Best overall shield

[Falka]

I'm going to be playing a lot of DTV with this chr,

 

[Leshma]

Head of Ivani4

[wanteds]

?
well, not all my characters ofc.

[San]

I'm surprised this didn't get mentioned until now. Held attacks can stun shields up to twice their weight, so while the Elite Cav/Knightly shields may be fast and somewhat durable, the speed and durability is often wasted because you spend so much time block stunned, unable to attack. I prefer shields that weigh more than 7 kg, so they can't get stunned by 2h swords/axes, only the heavy hitters like bar mace/mauls. Not to mention, heavy shields actually block crushthrough weapons sometimes; good luck ever blocking a great maul overhead with an Elite Cav shield.

This is only from my own experience, but using an unloomed knightly heater, I also never get stunned by anything other than held bar mace/maul attacks. This may have something to do with having 24ish strength, not entirely sure.

Heavy round is probably the best if you want to fully protect yourself without gimping you in any way. I prefer offensive shields with enough durability to get by. I feel as though a +3 elite cav is only as durable as an unloomed knightly heater, I would never really use an unloomed elite cav shield as my main choice.

[Sir_Mahtin]

IMO, you want shields that have high hit points. Especially if facing people with shield bonuses. The body armor is good, but most people have high ps and when they use a weapon with bonus against shield they tear through shields with low hp faster; no matter how high the body armor.

[Abay]

IMO, you want shields that have high hit points. Especially if facing people with shield bonuses. The body armor is good, but most people have high ps and when they use a weapon with bonus against shield they tear through shields with low hp faster; no matter how high the body armor.

+3 heavy board shield with 18 body armour and 653 hit points will solve that problem 

[WITCHCRAFT]

Your playstyle and build dictate the "best" shield for you, there is no single answer.

Lower armor/higher hitpoint shields work better against shield breaking weapons and projectiles. A higher resistance shield is better vs non-shield-breaking melee weapons.

If you have 4-5 shield skill, pick something fast. If you are going 7+ shield skill, you can use the slowest shields and still block reliably. Using the fastest shields at higher shield skill is overkill, your enemy's swings and your reflexes won't be able to use the "extra" speed in most cases.

I had a +3 steel shield when I played a gen of 1h/shield infantry with 21/18 stats. It felt slow, but you could count on it to catch arrows until end of round/your death, no matter what. Even the strongest axes would take 4 or more hits to shatter it.

The best jack of all trades shield is the elite cav, for sure. Find out what you want to specialize in (if at all) shielding against and pick accordingly. Buy a bunch of different shields and try them until one feels right.

[Phew]

This is only from my own experience, but using an unloomed knightly heater, I also never get stunned by anything other than held bar mace/maul attacks. This may have something to do with having 24ish strength, not entirely sure.

Strength may have something to do with it; I usually have 18 str, and whenever I pick up a Knightly Heater/Elite Cav, I notice myself getting stunned by weapons like the Highland Claymore, which never stuns my HRS.

[Drehar]

I chose Knightly heater shield because...

I'm not good enough to outlast my shield
Its cheap
Any shield works for arrows with enough points in shielding.
Its fast
You can always put the shield away vs an axe
Again I usually die before my shield does
Pulling ANY shield out is enough of a deterrence to keep people off you in large groups.
Unless you Turtle like a wimp you won't need anything stronger then Knightly heater
I just use it to eat a few arrows and a few sword hits
I think it looks the best of all the shields.

[brockssn]

Huscarl for sure

[brockssn]

I'm surprised this didn't get mentioned until now. Held attacks can stun shields up to twice their weight, so while the Elite Cav/Knightly shields may be fast and somewhat durable, the speed and durability is often wasted because you spend so much time block stunned, unable to attack. I prefer shields that weigh more than 7 kg, so they can't get stunned by 2h swords/axes, only the heavy hitters like bar mace/mauls. Not to mention, heavy shields actually block crushthrough weapons sometimes; good luck ever blocking a great maul overhead with an Elite Cav shield.

The other big consideration that I didn't see mentioned is crossbow bolt penetration.  Bolts penetrate low armor shields, and you need about 20+ shield armor to stop a +3 steel bolt from a +3 arbalest (which are pretty rare on the battlefield). I used a +3 Brown Lion Heater for several gens, and I got tired of always being headshot through the shield with only 12 armor.

So after weighing the most important considerations for me:
1. 7+ kg weight so I don't spend the whole round block stunned
2. 19+ armor so I don't get headshot by bolts through my shield
3. Width so I can block people on both sides simultaneously
4. >85 speed so I can block after being kicked or feinting lowering my shield
5. 1-slot so I can carry two stacks of heavy throwing axes
6. 400+ HPs so my shield survives more than a couple axe swings

I was left with a single option, the +3 Heavy Round Shield I have used for the last 8 or so generations.

Just tried the heavy round (typically use a huscarl) and got block stunned by throwing weps =[

[TheAppleSauceMan]

Elite Cav all day. Only shield that big with 100 speed, which can be EXTREMELY important in melee combat. Not to mention it's the most wanted shield loom and one of the most wanted looms in general, ever get tired of it or want to switch it out, you'll have absolutely no problems trading it away.

[Phew]

Just tried the heavy round (typically use a huscarl) and got block stunned by throwing weps =[

I think what you experienced is the "passive" block, i.e. forcefield vs. ranged weapons. It shows a lengthy animation of you raising your shield to block to projectile, but as far as I know, the animation doesn't prevent you from attacking. I don't think you can be actually block stunned by ranged weapons, but I could be wrong.

[TheAppleSauceMan]

This is only from my own experience, but using an unloomed knightly heater, I also never get stunned by anything other than held bar mace/maul attacks. This may have something to do with having 24ish strength, not entirely sure.

Heavy round is probably the best if you want to fully protect yourself without gimping you in any way. I prefer offensive shields with enough durability to get by. I feel as though a +3 elite cav is only as durable as an unloomed knightly heater, I would never really use an unloomed elite cav shield as my main choice.

I use an unloomed Elite Cav, the only thing that EVER stuns me is a held attack from a bar mace or crushthrough weapon. And I'd say about 50% of the time crushthrough doesn't go through, although keep in mind I have 21 STR and don't run into crushthrough often, tend to stay out of situations like that haha.