City guards are extremely easy to kill and change to your level, so a good choice if you aren't somewhere obscure.
Which is a better defense?
For my shamans, I ALWAYS go with a no-disarm exotic and a shield. Shield > staff imo, and exotics parry just as well as a mace. On top of that, when you are WIELDING an exotic, your proficiency with exotics goes up, which means you now parry better against exotics when they are used against you.
As to the effectiveness of spirit bind vs mana regen - you will get different answers depending on who you talk to. Personally, I only use spirit bind when I am ranking. In a PK battle, especially against someone with decent saves, it takes several casts per mal to get it to land. Add this to the fact that most shaman battles incorporate a lot of chasing, then running and healing, then chasing, rinse and repeat... you go through a LOT of mana. I prefer to regen it as quickly as possible, for that very reason. I hate losing people because I had to catch a tic or two of sleep.
wait' date=' shamans get parry and shield block[/quote']
...yeah, that's been covered buddy.
Best defense for a shaman.
Whip and shield.
No matter the weapon, once you get blind your defence will be the same using a mace of a whip. So opt for the most offensive and dificult to disarm.