HL shield doesn't seem to always block all incoming damage. I've seen weak attacks cause little ticks of damage right after casting it to press a button or something. I don't have that problem with SS. Granted if your dps and not a healer than your resto will be too low to buff the strength of SS. I can break quickly if used by a dps. Find an enemy that does pretty consistant damage and test them both. A thug in front of the Cape Carmine lighthouse might do the trick.
afaik Swarm Shield takes your Resto + Dom combined * 125% (Healer Role) or * 60% (DPS Role) and puts that up for a shield to up to 4 people. howver, it'll also only last 5 consecutive hits. hits are counted only every 1,5seconds so unlessn't it's completely soaked up by maximum damage should at least last 7,5sec. in a hardalert it'll target the people with lowest health. that is, if you want to instrumentalize it for yourself when you want to pick somebody up, it might not target you, 50% chance. however, it is a very good thing to cast immediately after somebody returned. the amount of damage it prevents (giving you time to combo heals) is far superior to any heal in your toolkit.
No where does ss state that it goes to four people. And i have not been getting the effects on more people.
I don't know about stating it or not, but I've always had Swarm Shield go to a group. I thought all the Healer type's shields do that.
In DPS role I noticed my Hard Light Shield seems to block a little more, plus only ever takes one Power Point to unlock. On the other hand, Swarm Shield is usable while controlled and hits 4 people. Also, Swarm Shield is a 50% damage modifier while HLS is I believe 40% or 45%. For Healer, I would definitely say Swarm though due to it using 125% of your Resto vs HLS using 100%. You can also always do what I do and run both though.
No, I've always had Swarm Shield go to four people, just like Sorcery's Boon of Souls does. Has been that was for me for years. As further proof, check out Sore's and Mitchells' Nature guides (found here: https://forums.station.sony.com/dcuo/index.php?threads/sores-nature-guide.74/ , and here: https://forums.station.sony.com/dcuo/index.php?threads/mitchells-nature-guide.129/ ). Both of them mention how Swarm Shield protects four people. The only move in Nature that I'm aware of that hits only the lowest plus yourself is Blossom. Maybe you got the two mixed up?
umm even the tooltip for Swarmshield will state this, so..... however, alot of tooltip give out bogus informations and in order for you to really know, simply read up on guides (you can read it on Sore's guide for page) or test it out yourself.
I hadn't had it go to more then one person. i must be bugged. None the less ss is a great shield and far better imo then hl shield as to the original question.
If you're a healer, Swarm Shield is the obvious choice. Resto x 1.25 (SS) is better than Resto+Dom (HL). Protecting 4 players is better than 1. If you're a DPS, it's a little less obvious. There's modifiers to consider. There's cooldowns. You might be better off just taking another damage power or a buff.
