Shield and 1 Hander: Strength or Agility?

[Barman1942]

I'm somewhat new to cRPG, and I'm having trouble deciding if I should dump points into Strength or Agil as a shield+1h character. On one hand, Strength gives me stronger attacks and more health to work with, but I need a high Agil in order to use the higher-tier shields. Any advice for a novice?

[22nd_King_Plazek]

I have never made a shielder in CRPG.

However another thing you wanna think about is the relative shortness of a 1h as opposed to a 2h or polearm weapon. It is all well and good hitting hard but if they are dancing around outside of your range and you do not have the athletic ability to close the gap. Well it does not matter how hard you hit then does it ;)

[Paul]

Depends what kind of weapon you are going to use. Maces can be used with only 4 PS against all armor types, cutting weapons and especially those with a base damage < 30 need more PS to avoid bounce off hell. I personally like it balanced, 18/18 with extra skills.

[Barman1942]

Depends what kind of weapon you are going to use. Maces can be used with only 4 PS against all armor types, cutting weapons and especially those with a base damage < 30 need more PS to avoid bounce off hell.

Sticking with sword at the moment. I have PS at 4 right now.

[Paul]

With a sword you need at least 6 PS to reliably hurt even the heaviest tincan(charged overhead).

[Rhaelys]

Option 1

Level 30
Strength: 24
Agility: 15
Hit points: 69
Converted: 8
Ironflesh: 5
Power Strike: 8
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 0
One Handed: 113

Option 2

Level 30
Strength: 24
Agility: 15
Hit points: 59
Converted: 8
Ironflesh: 0
Power Strike: 8
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 5
One Handed: 148

Option 3

Level 30
Strength: 21
Agility: 15
Hit points: 70
Converted: 2
Ironflesh: 7
Power Strike: 7
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 5
One Handed: 148

[Barman1942]

Option 1

Level 30
Strength: 24
Agility: 15
Hit points: 69
Converted: 8
Ironflesh: 5
Power Strike: 8
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 0
One Handed: 113

Option 2

Level 30
Strength: 24
Agility: 15
Hit points: 59
Converted: 8
Ironflesh: 0
Power Strike: 8
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 5
One Handed: 148

Option 3

Level 30
Strength: 21
Agility: 15
Hit points: 70
Converted: 2
Ironflesh: 7
Power Strike: 7
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 5
One Handed: 148

Thanks for the builds! Three looks most appealing for my character.

[Kafein]

I usually do 18/18. But that's partly because I'm also cav.

I think 21 str/15 agi is the way to go with sword.
15 str/21 agi for pick/mace and steel shield whores.

[Blondin]

Or you can go 21/18, PS7 Shd4 Ath6 WM6, good damage and balanced, WM6 allow you hybrid 140Wpf 1h and 80Wpf in another weapon (polearm, xbow).

but as said Kafein, if you go cav (or mounted infantry) go for 18/18.

[Rhygar666]

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/595810025150866019/86C5E87B1675A7B30C99854D13B4E2BA0363A22F/

Lvl 30
18 Strenght
21 Agility

6 Power Strike
7 Shield Skill
7 Athletics
3 Weapon Master
130 One hand

i converted about 6 or 8 ponts not sure how many
its my build, doing pretty fine with it, i get some 1hits and am fast enough. and the shield doesnt break so often.

[MrShine]

I've been using Option 3 Rhaelys mentioned, and I've been a huge fan.

Option 3

Level 30
Strength: 21
Agility: 15
Hit points: 70
Converted: 2
Ironflesh: 7
Power Strike: 7
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 5
One Handed: 148


Power Strike 7 seemed way better than 6 when I leveled it... I notice a lot less glance on heavy armor with my Italian sword.  The 5 shield and athletics are just fine, and keeping my agility at 15 has been totally worth having all those extra points in ironflesh.

I don't see myself going any different build as a 1h shielder tbh.

[Spawny]

This is the best build imo.
Level 30
Strength: 21
Agility: 15
Hit points: 70
Converted: 2
Ironflesh: 7
Power Strike: 7
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 5
One Handed: 148

5 athletics is more than enough to compete with any agility build, unless they turn and run.
7 PS and 7 IF makes you a rather strong tank for sieges and you can take a beating in battles.

My last build worked pretty good too:
Level 30
Strength: 24
Agility: 12
Hit points: 75
Converted: 2
Ironflesh: 8
Power Strike: 8
Shield: 4
Athletics: 4
Weapon Master: 4
One Handed: ~130

Combined with a board shield and a fast 1h you can do fine. With a hammer or steel pick most people drop in 2-3 hits. With a fast sword you can do well against everyone, just the tincans need a bit more hits to go down.

[Kafein]

I've been using Option 3 Rhaelys mentioned, and I've been a huge fan.

Option 3

Level 30
Strength: 21
Agility: 15
Hit points: 70
Converted: 2
Ironflesh: 7
Power Strike: 7
Shield: 5
Athletics: 5
Weapon Master: 5
One Handed: 148


Power Strike 7 seemed way better than 6 when I leveled it... I notice a lot less glance on heavy armor with my Italian sword.  The 5 shield and athletics are just fine, and keeping my agility at 15 has been totally worth having all those extra points in ironflesh.

I don't see myself going any different build as a 1h shielder tbh.

This is a pretty solid build (if you ever tried played without IF, I suppose you love your 7 points in it), but athletics can make a tremendous difference too.

I think if a newcomer wants to make a shielder, he really needs to try the strenght, agi and balanced builds. The subtle differences are what makes you like one build and dislike the others.


About what to do with spare points, I think putting them in throwing (yes it's lame but wait till the end of this sentence) and putting a few PT to carry war darts can be a good idea. You will often find yourself forced to run behind fleeing enemy archers, which can be extremely frustrating and dangerous. A few war darts can fix things up quickly, without ruining your build.

[kinngrimm]

seen here mainly strength based builds.

here is a agi build for the change,
u should use it with light armor.


Level 30 (4 420 577 xp)

    Strength: 9
    Agility: 27

    Converted: 2
    Ironflesh: 2
    Power Strike: 3
    Shield: 8
    Athletics: 8
    Weapon Master: 8

    One Handed: 170
    Polearm: 41
--------------------------
if you use agility you must think agility, shield skill - athletics - wpm
Those give you a different playstyle on the field in comparison to IF/PS.

[Phazey]

I use 21/15, 18/18 or 15/21 mostly. Imho athletics 5 is the minimum for a shielder. Shield is great when coupled with higher movement speed.

One of the main advantages of a shielder is this: you can face multiple opponents. That's great. But without athletics, you'll get easily surrounded and killed. Same goes for facing multiple archers. Without high movement speed, they can kite you. So i've always had high athletics on my shielder builds.

Higher str builds do great with cut weapons. The high agi builds are better with blunt or pierce weapons.