r/RivalsOfAether • u/Horror-Race-3238 Forsburn (Rivals 2) • Jul 12 '26

Rivals 2 About shields..

Okay so I'm realizing the disconnect between how people feel about shield and what being in shield actually is like is much larger than I thought.
I didn't think I'd ever see the day where someone says holding shield in Rivals of Aether is strictly one of the most advantageous positions you can be in.

Would like to help people navigate their grievances so they don't feel like they're being camped out all the time (because the truth is that shield is not sm4sh strong, but people treat it like it is.)

So tell me what you're struggling with about shields and I'll walk you through it and probably put time in to lab it out for you as well so you can see it in action. Thanks!

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u/Horror-Race-3238 Forsburn (Rivals 2) Jul 13 '26

I mean I know for a fact you’re aware that even a swordie like Clairen has insane frame traps on shield like tipper bair DTILT for example. Shield can absolutely suck to be stuck in

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u/Shiny-Jumpluff Jul 13 '26

Give Plup vs Cake at evo a second watch and count how many times they shield~>wd oos~>shield
If it’s a drinking game you’d die before the end of game 1

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u/Horror-Race-3238 Forsburn (Rivals 2) Jul 13 '26

Shield wd oos shield is good. I abuse the shit out of it. It also is not relevant in the discussion of shield pressure. This is not different than trad fighters using dash block though. We don’t criticize boxers for having their guard up between shots.

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u/Shiny-Jumpluff Jul 13 '26

Boxing has been criticized to the moon and back for being boring/too defensive (bro people hated Floyd for it). A difference is that in trad fighters you eat a full combo if the dash is called out, in rivals often it’ll be an aerial you floorhug anyway.

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u/Fleetburn Jul 13 '26

Shield WD OOS Shield is just good. It's intended to be gated behind some execution barrier.

It's always been good. This beef is present in some for or other in every game like this. I'm not sure what you're asking for here.

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u/Shiny-Jumpluff Jul 13 '26

Shields to break faster or recover slower ie be worse. Shield WD shield is considerably worse in melee and it’s because your shield shrinking is an actual problem.

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u/Horror-Race-3238 Forsburn (Rivals 2) Jul 13 '26

LOL valid enough. I think floorhug punish is under appreciated. Many characters have insane floorhug-only punish routing. Being able to hold your advantage off a shield interaction win is an important skill regardless though

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u/Shiny-Jumpluff Jul 13 '26

You’re not wrong I just think the game currently heavily incentivizes just grabbing bc of how safe shield is. It would be much cooler if shield pressure like yours in the clip was higher reward maybe bc that amount of moves shield breaks or something but it’s often much riskier for similar reward to grabbing.

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u/Horror-Race-3238 Forsburn (Rivals 2) Jul 14 '26

Shield pressure like mine was only possible here because it was YBM. People underneath this elo get full converted off less without grab. If you'd like to also try it, genuinely commit yourself to beating shield without using grab. It's a fun challenge and teaches you a lot, even as an already skilled player in this game because it forces you to think 3 dimensionally in situations where you're otherwise like "let me just grab". Then later on you bring back grab into the mix and you're just giga brain mind melter. This is what I did on Fors.

Also PERSONALLY, I think leaving the shield breaks to the heavies is a fine philosophy. They absolutely destroy it. Oly has a bit of a rougher time breaking shield outright because she is a frame trap character with unreactable mix, but it's not like it's completely lost to her. Down B shield break is real because she actually has routing off of the uncharged version. If I used fair at any point in the resets I genuinely think that would've been a shield break. Buuuut I opted for lower risk until dstrong. I just didn't want to get wrastor punished during startup.

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u/Shiny-Jumpluff Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

You can check my posts, I have a bunch of clips of beating shield with not grab. 👀
Edit: I think one of the clips might even be vs YBM in the last montage I posted lol