I just got done playing as LSM for the first time. I played as almost every class and weapon combination, and fought many MoN 1v1, with the numbers advantage, and with a numbers disadvantage. I myself play MoN somewhat regularly (also Rhino driver/repairer and Tactical Bolter most commonly), in large part because Nurgle is my favorite Chaos God and thematically I prefer melee combat. I do quite well with it, with a very good K/D and winning most 1v1's and even several 4v1 and up fights. But I'd never had to face one before and man, are my eyes opened. I used to feel annoyed trying to kill Tactical Shields with Bolters, but nothing compares with the frustration of trying to 1v1 or even 2v1 a MoN. The only class that I had any measure of success with (besides getting super long range Plasma Cannon shots or a lucky perfect range engagement with Multi-Melta) was Tactical Shields, but even then I had to play out the melee combat using the perfect moves, and it felt that if I slipped up for even a second they would win just by spamming fast attack. Even then, not being able to attack while blocking really hurt the class, making it only truly tanky when not dealing damage, unlike MoN which can deal damage while still being extremely hard to kill. Also, I was really surprised to find out that Shieldbros cannot capture points, unlike Mark of Nurgle Traitor Marines. I do however think it's totally balance-able, and I hope they do it, because right now I'm eating some serious humble pie about some of my comments over the last week towards LSM players who complained about MoN and all those times I bragged about winning 4v1+ fights. I challenge all Chaos MoN players to give LSM at least a quick couple matches (as painful as it might be) and to fight against some MoN as melee or ranged, and see if you don't agree that their power level compared to their counterparts is pretty out of whack. Until I did I honestly thought that Shieldbros were on par with them, and probably equally frustrating to play against, but that helpless feeling you get with even just one MoN (let alone several) bearing down on you is pretty embarrassing. I almost don't want to play it anymore because it almost feels like it's taking advantage of a glitch or something akin to cheating now. Lesson learned when playing Alpha products: If you're going to contribute to the balance discussion, make sure to play all factions, even if you hate them. That said: Smite our foes and anoint ourselves in their viscera! Let the Galaxy rot away and all come to Nurgle!
For the most part I feel it's balanced. I, and many others, feel they could drop them from 230HP to 200HP though. Mostly though the problem is SM players have A LOT of genuinely new players which doesn't help AND SM in general seem to not like to play GA which is fully capable of holding their own against MoN provided you know how the melee system works(and latency isn't bugging the hell out of it haha).
"Even then, not being able to attack while blocking really hurt the class, making it only truly tanky when not dealing damage, unlike MoN which can deal damage while still being extremely hard to kill. Also, I was really surprised to find out that Shieldbros cannot capture points, unlike Mark of Nurgle Traitor Marines." Wow.. great to see someone gets it.
It's a trade off though. Sure, MoN are "tanky" from 360 degrees, but Shieldbros take no damage at all from their shield side as long as it isn't broken. Shieldbros are more skill based, no lie there but it's not like they don't have the ABILITY to be as good as a MoN. I am torn on the capping, I will say it is awfully convenient having a tanky pusher also able to cap a point. But they do want asymmetrical balance, plus items(servo skull) aren't actually in the load out yet so maybe GA will be able to cap someday as well.
See, that's the thing though, LSM Shield assault can take down a MoN 1v1, but they have to almost play the fight out perfectly in order to do so, and a MoN just has to spam fast attack to win a lot of the time because they have a big cushion because of their HP. I fought one MoN where I managed to get off two Power Maul charged attacks, 2 D-Bashes, and probably 2-4 fast attacks, and still eventually died to two normal fast attack Chainsword melee hits while my shield was down because I was actually trying to deal damage (which you cannot do while the shield is active). I won a few fights, but had to literally play the melee rock-paper scissors game flawlessly for almost a full 15 seconds or more to do so. If I slipped up for even a moment I would die in about 3-5 seconds. Also, just FYI, the Shieldbros do take damage through the shield from many weapons, really only the base bolter, bolt pistol and stalker bolter do not go through, same with melee. And the entire time their shield is up they are incapable of actually putting out any offense, which means that unless they find a window to switch to offensive they will die to attrition eventually. Also, keep in mind that while the Shieldbro is capping (if they could) they cannot actually use their shield, meaning that they actually die faster than a MoN who is capping.
Played as and against, and I feel the same way as the OP. I don't think an overly strong nerf is needed but they are very good right now. This picture is muddle by melee in general being very strong against ranged in the current patch and that we don't know how the upgrade system will eventually play out. Also, before this patch SM was winning all the time and people contributed this to the shieldbro being too strong, so the interactions are kinda weird. Based on that alone attributing balance to how players are, such as ; 'well CSM don't work together and never use tactics' or 'LSM are all newbies' seem silly to me. As far as I can tell there is no discernible difference between how the factions play, those types of arguments are usually just a case of observer bias (I mostly select 'quick play', so I get to play both sides quite a bit, though CSM a bit more it seems like up until now).
Are you absolutely sure you're taking damage even with an unbroken shield? I feel like your shield probably just broke and you didn't realize it, from what I understand it should be blocking everything on the left side as long as it hasn't broken(besides plasma/melta etc). Let's also remember that right now, almost every MoN and many Shieldbros are using Power Axe right now which is -clearly- performing above it's intent and I feel like the Maul has...bugs.
Shield blocks 6 things, Bolters, Bolt Pistols, Stalker Bolters, Storm Bolters, Rhino Bolters (Also Storm), and melee. All other weapons deal damage through it. And unless they are only attacking from your left the only way you get that advantage is to give up all offensive capability, unlike MoN who also get access to ranged with Bolt Pistols, which are actually pretty underrated. Almost all MoN I fought against used Chain sword or Powerfist, a few Swords and Mauls, almost no Axes.
