difficulties with my 1h/shield char

[zagibu]

Though I am sorely tempted to try 18 str on the next retirement. I feel like I shouldn't have to hit someone twice with a military pick. ;)

I'd recommend going 21/15 instead. I had 145 WPF with WM5 and 154 with WM6, which is not really worth it. With 21/15 you can have +5HP and +2 Pierce damage with your pick. Maybe even go 21/12 first, and if you are fast enough, aim for 24/12. With 24 Str, you could have 62 HP and do almost 56 pierce damage. Agi stackers would die in 1 hit, all of them.

[Gorath]

I'd recommend going 21/15 instead. I had 145 WPF with WM5 and 154 with WM6, which is not really worth it. With 21/15 you can have +5HP and +2 Pierce damage with your pick. Maybe even go 21/12 first, and if you are fast enough, aim for 24/12. With 24 Str, you could have 62 HP and do almost 56 pierce damage. Agi stackers would die in 1 hit, all of them.

I can't get away from a balanced build 18/18.  Less agi and I feel like I swing slow as shit, and shielders already have the slowest attack response times in the game.  Less str, and I feel like I'm fighting an uphill battle trying to deal damage.

[SquishMitten]

I've gone for 18/18 and it seems to work nicely, though some 1handers seem to strike faster and one hit me

[zagibu]

They might be converters. I wonder how a lvl 31 converter build with 24 str and 21 agi, 8 PS, 3 ATH and 3 WM would play like.

[Thomek]

Been spectating you kinngrimm, and you seem to do very well!

Either in top 3 or at least an even K:D ratio.

Would be interesting to hear your new experiences.

(btw I also think 6PS is a good, useful compromise for shielders)

[kinngrimm]

@ Tomek thanks mate i had some good rounds lately, it makes me a little pride to hear that from you 
downside is it seems so that several guys are out to kill me, sometimes even searching for me

I would at any time go for more agi then strength not because of spamming but because of the higher athletics(8). I come arround alot, can nearly keep up with cav at least support them, in luring the ennemy cav to me , 

I wear Huscarl(Archers C***blocker), Bamboospear, Broad One Handed Battle Axe, as default weapon my +1 Sidesword, other then that i try to take near weightless armor just to get more out of athletics. Dependend on terrain and ennemies i would change spear/axe against a military pick to get the big guys.

Through that speed i got a lot of surprise kills, i can get behind them unnoticed, mostly archers, they seem to be every second in zoom and have no awarness of their sourrounding whatsoever. As long as  i can stay away from crushing and knockdown weapon, i do so, again i try to lure them to my folks and gang up on them. IF there are  a lot of folks on my feet and it is the begining of the battle i just pull them away from the main fights, to spread their lines thin. One by one will be picked up by cav or at some point lose intrest in chasing me thats my houre i turn to the last guy and confront him afterthat as they all choose some battles to go in but in oppposite direction i have a chance to get them by surprise.

Tight spots, aren't so good for my build. I am mostly good in the open field where i can bring my athletics to use.

In most times i wait till my oponent strikes first to my shield, that way i can see how fast he is, which brings me either to a rather close position or if the time is there i circle them and try to stay on random patterns. Its just funny if you make agro and strike several times and even hit him, then just stand and wait 1-2 strikes before you attack again, many brings that out of their rythem or irritates them.

Still a pain are the crushers/knockdown i have to keep them at maximum range them if not other possible, going in and out and letting them hit air, but if they are 2+ in most cases i go down. Sometimes if i see he was hit allready by a spear i try my luck go close and hope he goes down with 1-2 strikes.
Worst are  2h spammers, as they are agi builds too, they mostly have a fair ammount of athletics and with the shield conntact, from their weapon, i slow down(or do i only imagine that?), the annyoing once just do left right and are trying to get in my back, there is a little chance for a left strike of my own. The better once are not only fast they have several strike patterns. And then come the good once who knew their range so good that they dont need to spam blindly, they just hit you in the right spot, and then there are guys like you Thomek  who have the crazy fainting stuff, and if you take down your shield at the wrong moment, because you think he striked and missed your just dead meat.

I think it was mentioned before about inertia, shortly ago i had the opportunity that Vicouse666 took me as a sparrings partner one night. Inertia, if you take your movement into the strike you do more damage, run straight make a thrust, left turn with right strike and right turn with left strike, and the mother of all killing moves, jump and overhead. To come again to my starting point i take at any time again agi over str. Another thing what i have seen while spectating him, he has a really good hand for autmanouvring the ennemy and strike that one , not who is closly by but left or right behind the foe which is directly in front of him. I dont know to descripe it in another way, if you have the chance just watch him, it is miracules. cheers Vic i enjoyed that really.

I made lvl 31 yesterday and got me 25 agi just for the fun of it, but would consider next generation 15 str instead, to get this mean looking warhammer.
I had no PS till then, I think of putting my IF into PS for some more damage, but i will not go over 3 PS.
atm i can take 1-3 arrows/bolts in the body(offcourse not the head) without IF i ll get faster killed but i hope my skills will increase further it might be a bargain.

@Toldfield i tried the technics you descriped i got a little better but it still needs lots more of training before i get that into my patterns inscribed. From your last post i could conclude several thing , your a funny guy or a crazy person or a wise (wo)man or a free combination of the former. Whatever thanks for your input it brings my little grey cells to work.

@Ninja_Khorin aaaaah the thread has been ninjad , they are stealing our secrets ....

[Toldfield]

@Toldfield i tried the technics you descriped i got a little better but it still needs lots more of training before i get that into my patterns inscribed. From your last post i could conclude several thing , your a funny guy or a crazy person or a wise (wo)man or a free combination of the former. Whatever thanks for your input it brings my little grey cells to work.

Admitting to you that I believe i am crazy would mean I believe you to be a conscious mind.

Who is dervik west?

[kinngrimm]

Admitting to you that I believe i am crazy would mean I believe you to be a conscious mind.

Who is dervik west?

good that we are clear about that

[Rendar1970]

really dumb question.

Everyone says left swing is the fastest.

Do they mean mouse-left + attack. 

Or the attack the swings towards the left (mouse-right + attack)

[zagibu]

That's not a dumb question. When I say left swing, I mean the swing that starts on the left side. But I can't guarantee that I've used it consistently like this. Also, I don't know which one is faster.

[ShinySpoons]

The atk which starts from your over your left shoulder. It's shorter ranged but will hit your opponent sooner than the atk coming from your right side, which has more range. Plus, a left side swing is easier to aim at the head.

[Diomedes]

Left side swing also appears to come out of nowhere if you do it fast enough.  My best way of getting through tin cans with my light armour (knightly heater shield, studded leather coat, black hood with mask, and wrapping boots) is to get in close and get a lightning fast left-side swing at their head in before they realize I'm not just running past them. 

[kinngrimm]

What about the done damage, is there a difference ?
a) between left, right and overhead. The thrust is most likely different because it is no slash, it is pierce damage and the weapon carries different values for that.
b) with and without inertia, moving into the strike. Are there different inertia intensities?
c) where you actually hit the foe. Head, Hands, feet, front or back center. (this must depend on armor in those different places, or is there sth else?)

@ShinySpoons
You said its harder to hit with  a right swing to the head, well damn right you are, the only positions i can think of are when you are on higher ground or you try the full range of your weapon and hit him with the outer most part of it, at the end of the attack animation.

[Leshma]

The most expensive 1h sword isn't the best. Most expensive 2h is arguably the best (kinda slow but massive reach), most expensive polearm is the best (elegantlolaxe). Playing 1h char with side sword feels kinda gimped. It's awfully short, seems even shorter than those 95 length imply, damage is ok but nothing epic and speed is good but not as fast as katana. I've tried using it without shield (it was on my back) and both katana and hafted blade swing faster. I have 15 str, 17 agi and 100 wpf in 1h and 1 wpf in 2H and poles. It's much easier playing with 2h or poles, manual blocking and waiting for your chance to attack than facehugging enemies with this awfully short and expensive side sword. And if I see axeman of some kind or maul I'm basically screwed. Yeah I can try to manual block them with my side sword but guess what, it ain't working as good as with 2H or polearms. Must be something to do with shortness of weapon and low weight. Bottom line is, 1h gimped, side sword is expensive crap and I have it balanced. Before the patch playing 1H char was way easier, now it's something I'll leave to patient and very skilled players. Next stop, polearms. They seem versatile and hella lot faster than site says.

I forgot to mention that hybrids are crap now, everyone who converted many points and made SPECIFIC build, will own any hybrid easily. I had no problem playing hybrids before the big patch. Right now I feel like crap as a hybrid, tried it for two gens (first was 2h + 1h, failed build I know) and now it's archer + 1h.   

Also, only hybrids, archers and ninjas wear light armor. Specific imba builds wear good armor or some kind of plate, one 2h or plate weapon and own on the battlefield. Current ownage formula seems to be, buy an coat of plates or something along those lines, best boots, decent helm and get yourself either german greatsword/flamberge/lolmaul/lolmace or german/elegant poleaxe or long bardiche.

I have to ask you kinn grimm, how can you kill anything with PS3?

[Kalam]

The most expensive 1h sword isn't the best. Most expensive 2h is arguably the best (kinda slow but massive reach), most expensive polearm is the best (elegantlolaxe). Playing 1h char with side sword feels kinda gimped. It's awfully short, seems even shorter than those 95 length imply, damage is ok but nothing epic and speed is good but not as fast as katana. I've tried using it without shield (it was on my back) and both katana and hafted blade swing faster. I have 15 str, 17 agi and 100 wpf in 1h and 1 wpf in 2H and poles. It's much easier playing with 2h or poles, manual blocking and waiting for your chance to attack than facehugging enemies with this awfully short and expensive side sword. And if I see axeman of some kind or maul I'm basically screwed. Yeah I can try to manual block them with my side sword but guess what, it ain't working as good as with 2H or polearms. Must be something to do with shortness of weapon and low weight. Bottom line is, 1h gimped, side sword is expensive crap and I have it balanced. Before the patch playing 1H char was way easier, now it's something I'll leave to patient and very skilled players. Next stop, polearms. They seem versatile and hella lot faster than site says.

I forgot to mention that hybrids are crap now, everyone who converted many points and made SPECIFIC build, will own any hybrid easily. I had no problem playing hybrids before the big patch. Right now I feel like crap as a hybrid, tried it for two gens (first was 2h + 1h, failed build I know) and now it's archer + 1h.   

Also, only hybrids, archers and ninjas wear light armor. Specific imba builds wear good armor or some kind of plate, one 2h or plate weapon and own on the battlefield. Current ownage formula seems to be, buy an coat of plates or something along those lines, best boots, decent helm and get yourself either german greatsword/flamberge/lolmaul/lolmace or german/elegant poleaxe or long bardiche.

I have to ask you kinn grimm, how can you kill anything with PS3?

I disagree. Firstly, the flamberge is a terrible weapon unless you intend to jump into a group of enemies and spam. I'd put the best 2-handers down to the Claymore, Tears, or Cookies. The sidesword remains one of the best 1h, though it might not fit your playstyle. And that's something to consider seriously here: playstyle. You seem to prefer reach, which should lead you to the long espada.

Why long espada instead of the sarranid? Why, invisible reach, of course! As for the shortness of the weapon and manual blocking- you're right, it is harder. The angle has to be just right, and you often have to block multiple times before you can counter attack. I still do better with a 1h without shield 1-on-1 than with a shield, but that's because I use a strength build. It's fine if you go with an 18/18 or 15/21 (where 21 is agility).

If anything, the patch has made hybrids the smart choice. When you have 130 wpf sitting around that won't get you more than 10 wpf, you might as well dump it into a second proficiency.

It's still harder for a shielder to do well one-on-one against a polearm user (especially the poleaxes) who knows what he's doing, but the shielder is still my current favourite mode of play due to two reasons:

1) I don't get killed by some archer or thrower as much before I reach the battle, which is how my 2-hander usually dies.
2) You get to be an excellent support character, which is always crucial when I'm playing with my clanmates- which is where most of my fun comes from.