Shield Fortress

Shield Fortress

Job	Paladin
Type	Supportive (self buff)
Target	Self
Max level	1
SP cost	80
Cast time	1 sec (cannot be interrupted)
Cooldown	60 sec
Duration	10 sec
Requires	Aura of the Guardian Lv 3, Reflect Shield Lv 5, Job Level 50

Shield Fortress is a defensive self-buff and emergency button of the Paladin class. The Paladin plants their shield against the enemy and assumes an unyielding stance that turns away almost all incoming damage, at the cost of nearly all of their own mobility and offense.

Overview

Shield Fortress is the capstone of the Paladin's protective branch. It is meant to be saved for the moment a fight spikes most dangerously: a burst of incoming damage, a wipe-threatening attack, or the seconds a party needs to recover. The trade is that the Paladin is rooted, slowed and blunted while it holds, it lasts only a short window, and it cannot be raised again for a full minute.

Mechanics

Damage mitigation: Damage from physical, magical and miscellaneous attacks is reduced by 99%. Rounding always leaves at least 1 point getting through, so this is extreme mitigation rather than total immunity.

What is not reduced: Damage inflicted by status effects, damage inherited through Devotion, and attacks that bypass damage reductions all land in full.

Costs while the stance holds:

• Both physical defense values are set to 0, overriding equipment and any defensive buffs.
• Movement speed is capped at half normal speed. A stronger slow already affecting the Paladin is kept, and effects that lock speed outright keep priority.
• Attack speed is penalised by 30%.
• Casting the skill dismounts the Paladin from their Peco Peco, and Riding cannot be used to remount while the stance holds.

Knockback: The Paladin is immune to knockback and forced movement, holding the exact cell the party needs covered.

Reflect Shield amplification: If the Paladin has cast Reflect Shield on themselves, Shield Fortress multiplies its reflection rate by 20 and adds 4 × the Paladin's current VIT to the damage reflected. In practice the reflection becomes (200 + 60 × Reflect Shield level)% of the damage received, plus 4 × VIT. The amplified figure still uses the level Reflect Shield was cast at. Shield Fortress does not activate Reflect Shield on its own, and it does not amplify a Reflect Shield inherited through Devotion.

No status immunity: Shield Fortress does not block negative status effects; debuffs apply normally while it holds. The buff itself cannot be removed by Dispell, and it ends if the Paladin changes map.

Notes

• Because residual damage is always at least 1 per hit, a Paladin under Shield Fortress can still be worn down by a very large number of attackers, but for any normal exchange it is effectively a damage wall.
• The knockback immunity and the mitigation make it valuable for holding a chokepoint or absorbing a coordinated burst in PvP and War of Emperium, while the speed and attack speed penalties mean the Paladin contributes almost nothing offensively during it.
• Keeping Reflect Shield up beforehand turns the stance into a punishing window for melee attackers, which rewards a high VIT build.
• With a 10 second duration against a 60 second cooldown, the timing of the activation matters more than anything else about the skill.