I've mentioned it a couple of times because I'm proud of it, I have c12 on the VE shield on my nuker. It's a lot of work to get it there, and I bring up the topic again for a couple of reasons. These 4x and 5x events are the perfect time to be working on that skill, particularly if you have that skill up to c11 already. There are no c11 manuals to help you so you have to make use of high xp events to finish that skill off. That's how I did it anyway.

The other reason I bring this up again is because I'm finally learning how to use all of my shields properly, and that VE shield is not the first one you should be using. It's tempting to use it first because it's really easy to use. You don't have to change targets to cast the VE shield, so you don't have to change back to your mob to attack again. The VE shield is really effective too, and most mobs don't last long when you stand toe to toe with them, right? You don't lose too much vital energy when you do that, right?

Well, it works out that way most of the time. Usually.

When you suddenly get ganged by 4 mobs, and you have that VE shield on you can lose one hell of a lot of vital energy all at once, and that can be a death sentence. It's hard to lightfoot away from those mobs if you have no vital energy left. You can't attack them either. The other three roles can still use active skills without vital energy. Nukers don't have an active skill.

The only other thing you can do is use your Impervious skill and eat a mushroom but I prefer to save those for PvP play. You never thought you would hear me say that, did you? Yes, I'm starting to play a little PvP. Just a little, and really slowly.

Anyway, I mostly play the grinding game and that is mostly what I'm talking about here. A nuker has three shields to work with and the other two are an effective combination. The VE shield can save your life in an emergency, but you should save it for those times.

The Shield of Evermore has different names for each clan but it doesn't matter, it does the same job for every clan. Basically it absorbs a certain amount of damage and it doesn't matter what kind of damage, chi kung or kung fu. In the Brotherhood of Thieves that shield is called the Art of a Blue Wolf and I have that skill up to the level cap.

The Blue Wolf shield is a fast cast shield that lasts until it absorbs the damage limit, or for one minute. There is a two minute recast time on that shield so for one minute you have to do without it. That's ok.

The third shield nukers have is a simple shield against kung fu damage. In the Brotherhood it's known as the Art of a White Wolf and yes I have that one leveled to c12 as well. It's easy to level up. The kung fu damage shield lasts until it absorbs the damage limit, or for one minute, so it fits in really well with the Shield of Evermore.

In the normal grind you go back and forth between those two shields, casting first the Shield of Evermore, then the kung fu shield. If you ever get ganged by those mobs and both of these shields fail you, cast your VE shield and think seriously about using lightfoot to get out of trouble, while you still can.

That Vital Energy shield saves your life. Save it for when you need it.

And now I have a request to our readers. There are very few nukers in our league. I personally could use some help with a second role nuker build. My own nuker is now EC3 and should finish the second role quests sometime next week. Here is my current build and I welcome all comments and suggestions as to what I should do after reaching the second role. If you would like to write a post for the blog on this topic, please let us know.

- SpearDriver