Hello, i just recently hit 92 on my Shadowknight and have been tanking 2 handed the entire time my friend tells me with shield AAs i do more damage with 1H Weapon and Shield is this true for the knight class or only warriors?
Krousis, Shield specialist does increase 1handed weapon damage to be comparable to 2 hander. I do not parse so, I can only go off what I have seen or catch on the display windows. I think the damage is still less but you have all the knight 2handed AAs which will increase the damage you do above what you will receive from SS going sword and board. The choice for going 2 hander or sword and board to me really depends on what the situation holds. For example, I try to use a 2 hander when swarming which gives more damage due to the knight 2 handed AAs and, I also believe your riptoste damage is slightly higher based off of the slightly higher 2 hander damage(correct me if I am wrong). For exp grinding current and current content hunting, the dps increase is minimal compared to dps classes in your group. In this case, maximize your tanking by going sword and board and take advantage of the extra AC and defensive AAs such as shield block. This reduces your damage intake and reduces healing needed thereby reducing healing and mana usage of the healers. Another situation that comes to mind is soloing. When I run without a healer, I tend to go lt blue con mobs for kill rate and mortal coil proccing. I am usually 2hander in this mod for faster killing via more dps. The last situation is moloing. This varies from 2 hander to S & B depending on content. With easier content which will not abuse my healer merc, I go 2 hander. Current or harder content, the mobs simply hit to hard resulting in the danger of being single rounded or getting adds which will be unmanageable using a 2 hander. Hope this helps, Ryneis PS: the knight 2 hander AAs give chances for extra attacks with the 2 hander thereby increasing damage.
You won't do more damage with 1h and Shield over 2h but it's pretty close. Basically its (Shield Block, Shield AC) vs (Two handed damage AA), shield specialist makes it swing in the middle.
Depending on the content you are doing, it may not matter all that much. I personally use 1h and shield 90% of the time because I happen to enjoy the way it looks even if it's not completely optimal in every situation. During swarming I haven't noticed much of a difference to be honest, and it's not like the shield is useless while swarming. I'd say unless you are tanking high end content (RoF T2 or higher) just use what you prefer.
it get less close the further you go up per expansion. iirc it was very very close in the sod era and uf era, right now my rof raid teir 1 2 her, a generic one not the knight specific one, out preforms my rof tier 1raid 1 her by a good margin pure melee wise.
Similar teir weapon (1 vs. 2 hander) you will do more damage with the 2 hander. Tanking, you should be using a shield unless the content is trivial because it lets you tank more effectively. If you can tank the content with a 2 hander and not die, or run your healers OOM, go for it. Otherwise, shield is the way to go, regardless of what kind of DPS difference there is (it's not huge if you have the same teir weapon).
its was close to 30% last bunch of parses i did with just raid buffs, same tier rof 1 her and 2 her, if i can find my parse ill post them, unless its against board policy.
It isn't so much the max damage (which will be greater with a 2her since the 2her revamp in UF). However knights get extra abilities with 2hers that make them the preferable dps choice. Max out speed of the knight and you will see yourself doing better, and I believe the Sk specific 2her aa is bloodthirsty blade which gives them additional flat damage per hit. At lower AA count you can focus purely on the 1her and shield simply because the AA trees are symbiotic for tanking and dps and you can get closer to full functionality faster in both departments. Once you are maxed on shield specialist and the tanking AA, at that point it makes sense to lean toward 2her related things.
