Shield SV Spam in 1st Karak Azgaraz map mid-event needs to be toned down

Completely overtuned event. I know the deal with shield SV. Push twice to open them up, then attack. That’s fine when they’re in small groups. Not so much when there are 10+ on screen and you’re trying to find an opening to attack. The weapons that can kill them quickly when their shields are down simply don’t have enough stamina to effectively handle massive groups. Played this event 3 times with X-sword Merc and bots on cata, and even using multiple bombs and potions, every run ended in disaster with over 20 shield SV on screen. There’s not a single other mid-event in the entire game where I’d even consider the need to burn resources, much less the possibility of wiping (maybe Engines with bad randoms, but even that isn’t a big deal to clutch).

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Highly agreed, having 8 of them just spam spawn on cata is ridiculous and unnecessary. It’s an entire patrol’s worth of SV w/ shield. Unfortunately, i can’t even play past that part in the map due to Fatshark’s servers being so screwed up you can’t even play without disconnecting.

May need to be nerfed. I know that I’ve been in games where we’ve managed this even if I’ve played more games where we’ve died and I’ve yet to try my main on this event.

If they’re going to do this type of spam, then yes SV need a huge nerf. Because as it stands, them being able to block 2-3 heavy attacks without being staggered is nonsense. Even the PLAYER can’t do that, and the player characters (even in lore) are immeasurably stronger/more skilled than a single Stormvermin. The fact an SV can break your guard with a heavy attack yet you can’t do the same to an SV is rediculous honestly. What would honestly be an even better fix to nerfing SV w/ shield is to make their shield breakable. But that would require an immense amount of effort.

edit: i’d like to note that handling 1 patrol of SV w/ shield isn’t an issue, as a shade player i can wipe an SV patrol myself on cata. The issue comes in at the rate that they spawn them in. Essentially, right after you’re done killing one patrol of SV there’s another one coming right at you. You essentially have to kill 4 patrols of SV in this event which is honestly asking too much for the amount of resources given. ESPECIALLY since a monster can spawn right before this event too potentially eating up consumables or even wiping the party because they were trying to save consumables for this overtuned event

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I can’t beat cata yet but on the legend runs they are dangerous but my team has never wiped to them.
The ending is much harder for my team and the getting gargoyle heads in old haunts is much harder than the SSV.

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The strategy I found that works best in this bit is to prioritise turning the wheels instead of killing. Just kite / stagger them as a team, and only when all the wheels are turned you kill them. Their offense isn’t very dangerous. But if you insist on killing them first they spawn almost faster than you can kill them.

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No Nerf needed.

If youve problems tune down difficulty, play in group (not with bots) and/or take an anti-shield weapon.

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This right here. If you cant do it, swallow your pride and decrease the difficulty.

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I would also add that one tactic which I’ve found to be pretty workable is to go in pairs, or all four in one place, with a combo of pushing and attacking.

One, or two, guys with a decent ammount of stamina shields pushes on the Shieldvermin so that they drop their shields down and the other guy(s) can have at them with their melee weapon.

Switch roles if needed to have fresh stamina to do pushes with as more Shieldvermin arrives.

EDITED: And avoid having the group split up in four different directions. But this advice is kind of going for pretty much all events in the game.

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Yeah it’s a ridiculous buggy ball of shields and some event happening… Just had first play on legend and that event was gonna be fun- have good VT1 memories of it… but this was DINK DINK DINK DINK DINK cloud of shields DINK something else clipping through but DINK. They don’t stay in one slot… so it’s just a BALL of shield…

Honestly this event wouldn’t be so bad if it was just SV. But Throw plague monks in there, and not only can you not damage the SV but you so much attempt to attack the SV and you’ll get shredded by the plague monks. You can’t even hit the plague monks when they’re done attacking you because the SV with shields block your counter attacks. Overall, it’s not a fun event.

Gotta agree with op, in my experience Stormvermin Testudo Formation Simulator isn’t exactly fun when you’re tagging with bots on cata either. Managed to beat the map with Handmaiden shield build, but my role in the whole thing was reduced to merely keeping the rats stunned while the bot buddies slowly gnawed at them in a 20-minute cage match. Leaving the party to turn a valve wasn’t too dissimilar from buying a scratch ticket, as a dead teammate essentially doubles the time it takes to chip through one shield wall. The boss trigger in the hallway right afterwards was tough, but doable. Though I’m still a bit salty about that stormfiend barbequing three fourths of my party…

I’d suggest limiting the shieldvermin to waves, wherein a new one only spawns when a valve is turned. This way you could still have the challenge without an unending influx of steam tanks on legs. Mandating perseverance and carefulness as part of an event is fine, but stretching the match with uncontrolled spawns takes all the fun and pacing out. I doubt playing this one again unless the spam is toned down to a decent level. The other two maps are much more fun.

(Alternatively, players can simply bring their prematched friend group, nuke the stormvermin with trollhammer and beat the rest to pulp using Saltz + Sienna Flail killteam while a shade turns the wheels, all in under a minute. Surefire way to dismiss any critique as no skill and keep things the way they are, haha!)

its pretty fine like it is on cata

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My friends and I are split on this one. I’m the only one who seems to like it.

I feel like it brings an extra challenge to the table. You don’t see many shielded Stormvermin and maybe there should be. It’s what makes this event unique because lots of weapons are either great or not so great against shields. Shield-bearing enemies can really change how some weapons perform, you only see a few shielded enemies during the event waves, and in Cataclysm, I think Stormvermin with shields are the only elites that don’t spawn with waves.

If you are a player who uses flails, you’re fine, but with hammers, you’re probably gonna struggle a bit, even though hammers are usually good against pretty much anything else besides monsters. This breaks up the meta in a fun way to me.

If Stormvermin with shields in large numbers is the issue, rather than always limiting how many are fought to a smaller number, perhaps that speaks more to a problem with how shielded enemies in this game work. I do think some weapons seem a bit lacking against shields since it’s only the flails that have a major advantage against them.

I suggest making axes better against shields by breaking them quickly and allowing Stormvermin with shields to have their shield broken by axe or axe-like weapons. The one-handed axe is great vs. single target and awful vs large groups of enemies which makes it pretty bad on Cataclysm unless you’re counting on someone else to control and clear crowds of enemies or your ranged weapon does the job. I suggest improving one-handed axes, the Greataxe, Halberd, Crowbill, Dual Axes, and even the Axe+Shield by allowing them to break all normal shields quickly (1 or 2 hits) including Stormvermin’s shields, however with a bit more durability on the Stormvermin shields such as 2-4 hits for axe-like weapons.

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Yeas. And Pick Axe too.

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Yeah, almost forgot about that one, I only use it on Slayer and rarely.

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It is not sadly one of the best weapons but it is fun and Slayer can make it work.

I almost forgot that some ranged weapons (besides Trollhammer) have an advantage aginst shields, though I still think axe or pick weapons should break them better including Stormvermin.

One of my friends picked huntsman with handgun and that did the job pretty well.

In the meantime, I’m sure Bolt Staff, Ranger/Huntsman w/ Handgun or Flail users are another good way to go about this event if you’re using a pre-made team.

its fine that the events are now a challenge, the helmgart events are all a bad joke.

The difficulty level of Helmgart events, as well as other events in the game, is somewhat subjective and varies from person to person based on their individual level of experience. However, it is generally acknowledged that Helmgart events are less challenging compared to most DLC events or finales. Fatshark seems to have designed the missions with varying levels of difficulty and length, intending for some DLC missions to be more demanding, so I think the Helmgart missions are intended to be easier than most DLC content, or rather that as they release DLC they’ve been making more challenging events to set them apart from the Helmgart missions which are generally the first thing new players experience and master.

As for this particular event, I don’t believe it presents significantly greater challenges compared to most other Helmgart events. While it does feature a higher number of elite enemies with shields, the primary issue arises from players often neglecting to prioritize the handling of shielded enemies. Consequently, many lack the necessary loadout or practice to effectively deal with these enemies or efficiently manage encounters involving multiple shielded foes since this is not standard.

That said, I do still think Axes and pick weapons without cleaving should be given a boost to breaking shields, and that Stormvermin shields should be breakable.

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