Shield Mode

What use is a shield if you can't use it?

Here I have implemented a shield mode to my Sword and Shiled stance, and also a Guard mode to my Broadsword stance.

Both of these use a Blendspace to choose and blend between which animation to play based on speed and direction.

To use this correctly a new set of branches on the state machine was required to go into and out of these modes.

Then finally, to make sure no damage was taken in shielded mode, I added a Branch and a new function on the damage check in my Character Blueprint.

This detects which mode is being used and plays a short 'Deflect' animation and a particle effect at the correct moment.