Whats the best offense and defense weapon shield combo. Sword shield, flail shield, mace shield, other?
Weapon selection?
umm depends who you are depending on fighting... but since i'd assume you'd only use sheilds against melee and blademsters is the hardest melee for warriors i'd say whip/shield. i'm making the assumption that you're playing a warrior since most other classes would simply opt for a polearm over shield.
Always been a polearm fan myself... But that's from playing too many paladins.
Refer to the wiki for 100% verification. But I think it's mace?
Never make the mistake of choosing a weapon combo that is effective against many other combos. Choose a combo that will be effective against who you are going to be likely to fight. If you are in Knight, your choice should be quite different than if you are in WM.
That said, you may want to think in terms of weapon combos for fighting casters, as shield lore is specifically for use against other heavy melee fighters. A shield (with lore) is still pretty much worthless against all casters and not worth the loss of offense against most hybrids and rogues.
Whip/shield may be the standard goto option, but it is a waste against somebody like Thulgan, for instance. You'd be better with an exotic or some weapon with a poison oprog.
thats an interesting line of thought. i dont think i'd ever want to trade fired weapons as a knight but as a warmaster shield mastery could be pretty nice, that being said i wouldnt expect to use it alot fighting savants...
Certain weapons trumph other weapon types. It's not always about using a weapon that another class is unfamilar with. Keep this in mind.