Hey.

I'm doing a sort of a "Shaman", and I want to use light armor and shield. However I can't seem to find ANY shields that are Unique in Vanilla.

So the best shield is a Glass shield? I wanted the Spellbreaker, but since I'm skilled in light armor, the Spellbreaker would 1) not block as efficently as a light armor and 2) skill me in heavy armor?

Do the perks in Light and Heavy armor increase the blocking amount, or is it only Shield wall and block skill that increase amount of damage blocked? How important is armor rating on a shield? Will the shield's armor rating increase overall armor or will the shields armor rating only increase block amount?

is it dumb to go for a heavy shield when using light armor?

Best light shield in vanilla is dragonscale.

Shield of Solitude is light, I believe. It gives bonus to magic resistance and blocked damage. The wolf painting on in might fit in with our shaman motif, as well.

That being said, using a heavy shield won't negatively affect you. You'll still block damage, and slightly level up heavy armor skill at the same time. Also, not that this pertains to you, but I believe shields don't count against the Matching Set or the Mage Armor perks.

It's http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Shield_of_Solitude, but is indeed a nice shield.

1) Blocking with heavy shield will be just as effective as blocking with light shield. The disadvantage of using heavy shield is just that it will contribute somewhat less Armor Rating to your armor.
2) Using a heavy shield does not level your heavy armor skill. Only helmet, armor, gauntlets and boots level your armor skill.


Perks in armor skill do not increase blocking amount. Only shield wall and block skill increase the amount of damage blocked.
Armor rating on a shield is only important to the armor rating armor part. Shield's armor rating increases overall armor, but it will not increase the block amount.

No it's not dumb. Only advantage of light shield is that it's much lighter than heavy shields. Heavy shields block (slightly) better and do (a bit) more bash damage.

1) Indeed.
2) Good to know!

All guards in the game wear light armor, but a heavy shield. For a Shaman, I'd pick a guard shield that fits the theme of the Shaman, for example Windhelm's bear or Solitude's wolf, or possibly Falkreath's deer(?).

So it is. I even had it in my inventory! Seems like it should be a light shield, though.

For a shaman I would go with a simple Hide shield. You'll find them a lot easier than a dragon scale. I also like the Imperial Light shield, but it doesn't look primative. Enchanting with Fortify Block helps a lot as does a potion using Bleeding Crown, Red Mountain Flower, and Tundra Cotton. It makes a potion of fortify block and magika, and resist magic

Shield weight has no bearing on the Light Armor perks.

I agree, though. The light shield selection is almost nil. There is a mod for a Nightingale shield but, meh.

Ok thanks everyone. I've already got the armor of the old god, and probably a hide shield would fit with that. I'm also using one handed, mostly maces, and some destro.

Of course also resto and alchemy.

I want magic resist on the shield thus liking the spellbreaker, but its look doesn't fit

This

I've wanted a wooden shield that is made out of branches, similar to a spriggan, for a long time now.

Targe of the Blooded is wooden and spikey.

The shields city guards carry around are pretty cool, and I'd imagine some of them would go well with the shamanistic look.

Stahlrim shield is light.

But that's not in Vanilla, so all the 2500 posts you made since Oct 2012 hasn't taught you how to read.

I read it, and proceeded to ignore it, and was generous to give you a suggest anyways. You're welcome.

Heavy shields aren't much of a big deal no matter what kind of armor you use really. Spellbreaker is very efficient and I recommend using it.

I already knew it exists but I don't have Dragonborn, that's why I stated "vanilla" in the OP. However I didn't mean to be rude, just saying that I'm only interested in vanilla gear

Aha it's all good man.

So no drawbacks on using a Spellbreaker even though it's Heavy?

what does spellbreaker do again? im currently useing a Carved Nordic shield and it looks great with my scaled armor.

Blocks all or most of the magic spells casted at you