Wait. So spear&shield is always gonna be as fucked in a 1v1 as they are now? Or are you just talking about the items themselves and not the classes?
Sper&shield Imo it's not a class for "solitary" players ala Kinngrimm, the phalanx was effective cuz there were a group of many spearmen/pikers etc.., together they were able to keep the distance and hit the enemies from different angles .. IMO in 1vs1 they would get owned . I mean, how can it be a good class in 1vs 1 if you can only stab?
Imo spear&shield is a good support class for the group ,but it's not made for 1vs1... a good example Imo are the Denbitre guys with shield&spear/awlpike whatever, they are very effective together .
Maybe i'm saying bs, but if i remeber well, Merc_Pully fights without his shield if he's forced in a 1vs1 fight, and he's good.