Sylvan Shield Break for Hunting

Theris

For sylvans, is there a good way to break denizen shields while hunting? I know that erode in elementalism can strip the shield defence, but it doesn't do damage and that usually just leads to the denizen replacing the shield before your next opportunity to attack. Is the best option just to wait for the denizen to attack again (and possibly throw up a reflection to shield against further attacks)?

Kez

Options are really erode or reflect. Erode is good if you're in a group or attacking something that is very slow, otherwise reflect.

Razzlo

If you put up a reflection, you get your eq back quickly...and then wait for them to try to attack you. You then attack them and you have suffered no harm.

Theris

I've used the reflection tactic, and it works fine and can be easily automated when fighting a single denizen (clear queue and add a reflection to it on the shield message, trigger a bashing attack to the "reflection vanish" message). However, I don't find it too crucial because if I'm fighting a single enemy, I get some extra healing time when they shield (since they're not attacking) and I can usually tank their next hit easily. When fighting single denizens, a shield isn't so much of a threat to my survival as an inconvenience, because it slows me down while I wait for them to attack me.

The reflection tactic is much more important when fighting multiple denizens (because you're still taking damage while your target is shielded), but it seems like it'd be a headache to automate, since you'd need to track the actions of the shielded denizen specifically so that you could tell when to stop reflecting and start attacking. It would be a lot easier if there were a message when a denizen's shield went down.

Kyrra

I use highlighting for when things shield so it really stands out, and then I just switch to that other F key that is set up for shielded targets. Dragon blast/carve/reflect etc

Some denizens have slow balance and it would be nicer to see when their shields drop when fighting in groups, especially when you've got a few things pounding against you and keeping track of hits gets to be a pain.

Seth

Reflections are usually the better bet because most higher level targets can shield before you get balance back from erode. Most classes would kill to have something like reflections as well, so might as well enjoy them!

Razzlo

Yeah. If they repurposed the wand of reflections to give you access to the skill, as a blademaster I would easily pay a lot if credits for that. Our raze is lackluster except in group hunting.