I´ll add a little question here:
I don´t really understand the values of shields... what does body armor mean? Does this also influence the hitpoints of shields, or is it added to my armor stats?
I have no idea how the hitboxes in this game work, are height/width important?
What kind of shields are most practical for a 1h infantryman?
Thanks
The armour value has nothing to do with the armour you wear, but it works in a similar concept. It reduces the damage that your shield takes, especially from cutting weapons (except axes of course) and also makes it possible for weapons to glance. If you're facing a bunch of 1H sword users and your have a plate covered round shield, you're laughing in terms of it not breaking this century. But when is that ever the case?
Hitpoints is straight up what the shield can take damage wise, so things like heavy kyte shields and the huscarl shield which can soak up a bunch of ammo.
Speed is the time it takes for your shield to actually block, despite what the animation shows, anything below 100 speed is not blocking you as soon as you press the block button.
Weight is pretty obvious, weight in your hand slows your movement speed a lot and also slows your weapon swing. The flip side is a heavier shield is supposed to have a bigger chance of blocking things like Great mauls. Although, in practice if someone's charging at you with a great maul, it's loomed and he has a build tailored for it -- You'd better not be trying to shield block the mans overheads unless you want a headache.
With weight, think about your armour weight too. Any total weight over 7.5 and you start reducing your WPF by 1 per 1 weight over. Body armour counts as 1x weight, legs as 1x weight, hand as 2x weight and head as 3x weight. If your weapon proficiency gets below 100 WPF after those calculations, then your weapon is not performing as the stats say it should.
Coverage is important too, if a shield isn't covering you, it won't block for you -- Your magic forcefield depending on your shield skill is not infinite. So shields with poor width will allow spamming 2H sworders to spin around you flailing like retards and they might get free hits around the side of your shield. Likewise you could get shot in the foot / head if you have a short shield
So it's entirely down to your play style, want to be a tank? Facing a lot of sword users? Want to be speedy to dart in and out of combat? Got a weapon where you want to get in close and just tap block to know you are blocked?
Consider how much armour you wear and what weapon you intend to use too. Also, how much shield skill you have as that means shields last longer, increase speed and have larger coverage, how much WPF do you have? That can mean you'll be okay with a bigger shield as you can still swing fast. How about athletics and agility too? Then you'll be able to move fast with heavier shields or maybe move super fast with a light shield.
Elite cav shield's a good shield IMO, it also won't break the bank. Depending on your shielding skill it won't snap like a twig when someone looks at it, it isn't crazy heavy, has okay armour, decent coverage and it's 100 speed so it blocks when you tell it to -- You can also use it on horseback and it looks "nice" in my opinion anyway. That being said, it's a bit of a jack of all trades, which in itself is a flaw as it's not "awesome" at any one thing.
