Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General One-handed + Shield vs. Two-Handed.

Two-handed is the way to go in this game. There is little to no point in focusing on the defense. Combat design heavily revolves around offensive styles and AoE attacks, promotes eliminating targets as fast as possible and dealing damage in general. Another thing is the aggro mechanic which the player has no influence on besides Stench talent. Creating a character specialized in taking the beating instead of giving one, only to get ignored by enemies preferring to fight summons seems like a bad idea. At the end of the day, disregarding two-handed style in favor of one-handed one leads only to limiting your party's capabilities. And aside from Shield Specialist, you'd also need some points in Willpower to combat all these immobilizing statuses. Simply put, there is no need to be tanky if you can deal thousands of damage. You want flexibility. Offense is the best defense in my experience.