Notes from author
You've hit the wall, and not sorcery nor miracles nor any mortal armaments may topple it.
The normal counters to shields are kick, status effects, elemental chip damage, backstabs, or the Shotel.
Havel's Greatshield eats kicks for breakfast and between the Child mask and Cloranthy ring (and possibly green blossoms) you will not be left wanting for stamina.
Status effects seemingly remain a problem... until you realize that a Strong Magic Shield buffed Havel Shield has higher than average poison/toxic and bleed block. Note, this still isn't 100%, so whatever are we to do? Well the main sources of DoT effects are throwing knives or arrows, both of which are solved either by pressuring, disengaging, or swapping to a spider shield. The main sources of bleed are... weapons, primarily the Gold Tracer or Katanas, both of which are usually two-handed so no deflection. In these cases don't block, just two hand your buffed pike and r1 spam until they back off, you can outdamage anything short of a chaos blade because of your high defense and bleed resist.
Strong Magic Shield means you resist all damage 100% as well as bringing this particular shield's stability up to 126, and even an unbuffed Havel's Shield makes Crytal Soul Spear and Dark Bead alike look like a joke.
Backstabs are best fought either by backing up against a competent player (look out for running stabs) or counter-strafe-backstabbing an incompetent one. (You could also kick them when they try to strafe, but while fatrolling you most likely won't get to follow it up with a backstab.) Also, never roll as a wakeup, I recommend either blocking or ravioli-ing.
As for the Shotel r2's? Just back up and poke them while they're stuck in the animation.
