Lundburgerr's 0.5 Shield Wall Smith Leaguestarter

Contrary to popular belief, Shield Wall didn't actually get nerfed that much this league and is still going to be one of the strongest league starts, and arguably the best league start because of how extremely simple it is to gear in maps. In 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4, there have been a Smith of Kitava at the very top of the XP ladder the first few days (In 0.2 it was me :)).

The base damage nerfed on shield wall and fortifying cry was simply to compensate for the base armour buff on Shields. We will however do around 30% less damage at worst case against single target in endgame due to the Fortifying Cry changes which prevents it from shotgunning.

But Shield Wall was already exceptionally strong in 0.4 and the strongest build during the first weekend of the league. It was obliterating bosses already so a 30% nerf for single target might be warranted.

PASSIVE TREE CHANGES IN 0.5

For the be most part, just use the same tree as listed here for the 0.4 tree. If you want to try something new, grab vaal pact and the leech nodes that gives attack speed while leeching, these could be very strong. Note that instant life flasks should still work with Vaal pact (not tested), so an Olroth flask is very good if you go vaal pact.

REGEX:

to.att|speed|melee|leech|tower|Leech

When clearing:
Drop Shield Wall and either use a warcry or Shield Charge. Once you get to endgame, the more you can use Shield Charge, the faster your map clear is.

Against bosses:
1. Freezing mark (can be skipped after you get armour break from other sources)
2. Place Totem
3. Infernal Cry + Fortifying Cry (When you get it)
4. Spam Shield Wall
5. Sunder after armour is broken (When you get Sunder)
6. Repeat