Ok. Here it goes.
[ITEM]Grunt's Shield[/ITEM] of Blocking + [item=23530]Felsteel Shield Spike[/item] vs [ITEM]Redbeard Crest[/ITEM] +
Greater Stamina
Simple version (if requested, I might try a full theorycraft version but I think this version will do)
Differences:
[ITEM]Grunt's Shield[/ITEM] of Blocking + [item=23530]Felsteel Shield Spike[/item] has:
5 more block rating and a [item=23530]Felsteel Shield Spike[/item] more.
[ITEM]Redbeard Crest[/ITEM] +
Greater Stamina has:
69 more armor, 2 more strength, 10 more stamina and 2 more block value.
To make this difference more understandable, I will do the math for the Grunt's Shield.
5 block rating amounts to 2% block chance. Every block, you deal 26-38 damage which is 32 on average (most of this will be explained as "on average" because you can't translate chances to value otherwise).
I can translate the usefulness of this spike to damage per second on average. Base block chance is 5%, so with the Grunt's it's 7%. (avoid attack table, this would be a bit too complex for now). So simplified, this comes down to blocking once every 14.29 attacks. So once every 14.29 attacks you deal 32 extra damage. That's 2.24 damage per attack on average.
With this concluded, I can show what this means. Say you're fighting someone who succesfully attacks once every 1.04 seconds (a SF/TB rogue for example, we are ignoring attack table, miss chance and instant attacks here) you would deal 2.15 extra DPS due to your spike.
But, on the other hand, if you're fighting someone who succesfully attacks once every 3.6 seconds (a Glacial Stone warrior for example), you would only deal 0.62 extra DPS due to the spike.
Also, your Grunt's Shield increases your block chance. This can also be translated do damage stopped per second on average. You block 2% more due to the rating on the shield. Assuming (yet another simplification) you have 92 Strength, your block value would be 55 total. You would block once every 50 attacks from the shield alone (5% is base, which we ignore. We also ignore attack table again). So once every 50 attacks you reduce the hit by 55. That's 1.1 damage per hit on average.
With this concluded we move on to the usefulness of this damage reduction. Say you're fighting someone who succesfully attacks once every 1.04 seconds, you would stop 1.05 extra DPS due to the block rating.
But, on the other hand, if you're fighting someone who succesfully attacks once every 3.6 seconds, you would only stop 0.31 extra DPS due to the block rating.
So it really comes down to (2.24 extra DPS dealt and 1.1 extra DPS stopped)/(enemy attack speed). This depends on how fast your opponent attacks. The Redbeard Crest on the other hand, has static bonuses which do not depend on your opponent.
To compare the two, I'm going to "interprete" the usefulness of the stats. This is a
subjective judgement, so another reason why this is a simplified article. Some people will disagree with me about this interpretation.
69 more armor, 2 more strength, 10 more stamina and 2 more block value.
69 armor, I'm going to use a secret little formula of mine to convert this to stat points. I will assume 1300 hp for this; resulting in 2.23 stat points. 2 strength is 2 stat points and 10 stam is 10 stat points. Total: 14.23 stat points, and 2 block value. To value the block, I just detract the block from the math I did to determine the value of the block% of the Grunt's. Result: 0.04 less DPS stopped on average for the Grunt's.
Interpreting the spike and block is harder, so instead I will just calculate the attack speed where the stat points of the spike+block is equal to 14.23. (2.24+1.06)/X=some DPS "benefit" combined. I rate 1 DPS as 7 stat points, so (2.24+1.06)/X*7=14.23. X is 1.62. So in my interpretation, the Grunt's Shield with Spike is better if your opponent attacks faster than 1.62 (AKA a rogue/multiple opponents).
To conclude this I had to ignore attack tables, not-on-average, misses and instants, I had to assume your Strength and your HP, and I had to interprete the results subjectively.
Instead of all this math I just say to myself: get both, and use the Grunt's + Spike ONLY when you are 1vs1 to a rogue, Redbeard in all other cases.
So. That's the easy, interpreted, simplified version. Still want the full theorycraft?
