly spin multiple times. These can be countered, and can cause an instant stun if your counter rank is high enough.

Pros (Large Shield) - His charge moves are usually multihit, and a huge pain to dodge properly. Also, if your skills aren't high enough, you may find yourself staring at a broken shield far too often. Also of note is that Famenu's spinning speeds up to the point (after about 6 spins) that you can't counter them.

Recommendation
Solo - Small Shield
Party - Personal Preference

- - -

55 - Forest Ruins
Pros (Small Shield) - The boss has plenty of normal attacks and his smashes are all slow and single hit. The only exception is when he roars and stabs 3 times, and this is easily avoided by running to the side in one direction.

Pros (Large Shield) - When using a Small Shield, it is extremely easy to get cornered due to his single stab causing knockback from HS use. The Large Shield removes that problem.

Recommendation
Solo - Small Shield
Party - Small Shield

- - -

56 - Fight That Must Be Won
Pros (Small Shield) - The boss has three normal attacks. One can't be countered, one can be, and the other is caused by knocking him fowards.

Pros (Large Shield) - He also has an insanely long list of high damage smashes, a Meperdu accompanying him, and potentially a Matur or another Meperdu still alive. His smashes are all strung together (especially after he eats a Bloody Shade), and he very rarely ever uses those 3 normals.

Recommendation
Solo - Large Shield
Party - Large Shield

- - -

56 - Shady Forest
Pros (Small Shield) - Klaus has a very limited moveset. His dash is a single hit move (despite how it appears), as are nearly all his other smashes. This means HS with a Small Shield is always pretty safe. He tends to get into the mood where he starts swinging his staff (and doesn't stop), at these times you can easily get multiple counters in and cause stun.

Pros (Large Shield) - Then he suddenly starts charging up. His darkness ball spam move is almost always fatal. I have never found a reliable way to dodge the whole thing without using a Large Shield and just sitting in HS (or using Shield Charge). The further you are from him, the safer you are. Sadly, Fiona is usually right on top of Klaus, meaning you're relying on luck when trying to avoid it. You can also maintain a high damage playstyle by negating the knockback of HS and using the time frames between moves to insert Smash 1s and 2s.

Recommendation
Solo - Personal Preference
Party - Personal Preference




[B]Boat 6 - Fomorian Base

56 - Chicanery - Small Shield
57 - Storeroom - Small Shield
57 - Contact - Personal Preference
57 - Rocktune's Cabin - Small Shield
57 - Cadet's Challenge - Large Shield
57 - Bandits - Personal Preference
58 - Herb Lands - Small Shield
58 - Rocky Wilderness - Small Shield
58 - Lost Road - Personal Preference
58 - Fruitful - Large Shield
58 - Buried Sorrow - Large Shield
58 - Colhen in Flames - Personal Preference
59 - Pursuit - Large Shield
59 - Rescue - Large Shield
59 - Gremlin Lair - Small Shield
59 - The Secret - Personal Preference
59 - Another Storeroom - Personal Preference
59 - Reinforcements - Small Shield
59 - The Investigation - Small Shield
59 - The Last Fragment - Large Shield
59 - The Contract - Personal Preference
60 - The Giant - Large Shield




[B]Boat 7 - Sewers


59 - Ambush
Pros (Small Shield) - The boss has a single normal attack that is used when you're to the side or behind him, though the boss does have a habit of not using this often. Both his smashes are single hit and have very long start ups as well, so they aren't a problem to HS (or dodge).

Pros (Large Shield) - The boss mainly uses his two smashes, which naturally adds more benefits for Large Shields.

Recommendation
Solo - Small Shield
Party - Small Shield

- - -

60 - Pretty Green Beetle - Small Shield
60 - Where the Road Leads - Small Shield
60 - Where the Sun Don't Shine - Small Shield
60 - Give a Beggar a Coin... - Personal Preference
60 - What the Dead Leave Behind - Large Shield
60 - Taking Initiative - Large Shield
60 - Wet, Dark, and Mossy - Small Shield
60 - Sewers - Small Shield
60 - Strong Drink - Personal Preference
60 - The Dark, Dank, Sewers - Large Shield




[B]Gauntlets
[C1]

Note: Not much to say here due to the fact that these just consist of most bosses from that area. Do be wary for Shield Crusher titled bosses, these are unblockable and it's best to let your party take care of those.

Perilous Ruins - Small Shield
Hoarfrost Hollows - Small Shield
Ainle - Personal Preference
Ruins of Sanctity - Personal Preference



Retrospective Large Shield Usage
[C2]

This section is just for a quick list of other missions I feel a Large Shield performs better on, but are done prior to unlocking the option to use them.

Dethrone the White Tyrant
White Tyrant's Challenge
Goliath
Hidden (Personal Preference)



Labyrinth
[C3]

Pros (Small Shield) - For the large majority of the labyrinth, you'll be fighting lower leveled bosses and non-raid bosses. Most of these are very easily done with the Small Shield (note the rest of the guide). You can play very aggresively with one of these.

Pros (Large Shield) - Durability becomes somewhat of an issue, there's enough wood for a fire in every room, but the kits will run out fast in the later rooms. It is also much easier to play well with a Large Shield then a Small one, simply as you can HS to safety. This becomes important as the labyrinth forces you to play for 1-2 hours in a row, you'll probably be tired and not playing at 100% efficiency later on. Large Shields also tends to be a better option for when the inevitable raid bosses start up.

Recommendation
Party - Personal Preference



Hero Mode
[C4]

Hero mode unlocks at Lv. 50, and amongst other things it adds a variety of titled enemies. These enemies do not have hitstun from normal hits, meaning counter becomes a lot more important. A few of these titles are also very inconvinient to Fiona, mainly Unstoppable (must use HS).
Also of note is that most bosses are sped up by a significant degree, your strategies for most bosses will need changes as well. The general choices are the same though, but it does tilt some missions from Personal Preference to Small Shield. Some bosses actually just become too fast for counter to be effective, one such example is Hidden.
However, by the time you're running Hero mode, you should have a solid grasp on which shield you like bringing into each mission, so a full blown Hero mode guide is unnecesary.



Contributors [D1]
Andy-Buddy
BlackGod
dotbeige
foreignreign

[Hushield]

I like the list. I'd just like to say that in the personal preference choices, it's usually easier to use a large shield for your first run while you're getting the hang of the boss's attack pattern.

[Invertex]

I like the list. I'd just like to say that in the personal preference choices, it's usually easier to use a large shield for your first run while you're getting the hang of the boss's attack pattern.

I find most people would use the shield they like more on those sorts of runs. Meaning that if they really like one playstyle, they'll use it. Most of these are toss ups between survivability and stun, which is up to the person themselves to choose.

Shady Forest is the prime example. You could deal tons of stun with a small shield and counter spamming his fireballs, but the instant he decides to use his spam move, you better have a Shield Charge or some luck. Alternatively, you could HS through it with a Large Shield, then go back to attacking.

[GregHouse]

Hello Invertex, ive always liked your analysis, i think they are very complete and still leave some doors to further improvement. I was wondering, back on topic, why you havent put Heavy Stander Counter (wich is coming released soon), i know as of today it is not out, but could change quite a bit your preface.

I play a lvl 25 fiona, so yes im prone to make mistakes. (I do find her very fun to play :D)

[dotbeige]

I would recommend taking a Large Shield to Appearance of a Small Bear because there are times when the two bears may corner you and charge you to death. A Large Shield would benefit greatly in a situation like that.

For The Yeti, an Ancient Race, a small shield should be recommended because of the chance of meeting the Angry Ekuloch - it is really annoying trying to kill that boss with a large shield only. Sarghamiu is a very easy boss to dodge and you can counter its ***** slap and cube throws.

For Contact and Another Storageroom, Prompush can be easily taken out with a small shield because all of the cannon attacks are easily avoidable.

[foreignreign]

I'm gonna have to disagree with a bunch.

43 - Shadowed by Darkness - Large Shield
I'd chock this one up to personal preference. I can see why you would want to use a Large Shield, but on the same token, using a Small Shield won't hinder you at all. A lot of his attacks are easily dodge-able by just running at an angle and rolling or sprint smashing away. You could HS for SP generation but... at level 43, SP generation isn't important.

48 - Hoarfrost Hollow in Flames - Large Shield
Disagreeing here if only because of fighting King Poison Driller on Hero with a Large Shield is not ideal. In a party, I always carry a small shield and when it comes to the boss, I bust out my chain hooks and call it a day. Soloing is different though.

57 - Contact - Large Shield
Fighting Prompush is pretty easy with either shield, so this one should probably be marked by preference. I also don't feel like being able to HS artillerymen for reduced stamina and not being knocked back after an HS makes clearing the trash mob any easier, even if there are a lot of them in that quest.

58 - Lost Road - Small Shield
Disagree. I find it easier to fight Kakrish with a large shield since he more commonly uses his smashes, and it's easier to just turtle down with a Large Shield and make him come to you than it is to keep him close so you can try to counter.

58 - Colhen in Flames - Small Shield
For soloing, I prefer Large Shield here since it makes for easy SP generation, which makes for easy trash mob killing. Although, I will admit I don't do this quest often at all.

59 - The Last Fragment - Small Shield
Same deal as with Lost Road.

[Arendel]

Hello Invertex, ive always liked your analysis, i think they are very complete and still leave some doors to further improvement. I was wondering, back on topic, why you havent put Heavy Stander Counter (wich is coming released soon), i know as of today it is not out, but could change quite a bit your preface.
As far as I know, it's not really meant for knockdown like regular Counterattack and has a relatively long startup time, so it wouldn't change much in terms of shield preferences. You'll still want a large shield for bosses that abuse smashes and a small shield for bosses that have frequent counter openings. HS Counter is just there to get you back in the opponent's face if it's preferable to use a small shield but throws in the occasional smash.

[Invertex]

Hello Invertex, ive always liked your analysis, i think they are very complete and still leave some doors to further improvement. I was wondering, back on topic, why you havent put Heavy Stander Counter (wich is coming released soon), i know as of today it is not out, but could change quite a bit your preface.

I play a lvl 25 fiona, so yes im prone to make mistakes. (I do find her very fun to play :D)

I like to not have to make stuff up. I'll write up a bit about HS Counter later, but only after I rank it up and use it a bit. As far as I know, it's just a pressure move to keep you next to the enemy. Arendel said that in a much nicer way though, so read that post.


I would recommend taking a Large Shield to Appearance of a Small Bear because there are times when the two bears may corner you and charge you to death. A Large Shield would benefit greatly in a situation like that.

This is something I somewhat remember happening. If you're soloing, I'd think it'd be easy enough to run away until they return to normal. In parties you shouldn't have both bears and the boss on you at the same time. In general, getting cornered means you're screwed anyways. Even bosses like Zyarga, Meperdu, and Famenu. You get stuck in the corner and can't use any moves, run out of stam, get stuck in hitstun, and die. On that note, I probably should change Famenu's as I just remember something about him that always annoyed me.

For The Yeti, an Ancient Race, a small shield should be recommended because of the chance of meeting the Angry Ekuloch - it is really annoying trying to kill that boss with a large shield only. Sarghamiu is a very easy boss to dodge and you can counter its ***** slap and cube throws.

I actually use Small Shield when I'm soloing. My main problem is that you have to bait it to throw ice most of the time, which is not as practical in a party. I'll admit I didn't really glance at the miniboss lists, so I missed that first point. Going to change this to preference.

For Contact and Another Storageroom, Prompush can be easily taken out with a small shield because all of the cannon attacks are easily avoidable.

See below


I'm gonna have to disagree with a bunch.

43 - Shadowed by Darkness - Large Shield
I'd chock this one up to personal preference. I can see why you would want to use a Large Shield, but on the same token, using a Small Shield won't hinder you at all. A lot of his attacks are easily dodge-able by just running at an angle and rolling or sprint smashing away. You could HS for SP generation but... at level 43, SP generation isn't important.

Fair enough, I was still playing a fairly defensive Fiona at that time. Though from my personal experiences from getting stuck in Gauntlets with a small shield, never really worked out. Then again it's probably those crazy titles.

48 - Hoarfrost Hollow in Flames - Large Shield
Disagreeing here if only because of fighting King Poison Driller on Hero with a Large Shield is not ideal. In a party, I always carry a small shield and when it comes to the boss, I bust out my chain hooks and call it a day. Soloing is different though.

I never found the King Poison Drillers, or any of those sort of enemies, to be that problematic. They all have 3 to 4 attacks, and leave themselves open to Blossoms in between them. Chain hooks trivialize anything that can easily be locked down by it, so I'm sort of ignoring that. The boss itself is fairly easy as well, but I don't remember anything that was easily counter spammed.

57 - Contact - Large Shield
Fighting Prompush is pretty easy with either shield, so this one should probably be marked by preference. I also don't feel like being able to HS artillerymen for reduced stamina and not being knocked back after an HS makes clearing the trash mob any easier, even if there are a lot of them in that quest.

I was actually in between the two, first draft had it down as Small. I personally just ran large shield as I never actually bothered with him. I sped through a lot of Ep 6 so I was expecting some errors. Switching it to preference.

58 - Lost Road - Small Shield
Disagree. I find it easier to fight Kakrish with a large shield since he more commonly uses his smashes, and it's easier to just turtle down with a Large Shield and make him come to you than it is to keep him close so you can try to counter.

I always felt the opposite, he was always pretty easy to predict. Even his smashes are slow enough to allow you to recover in between. See Last Fragment for continuation.

58 - Colhen in Flames - Small Shield
For soloing, I prefer Large Shield here since it makes for easy SP generation, which makes for easy trash mob killing. Although, I will admit I don't do this quest often at all.

I was never able to solo this due to the fact the trash is annoying as hell. However, once you manage to get rid of the trash mobs, the boss is really easy to control. He really just loves to start spamming his knee, which is just a perfect counter spam move. It's up to preference again it seems though, as I will admit the trash is really annoying.

59 - The Last Fragment - Small Shield
Same deal as with Lost Road.

And here I'll agree. He gets hyperspeed here, which I sort of forgot about. You're still able to predict him at times, but it's a lot less reliable. I never actually farmed him (yay spending 400k on tags), so I just copy pasted from Lost Road.

I do agree I made some oversights there, I'll edit a few more to personal preference.

Responses underlined.
I think that should suffice for now. I'm going to sleep. ;-;
I'll keep making minor edits and polishing this up. My Fiona playstyle obviously won't work for everyone, so input is wanted (and necesary in some ways). I'll probably put up an Ep7 list within a week, considering I finished Ep6 in about 2/3 days (with tokens still there).

Oh, and my reason for changing Habitat for Wild Plants. Famenu's charge attack actually hits twice, meaning using HS with a small shield still leads to getting hit. I can see how this is enough to make some people use a large shield. However, I still love instantly causing knockdown when he goes spin2win. Again, you're at the mercy of the boss AI though.

[Mikey]

I for one really enjoy the list. I think it's very helpful to the Fionas that are still getting the hang of it all.
Whenever you're not too busy, it'd be nice to have a list for Parties and a list for Solos, because I'm sure the two would involve different playing styles, and therefore call for different types of shields.

GOOD WORK SO FAR THOUGH. :3 I can see this helping me a lot in the future.

[Invertex]

I for one really enjoy the list. I think it's very helpful to the Fionas that are still getting the hang of it all.
Whenever you're not too busy, it'd be nice to have a list for Parties and a list for Solos, because I'm sure the two would involve different playing styles, and therefore call for different types of shields.

GOOD WORK SO FAR THOUGH. :3 I can see this helping me a lot in the future.

I plan to eventually enhance it and put a pro/con list for every mission. But I'm likely to be busy with Ep7, school, and Mabi. So that's going to come a bit later.

[Nichibon]

I like the list...good job :)


I like the list. I'd just like to say that in the personal preference choices, it's usually easier to use a large shield for your first run while you're getting the hang of the boss's attack pattern.

I'm a little different than most people though and would rather go into a mission I don't know with a *small shield* first. This way, I can tell which attacks are normal, and which are smashes. When heavy standering with a large shield, all attacks look the same. However, with small shield, smashes push you back, while normal let you stay in place. It may result in death, but at least I'll know which one to bring for future runs.

[Invertex]

I'm a little different than most people though and would rather go into a mission I don't know with a *small shield* first. This way, I can tell which attacks are normal, and which are smashes. When heavy standering with a large shield, all attacks look the same. However, with small shield, smashes push you back, while normal let you stay in place. It may result in death, but at least I'll know which one to bring for future runs.

I actually do the same thing, though I've learnt to guess when to bring a Large Shield. Most magical based enemies tend to have pure smashes (Blood Drinker, Vehemence, the shamans on Boat 5, and some of the Gremlins), and it's very rarely a smart idea to use a small shield on raids. Also, once you start having to use large shields on a boat, it tends to keep going until the end.

Alas, those are only guesses. Most first runs should be done with whichever shield you're more comfortable with.

EDIT
I updated Ainle to my planned future format. I elected not to include Cons for either type of shield, as most negatives will be picked up by the opposite shield's positives.

[BlackGod]

Nicely done list. Couple things I'd like to point out.

First, Regrets... Too Late is not the boss rush mission, the boss rush mission is The Unveiling Truth. Regrets... Too Late is the duo boss mission with The Spark and The Moonchopper. Recommend large shield for it because Moonchopper finishes off his reaper combo attacks with a smash, and has a lot less room to counter, while the spark will irritate you all day with his spam lightning attacks.

Then, the other missions

57 - Cadet's Challenge - Large Shield
I don't agree with this: Willy's moves are predictable, and when he does use a smash attack when you use HS with the small shield you'll get pushed back out of the distance of his wind. He does normal quite often too, so a small shield is definitely not detrimental. I say personal preference, but even though I like my large shield more I prefer to use small shield on this guy.
57 - Bandits - Personal Preference
I say heavy shield all the way on this guy. If he does his shock attack and you don't have enough time to get away, HS won't do any good with a small shield. I can't remember, but I'm quite sure he has the tendency to turn around during his shock attack, so sprint smashing to the side won't really do too much good in that case...
59 - Reinforcements - Small Shield
Disagreed. Jagursh's rematch is just too irritating, his combos become far too unpredictable at this point to use small shield as effectively as it was used during rocky wilderness. In addition, that spin kick attack... Though small shield is still effective, large shield proves to be just as effective against Jagursh for stability purposes (he's just not as predictable to abuse the small shield as compared to the first fight). I prefer large shield for this fight.

Also, it should be noted that movesets are altered slightly based on shield; Large shield lacks any counter whatsoever, and cannot go straight into ivy sweep or amaranth right after a PG unlike the small shield. Sprint Smash is much more effective with the large shield than the small; recoil from the heavy stander cancel is drastically reduced, however time between going from a heavy stander into another is increased. Sprint Smash can be executed much faster, almost in a machine gun manner, with the large shield, and is incredibly effective in PvP. You should note that the mentalities for the shields are different; small shield is generally used for offense while large shield is for defense. Vs trash mobs, small shield can do quick amaranths and counters, but Large can pull off heavy disruption with its enhanced Sprint Smash.

[Invertex]

Nicely done list. Couple things I'd like to point out.

First, Regrets... Too Late is not the boss rush mission, the boss rush mission is The Unveiling Truth. Regrets... Too Late is the duo boss mission with The Spark and The Moonchopper. Recommend large shield for it because Moonchopper finishes off his reaper combo attacks with a smash, and has a lot less room to counter, while the spark will irritate you all day with his spam lightning attacks.

Then, the other missions

57 - Cadet's Challenge - Large Shield
I don't agree with this: Willy's moves are predictable, and when he does use a smash attack when you use HS with the small shield you'll get pushed back out of the distance of his wind. He does normal quite often too, so a small shield is definitely not detrimental. I say personal preference, but even though I like my large shield more I prefer to use small shield on this guy.
57 - Bandits - Personal Preference
I say heavy shield all the way on this guy. If he does his shock attack and you don't have enough time to get away, HS won't do any good with a small shield. I can't remember, but I'm quite sure he has the tendency to turn around during his shock attack, so sprint smashing to the side won't really do too much good in that case...
59 - Reinforcements - Small Shield
Disagreed. Jagursh's rematch is just too irritating, his combos become far too unpredictable at this point to use small shield as effectively as it was used during rocky wilderness. In addition, that spin kick attack... Though small shield is still effective, large shield proves to be just as effective against Jagursh for stability purposes (he's just not as predictable to abuse the small shield as compared to the first fight). I prefer large shield for this fight.

Also, it should be noted that movesets are altered slightly based on shield; Large shield lacks any counter whatsoever, and cannot go straight into ivy sweep or amaranth right after a PG unlike the small shield. Sprint Smash is much more effective with the large shield than the small; recoil from the heavy stander cancel is drastically reduced, however time between going from a heavy stander into another is increased. Sprint Smash can be executed much faster, almost in a machine gun manner, with the large shield, and is incredibly effective in PvP. You should note that the mentalities for the shields are different; small shield is generally used for offense while large shield is for defense. Vs trash mobs, small shield can do quick amaranths and counters, but Large can pull off heavy disruption with its enhanced Sprint Smash.

Gah, I knew I didn't play the Ainle update enough!

Anyways, Cadet's Challenge always seemed to mess me up when I used small shields. Not sure if it's the fact the tornados are multi-hit or something else, but I could never actually HS properly. Now whenever I run the mission, people just chain him to death so I haven't had the chance to actually analyze him properly.

Bandits I was going off the assumption that his shock attacks act similar to the flame attacks, in that using HS on the first hit causes you to slide outside of the range of the rest of the shot. Large Shield HS is actually not all that great here as the shock causes a very large number of hits which eats stamina really fast. But I still do use Large Shields myself, I'll try it with small shield next time it comes up as daily and see if my assumption was correct. If so I'm going to stick with personal preference, if not then I'll revert it to Large Shield.

Reinforcements isn't that bad. His standard combo gets a 3rd hit, he still has his roll and jump attack, and his spin kick is only a single move to deal with. I find that he's still predictable enough to use counter on to great effect, it just requires adjustment and can be a bit hard to do when you've got the dumb AI blocking your way.

I did mention some moveset things in the preface, I think I covered everything there besides Sprint Smash and HS cancel. I'll update the notes later with that. Also, this guide does not actually go into PvP at the moment simply as I have never PvPed and I don't intend to. I generally discount trash mobs as they're all rather easy at the current point, and you have plenty of time to pot up between rooms when you do take damage. I wouldn't take a small shield to Titan just because the set of trash mobs are more easily dealt with when using a small shield.

[foreignreign]

Saw this topic again and figured I'd ask: do you want some opinions on boat 7 even though you don't have a section for it?

I wouldn't mind unloading some commentary if you would care for it.

[Invertex]

Saw this topic again and figured I'd ask: do you want some opinions on boat 7 even though you don't have a section for it?

I wouldn't mind unloading some commentary if you would care for it.

Everything helps, I'd love more input.
I've only gotten about halfway through Ep7 (been taking it easy), and I've got rough ideas in my head that could use some refining. I just really hate how Nexon organized the mission listing, it's all over the place. Might actually use the ordering on DB for the list.

[Andy-Buddy]

Might want to add a section of preference of weapon influencing shield choice.

Large Shields have a faster cancel, but Small Shields have PG +2 swing bonus and faster consecutive Heavy Standers (without cancelling compared to a large shield's heavy stander without cancelling)

Swords might find Large Shields more useful, as Heavy Stander Cancel is much faster on a Large Shield.

Hammers may use Small shields for easier Butterfly and Stigma attacks, easily wiping out large groups of mobs.

[Invertex]

Might want to add a section of preference of weapon influencing shield choice.

Large Shields have a faster cancel, but Small Shields have PG +2 swing bonus and faster consecutive Heavy Standers (without cancelling compared to a large shield's heavy stander without cancelling)

Swords might find Large Shields more useful, as Heavy Stander Cancel is much faster on a Large Shield.

Hammers may use Small shields for easier Butterfly and Stigma attacks, easily wiping out large groups of mobs.

Didn't actually think of that, since I primarily use swords. I might just put in a large section about what I mean by "Personal Preference" and what may affect that.

[Hushield]

I like the list...good job :)



I'm a little different than most people though and would rather go into a mission I don't know with a *small shield* first. This way, I can tell which attacks are normal, and which are smashes. When heavy standering with a large shield, all attacks look the same. However, with small shield, smashes push you back, while normal let you stay in place. It may result in death, but at least I'll know which one to bring for future runs.

I see your point, but while HSing, I can tell which are smashes and regular attacks by a mixture of camera zoom on hit, sound, and energy loss.

[Invertex]

Alright, little update here. Added my rough idea of Ep7.
Now I've barely played at all over the past few days, losing interest in Vindi fast. But this should work as a starting point. I've done these missions only 1-5 times each, and most were in 4 player parties that didn't give me a chance to get a grasp on how easy or hard it is to manipulate the boss. I haven't even gotten to Thor yet (contrast how I got to Titan before 1PM the day after the update).

Also did a bit of EX1 and Ep5. This is all off memory, but I think it's mostly correct. Expect some more of Ep5 to be updated as well as me finishing EX1 (I love short episodes, so easy to write guides for).

[kevinxiaowis]

Hi this is Iohanna from VindictusHQ!

I found this guide while updating my own Fiona general guide (http://vindictushq.com/index.php?/topic/8715-diary-of-iohanna/) on VindictusHQ, and I'd like to list this guide under my Useful Links section if that's ok with you!

Thanks!

[Invertex]

Hi this is Iohanna from VindictusHQ!

I found this guide while updating my own Fiona general guide on VindictusHQ, and I'd like to list this guide under my Useful Links section if that's ok with you!

Thanks!

I'm fine with that, don't really even need to ask for you to give credit cause a link shows this post anyways.