Halls of Torment Shield Maiden Build: Best Traits, Abilities, and Items

Halls of Torment is an addictive rogue-lite hack-and-slash game that allows players to carve their way through legions of enemies as one of seven unique playable characters. One of these playable characters is the Shield Maiden, an armor-clad warrior who specializes in taking hits and dealing back massive damage. For all of those who want to march fearlessly into the heart of battle, here’s how to build the best Shield Maiden in Halls of Torment

Best Shield Maiden Traits

The Shield Maiden boasts the highest Defense stat of any playable character in Halls of Torment, allowing her to wade into hordes of enemies and walk back out relatively unscathed. However, playing defensively won’t eliminate the hundreds of enemies surrounding you from all sides. That’s where the Shield Maiden’s impressive and unorthodox offensive abilities come into play.

The Shield Maiden is a close-range melee combatant who deals powerful blows that can knock enemies back and give her a chance to move into a more advantageous position or heal herself. On top of that, the damage dealt by the Sheild Maiden’s attacks scales with her level of Block Strength, so improving her defense will also enhance her offense.

The best Traits for the Shield-Maiden are those that boost her Block Strength, enhance her already higher-than-average critical-hit chance, and increase the speed of her melee and special attacks. Below is the best combination of Traits for the Shield Maiden in Halls of Torment.

• Parry II (Strong) – +4 Block Strength
• Cunning Technique I (+5% Base Critical Hit Chance)
• Ruthlessness I (+20% Critical Damage Bonus)
• Quick Hands III – +8% Attack Speed

Related: Best Diablo 4 Barbarian Leveling Build

Best Shield Maiden Abilities

The Shield Maiden’s primary attacks are usually more than capable of dealing with most enemies that rush her from the front. Unfortunately, her slow movement speed makes it easy for enemies to surround her and get a few good hits on her before she can turn around. Thankfully, the Shield Maiden’s Abilities give her some much-needed crowd control.

While many of the Shield Maiden’s exclusive Abilities provide tempting buffs to her base health, movement speed, and Block Strength, the Abilities available to all playable characters do a much better job of covering her weaknesses by giving her some excellent area-of-effect coverage and increasing her base damage. Below is a list of the best Abilities for the Shield Maiden

• Radiant Aura – Casts light that distributes its damage equally among all foes in range. Automatically cast in intervals.
• Dragon’s Breath – Emits a wave of fire in the direction you’re facing. The fire has a high chance to set enemies ablaze.
• Lightning Strike – Strikes random enemies with lightning and stuns surrounding enemies around the target. Hit enemies get electrified.
• Lightning Strike II (Conversion) – +30% Attack Speed (Ability), 20% Crit Damage (Ability)
• Lightning Strike IV (Charges) +0.6 Additional Strikes (Ability), +10% Damage (Ability)

Best Shield Maiden Items

Items in Halls of Torment can give minor buffs that can help negate a playable character’s primary weaknesses or enhance their primary attributes. A Shield Maiden should have items that increase her movement and attack speed and a few that grant her special buffs that complement her in-your-face combat style. Here are the best items for the Shield Maiden in Halls of Torment

• Elven Slippers – Increases block strength while moving. Builds up by moved distance. Block Strength is limited to 10, movement speed buffs increase the cap. Standing still removes the bonus.
• Copper Ring – Increases the critical damage by 40%
• Blood-Soaked Shirt – Killing an enemy has a 3% chance to give you 1 health point.
• Quickhand Gloves – +20% Attack Bonus