My main is 1hander, even if shielder have some disadvantage they are still the most easy class for defense (and hardest for attack, logical) but i can tell you that shields don't need a speed buff. You don't need speed to be efficient cause it's not a matter of speed but of timing.
If you want to play a spammer go 2h/pole, but learn to block, you can't have all advantage in one class.