After almost 2 years and 4 different shield builds I have some new theories. It all depends on distance! Long-,Mid- and Short range (for simplicity sake)

I think we all agree that distance is a major factor in fights. Glads with long weapons tend to attack first (excluding initiativ) and reduce the frequency of short weapon attacks.
Shields should work similar in regards of defensive capabilities, strong at distance and weaker the closer the opponent comes. The crucial thing is the recovery from close distance fights as a shield user.

Example 1: We are using a mid range weapon and a wallshield and our opponent uses a short range weapon. We are able to defend very well vs his attacks at long range, but with every successful attack he gets closer until we are in short range. At that point we defend poorly and have a hard time to get back to mid-long range. (if opponent can successfully hit us)

Example 2: We are using a short range weapon and a buckler and our opponent uses a long range weapon. We are not able to defend well vs his attacks at long range, we try to close distance with every successful parry/block. But every succssesful attack from our opponent brings us back to long range, we have a hard time to get to mid-short range. (if opponent can successfully hit us)

Example 3: We are using a long range weapon and a wallshield and our opponent uses a long range weapon. We are able to defend well vs his attacks at long range and stay for the most part at long range. The fight is even.

Example 4: We are using a short range weapon and a buckler and our opponent uses a short range weapon. We are able to defend well vs his attacks at short range and stay for the most part at short range. Again even fight.

Example 5: We are using a mid range weapon and a buckler and our opponent uses a long range and a short range weapon. We are not able to defend well vs his initial long range attacks and try to close distance. We have the upper hand in mid range and the opponent trys to change distance. At this point the fight can go back to long range or to short range. If we end up at short range we start to defend well vs his short range attacks. This fight can go either way depending on who can maintain his distance for a longer time.

With mixed weapons/shields it all depends on who is better at keeping his distance. All examples dont take skills or speciffic startegies into account.

Wallshield:
good at mid-long distance defence
good vs inactive opponents or 1-2 attacks a turn
good at absorbing the first 3 hits
bad at short distance defence
bad at recovering from short distance

Buckler:
good at short-mid distance defence
good vs active opponents
good at recovering from short distance
bad at long distance defence
bad at absorbing the first 3 hits

I got the idea after reading thru the fight logs and noticing that after 2-3 successful hits my glad used 1 hand more than the other. Usually he uses his saber first and rarely uses the buckler to attack, but after he takes some hits from mid-short range weapons (the fight changes to short range) he starts to prefer the buckler for attacks until the fight shifts back to mid range. He has terrible defence vs long range opponents, but is able to close distance to mid range and take advantage of that for the given time. He is able to recover from short range with some buckler attacks. The speed of the buckler is good at recovering from short range back to mid range. ( I belief that every shield attack "pushes" the opponent back until you reach your preferred distance, like a dagger/buckler user will keep the opponent always at short range. A trident/buckler user will try to "push" the opponent back with his buckler to mid range and from there to long range with his trident.)

Ever wonder why the wallshield is preferred by war glads? because they are for the most part good at keeping the distance at long range. "Create Distance" and a wallshield synergize very well. The wallshield works well at long range and has good damage absorbtion which is the preferred strategy for a defensive war. ( Im only assuming this )

Theatrics dont have any skill to change distance, but they have the only 1handed long range weapon available. Thats why the most popular choice for defensive theatrics is the trident and wallshield combo.


I tryed many combinations of weapons and shields. The best combinations so far are "trident/wallshield" , "saber/buckler" , "rapier/buckler" , "rapier/kiteshield" , "broadsword/kiteshield" , "broadsword/wallshield". Those combinations are good at performing well at the same distance or being good at taking advantage of different distances and recovering fast enough from wrong distances.
Saber/buckler are good at recovering from close range fights and taking advantage of mid range. Trident/wallshield are very good at initial defence and vs inactive opponents.
Didnt test kiteshields as much as the other two, but it seems its better suited for mid range.


The other theory is about the different defence values of shields, those def stats that doesnt appear in your equipment window. A lvl 55 wallshield has 566 def and a lvl 55 buckler only 141 def. On first glance wallshields apear way better and they are...at the beginning of a fight.
I think after every successful hit some % of the def value is reduced until it reaches zero. At the beginning of a fight the wallshield has clearly more def, but after the first hit the def is reduced by lets say 30%. The buckler has now roughly 100 def left, the wallshield roughly 400 def. After 4 hits both shields have zero def. Maybe the def value regenerates after a parry/block or after a shield attack.
If that is true than the buckler could maintain his 141 def more consitant by attacking faster, but be limited to only 141def. While the wallshield should have a hard time regenerating def by attacking, but the initial def bonus makes up for it.