Dual wield

OR...

Sword and Shield

Why pick one over the other? Which one is more fun? Advantages? Disadvantages?

I prefer dual wield.

Reasons:

With dual wield power attacks, you attack much faster, and take down opponents incredibly fast. No, there's no blocking, but you won't need it because opponents are dead so fast.

Also, stylistically, I just like dual wield over shields. Never been a fan of shields. If I didn't have dual wield, I'd be using 2 handed weapons.

Thank you. Anyone else?

I say experiment with both, and see what you like best. Switch between them, and follow your gut instinct to what you like.

If you find yourself always wanting to protect yourself more often, then a shield would be best.
If you find yourself never caring for blocking, and you're always charging in swingin', then Dual-Wielder would suit you.

dual wield is pure offense. most things will die quick enough that you you can really on armor for defense, but some things are going to murder you if your not careful.

weapon & shield lets you take a beating, but you will be fighting longer, and if you get surrounded, your pretty much screwed.

pretty much their pros and cons even each out, so pick whichever one you want.

If you use dual wielding you need only buy perks on one-handed but if you use shield and sword you need perks on both lines block and one-handed to make it effectively.

I just use a shield for realistic reasons since i am RPing my character.
I was actually planning on using dual wield, but i played Dark Souls a full month before Skyrim, and in that game, a shield is a necessity. So basically i naturally chose a shield.

Overall i would say dual wield is better (since you get double the damage). If your an Orc and you use beserk, that's basically 4x damage. [censored] craaaazzy