Dagoth_Rac wrote: »It is the 1H and Shield passives that give you survivability, not the shield itself. 36% reduced cost of blocking, 20% extra damage blocked, 14% extra ranged/projectile damage blocked. And simply having one of the 1H&S skills on your bar passively blocks another 10% damage. Basically, the game is designed where you need to actively use the shield and block to gain the damage resistance. You cannot just have a shield equipped. While your baseline stats will not be much different from a defending trait dual wield, you will block much more damage with a shield.
Dagoth_Rac wrote: »It is the 1H and Shield passives that give you survivability, not the shield itself. 36% reduced cost of blocking, 20% extra damage blocked, 14% extra ranged/projectile damage blocked. And simply having one of the 1H&S skills on your bar passively blocks another 10% damage. Basically, the game is designed where you need to actively use the shield and block to gain the damage resistance. You cannot just have a shield equipped. While your baseline stats will not be much different from a defending trait dual wield, you will block much more damage with a shield.
Yes I understand the merits of blocking passives from 1h/s, this is not the point of the discussion.
The player doesn't need to do anything special to gain the armor granted from a defending offhand dual-wield, or while using a shield.
REGARDLESS of passives, both of the aforementioned items grant armor at all times, yet a shield -- which is exclusively a defensive tool -- is only slightly higher in armor. If you don't see the inherent design flaw with this , thenI suppose I am not explaining myself clearly enough.