hints

What's better..

A shield and one weapon or two of the same weapons?

It depends on your block % with and without a shield.

Hmm that's tricky.. =)

Not really, if block with shield = 51% get shield

That's rubbish, if your block is 17% without a shield, it's obviously better to dual wield.

If block is 55%+ with a shield then get a shield.

Or... use Emanuels Shield Advisor script.

block with shield should be atleast 50% better than block without shield.

if your block is 17% without a shield, it's obviously better to dual wield.

Show your work please?

For example if your opponent is dealing 100 damage per hit,

Without a shield, hit 83% of the time on avg, the equivalent of getting hit for 83 damage every attempt.

With a shield, hit 74% (1-(.51^2)) of time on avg (either once or twice), but 24% (.49^2) of this is getting hit twice, which on avg equates to getting hit 98% of time once, or the equivalent of 98 damage per attempt.

Obviously this makes a few assumptions, and it's better to use a shield against much stronger opponents, but in the long run it is a lot better to dual wield.

Thanks.

block with shield should be atleast 50% better than block without shield.

Should be this: block with shield should be atleast 50% better than [(block without shield)/2].

The extra defense from the shield is gravy.

Not if you have over 80% absorb w/o a shield ;)

booya?

Buffs also make the answer to this question trickier if you are a trainbot and are after best training efficiency. A shield may not give you better XP/hour per se, but it may help you get more out of your buffs, especially if you do a thousand or more trains a day.

Neps is right, the buffs make it kind of weird for a bot with a shield. Bots with shields tend to go for best exp per hour which can sometimes come from a bot you lose a lot to. But with the buffs you want to maximise exp per train so I usually train on a lower bot I can beat a lot more.

Emanuel's script for exp/hour, avg exp etc comes in real handy.

Have fun! There's no "right" way to play, so play however you want. :)

There is however, a most efficient way to play for any particular build/level, so you could argue that that is the right way to play.

There is however, a most efficient way to play for any particular build/level, so you could argue that that is the right way to play.

Stating that "There is no "right" way to play" does not convey that there is no "wrong" way to play. Both points are argumentative though.

I like to argue, damn, I'm kind of seeing how people consider us spammers now.

*thinks about it, doesn't stop*

Yeah never gonna stop me
Never gonna stop
Never gonna stop me
Never gonna stop
Never gonna stop me
Never gonna stop
Never gonna stop me
Never gonna stop