Hey guys, I recently started a new character (you know, for the new DLC) using shield and sword, but I met a problem: I don't know how many perks I should apply for Shield Wall (the 5 basic perks of blocking), so I did a little research on UESP.

Surprisingly, I can't find anything! The only useful info is that blocking effect has a cap of 85%, and that the perks and other fortify block effect act as a multiplier to the "base effectiveness", but there is no info telling how great the "base effectiveness" is! So I did some experiments, and I think the results are worth knowing.

The base effectiveness of blocking is dependent on the "Rating" of the shield, and this Rating is the same as the base armor rating.

At 0 Block skill, the base effectiveness is "20%Rating+45%", and at 100 Block skill is "50%Rating+45%".

The blocking effectiveness when using any type/material of weapons or a torch is about 1/3 at 0 Block and around 38.5% at 100 block. I'am not sure about those two numbers because they don't fit into the formular, so I hope someone could double confirm it.

It's a simple result, right, but what surprises me is that I can't find it anywhere (or maybe I am just svck at searching). So I hope this result could come into more player's notice. Maybe someone could even put it on UESP (I don't know how to edit a UESP page, too many words and symbols...)

And to anyone who wants to confirm my experiments: I kept all the notes of my experiments in an Excel fiile, and I am thinking about posting it here, but I don't know if it would ruin the layout (so I'm posting it in the below). But if you give me your EMail adresse, I'd be glad to e-mail it to you.

Block 100 Health damage blocked Average % of damage blocked Rating weapon/torch 100 　 8,508 0,384977376 　 86,41 8,51 72,82 8,51 59,23 8,51 45,63 8,5 32,04 8,51 hide 100 　 11,602 0,524977376 15 89,5 11,6 79,01 11,61 68,51 11,6 58,01 11,6 47,51 11,6 guard's 100 　 11,824 0,535022624 17 89,72 11,82 79,45 11,83 69,17 11,82 58,89 11,82 48,62 11,83 imperial light 100 　 12,044 0,544977376 19 89,94 12,04 79,89 12,05 69,83 12,04 59,78 12,05 49,72 12,04 iron/imperial/targe_of_the_blooded 100 　 12,156 0,550045249 20 90,06 12,16 80,11 12,15 70,17 12,16 60,22 12,15 50,28 12,16 elven 100 　 12,266 0,555022624 21 90,17 12,27 80,33 12,26 70,5 12,27 60,66 12,26 50,83 12,27 banded iron 100 　 12,376 0,56 22 90,28 12,38 80,55 12,37 70,83 12,38 60,1 11,37 51,38 13,38 steel 100 　 12,598 0,570045249 24 90,5 12,6 80,99 12,59 71,49 12,6 61,99 12,6 52,49 12,6 dwarven/blades/dawnguard/aetherial 100 　 12,818 0,58 26 90,72 12,82 81,44 12,82 72,15 12,81 62,87 12,82 53,59 12,82 glass/dawnguard_rune 100 　 12,928 0,584977376 27 90,83 12,93 81,66 12,93 72,49 12,93 63,31 12,92 54,14 12,93 falmer 100 　 13,038 0,589954751 28 90,94 13,04 81,88 13,04 72,82 13,04 63,76 13,04 54,69 13,03 dragonscale 100 　 13,15 0,595022624 29 91,05 13,15 82,1 13,15 73,15 13,15 64,2 13,15 55,25 13,15 orcish/ysgramor 100 　 13,26 0,6 30 91,16 13,26 82,32 13,26 73,48 13,26 64,64 13,26 55,8 13,26 ebony/auriel's 100 　 13,482 0,610045249 32 91,38 13,48 82,76 13,48 74,14 13,48 65,52 13,48 56,91 13,49 dragonplate 100 　 13,702 0,62 34 91,6 13,7 83,2 13,7 74,81 13,71 66,41 13,7 58,01 13,7 daedric 100 　 13,924 0,630045249 36 91,82 13,92 83,65 13,93 75,47 13,92 67,29 13,92 59,12 13,93 spellbreaker 100 　 14,144 0,64 38 92,04 14,14 84,09 14,15 76,13 14,14 68,18 14,15 60,22 14,14

Here is my experiment with different types of shields at 100 block skill.
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Holy it's a mess! I give up. I am thinking about posting it as pictures, but I don't know if you guys could load the links sind I am in China.