28 May 2007 at 21:24 - 2
Even if you don't meet the requirement for a shield, you still get 8 armor from it, which is what people use it for. Most people have it on one of their sets so when they're getting pounded on they can swap to their shield set and minimize the damage. The sword is a +5e +30h, and the shield a +30h +10 armor vs X. Most people have +10vsSlashing as standard, but swap it out depending on what's attacking them or what the opponent's build is, such as thumpers or sins. You should have a shield with a +10 mod for slashing, blunt, piercing, and each of the elements (although you really won't use those as much; you can pretty much get away with just having a +10vsFire). The really nice thing about having a shield out is that the potential +18 armor is universal, meaning it always activates, as compared to armor bonuses, where they only activate based on a percentage of where the opponent hits you.
There aren't any real drawbacks, except for the lack of extra energy and casting mods. Once you practice weapon swapping a bit, you should be able to sit on a staff or wand/focus set, and only swap to the shield when you're about to take a significant amount of damage.
