Chapter Sixteen #3
“Then it’s either a rare combination in the real world or nobody here has tried it out yet.”
“What?”
“You’re in luck, Rosie. It just so happens that there’s a build that will let you swing around two-handed hammers while also getting to use a shield and tank.”
“Seriously?! What is it?!”
“Juggernaut.”
“Oh, I know that one! But… it’s not really for tanking?”
“You’re right. Juggernaut is a Strength-stacking powerhouse that lets someone wield two-handed weapons with only one hand. As a result, most people—for the game—would build the class in the obvious way of using double two-handed swords, axes, hammers, etcetera.”
“Did they also take Barbarian as a subclass?”
“Yep. That was the most obvious combination. Juggernaut/Barbarian is a seriously powerful combo in melee. Easily one of the highest melee DPS builds that doesn’t rely on any sort of cheese.”
“Cheese?” Lupa asked.
“In this context, that means exploiting the system to be more powerful than you probably should be.”
“Oh.”
“Sorry, it’s not real cheese.”
“I want more of those cheesy sticks…”
“You already ate two orders of them for breakfast.” Rosie cleared her throat to get us back on topic. “I’m guessing you have something else in mind since you know I want to tank.”
“You could tank with that combo, but it’s more…
of a solo tank than a party tank, if that makes sense,” I said.
“You can tank in the sense of running up to an enemy, dealing damage, and getting hit without worrying too much about dying, but it’s horrible at actually protecting the party.
There is basically no utility in that sense.
It’s an extremely selfish combo that prioritizes its own damage and survivability above all else. ”
“Then… what would Barbarian get swapped for?”
“Shielder.”
“Shielder? But… isn’t that—”
“Considered one of the worst classes?”
“Yeah…”
“Fools. Only those who lack imagination would disrespect the potential of the Shielder class.”
“Okay, what do you know that we don’t?”
I was way too excited talking about this stuff, but I didn’t care.
“Let’s start from the beginning! So, let’s look at why people consider it one of the worst classes first. Shielder is a class that people hate because: one, it has a slow, boring prerequisite that most people don’t want to bother with; two, it has some of the worst damage in the game, so any other primarily tanking class feels better to play due to finishing fights faster and getting to see bigger damage numbers; and three, two-handed shields are considered one of the worst weapon types because of how slow they are with animations—back in the game, at least—that really locked people into them with no way to cancel them.
It’s an incredibly strong class for tanking, but it’s overkill.
Any other tanking class can offer enough protection while also being more agile, dealing more damage, and being less annoying to unlock. ”
“It really does sound like the worst class when you put it—wait.”
“Have you figured it out, Rosie?”
“Juggernaut lets you wield two-handed weapons with only one hand. Does that… also apply to the two-handed shields?”
“You’re damn right it does.”
“So… not only would I get to wield a two-handed hammer, but I’d get to equip a two-handed shield at the same time?”
“Exactly. And because Shielder is already so overkill when it comes to its tanking ability, you barely have to invest any points into it. You can put most of your points into Juggernaut to boost your damage. Sure, you’ll never deal as much damage as a Juggernaut who specializes in dealing damage, but you’ll deal more damage than most tanks, have more survivability than most tanks, and you’ll get to look like a total badass using a giant hammer in one hand and a giant shield in the other. ”
“That sounds like an amazing combination! I never would have thought of that on my own!”
“That’s alright. Most people see a class like Juggernaut and think it would ruin the point to not dual-wield two-handed weapons, not realizing that shields are technically weapons and that a two-handed shield could also be used with only one hand thanks to Juggernaut.
At the same time, most people see a class like Shielder and figure that if you care about damage, go pick literally anything else.
Juggernaut/Shielder is a niche hybrid that won’t deal the most damage nor will it be as pure of a tank as builds that double up on tanking classes, or that combine a tank class with a healing or buffing class, but it’s still incredibly strong when built right. And it looks fucking cool.”
“I want to do that! Alright, that’s settled! I’m going Juggernaut/Shielder! Which one should I unlock first?!”
“In my opinion? Juggernaut. At the current difficulty of dungeons, tanking isn’t that important. It’s great to have a tank, but they make already easy dungeons even easier. It’d be better to maximize damage for now and then focus on tanking later.”
“Makes sense. But… should I use double hammers until then?”
“If you want. Or you can use a single two-handed hammer and a normal shield. Is it the most effective? No. But would you have more fun and feel better doing that? If so, then you should do that. The most important thing is that you’re having fun.
It’s alright not to make builds as efficient as possible. ”
“That feels like such a dangerous way of approaching dungeons… but it does sound nice, and that’s exactly the kind of answer I would expect from you. What do I need to do to unlock them?”
“Unfortunately, they’re a little contradictory in that regard.
Juggernaut’s main requirement is killing enemies while using two-handed weapons, and Shielder’s main requirement is killing enemies while only using a shield.
But since you need Shielder in the first place to even equip two-handed shields since it’s a unique weapon type, you can’t get both done at the same time.
The good news is that Juggernaut requires thirty points put into strength and Shielder requires twenty in strength with ten in vitality, so they have good overlap there.
And since Juggernaut is all about being an unstoppable force with Shielder being about being an immovable object, they both involve tanking a lot of damage as a prerequisite.
But in Juggernaut’s case, you have to actually take the damage while, for Shielder, you have to block it.
There are a couple others, but they’re not a big deal. ”
Rosie nodded along the entire time I talked.
She even reminded me of her dad at one point as she pulled out a notepad and began to take notes.
“I think I got all of that. Start working on prerequisites, get Juggernaut first, then Shielder later. While our levels are still lower, I should do the Shielder prerequisites first since they basically require handicapping myself, and prerequisites can only be fulfilled using monsters that aren’t too below my level. ”
“You’ve got it.”
“I don’t want too much forbidden knowledge right now, so I won’t ask about elite class advancements yet. I think I’m good now!” Rosie turned to look at Lupa. “Your turn!”
“My turn?” Lupa asked.
“Yeah! What do you want to do? Any ideas? Any goals? Preferences?” It was cute how she copied me.
“Mm… whatever is most useful to Master.”
Rosie sighed and looked at me. “You heard her.”
“Alright,” I said. “I want you to be the Cheerleader/Simp combo.”
“Okay,” Lupa said.
“I’m joking. Those classes don’t exist.”
“Oh. I would choose them for you if they did.”
“Do you even know what those words mean?”
“I know what cheerleader means… but I don’t know what simp means.”
Rosie looked eager to explain with how quickly she jumped into it. “Simps are guys from Sev’s world who are way too desperate for women! They’ll dedicate their lives and money all to one girl just to get five seconds of attention from her!”
“Close enough,” I said.
Lupa nodded and looked at me. “I’ll be your simp, Master.”
“You don’t have to be a simp. I promise I’ll give you attention even without being that desperate.”
“You can’t stop me.”
Rosie cleared her throat. “S-so, classes for Lupa!”
Lupa sighed and looked at Rosie. “Instead of get jealous, you can join in and flirt, too.”
“This—this isn’t flirting time! It’s class strategy time!”
“Mm… just pick a class for me and I’ll go for it.”
I slammed my hand down on the table and stood up. “Picking a class is too important to do so haphazardly! This is something you’ll be stuck with for life! And it can totally change your style in the dungeon! We need to make sure this is something you enjoy as much as possible!”
Lupa tilted her head and smiled at me. “I love your passion for dungeons.”
Admittedly, that did get me to blush a little. “If—if you understand, then please take this more seriously and think about it harder.”
“Mm… okay.”
“So, you picked out daggers the other day. Was there a reason for that?”
“They feel like an extension of my claws. It’s more natural to fight with them.”
“Then a class that specializes in daggers… no, wait. You chose them because they feel like an extension of your claws. In that case, why not use claw weapons?”
“Claw weapons?”
“There aren’t that many available at lower levels which is probably why they’re not popular, but it’s an entire group of weapons built around taking the claw drops from monsters and bosses and turning them into giant claws you wear like fist weapons almost. They have pretty bad defensive stats and they can’t block at all, but they’re amazing for high, single-target DPS while also being one of the best weapons for parrying thanks to how fast their attack animations are. ”
Rosie spoke up to say, “You’re slipping into acting like it’s a game again.”
“Right, my bad. Attack animations don’t really matter much here when… that’s tied more to actual, individual skill.”
“Well, considering that some weapons are just slower to use and swing around, it still probably matters a little, but it’s not like it’ll be the same for everyone.”
“Right.”