Rare low req shields

I see alot of people buying or selling ar:15 q8's and ar:11 q4 shields... Aren't they max q9 anyway? If ar:16 = q9 then shouldn't
q8 ar:15's be the same just minus one from ar and requirement?

Also where and how do I get these shields nm/hm?
How do I know I'd got a good shield?

Shields can drop with 16 AR and a req. of 8. From what I've found, rarity is as follows, ordered from most common to least:

Req. 8 AR 15
Req. 8 AR 16
Req. 7 AR 15

Random drops are random, so someone else may have different results. It's possible there may be a method to find these more frequently. I've found all of those in both normal and hard, from foes ranging in level between 20-30.

Mo/W stance monks don't leave home without req7/8 shields so they can have the full amount of armour instead of half.

And because they're rare, there's a nice price tagged on them as well.

The q8 AR 15 aren't that expensive, but the other 2 can get some decent money. I do agree with the above posters though. Even though the drops are random, i've gotten 3 Q8 AR 15 Great Conch drops when raptor farming. I've never had a Q7 AR 15 drop, and i got 1 Q8 AR 16 a while back from a chest in Elona. If you want to try farming for them, my best guess would be raptors.

you can get those shields as random drops . ive gotten a few from Doa ,Mallyx and killings monsters in eotn .

I understand all except why q8 ar15 are rare if adding one to both ar snd req aren't they q9:16 making it a scam? Also the skin matters on rarity no? I'm not sure if u can still get max gold q7's of q8's that are os or insc however I have gotten insc q8 max shadowshield

It's mostly for secondary warriors for defense. Like stance monks, instead of having to put 9 into tactics to get the full benefit, you only need to put 8, and you get the full armor bonus, just -1. Most stance monks also bring Bonetti's Defense and Balanced Stance, so they are already feeding points into tactics anyway, so having the max armor available with less points feeding from your primary attributes helps alot especially in PvP.

Req 8 is a good req for a secondary, as you can put 12+10 in your primary attributes.
Req 9 would limit you to different stats like 12+9+3, or other less desired distribution.

The best currently droppable armor/req combinations for shields is:
8al/req.0
9al/req.1
10al/req.2
11al/req.3
12al/req.4
13al/req.5
14al/req.6
15al/req.7
16al/req.8

and despite the common opinion the rarity of them does increase slightly with every higher shield and so a 16/8 is more rare than 15/7, at their given best dropsource level. Thus if you farm mobs of level 24 and higher you will actually get more 16/8 shields than 15/7, hence the common observation.

As for getting them, they're not even any rare, just watch all the blues that drop as the huge majority of your 16/8 or 15/7 shields will be white/blue.

15 armor / req.8 shields are much more common than any of the others, they're not on the edge of probability but in the middle, so you will get approximately the same number of 15/8 shields as for example 15/9 shields.

12+9+9, which still isn't bad with runes.

I don't really understand the r7 al 15 because, although being more rare, a 7 attribute split is a lot uglier than 12-11-6 or 12-10-8.

But whatever.

for example if i got a purple Q7:AR14 inscribable great conch its valuable? if so how would i determine the price on it?

It's good for imbagon.

12 + 1 + 1 Spear
11 + 1 Leadership
6 + 1 Command

Price check forum, or search buy & sell forums to see if anyone else has bought or sold them, and what they sold for.

al15q7 gives a bit of safety if you get hit with weakness with a 12/10/8 attribute split.

I have a Req7tactics/16AL Reduces Deep Wound 20% Aegis

I like the Req6/14 shield. 12+11 and 6 in tactics.