Shield use...

[cronuss]

So I recently came back to GS.

After the GS4 change, I played for a bit and made my cleric a runestaffer. Didn't like it.

I liked my holy warrior.

So then I tried shield + brawling... volnfu and open hand casting.

Very efficient.

I still missed my holy warrior.

So, not I'm back to sword/shield. Got my eonake longword back in use. ;)

Anyway, my question is whether or not to train in shield use.

I have a vultite shield... which gives me 20 DS just for being a shield, then 20 DS for being 4x.

Now, I trained twice in shield and noticed ZERO improvement to my DS in offensive or defensive stance.

At 13 points a rank, what the heck are people training in shield for?

My research shows that shield RANKS fit into a huge equation and basically you get about 0.8 DS per rank of training or something like that.

Is this true?

If so... should I even bother training in shields or just save the HUNDREDS of points and put them elsewhere? Like getting more spells or lores, etc...

Thanks.

[Shifted]

I currently use staves, my defense is substantial enough, and i haven't yet the desire to swing a weapon.

I would imagine that shield + brawl though would be very efficient, with the open hand cast and volnfu, and on top of that you can set up a macro to grab a brawling weapon fairly easily, and adding a bit more to your ds. I don't use volnfu and rarely hunt undead so i haven't tried it myself.

The main thing stopping me from turning to sword and board so far, aside from the massive TP costs, i'm spoiled from being a pure. I love that i can be overloaded with boxes from the hunt, and still i can fight with little ill effect (until those evil ewave creatures don't die quick enough) whereas with swinging, your rt is massively affected by your weight.

If anyone else has tried both, how badly has it affected your magical type ranks?

[Jayvn]

Actual numbers

........................Defensive.....offense
empty.................361..............327
shield..................459..............399
shield and rune.....501..............411
runestaff.............487..............363
there was a weird spacing thing with the post..
also note that I 1x in shield so I'm sure that may have some affect on it too.

[Shifted]

It seems that when i use a shiled and rune that my ds acrually drops in guarded (haven't checked defensive, i'm never in it.) Also been told that you can't use a runestaff effectively when your other hand is not empty, because it is a two-hander. I'm about .5x in shields, and tempted to drop it alltogether, since my staff right now i believes adds approximately 150 to my ds. i'll check exact numbers later on tonight, though.

[fallenSaint]

Well theres also the shield training granting more chance to block or deflect attacks all together I believe?

[Bobmuhthol]

Unless you 2x in shield use, that's a pretty negligible amount. I think it's approx. 5% chance per "x".

[Celephais]

Shield's have much better bolt DS (this apply for hurl?) from my understanding. Also, depending on where you hunt, the chance of that runestaff being disarmed might be an issue.

[Gan]

My cleric uses shield/blunt and has a great DS.

Runestaves suck in general unless you're a wizard.

[Jayvn]

i'm a wizard and i hate em.. too easily disarmed making you fodder..the shield is the way to go, aside from occasional loot happy scout when you're dead.