1 Shield skill - worth it with any +3 shield?

[WITCHCRAFT]

My level 34 build has 1 skillpoint left over. I have 115 1H and 155 Pole WPF. Should I bother getting 1 point in shield skill, or just get Ironflesh? I see a crappy shield as ranged defense, but 3 extra HP would also help against bumps and teamwounds.

I can get any +3 shield if I want, which of the 1 difficulty shields would you recommend? It would be mainly for use against ranged on open maps that have little cover. Old kite and old board shields look like my best bets. The old heater shield breaks up my banner and I don't like the way it looks. I've never done a low shield skill build, but I'm guessing that the smaller radius shields will not block ranged attacks very well. I know Arys uses an old round shield, but I don't know how much shield skill he has.

Since loomed shields get a few (or none, in the case of old board shield) armor points and +53 hit points, would a higher base armor shield be better? Or is flat HP more important when blocking primarily against ranged? Speed doesn't seem too important here, since the difficulty 1 shields have a higher base speed than their heavier cousins.

[ShinySpoons]

With 1 shield skill you can be shot anywhere the shield is not directly covering. So for Kite/heater (i forget if the board shield covers your feet) you will get shot in the foot unless you physically move the shield to cover it. You can also get shot over the top of the shield (in the face) unless you directly move to shield to cover your head.

[Taser]

I really would just go with IF over shield tbh if you're just doing 1 shield.. if it was 2 then I'd have suggestions. Although you could do the pretty practice shields and go with a different color every round.

The plain cav shield isn;t bad though.

Its up to you.

[protox2k]

I suggest IF because +2 HP adds to be more with heavy armor against range

[Phew]

I vote do it, and get a +3 Leather Covered Round Shield. It has 32 armor, so when you put it on your back, projectiles hitting your back see 42 armor+your body armor, so even arbalest bolts do <20 dmg. At this high armor value, it can't be penetrated by bolts (an important consideration for the low-requirement shields).

Even with just 1 skill, it would absorb 5-6 longsword strikes, 3-4 arbalest bolts, etc; durable enough for your intended use.

Think of it this way; if it only absorbs one bolt/arrow every 10 rounds, it has proven more valuable than 1 Ironflesh.

[Jarlek]

Why not 1 power throw?

[Macropus]

Probably not worth it.
4 shield skill would be awesome though, because you don't really even need to spawn with one. You can just pick up one of the shields from the ground when the round goes into final stage of defending the flag against archers etc.

[Ronin]

Get it and put the shield on your back?

[WITCHCRAFT]

Probably not worth it.
4 shield skill would be awesome though, because you don't really even need to spawn with one. You can just pick up one of the shields from the ground when the round goes into final stage of defending the flag against archers etc.

If/when I hit level 35, I might do this. I'll have 1 attribute point and 2 skill points. Could do riding if I had 5 skill points to spend, but 4 seems like a waste...

[722_]

you could use a skip the fun character with 1 shield to see if the coverage is worth it or not

[Mr.K.]

I have one shield skill on my two-hander. The protection is good enough, you just have to aim the shield wherever the enemy ranged is aiming. You can't protect both you head and your feet at the same time. The bigger problem is when to bring a shield. Leather covered round shield is ugly and still slows you down a bit. It's useless in melee, so you can rarely use it and it blocks a lot of your field of view when on your back. If you don't bring your own shield, then good luck finding one on the ground that you can use with 1 shield skill

I'd say it's worth less than 1IF for two-handers, but it's not totally useless now with the recent buffs to shields and low shield skill.

[Nightmare798]

You will get much more investing that point in athletics. Dont invest in shield unless you are going shielder.

[MURDERTRON]

I think Cav benefit much more from 1 shield skill than infantry.

[Tiger]

I still think your shield would break easy, if you go against str archers 

[Sandersson Jankins]

Go with the 1 shield skill, doubtless.

I did 1 shield skill with a strength-based 1 hander. Used an old board shield, blocked ranged, and it would go down in 3 hits or so to ranged. Immediately after my shield breaks, I would get a free hit on most opponents in a 1v1. Might not work like that with polearm, but you'd have the added benefit of having extra reach in teamfights as long as your shield doesn't break while you're in hoplite mode.

1 IF ain't gon' do shit.