Sorry if I read too fast and missed something...but can you give an explanation of your smiley rating system?
It's a scale of 1 to 10 (there are 10 smileys). It's based on how well the set utilizes the power in question or how good the power is in respect to the rest of the set and it's based on the play testing I did in closed beta.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
Don't forget to buy those Steadfast Protection Res/Def IOs, they give relatively decent +res (esp the lvl 30 ones) and +3% global def!!
"Sometimes you have to roll the Hard Six." -- Adama
Teabagging Ms. Liberty - http://kk-comics.com/allmmproject/rsf21.jpg
One note for further clarification - Shield Charge is a direct clone of Lightning Rod from Electrical Melee, and is identical in basically all aspects other than damage type (pure smashing vs. pure energy) and animation (Shield Charge has about half the animation time, but LR looks WAY cooler). From a straight damage-per-cast-cycle perspective it's crummy, but it can be one heck of a move.
Overall, I like to think of Shields as the defense equivalent of Fiery Aura. Alone, it has noticeably lower mitigation than most all of the other defense sets, but trades them for a number of other fun offensive / team-based tricks. It feels more dependent on pool picks (Tough/Weave/CJ/Aid Self) and/or set bonuses (positional defense is your friend) and/or other melee teammates who preferrably also have shields to really come into its own. If you want to roll up a new character to stand in front of Lord Recluse and spit in his face, Shields are probably probably not for you, but if you want a character that can dish out the hurt in tremendous style, give it a try. Shields are even less visually imposing than Willpower, as it has no visual effects on the character beyond the awesome-looking shield itself, except for a bluish glow for about two seconds when toggling up. A Shield scrapper (or tank or brute) is about the most "natural" guy possible to date.
Rule number six of an empathy defender is NEVER underestimate a blaster's ability to die. I don't care if he has CM, Fort, both RAs, bubbles (both FF and Sonic), and is fighting next to a Storm defender with hurricane on. If there is a way to die in that situation, the blaster will find it.
Milady's Knight's I13 Guide to Shields (Open Beta - release version)
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If you want a Tank/Brute/Scrapper set that is visually stunning with very cool animations, this is the one for you.
If you want a Tank/Brute/Scrapper with High Survivability that is very good at solo play or if you are a Tanker/Brute player that likes to herd or a scrapper player that likes to operate at a distance from the team, then I would reccomend that you select a different mitigation set.
If you are the type of player that enjoys a challenge or tends to operate near the rest of the team, then this set may be for you.
I will give slotting reccomendations for using SOs/common IOs only and leave set bonuses up to the user, though I will make some reccomendations on set bonuses and pool powers that will be useful.
Deflection
This is a toggle power that provides the majority of your defense to melee attacks and all of your resistance to smahing and lethal damage.
Defense provided - moderate
Resistance provided - very low
Slotting reccomendation - (3) Defense Buff (2) Endurance Reduction
Utility
Battle Agility
This is a toggle power that provides the majority of your defense to ranged and AoE attacks. It also provides the majority of your defense debuff resistance.
Defense provided - moderate
Defense Debuff Resistance provided - low/moderate
Slotting reccomendation - (3) Defense Buff (2) Endurance Reduction
Utility
Phallanx Fighting
This is an auto power that provides some defense to all positions and provides an additional amount of defense based on the number of nearby allies. The allies must be within 8' of the shield weilder with a maximum benefit provided by 3 allies.
Defense provided - very low to low
Slotting reccomendation - (2-3) Defense Buff
Utility
Active Defense
This is a click power that provides your protection from status effects. It also provides the rest of your resistances to Defense Debuffs. Two +3 level SOs is enough to make this power "perma" with control+left mouse click. Sheild Defense provides no resistance to recharge slows however, so I would not reccomend only 2 slots in this power. Extra recharge and hasten allow this power to be doubled stacked for a limited amount of time. While double stacked this power does provide double the amount of status protection and double the amount of defense debuff resistance (Double stacked active defense coupled with battle agility provides ~50% defense debuff resistance)
Status Protection provided - good
Defense Debuff Resistance provided - low
Slotting reccomendation - (3) Recharge Reduction
Utility
Against All Odds
This is a toggle power that can greatly enhance the damage that you deal to enemies that are within melee range as it buffs your damage for each enemy in range up to a maximum of 10 buffs. It also slightly debuffs the damage dealt by enemies within melee range. The power has a low/moderate taunt effect which helps to keep the enemies within range for both the personal damage buff and the enemy debuff. *I reccomend caution with this power especially against defense debuffing enemies* the power can cause quite the devil's choice trade off of +damage with increased aggro. It is an oscillating, knife edge balance, type power.
Damage buff provided - moderate to extreme
Enemy damage debuff provided - low
Slotting reccomendation - (2) Endurance Reduction (0-2) Taunt
Utility
Grant Cover
This is a toggle power that provides no benefit at all to the shield weilder but does provide a moderate amount of defense to allies that are within 15'. It is absolutely no use solo and can be a mixed bag when teamed due to it's small area of effect. This is the most skippable power in the set.
Defense provided (self) - none
Defense provided (allies) - moderate
Slotting reccomendation - (2) Defense Buff (2) Endurance Reduction
Solo
Utility
Teamed
Utility
Shield Charge
EDIT - This power can not be used while hovering or flying
This is a click attack power that provides very good levels of mitigation due to the very high chance of knock down that it causes to enemies. It is also one of the most fun powers in the set. Using the power can be problematic since it suffers from long recharge and using it to go father than melee range causes the shield weilder to lose the majority of the defense provided by Phalanx Fighting and can cause allies to lose the defense provided by Grant Cover. The power can be difficult to target for players unused to teleport and is further hampered by the teleport reticle problem especially on uneven terrain. Sheild charge does not benefit from Against All Odds unless it is used in melee range (which esentially eliminates the coolness factor of the power). The Teleport travel power plus any other mid-high damage PBAoE is arguably a better choice since the combination is available more often and allows the selected PBAoE to benefit from Against All Odds.
Mitigation provided - High
Damage provided - Moderate
Slotting reccomendation - (1-2) Accuracy (1-3) Damage (1-3) Recharge Reduction (1) Endurance Reduction
Solo
Utility
Teamed
Utility
True Grit
This is an auto power that provides all of your reistance to Energy, Negative Energy, Fire, Cold, and Toxic damage. It also provides a low boost to total health.
Resistance provided - very low
Health increase - low
Slotting reccomendation - (2-3) Damage Resistance (2-3) Heal
Utility
One With The Shield
This is a click power that increases resistances to all types of damage except psionic, increases total health, and increases endurance recovery. It is has a base recharge of 6 minutes, is unaffected by recharge buffs and has a duration of 2 minutes. It provides levels of mitigation similar to Will Power's Strength of Will but has a 60% endurance depletion that is less harsh than other tier 9 crashes. Activating this power while solo will bring you up to or somewhat over mitigation levels that most archtypes with a damage mitigation primary/secondary typically enjoy outside their tier 9 mitigation power.
Smashing/Lethal resistance - Moderate/High
Fire/Cold/Energy/Negative Energy/Toxic resistance - Low/Moderate
Psionic resistance - none
Health Increase - Moderate
Endurance Recovery - Extreme
Slotting reccomendation - (2-3) Damage Resistance (2-3) Heal (0-1) Endurance Modification
Solo
Utility
Teamed
Utility
Reccomended Pool Powers
Travel Pool
Teleport and Team Teleport
These are both very useful powers for the shield weilder. Taking teleport as a travel power allows the user to get "double use" as it were for travel and as a replacement for the Shield Charge power. Using Team teleport allows you to keep your allies within the area of affect of both the Phalanx Fighting and Grant Cover powers.
Fitness
Health and Stamina
Shield Defense is a power set that has low mitigation and high endurance use. The added benefit of increased regeneration and recovery are not to be overlooked and are more important for Sheild Defense than most other power sets.
Fighting
Tough and Weave
These 2 powers from the fighting pool can help add survivability that this set lacks especially when solo. Endurance consumption becomes problematic when running these 2 higher end use toggles however.
Medicine
Aid Self
This power will allow the sheild weilder to get back in the battle faster and reduce down time, especially valuable when solo.
Reccomended Set Bonuses
The Shield Defense power set will benefit from the following global bonuses listed in order of benefit
Extreme
Endurance Recovery
Positional Defenses
Regeneration
+Max Endurance
High
Resistances
+ Health
+ Recharge
+ To Hit
Accuracy
Moderate
Debt Protection
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson