Shield Fortress
| Job | Paladin |
|---|---|
| Type | Supportive (self buff) |
| Target | Self |
| Max level | 1 |
| SP cost | 50 |
| Cast time | 0.5 sec |
| Cooldown | 120 sec |
| Duration | 8 sec |
Shield Fortress is a defensive self-buff and emergency button of the Paladin class. For a brief window it raises the Paladin's shield into a near-impenetrable fortress that almost completely negates incoming damage and locks out the effects enemies rely on to control a tank.
Overview
Shield Fortress is the capstone of the Paladin's protective branch. It is meant to be held for the moment a fight spikes most dangerously: a burst of incoming damage, a critical control attempt, or the seconds a party needs to recover. The trade is that it is short, cannot be sustained, and forces a long wait before it can be used again.
Mechanics
Effect: For the duration the Paladin gains the following while the fortress holds:
- Incoming damage from every source is reduced by 99%. A minimum of 1 point of damage always gets through, so this is extreme mitigation rather than total immunity.
- Immunity to negative status effects. Debuffs simply fail to apply while the buff is active.
- Immunity to knockback and forced movement, keeping the Paladin rooted exactly where the party needs it.
- Casting the skill dismounts the Paladin from their Peco Peco.
The 99% reduction is a personal buff and only protects the Paladin's own body. It does not apply to damage that reaches the Paladin through Devotion. When the Paladin is shielding an ally with Devotion and that ally is struck, the ally's full damage is transferred to the Paladin without the fortress reduction, so an enemy can bypass the wall by hitting the devoted target instead of the Paladin.
When the buff ends, a lockout indicator (Forbearance) is applied for 2 minutes. In practical terms you cannot raise the fortress again until the skill's cooldown has fully passed.
Notes
- Because residual damage is always at least 1 per hit, a Paladin under Shield Fortress can still be slowly worn down by a very large number of attackers, but for any normal exchange it is effectively a damage wall.
- Shield Fortress does not cover Devotion. Damage redirected from a devoted ally lands on the Paladin at full value, so avoid relying on the fortress as a safety net while you are actively devoting others.
- The knockback and debuff immunity make it especially valuable for holding a chokepoint or surviving a coordinated burst in PvP and War of Emperium.
- It cannot be recast for 2 minutes after it expires, so timing the activation around the most dangerous moment is the core of using it well.