Shields for tanks

[Cen]

Hey I've been experimenting with characters and I remember back in classic eq this game was not shield friendly, like as far as I remember no classes actually use shields for tanking am I remembering that correctly or do Warriors or paladins at some point need to use a shield for tanking? Shields were just like a priest class thing right?

[Shodo]

Warriors virtually never use shields to my knowledge (except for pre-level 13 maybe), since they rely on damage output for aggro. Paladins and Shadowknights, however, use shields pretty frequently - primarily when tanking for groups or fighting casters.

[jpetrick]

We have our ramp tanks use a shield. That's about it though.

[Naethyn]

A great deal of warrioring is switching your weapons and armor when needed. One of those times is putting a shield on to bash while the mob is casting then switching it back out. Like the other poster said they are also good for ramp tanks.

[Jimjam]

Originally Posted by Shodo [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Warriors virtually never use shields to my knowledge (except for pre-level 13 maybe), since they rely on damage output for aggro. Paladins and Shadowknights, however, use shields pretty frequently - primarily when tanking for groups or fighting casters.

Duel wield is really poor at low skill levels. For races that can't slam it's not the worse idea in the world to use a shield until level 20 (where the damage cap raises), especially if you have a good one hander in your primary. Note that you will still get duel wield skill ups while a shield is equipped!

The other route to go with your off hand (until duel wield and double attack exceed 150) is to use a weapon with a useful proc (as off hand weapons can proc even when duel wield fails to produce a swing). A popular option for this is the polished granite tomahawk (which procs a str/damage absorb buff).

Once you exceed 150 skill you'll want to just thow a decent ratio weapon in your off hand (perhaps with a strong aggro proc).

For your primary weapon you want to pick up something quick and cheap from kunark or Velious to help you dps and make plenty of decent aggro swings. Save up 50pp for something like a Green Jade Broadsword to get you started (bone chips, orc belts, animal skins, spider(ling) silks etc sell well to players in east commons). Avoid most pre-kunark weapons (such as the obsidian shard) as these simply won't be able to generate enough aggro most of the time.

[Cen]

That's great info man, I didin't know having a shield allowed the skill to rise. That will give me extra time to get bash into that zone where skills hit often enough to rise more readily.