1H and S skills are oriented for tanking in PVE. You can do okay DPS solo for overland questing, with a bow or DW back bar. Or you can build a DPS/tank - I've done that and it works well in normal dungeons.

What you cannot do is use Puncture as a Damage Dealer in group content because your tank will NOT appreciate you overiding their taunt.

Petoften wrote: »

I wanted to make a char good with a normal sword. That alone doesn't exist. Choices are things like big 2h swords, or dual wield, or the sword with a shield.

So I picked 1h with a shield, instead of a cookie cutter dual wield DPS.

Question is, can 1H/shield be good dps, or is it relegated to tanking?

And if so, what armor types are viable as dps? (It seems mostly light for magic, medium for dps, and heavy for tanking).

It 'could' be ok for dps, however there's no damage over time element to it, and defile/stuns are more for pvp. Since the spammable taunts the boss you'd also need a class that has a class spammable, so Sorc and probably DK are out of the equation.

You'll also need a good class ulti to use as S&B ult isnt offensive. Also you'd be missing out on passive effects DW has, as well as 2 weapons worth of damage and enchants. Really you'd need S&B/Bow on I'd say a stamden or a stamblade.

HalloweenWeed wrote: »

Swords, and all melee weapons, are short-range, meaning you need to be right in the fray to use them. This means you need to divert resources to health & defense, meaning resources that could've been allotted to increasing DPS instead. So the short answer is NO, you will not achieve as high DPS with any melee weapon. Toons with ranged weapons (staves & bow) will always outclass melee weapon toons in DPS. But for solo use this is irrelevant.

Huh? Most stam out dps mag classes?

You can make a good character that will do very well in either PVP or overland PVE content, and you can make a tank/DPS hybrid that's viable for normal group PVE content and vet non-DLC dungeons, but you're going to be unable to perform DLC vet content or trials.

Knight-errant will add weapon damage to your 1H/S abilities and give you a nice heal. If you pair that with a generic weapon damage set like Hunding's Rage, and wear 5 medium, you can probably get some pretty solid numbers.

The Blackrose Prison 1H/S set would be good for this, as it is very helpful with Stamina sustain. I don't know what you intend to back-bar, but you can either use arena weapons on that, or Agility for max stamina or Potentates for stamina recovery if you don't have an arena weapon to use.

If you can't get the Blackrose 1H/S, then go with a Monster set; Selene's, Sellestrix, or Kra'agh's are all easy enough to acquire.

I guess the choice between stam and majicka is a bit moot - I assumed stam is better for sword.

It depends on what you're going to do.

For overland and questing, everything is fine.
For normal dungeons, it'll be enough if you're decent at it. (Went through normal March of Sacrifices (a DLC dungeon) the other day, and one of the DDs was using S/B. No idea what his damage was but we completed it without too much trouble.)
For veteran dungeons and trials, I'd rather avoid it. I wouldn't say that it's impossible, esp. if you pair it with a bow or some other "typical" DD weapon, but I'd suspect you'll always be trailing behind.

But, to repeat, if you're in a group and not tanking, for the love of god! don't use a skill that taunts.

You can do it but everything will take you 2 times longer to kill than anyone else.

It seems the idea of a 'normal swordmaster' just isn't supported - either play with a 2h, or have low damage with a sword/shield, or use two weapons.

Now I'm realizing a 2h dps using heavy armor doesn't seem viable either, just medium armor.

I'd have to look into an idea of any non-sorc majicka builds.

DeadlyRecluse wrote: »

No, a 1H/S cannot be good PvE DPS.

It can be kinda-sorta-okay DPS for normal dungeons, overworld, etc., but it can't be good DPS.

You are more or less correct about armor (again, for PvE).

I like people that don't even test something and call it bad.

@Petoften



That was a dk in December of 2017. Add rele and you'll break 30k for sure. Dunno about others, but 30k self buffed (on an argonian lmao) is more than sufficient for anything that isn't a score run.

Royaji wrote: »

DocFrost72 wrote: »

Royaji wrote: »

DocFrost72 wrote: »

DeadlyRecluse wrote: »

No, a 1H/S cannot be good PvE DPS.

It can be kinda-sorta-okay DPS for normal dungeons, overworld, etc., but it can't be good DPS.

You are more or less correct about armor (again, for PvE).

I like people that don't even test something and call it bad.

@Petoften



That was a dk in December of 2017. Add rele and you'll break 30k for sure. Dunno about others, but 30k self buffed (on an argonian lmao) is more than sufficient for anything that isn't a score run.

You have one s&b skill on that bar. And your back bar is probably bow with hail and caltrops? I wouldn't call this a good build since replacing that s&b with 2h/dw will only give you advantages and no drawbacks at all. This build is not "ok" because of s&b, it's "ok" despite it.

I was unaware the statement "can a sword and shield provide good dps" also required as evidence more than one sword and shield skill and to be somehow better than the meta setups.

I was under the impression the question was "can you pull good dps with a sword and shield."

The forums are always elucidating.

And the answer is still no. The DPS on that parse was not provided by sword and shield.

So to clarify, you interpret someone asking if a build utilizing sword and shield can pull good dps to require nothing but sword and shield skills?

Gunna have to disagree with the way you're looking at it then.

MartiniDaniels wrote: »

DocFrost72 wrote: »

MartiniDaniels wrote: »

DocFrost72 wrote: »

DeadlyRecluse wrote: »

No, a 1H/S cannot be good PvE DPS.

It can be kinda-sorta-okay DPS for normal dungeons, overworld, etc., but it can't be good DPS.

You are more or less correct about armor (again, for PvE).

I like people that don't even test something and call it bad.

@Petoften



That was a dk in December of 2017. Add rele and you'll break 30k for sure. Dunno about others, but 30k self buffed (on an argonian lmao) is more than sufficient for anything that isn't a score run.

He obviously can reach that 30k without using weapon skills from 2nd bar at all, so wut's the point
And as for me from RP reasons 2H sword is closer to 1H (idk look at geralt like obvious example) then S&B.

?

Why do you assume I didn't run bow backbar like every stam dps in the game?

I mean you can achieve that 30k without using S&B skills, just from bow and class/caltrops dots etc..

Yep, hence why any weapon works if you're well built really. Which was the entire point.

so what's the point to talk about S&B in dps build if it brings nothing. I guess you have maelstorm's sword for sustain from low slash, but that's all what is useful from S&B.

Petoften wrote: »

I wanted to make a char good with a normal sword. That alone doesn't exist. Choices are things like big 2h swords, or dual wield, or the sword with a shield.

So I picked 1h with a shield, instead of a cookie cutter dual wield DPS.

Question is, can 1H/shield be good dps, or is it relegated to tanking?

The original poster wanted to make a character they'd enjoy for fun (my assumption anyway). Not every person in this game is concerned with the ultimate dps count. Some people want to enjoy the game their way. In fact, the OP is actually taking a step towards trying to be presentable in group content while fulfilling their specific interests. That's laudable, not laughable.