Testing - One Handed Weapon and Shield

[SalBlu]

<DIV>Recently (last night) I picked up the White Dragon Scale Round Shield from Gorenair.  I mainly picked it up for those resists that I might need in various situations or soloing, but I have been toying around with the idea for quite a while in experimenting with a shield and one handed weapon.  Specifically, I was going to see if I could pick up a Shadow Axe and mess around with the combination.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Have any of you yet messed around with a 1h/Shield combo?  Would it be a viable alternative coming from a Dirk of Negativity/Adamantine Dragonfang combination.  It would be interesting going to a 1h/Shield combination given that i'd get a boost in defenses as well as resistances.  I carry shields (Thexian Dinnerplate *poison*, Marked Flameshield *heat*, White Dragon Scale Round Shield *cold*) to boost my resistances up as high as they can go, as well as giving me more protection in those AE fights such as Vyemm, Tarinax, etc.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Anyone with experience in this?</DIV>

[Recca[BK]]

shield is completely useless for soloing or raiding. it just lowers your dps, and LOL you use a shield for vyemm and T? you should be killing it as fast as possible, not trading your dps to help avoid the AE. and vyemms ae is weak you should be able to handle 2 without dying without gettin healed.

[SalBlu]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Recca[BK] wrote:<BR>shield is completely useless for soloing or raiding. it just lowers your dps, and LOL you use a shield for vyemm and T? you should be killing it as fast as possible, not trading your dps to help avoid the AE. and vyemms ae is weak you should be able to handle 2 without dying without gettin healed.<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>As I said, I would like to know if anyone has tried it.  This is something that I truly would like to know, and given that we have access to weapons that have a much higher DR rating as well as primary stats, a 1H may be a viable option.  But... I dont know that, which is why i'm asking.  Vyemm was just used as an example because his AOE is wide scaled and hits everyone around him.  I dont have any issues using dual wielders on him.</P> <P>So... do you have any experience in using 1h weapon and shield, or is what you wrote an assumption.  As far as I can tell from first glance at some weapons, I should be hitting twice as hard with a better chance to proc on both a weapon proc as well as poison due to slow melee rate.</P>

[Jayad]

<P>I haven't seen a fight yet where you couldn't a) get resists up high enough to not care about AOE, b) joust it successfully, or c) use other items/strategy to get around.  Hard to imagine it being an advantage at all, except maybe in [Removed for Content]-tanking.</P> <P>There's not too many 1H weapons you'd use which would be a ton better than the DON for procs or crits.</P>

[SalBlu]

<div><blockquote><hr>Xney wrote:<div></div> <p>I haven't seen a fight yet where you couldn't a) get resists up high enough to not care about AOE, b) joust it successfully, or c) use other items/strategy to get around.  Hard to imagine it being an advantage at all, except maybe in [Removed for Content]-tanking.</p> <p>There's not too many 1H weapons you'd use which would be a ton better than the DON for procs or crits.</p><hr></blockquote>Yeah... true.  I keep seeing that Shadow Axe though, and have to wonder at if the damage i'm doing with my dual wielders could be duplicated in a 1H.  Maybe i'm just being stupid though.   I know the  advantage gained from one item, in this case a shield, is negligible in most situations, but it's still something i'm wondering about.  I may try to get myself a good 1H weapon and parse some raids to see if there is a +- in damage output.</div>

[beliker]

Im on a pvp server, and ive busted out a shield to give me a fighting chance agaisnt those pesky swashbucklers.<div></div>

[Leillia]

Well, I've actually tested it on some occasion and from my experience I have to say that it does not help you using a shield. It will lower your dps so much, that the mobs have enough time to beat you to pieces even though you have higher protection. I've tried quite a few battles against mobs and I lived through them with dw, but ended up dieing with a shield and a one-hander.<div></div>

[beliker]

I think it depends on the equipment, if I stumbled across a level  appropriate fabled 1h and round shield I would use it, the hardest part im having is at 38 I can't find any good shields. I see some on the broker from time to time with almost 600 prot but they are all like 9p. So then I look at the Mastercrafted ones for my level and they have like 320 prot, why even bother.I have switched back to dw for pvp, but if I could find a really good shield id go back.<div></div>

[CrazyPaladin2]

<DIV> <DIV>I 2 box an odd combo of Templar and Assassin.</DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Awhile back Gore dropped that shield for our raid and nobody was going to bid on it so I picked it up for low dkp.  I then decided to see what an assassin with 1h and shield was made of.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I also got a 1h velium weapon and later upgraded to the Shadow Axe.  This all kind of started off as a joke.  I often refered to myself as the assassasin tank.  I even thought of testing out a respec to 4/4/8/8 (+parry +crit) str 4/4/8 (+def) wisdom 4/5 agi (extra stun).  I have yet to test this, but with def stance master I can get over 70% avoidance and w/ templar 3600 mitigation using shield/1 hand.  Not sure what they would be if I tested a respec of AA's.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I still have a lot of testing I have not done so I can't answer all your questions.  Here are some observations...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I can function as a [Removed for Content] tank and do rather well except keeping agro without rear attacks is impossible against most dps classes.  So agro ping pongs.  I also have to switch targets on groups to keep agro.  Obviously we are not meant to be group tanks, but it is possible for the right duo or trio.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>My 1h/shield testing has mostly come from 2 boxing named in PoA, SoS, or clearing Nest.  What I found out was the shield can be useful at times.  While 2 boxing I can keep my str/agi at cap with most of my resists near max without swapping out my main gear and maintain 70+% avoid 3600 mit.  To me this seems impressive.  I'm curious what a leather tank class would be at with similar gear.  Anyways....  In the Nest instance I can handle almost everything without getting healed.  I can handle 3 encounters at a time with some healing.  It is similar in SoS and close in PoA.  The range is green to yellow mobs.  There is not a massive difference in frontal dps with dw vs. 1h/shield.  I have a hard time 2 boxing the boss of the Nest.  I found that 1h/shield does not cut it with him.  I have to heal alot. DW burns him down faster and is the difference between winning or losing (i've died enough and tested this enough to firmly make that observation)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I just woke up so my apologies if I ramble a bit.  I hope these disjointed thoughts make sense.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So...  my DW weapons suck.  I have Adamantine Dragonfang and Ancient Velium Hand Axe.  We (I) have had very bad luck with fabled DW's.  No DoN or GDoH, 1 Windrazor, 1 Vyemm Fang, and 3 Absolutions have dropped for us.  I have been trying for DoN/GDoH combo and none have dropped.  I may just grab what I can get.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So I have gone over my tanking/soloing/2 boxing experiences and as you can see 1h/shield sorta/kinda/maybe has a place there.  Does it for dps?  It may in very limited situations, but dw will be better 99.9% of the time.  I have yet to test this because I don't wanna [Removed for Content] my dps when raiding and I can cap important resists without shield.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'll try to parse Gore Shield and Shadow Axe for an entire Lab clear this week.  My bet is I stay in top 5 dps'rs and don't lose more than 10% dps.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Honestly I see no reason for a raiding assassin to do anything but DW.  When autoattack damage and dw dr went up awhile back it put a big distance between 1h and dw for us.  I suggest you use your shield for fun and leave it at that.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I probably did not help you much but those are my thoughts.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Frodogorn the Assassin Tank With a Cool Shiny Axe signing off.   </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[dissonance]

<DIV>To be honest... the only reason I would assume this would greatly effect your dps is because you will lose dualwield...  I realize that everyone recognizes that but the thing is.  You have no double-attack to make up for that...  If I am mistaken please someone correct me but having a single attack per round of swings does not sound friendly even if it is only your auto attack dps that suffers. </DIV>

[beliker]

Very true that we do not get double attack for it, but we do get a pretty impressive dps boost that alot of the classes who have those double attack AAs do not get. So while yes you would lose dps vs another assassin, your dps vs say a brig with out the double attack would be better. Accually if you think about it, doesnt our dps top out at just shy of 50% or something? Sword and board with that is the same as a rogue dw.<div></div>

[Jayad]

<DIV>Master1 dps boost is 69 now, up from 66.</DIV>

[Tolwynn]

I have tried it. Honestly, it really does not buy you anything. I have tanked vaults a few times on my assassin and can tell you, all the shield does, is lower your dps. I was using the rare 1hs from POA (Flamelord one) with a 650+mit shield. It really bought me nothing. I have found I am better off dual-weilding so I can kill the mobs faster and not worry about the dmg. Now playing around I will say this, a very high dmg 1 hander does make for some killer decaps <span><span>:smileywink:</span></span> <div></div>

[beliker]

Plus only [Removed for Content] use shields, real men take it in the face =p<div></div>

[Jvaloth]

<DIV>I use an Archaic Roundshield and Frostwrath when I'm soloing and I don't take a huge hit to my dps to be honest.  I mean most my dmg is comign from non stop spammage of CA's and the increased survivability with good avoidance, some blockage etc.   I think you'd only see a significant drop off in dps if you just did auto attack.   (Which is something you can test out and parse)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Would I use it all the time?  No.  But solo it can help alot because you dont get hurt as bad limiting downtime.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Mr. Dawki]

<P>with all the new adornment it would be wise to get yourself a shield and a 1h as you can put a block heal proc on the shield and a lifetap on the 1h</P> <P>and with 2 wrist items that proc on repost or parry</P> <P>more ways to heal = mob be dead instead of you</P>