I've decided to write this post because I see questions about this talent almost daily. Please make this post a Sticky or incorporate into an existing Warrior Guide Sticky if not already present.

The Shield Mastery talent tooltip is very poorly worded as they simply took the text from the original Paladin “Shield Specialization” talent. This was not so bad for Paladins where there was no relevance to Shield Slam and less “+Block Value” itemization for people to call into question.

The talent tooltip says:

"Increases the amount of damage absorbed by your shield by 10/20/30 %".

At the very least it should be changed to say:

"Increases your total shield block value by 10/20/30 %. Your Shield Slam damage modifier gains the benefit of this increased shield block value.”

Key points are:

1. Your total Shield Block Value is the Block Value of your Shield + all items or abilities which "increases the Block Value of your Shield by n" + Strength/20 (will edit if I can be shown it's Strength/21or22)
This is the amount of Physical damage you absorb on a successful Block, not a change in the Shield’s Armour.

If you take Shield Mastery you then gain 10/20/30 % increase to that total value. This therefore includes all items with a +Block Value component not just the value inherent to your Shield.

In essence all sources and terms are combined into one simple value: Block Value and Shield Mastery increases that final value.

2. Your total Shield Block Value does apply fully to Shield Slam damage.
Note that Shield Slam gains your total shield block value as damage not just a proportion of it for being an “instant cast spell”.
Frankly I think Shield Slam should be reworded to make it clear that you get your total Shield Block Value as a modifier and it should even dynamically display that damage as Bloodthirst does.

Conclusion:

Shield Mastery helps to make Block a stronger source of overall damage mitigation but don't overlook the benefit to Shield Slam damage and threat: with current endgame Tanking gear being loaded with +Block Value, if you have Shield Slam you really should also take 3/3 Shield Mastery.

A thing that's been bothering me though is the way, block value effects shield slam.
Tooltip says "...modified by block value..." but is that supposed to be understood as your block value simply being added to the SS's base dmg?

I answer that question in my post: you get the full value added to the base damage.

Nice post! I've been pondering this myself.

Thanks alot for the post :)
Sticky reportage to commense?

agrees with the above mentioned

now where did i leave that glue ?

I can seriously vouch for this talent, if mainly for the fun factor.

I'm focussing on block as my primary tanking stat, and currently have 448 block value on my tanking kit (item's like the steam-hinge chain of valor, dath'remar's ring of defense, styleen's, devilshark cape etc. Basically every slot that can have +block value on, i've gone for).

The main thing is that i'm having shield slam crit for about 1800. That's -serious- burst damage for a 17 rage skill.

My soloing ability has never been better - I wear every piece of +block gear I have, and then use DPS pieces for the parts which don't have any block on (helmet, chest, feet, bracers), along with a good shield and dps mainhand. Soloing in tanking gear used to be really slow and hideous for me, but taking shield mastery and focussing on block has given me some really nice burst damage in solo and has cut down my downtime immensely.

Block is a bit difficult to calculate its efficiency, it's one of those stats that gets exponentially better the more you stack it. So either you need to not focus it at all and just go for avoidance/armor, or get shield mastery and build a heavy block set.

What can I say - I've been levelling as Prot since level 10 (got from 60-70 entirely as prot too), and my warrior has never been as fun as she is now. Massive block value has given me the "invulnerable feeling" you get when soloing in tank kit, combined with the big number burst damage that the DPS warriors enjoy.

It's damn fun. I'm never dropping Shield Mastery from my prot build.

-Sapphy.

I use Tank Points 2 which now shows Block Value and attempts to factor Blocking into your orverall Tank Points score.

But more importantly I run Combat Monitor and each Boss I meet I add to the list for data collection for analysis of their damage output. This now attempts to estimate your overall "Blocking Mitigation".
It's small vs. Bosses (I see scores around 5% at times compared to 15-20% for say Parry) but it's there.

I too intend to boost my Block Value for the express purpose of Shield Slam efficiency :)

As the tooltip says (and like you say) it increases shield block value of your shield by 30%. How did you go from that to: increases your TOTAL shield block value by 30% including block value gained from other items? The tooltip specificly says shield block value and not "block value" in general which WOULD imply a 30% TOTAL.

I dont have this talent cause 30% on the shield block value is pretty much pointless for 3 talentpoints. Becomes a whole different story if it covers your entire block value - but nothing says it does.

(I see blue posted above me - can this be confirmed?)

---

Q u o t e:

1. Your total Shield Block Value is the Block Value of your Shield + all items or abilities which "increases the Block Value of your Shield by n".

---

I have a quick question. You make it sound like it also includes the bonus to block value from strength, is this the case? As I know that the paladin one doesnt and the final block value is determined by:

((Block Value on Shield + Block Value on Items) * 1.30) + ((Strength / 20) - 1)

Thx for the info.Didn't realise it was added to shield slam.Will have to make a minor spec change now :)

thx Wj

I've tested it and shown it works how I've explained and not the way the tooltip implies. As I say the Tooltip is very poorly worded because it's been cut and paste and assumes everyone would understand exactly what it means. As this forum shows nearly daily, not everyone understands it and I felt I had to test it (same goes for Shield Slam damage).

Terms like "Block Value", "Shield Block Value" and "Total Shield Block Value" etc are all the same since the game only records the one score: Block Value.
It might even be on your Defenses subtable on the Character sheet but I may be mixing that up with Tank Points :P

Before TBC (but with the new Talents) I did tests via Duals and observations of fights with Mobs.

First I got a mate to repeatedly hit me to establish that my predicted Block Value was correct. i.e. I added up all my Block Values, added on 0 to 30% (depending on my Talents at the time) and observed the amounts Blocked in both the Combat Log and Floating Combat Text.
This confirmed the 30% applied to the total and not just the Shield component.

EDIT: Taking a look at http://www.wowwiki.com/Formulas:Block they say the same except that the say your Strength component is excempt which shows my testing was not exhaustive enough but explains the slight anomolies you will see.

I also tested Shield Slam with to confirm that show that the entire Block value was added as damage.
It was and for weeks I had fun in PvP delivering some strong blows with this - to me it was a mini Mortal Strike! I actually kept this quiet as I feared a PvP nerf! Someone blew the whistle days after my test though and now a few Protection Warriors are loading up the +Block purely for the damage :)

Other people have done tests too which confirm these results.

Oh and I did the tests with anything from Block Value 5 to 200.

For Protection Warriors +Block Value is our +Spell Damage!

This is pretty interesting. What sort of block value can you get at 70 with good gear?

---

Q u o t e:
As the tooltip says (and like you say) it increases shield block value of your shield by 30%. How did you go from that to: increases your TOTAL shield block value by 30% including block value gained from other items? The tooltip specificly says shield block value and not "block value" in general which WOULD imply a 30% TOTAL.

I dont have this talent cause 30% on the shield block value is pretty much pointless for 3 talentpoints. Becomes a whole different story if it covers your entire block value - but nothing says it does.

(I see blue posted above me - can this be confirmed?)

---

The talent says that it increases the damage absorbed by your shield by 30%
And how much do your shield absorb when you block? It absorbs your total block value.

This tooltip needs a buff!

One of the posters above has Block Value 448 and that's the highest score I've ever heard!

I am currently nowhere near this as I only hit 70 last night so some way from gathering up piles of new +Block items.

---

Q u o t e:


The talent says that it increases the damage absorbed by your shield by 30%
And how much do your shield absorb when you block? It absorbs your total block value.

This tooltip needs a buff!

---

Yes thats very true, sigh...clear tooltips ftw.

Is Shield Slam damage affected by items that temporarily increase your block value, like Glyph of Deflection (only one I can think of off the top of my head, I'm sure there are more)?

---

Q u o t e:
Is Shield Slam damage affected by items that temporarily increase your block value, like Glyph of Deflection (only one I can think of off the top of my head, I'm sure there are more)?

---

Not tested that personaly, but I'd say so yes - shield slam is affected by block value, if that value changes, your Shield Slam changes with it.

---

Q u o t e:
This is pretty interesting. What sort of block value can you get at 70 with good gear?

---

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=71753348&sid=1