Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity Original Sin - Help/Tips/Tricks One-Handed + Shield or 2-handed for Madora?

I'm struggling with this issue, and wanted some advice. madora is the only tank in the group. The PCs are a rogue and a mage, and I'm using Bairdotr as the other NPC.

Pros of 2H:
* One fewer skill to put points in. I have Madora providing primary Leadership bonuses since she's in the center of the group (rogue around the other side of the enemy, mage and ranger behind Madora), so I'm already spending in Tenebrium, Armor Specialist, Willpower, Body Building, Man at Arms, and Leadership. Adding Shield Specialist seems like a bit much.

* Massive damage gets around armor better. Whirlwind, Dust Devil, and Flurry work better

Cons of 2H:
* lack of blocking
* lower elemental resists, but since resists are now capped at 80%, do I really need the +20% boosts from the shield?

So I guess my question is - what's the big benefit of shields? Blocking for sure, but I don't see that many physical attacks any more (I'm around L13, in Luculla Forest).
I don't think I need the resists either, since they were capped.

Thanks,
Vandervecken

At level 13 the question is pretty moot. In general more a question of playstyle anyway.

I am a big proponent of enemy disabling before damage dealing and for that style 1H/shield is much better suited (all my warriors finished kind of hybrid, at least some withcraft for additional crowd control).

Regards,
Thorsten Haupts

It's not really moot. I haven't put any points in 2H, and tenebrium will handle 1H and 2H just fine. It's just a question of whether to put points in Shield Specialist.

And how does 1H help for enemy disabling? I've found enemy disabling to be quite hard because so many of the enemies have very high (5+) Willpower and Bod yBuilding.

Battering ram - warrior is in the middle of an enemy group - use divine light and nullify resistances plus further spells e.g. from scrolls. Weather the mostly physical counterattacks (at level 13 you can already have shields with 50% block), use sword of planets (best 1H weapon in game at all levels) to better survive magical attacks.

Before I forget - you will encounter some very hard hitting enemies dealing physical damage in the course of the next map especially. From death knights over stone guardians to Orks.

Regards,
Thorsten

About that sword of the planets...
Is it just me or is it impossible to find a Unique item if you already have one of them? So once I find a Fiery heart and a Bottle of Swirling mud, I won't find more of them until I actually make the Sword. Then there's a chance for me to find them again to craft a higher-level version?

Something is odd here: Since the last patch I am literally swimming in the parts for the sword of planets after having reached level 10 with my party. Most not found but bought - reliable traders for this stuff are in Silverglen tavern (several), the ship trader in Cyseal and the mage trader Cyseal marketplace.

Regards,
Thorsten

Other "unique" components don't seem to be actually unique, like the Sextant or that spice that adds fire damage.

I haven't been able to find the sextant, or the spice, and I've done a lot of vendor savescumming (around L13-15) without being able to find more components for the sword of planets.