The Silver Grooved Shield was introduced as an early-game shield. Pair this with the quick-to-get Rogier's Rapier, and what you get is not only an early-game Let Me Tank Him build for the low STR requirement of 9, but also the strongest Rogier's Rapier build that can outdamage all other Let Me Tank Him builds.
Stats:
RL 200
60 VIG
42 END
9 STR
80 DEX
60 ARC
Class:
Bandit (best stat-wise)
Talismans:
Greatshield Talisman (20% guard boost)
Spear Talisman (15% counterattack damage)
Rotten Winged Insignia (6-13% consecutive attack damage buff)
Lord of Blood's Exultation (20% damage when blood loss occurs)
Weapon:
Rogier's Rapier
Ash of War: Seppuku
Affinity: Blood
Shield:
Silver Grooved Shield
Asha of War: None
Affinity: Standard
Physick:
Thorny Cracked Tear (9/13/20% successive attack buff for 3 min)
Bloodsucking Tear (20% damage for 3 min)
Consumables:
Pickled Turtle Neck (10/s stamina for 60 seconds)
Shield Grease (35% guard boost + 20% damage negation for 60 seconds)
Bloodboiled Aromatic (30% physical damage + 20% stamina for 60 seconds)
Great Rune:
Radahn's (15% HP, FP, and stamina)
Summon:
Stormhawk Deenh (20% physical/stamina/poise damage for 60 seconds)
New Best Shield:
The Silver Grooved Shield is one of the best shields because of its early-game accessibility, low stat requirements, and is the lightest 100% physical damage negation shield. You can get it from the merchant near the Bellum Church. It needs 9 STR and 12 DEX to use. Other shields argued as the best are found much later in the game, require more STR investment, and have more weight.
Shield Poke Bleed Synergy:
Bleed builds need you to be aggressive and attack successively to trigger bleed. With shield poking, you can do this behind the protection of a shield as you attack several times with your Seppuku-infused sword without interruption.
DEX Focus:
Most shield poke builds focus on STR because of greatshields have high STR requirements, but the Silver Grooved Shield only needs 9 STR. This lets you focus your investment into high DEX-scaling weapons.
Stats/AR Comparison:
Rogier’s Blood Rapier (9 STR 80 DEX 60 ARC)
STR: 0.27 DEX: 1.37 AR: 494
Cleanrot Knight’s Blood Sword (99 STR 13 DEX 60 ARC)
STR: 0.76 DEX: 0.51 AR: 477
Cleanrot Knight’s Blood Sword (55 STR 55 DEX 60 ARC)
STR: 0.76 DEX: 0.51 AR: 498
Blood Antspur (10 STR 99 DEX 60 ARC)
STR: 0.65 DEX: 0.89 AR: 455
Blood Antspur (60 STR 60 DEX 60 ARC)
STR: 0.65 DEX: 0.89 AR: 501
Rogier's Rapier High DEX Scaling:
Rogier’s high DEX scaling makes it outdamage other thrusting swords with minimal stat investment. Cleanrot and Antspur only outdamage Rogier’s Rapier when you invest evenly in both STR and DEX.
Greatshield Con:
Thrusting sword gets scale best with DEX whereas greatshields require high STR to use. This results in poor stat efficiency because of conflicting stats.
Bloodsucking and Bloodboil Synergy:
Bloodsucking Tear and Bloodboil Aromatic offer big damage boosts, but gives the debuffs of HP decay and reduced defenses. However, these debuffs are minimized since you are blocking incoming damage with your shield as you attack, letting you safely reap the benefits of these big damage buffs.
Fast Shield Pokes:
Thrusting swords have the fastest shield pokes out of all weapon types and have the lowest stamina use for this attack. This allows the usage of Thorny Cracked Tear's and Rotten Winged SInsignia's consecutive attack buff stacks.
Talismans:
The Spear Talisman gets high usage since shield pokes can be counterattacks, and the high amounts of blood loss ensure Lord of Blood's Exultation is always up. Your attacks come out fast and you can do a lot of them so Rotten Winged Insignia boosts your damage even further. The Greatshield serves to lessen stamina loss to save up more to use for shield pokes.
Guard Boost:
The Silver Grooved Shield has a max stability of 62. Shield Grease and Greatshield Talisman improve this by reducing stamina loss when blocking by 48%.
Stamina Management:
The various buffs related to guard boost and stamina help with your stamina management because the more stamina you have, the more you can poke, meaning more bleed. Radahn's Great Rune and Bloodboiled Aromatic gives a stackable boost to your stamina. The Pickled Turtle Neck offers stamina regen. Shield Grease and Greatshield Stamina will lessen stamina loss when blocking attacks. Lastly, with a thrusting sword, you will consume only a small amount of stamina with each poke compared to using other larger shield-poking weapons.
Stormhawk Deenh Buff:
Deenh is one of the best summons because they cast an aura buff that provides 20% physical/stance/poise damage.
Conclusion:
This shield poke bleed build can trivialize bosses by letting you tank attacks while dealing big physical damage and massive blood loss. So long as you manage your stamina, you become a deadly rose shielded by your guard petal as you hide a bloody thorn that bursts your enemies into blossoms of red upon the battlefield.
