Sword and Shield vs Two Handed

[Meluihel]

I've seen in a few places people recommending two handed weapons while others suggest one handed and a shield is the better way to go. I just started up a guard a few days ago and I'm wondering which is the better way to go while leveling. When I played the class some years ago, before the Helm's Deep changes, it was with a sword and shield. I'm not sure how things are situated these days though. Sword and shield will give me better defense but is that worth the drop in DPS?

[ChromiteSwiftpaw]

I've seen in a few places people recommending two handed weapons while others suggest one handed and a shield is the better way to go. I just started up a guard a few days ago and I'm wondering which is the better way to go while leveling. When I played the class some years ago, before the Helm's Deep changes, it was with a sword and shield. I'm not sure how things are situated these days though. Sword and shield will give me better defense but is that worth the drop in DPS?

At least from Rise of Isengard onward (That's when I made my guardian) 2hander has pretty much been the goto for soloing/non tanking things. 1hander + shield is only for those times when you need some extra defense and once you get your bleeds tiered up might as well switch to 2hander.

[Marcho_Brandybuck]

I recommend the use of a shield, at least up to level 50 to complete all shield related deeds. After that 2h for better dps.

[Madmanthief]

My suggestion is for you to try both, then decide which best fits your play style.

[Arathaert]

I'd echo what Marcho said - you'll want to equip one earlier on to finish off your shield skill deeds (or just tank a lot), but the standard go-to for soloing is a 2h weapon, swapping to a 1h and shield when needed for defense.

Also, just 'cause you *can* tank with a 2h weapon in yellow line doesn't mean you have to! You can absolutely tank in yellow "sword and board" style. I prefer blue myself though

[Meluihel]

I started off leveling with the sword and shield to finish off some of the shield deeds. Just hit 43 and I've been working in the Misties, long since turned to 2 handed. I'm finding that I can easily deal with a single goblin without much of a hassle, and without much of a morale hit, but my health quickly takes a dive when dealing with two or more. It is not usually a problem since I can almost always kill them before they kill me. But it takes so long for my health to come back up. The self heals; Warrior's Heart, Catch a Breath and the little ones from crits on perry skills, are nice but they heal for so little. I have though about maybe picking up a rank or two of High-Spirited in the yellow line. Or possibly switching back to 1 handed and a shield, though I do love how fast I kill single targets with a 2 handed weapon.

[balmy_balmy]

Keep the 2-handed and regularly eat some Cooked and Trail food. As others told you, for leveling you just need the shield for getting the related class deed points.

You will eventually reach the point where you will have enough points to trait the last Set traits in the Red tree: Prey on the Weak.
(I don't remember how many traits points you have at level 43, maybe you already have enough to reach PotW).

Once you have PotW you will see that more opponents you fight, more self-heal you get! You never die! It's so nice!
(as long as you also use the Radiate trait of the yellow line for spreading all the debuffs and bleeds to all your opponents)

[Rhunar]

I started off leveling with the sword and shield to finish off some of the shield deeds. Just hit 43 and I've been working in the Misties, long since turned to 2 handed. I'm finding that I can easily deal with a single goblin without much of a hassle, and without much of a morale hit, but my health quickly takes a dive when dealing with two or more. It is not usually a problem since I can almost always kill them before they kill me. But it takes so long for my health to come back up. The self heals; Warrior's Heart, Catch a Breath and the little ones from crits on perry skills, are nice but they heal for so little. I have though about maybe picking up a rank or two of High-Spirited in the yellow line. Or possibly switching back to 1 handed and a shield, though I do love how fast I kill single targets with a 2 handed weapon.

I suppose you have 19 class trait points if you're level 43. For solo questing I'd advise a red trait tree (The Keen Blade) and spending max. points in Thrill of Battle (red), Broad Strokes (red) and Radiate (yellow). Remaining trait points as you like (for example in Thrust, Brutal Assault, Heavy Weapons Training).
This gives you a better self heal, if your critical hit chance is high enough. If you plan to attack many foes in a short time, use regeneration food.
For less incoming damage equip 1-H weapon and shield. The DPS difference 1-H / 2-H weapon is minor in my opinion, but your block chance, critical defence etc. increase with shield.

At higher levels you can spend more trait points and therefore make builds with great self heal options even in the red tree (Thrill of Dange + Bring on the pain; Honourable Cobat).
IMHO 2-H weapons make sense only in combination with the yellow tree. As a guardian, in your damage build you will profit from great defensive and self heal skills while applying stacking bleeds as a major damage source. That makes this class special. For pure direct DPS output champions are better anyway. But they tend to die faster in heavy combat :-)

Anyhow, at max. level you'll mostly be the tank in group content. So you might want get familiar with the blue tree as early as possible, especially after reaching level 50.

Just my personal point of view (based on my experience)

Kind regards

Rhunar