Talk:Dark Hand/@comment-79.24.220.200-20140504185447/@comment-3492791-20140504210240

Neither really. The drain attack has tremendous starting lag, so your opponent would have to pretty much just completely stop paying attention to hit them with it. It makes a pretty poor shield due to its low stability and deflection. The only reason to use it over a traditional shield is to possible fool your opponent into believing you don't have a shield.