1h sword/shield build any good?
Sword autoattack is great, especially against single targets. 2 is great, a nice gap closer and/or AoE blind. 3 is… iffy. It deals great damage against a single target, and might mitigate a few projectiles as a nice side bonus. Shield 4 is nice enough; the damage is decent and the protection is very strong, but catching both allies and enemies in it is difficult at best. Shield 5 is extremely situational: it roots you in place for the duration, does nothing to prevent enemies from running back into it, and has a mediocre heal attached if you detonate it early. Plus, if you’re in melee and try to use shield 5 for the heal component of it, you’re likely to push nearby enemies out of any AoEs they may be sitting in. It’s nice in PvP, but in PvE it’s rather annoying to the group, and can actually kill a downed player relying on a nearby mob dying to revive.
The problem I have is with the sword/shield together, more than anything. In order to give allies protection, you have to be behind them. This means you either have to dodge backwards (wasting endurance) or run back a few steps (wasting time) to fire it off and catch allies and enemies alike in the cone. It feels like shield is a better option for ranged attacks than melee, which leaves us in a bit of a bind: scepter is our only one-handed ranged weapon, and it’s definitely not one of our stronger weapons.
Mainhand sword actually seems to synergize better with focus than shield. The focus gives you an additional blind (bouncing between targets at range, if you’re closing a gap or need to back out from melee to heal), or regeneration from the bounce if you’re in melee range, on top of some decent damage. The focus 5 mitigates up to 3 hits, acts as a blast finisher, which is great considering how many fields (especially fire and ethereal fields) tend to be present in melee range, and explodes, dealing a large amount of damage to nearby targets if you don’t use up all 3 blocks. I’ve seen this burst crit for 5k frequently.
TL;DR: The focus doesn’t give you much at range—the blind is 900 range, and won’t bounce back to you at anything like this range, so the regeneration part is worthless, the 5 skill will only give you 3 blocked attacks, not as much chance of blast-finishing a field, and the blast radius is small so you won’t hit much of anything beyond 300 range. The shield doesn’t give you much in melee, and it’s clunky to use at close range. It’s somewhat counter-intuitive, but shield certainly feels like a ranged offhand, while focus is more melee-oriented.
Sorry, wall of text crits for 9,000.
Give up on Sword & Shield.
I also love the Knightish look of it, and I even spent some gold to get decent looking Swords and Shields, but they’re just not on par with a Greatsword.
No AoE, Lightning Blade does pathetic damage, Zealot’s Defense looks cool and deal crappy damage (you’re better off auto-attacking).
Shield of Judgment deals mediocre damage but it’s on a stupidly long cooldown, Shield of Absorption is cool, provides control, heals and combo field, but is also on an even longer cooldown.
The only real uses I’ve found for Sword/Shield is to use them as secondary weapons to fight Thieves in 1v1. For every other profession or anything else, Hammer/Staff are better for 1v1 and XvX respectively (as Secondaries, Greatsword is always #1).
Also, don’t take comments like “But the Sword is awesome!”. People who think so are amazed they can fight a Risen Noble on 1v1 and win in just 15 seconds.
I’m more concerned about not being able to pull 5+ Risen Nobles and going down with my Greatsword because they’re currently OP, but at least I can pull 15+ Risen of any other kind of taking them down without difficulties every 10 seconds.
Sword/Shields a good combination for bosses and the combination I personally use.
Sword is possibly our best 1v1 DPS weapon, and shield balances it by giving defensive measures. Flashing Blade is a quick-recharging blind and gap closer. Shield 4’s free protection with the attack is great. And I disagree with Kharel Arhew about Shield 5’s usefulness, it’s a versitile interrupt with free healing. However, it’s not a “keep mobs off you” kind of skill, despite its look. Use it when a mob is about to dish something big out, then knock them onto their kitten. Or absorb a projectile that’s about to wreck you or your allies surrounding you. Then pop for free healing to you and your nearby allies. What’s not to like?
But Danicco is correct that Sword/Shield is not built for swarms. At best, Shield will help you run away there. Keep a Greatsword or a Hammer handy for when swarms hit ya.