Shield Charge or Batter?

[Mad_Bombardier]

Which would you choose? I've seen posts on the merits of both and cant decide.

Batter is low mana, but low damage too. The only good thing is slowed attack, but I have that on my weapon too from a relic. And I don't need rend armor either at the moment, although the AOE bit is tempting.

As for Shield Charge, I already have Take Down as a Warden for my charge attack. I think this will be very helpful later with Disruption, but I'm only level 18 and pumping my hunting skills at the moment.

Also, for my style of play (Lazyman 101) I love the Weapon Pool and Energy Reserve skills so, should I just get Shield Smash for now? I can always save points later til I need the rend armor or disruption. But which to choose? Any Defenders out there care to guide me?

[Killa John]

Well if you already have Take Down you dont really need Shield Charge, although the stun is nice. I have both Batter and Shield Charge on my Conqueror, one point in each and maxed out synergies.

[apocalypse80]

Having slow from an item doesn't make batter useless.
I mean , it's not like you have that many 3-target attacks with a 100% chance of happening.
I use one point in each , batter and rend , just to pass the slowness from a ring.

I never cared much for the base shield charge skill (1 point) , but disruption is just plain nice and gets even nicer with a slowing item.
Everything you hit with it will get damaged , stunned , slowed and have it's skills disrupted.
That should be enough to ruin their day.

[Flying Fox]

Get both, they both have their own uses, you can't rely on shield charge all the time unless your shield charge is a one hit kill, the recharge is not fast enough unless your adrenaline is on.

[Ataxia]

I use shield charge since its very good to get close to those pesky archers and mages, without taking too much damage in the process. The stun with it although short is very useful at times.

[Benoit.Demers]

Hi,

Me too I use them both. Getting the synergies is great because of the arc of attack and multiples target. I don't think maxing shield charge is worth it cuz when I charge a mob and he's still alive, I finish it with batter, hiting other mobs in my way. Shield charge is very nice for stun and disruption on mages. Batter is my baby!

[Icehawk]

Absolutely both. Shield Charge kicks butt esp. with Disrupt and Batter w/Rend is great for nuking 3 mobs in front of you. I single pointed everything but Disrupt, put enough pts (3 IIRC) to get a +1 mob hit.

[Woebringer]

Ummm... OR?!?!

-Woe

[myomer]

I have a ~lv 36 Warden and I find having two charge skills helpful getting from one archer cluster to another (or mage in the back). I use charge for the extra move and its effects are just a bonus. I find pierce resistant mobs don't stand up too long against a charge + batter so I mitigate that weakness somewhat. Being a Warden I do very well against single targets but lack AoEs and batter/charge dependably gives me a little bit of AoE.

I would say keep both but only put a point in charge (and take down). Putting points in subsequent skills is up to you and how much of an effect you want.

[Mad_Bombardier]

Thanks all. I believe the consensus is to do 1 pt in shield charge and batter for now then max the synergies. Gawd, I do love passive and weapon pool skills! I think I'll marry them