Caster Shield and Sword?

I know that PvP casters use a shield+sword set for defense. What shield and sword do they use? I want to get a set for my Mesmer and I'm not sure what to get.

Also, don't they lose half of the AL off the shield unless they meet the requirement?

sword is +5 energy insc with +20% enchanting pommel, and then either crippling or furious mod.

20% on a mesmer? no

For a mesmer you should use a spear with a +5e insc and a +30hp mod.
have different shield for each type of damage.

Don't I lose half the AL on the shield? Any way around that? (i.e. any shields without reqs aside from the festival reward ones?)

Also, if you keep a shield for each damage type, how do you quickly swap between them? I can only have four weapon sets at a time, as far as I can tell.

And what's the cheapest way to get caster shields/swords? Any good collectors or weaponsmiths that make them, or do I have to buy the mods myself?

8 Armor is better than nothing.

You can get r7 AL 15 shields and spec into it that way, I for instance have a r7 15AL Tactics shield, which is ideal for anything going /W and taking 7 in tactics. (I don't use it, i just have it >_> )

Anyway, why a crippling mod? ¬_¬

As for the set swapping, look at what enemies you are facing in an area first, and take a few shields, the most popular in PvE are Earth, Fire and Slashing/Piercing.

You usually have to buy them and mod them yourself, but some collectors do +5e weapons, you'd have to put the +30 on them of course.

he asked what sword pvp casters use, the one i mentioned was the most common although yeah, probably not so suited to a mesmer. btw 33% cripple is for return if your playing x/a.

You can open your inventory and change shields so at the beginning of the match id their biggest damamge ie piercing, fire, etc and then set like sets 1-2 to the two most prevalent dmg types then 3 for 40/40 and 4 for high set.

Maybe if you're too lazy to swap to a staff for casting enchantments. 20% enchantments is really bad on martials to be honest. Mod a staff up for it is better as you gain more benefits than +5E / 20% Enchants, 20/20 focus. You get double HCT, enchantments, 20% recharge chance on any skill.

Shield: +30HP, +10AL versus *type*. (You would want a shield against every form of damage)

Martial: +5E / -5E, +30HP. (You would want both, as the -5E allows you to go against energy denial, and the +5E allows you to camp your defensive set for casts longer. Although I do swap weapons after every cast)

You'll have to make them yourself. If you're short on money you should really consider using a PvP character, as gearing up a PvE character for PvP can be expensive.

I agree with this for the most part, but if you're using enchants (I mean in general), changing two for a staff would be more effective, at least in my opinion.

As for builds, you'd know them. R/W's on the other team, go for Blunt, R/D's = Slashing, Rangerspike = Piercing, etc.

OP says its for a PVP mesmer.

5e +20% enchantment NO just NO. That's what pve'ers call caster moded only Jesus knows why lol.

A mesmer should go with a shield with 30 hp and every armor vs bonus (keep them in inventory) and pre equip one of them when you know what you are up against i.e sf spike ---> fire shield, r/d swayers ---> slashing. I guess you are trying to make one of your PvE chars PvP ready? In that case buying all those shield might be a nightmare, i would go with 10 vs slashing mod since in my experience thats the most common damage you will come across especially with the current meta.

And take a +5e martial weapon (usually a spear if your team are running barbs/mark of pain etc otherwise it wouldnt matter) with 30hp too.

Theres a collector in NF that gives Aureate Aegis shields with insc slot and comes with a +30hp if i remember right. that is a cheap way to get the shields you need.

There are several collectors for those types of shields, only in Nightfall and GW:EN though.

Here

Here

Shouldn't be too hard to get hold of. Didn't know about them myself to be honest, as I usually just mod drops.

PS: Scroll to the parts of the pages where it says "Shields".

Also, judging from the notes you can craft caster martial weapons too.