The shields actually came in handy in Act IV when the mages made the characters too weak to use their weapons (at least for the DK). As for the hero, her main weapon, even though weaker, is the dagger to stay in character. It does bother me though that to get the benefit from one handed melee skills (piercing in this case) the shield cannot be used. Why have two-handed piercing skills in that case? Back stab also seems rather useless at 1-2%. Basically, there is no survivor, ie, a warrior called a survivor because they fight the same and the thieving skills are simply not needed and not effective in the least. Oh well, that category has always been problematic - probably should have not been there in the first place.
