Shield Artifact Stat

Deciding factor: Item Stats

Pre text note: Devs moved away from the concept of artifact weapon sets and thus the new weapon sets do not feature any artifact modification anymore!

The Shield Artifact has 2 Modifications.

The first Modification increases either one stat of Forte, Control Bonus, Control Resist, Incoming Healing or Critical Severity by 500 stat points as ratings or increases a Boost of AP Gain (+2.5%), Recharge Speed (+2.5%) or Stamina Regeneration (+5%) percentage wise. It is recommended to either take Forte for getting 0.5% more Defense or take one of the Boosts, because Boosts come from a few sources only. Consider for the Boost:

• Unless there is a strict time frame to get enough AP to the Daily Power, Recharge Speed beats AP gain.

• For an unknown reason, the Stamina Regeneration given is twice as high as the other boosts. For this reason alone, Stamina Regeneration represents the highest stat gain from the boosts! However, Mod 22 Artifacts give high amounts (15%) of Stamina Regeneration for a loss of only 30 Combined Rating.

• Recharge Speed can be taken nonetheless, when one wants to go for the Dragonscale Neck-Waist-Artifact set or goes hybrid to increase outgoing damage.

Thus either take Forte, Stamina Regeneration or Recharge Speed.

The second Modification increases a stat by up to 2500 stat points as ratings. Increasing offensive stats is not recommended on the defensive routes (Power, Accuracy, Combat Advantage, Critical Strike). Thus one of the defensive Modifications is recommended.

Note: In my experience, Defense and Awareness are the stats that can be increased better via other sources like Insignias and Item Bonuses. The four valid choices are then Hit Points, Critical Avoidance and Deflect Severity. Critical Avoidance is the best choice against tank busters in more advanced content where the MEHP formula is important. Hit Points on the other side are useful in scaled content. Deflect Severity is only recommended to take for the Deflect - Defensive route with an Augment Companion. Deflect Severity has extremely few sources. If the Deflect - Defensive route is taken, Deflect Severity is the best bet! The Deflect rating can already be capped via other ways, thus Deflect should be neglected. Beginner Weapon Sets are better off unchanged, because the unlock and stat rolls are costly and the set most probably soon exchanged.