Ive just spend the last 2 weeks training my top glad to use a shield. He's a lvl 50 spite, previously duel wielding bastard swords, fight parry-slash style.

Currently stats are: 148, 84, 97, 90, 76, 86, 88.

Im not looking to make him a tank, just i was wanting to make him a defensive fighter who can prolong the fight whilst making the most of his bleed damage. I've just equipped him with a tower shield, and so far it's massively reduced his effectiveness. I was wonder do i really need to buy a whole new set of equipment to get the right stats? Or are my skills wrong? And is a bastard sword ok for bleed damage or would an exotic weapon be better?

Currently my skills are (i know they're a bit all over the place): 10 blades, 9 shields, 8 sig move, 8 SotC, 10 finishing blow, 10 grat violence, 4 barrelling attack, 8 brute force, 7 devastating power, 8 blood drunk.

I know its an offensive skill set up, but i was hoping to have a mix of offense and defense using my shield, barrelling attack, sig move to slow down the fight whilst grat violence and and other offensive skills helped deal the damage.

Any tips would be much appreciated. Thanks