I have 74% block chance on the character sheet, and when I stand in front of a an archer I am blocking every hit. No damage, not even a flicker of the life bar. If I remove the shield, I start taking damage.
Why am I effectively blocking at 100%? What factor might I be overlooking.
You need to provide more data. Your level, defensive stats (Dodge, DA, etc.), stats on shield, level and type of enemy, buffs and debuffs in use, time frame of your experiment.
level: lvl 50 vs lvl 51-54 archers / rifleman
Shield: oathbreaker’s guard w/ +14% block chance.
Total Block chance: 31 (base) + 14 shield bonus + 21 shield training + 8 reinforced shell = 74% block.
Dodge = 0%
DA: 1290 enemies have 85-90% chance to hit me about
Armor: 70%, 78%, 0%, (final test wearing no armor, still taking 0 dmg)
Physical Resistance: 21% ,16% (16 - is on the shield).
Type of enemy: Projectile enemies in the 51-54 range (undead archers, fleshwarped deadeyes, etc)
Devotions: imp, turtle, dryad, crab
Note the elemental barrier from crab only blocks elemental, and all of these mobs have physical components (if not 100% physical) that will hurt me the moment I remove the shield, even with barrier up.
Currently on veteran difficulty.
I tested removing all my armor, jewelry, relic, every buff, and stood there naked except for my shield, and blocked 100% of shots. It doesn’t always make the block sound, but I take no damage as long as I’m holding my shield.
I’m not getting the same results with melee, but haven’t ruled out them just hitting through my shield. Also I will take damage from projectile mobs if there’s multiple, they’ll beat my recovery time.