Yes, its THAT question again.

Other times I've seen this, it hasn't exactly answered what I would like so I bring this question to you.

Advantages and disadvantages? How really useful is the shield, anyway? Most of the time I don't block any attacks because I'm not quick enough. Does the sweep perk make a big difference?

And swapping out the shield for spells won't matter since I have a mod that casts spells from hotkeys.

It depends on your playstyle. I like the shield because it can protect you from those pesky magic users. The sweep perk I found to be a love it or hate it. Sometime it works.

shields block more damage, plus lets look at the perks that shields specifically benefit from. the elemental resistance +50% when blocking, dragon breaths become ridiculously puny, especially with the common enchanted shields that already have frost or fire resistances. being able to run while blocking makes you more than capable of closing the distance with mages with minimal damage and without shouting. plus you get to knock them down then pummel them after reaching them. applies to giants also i hear.

two handed weapons deal more damage, but dont block as effeciently or recieve as many benefits from the block tree. you do gain the sweep perk though, hitting multiple enemies at once, but only in front of you, useless for one on one, but good when you are skilled enough to line up the enemies in a row in front of you. two handed weapons stagger more often than one handed weapons, but i would still prefer to have some defense in there.

to put it into MMO terms, (which i dont know much but i know enough), two handers are the spikers, they arent effecient at protecting themselves but they can deal a lot of damage quickly. onehanded/boards are the tanks. can take a lot more punishment while still killing the enemy, albeit a bit slower.

Definitely. Elemental protection plus a good resist magic enchant on a shield rocks against mages and dragons.

Shields are definitely very useful and I enjoy the skill of blocking with them and even using them as a weapon, but what I hate is you have to run around with them, this sounds stupid but I just find it lame to be walking into shops or sitting down for an ale with a shield, I find myself constantly having to equip and unequip shields. I like the simplicity of a two handed weapon, you just bash a head and then chuck it on your back. I dunno what it is about me but I find this appealing.

Right now I'm playing a one hander with a shield cause I want to perk up the block tree for once and he also does some arching, but yeah having to unequip the shields and quivers all the time is kind of annoying. Not critically annoying, just annoying. I think if blocking with two handed weapons was fleshed out more I'd probably stick with them.

For me, it isn't a case of which is better. Every MMO and single player rpg I've ever played, I've loved sword and board. It's my style.

Swords and Shields.

Advantages:

Naturally better at blocking physical damage.

When perked, can deflect arrows, halve elemental damage, can move quicker and can knock enemies down.

Provides another enchantment slot.

Faster swing speed than a 2H (for you enchanters out there)

Disadvantages:

Less damage given.

Less reach.

Two Handers:

Advantages:

More damage given.

More reach.

Disadvantages:

Minus one enchantment slot

No blocking bonuses

No elemental protection.

No arrow blocking (dodging only)

The perk to increase movement speed whilst blocking is (ironically) blocked by the useless (when using 2H) shield perks.

Want to be a nimble barbarian swordmaster?

You'll need to take the two block perks for shields before you can increase your block movement speed.

-HK

Sword and board all the way. If you're big into smithing, a normal sword can approach the same damage as a two hander. If you enchant, you can reach over 500 damage legitimately with a one handed weapon by using Chaos+frost on a Stalhrim sword and investing heavily in the destruction tree. Finally, you gain extra perks and can gain some special offensive abilities with a shield.

I like them both, but normally I use sword/shield because I hate how slow two handers swing. I usually prefer to swap between sword/shield and sword/dagger in combat. Dual wield perks can make one-handers do more dps than two-handers, and its easy to swap back to your shield if you need it.

Sword&Board may Ok but it doesn't float my boat.

So, have to go with 2 Hander. just love Greatswords!

I like to go both ways. I have a Sword and an enchanted Shield I use wherever there are a lot of enemies and/or I need to move a lot. For Dragons and tough 1 on 1 fights I'll use a two-handed axe, upgraded as far as I can get it.

Two-handed hammer for me, maximum wallop.

I can't use Warhammers. By the time you swing once, the enemy has hit you over 30 times.

I'm not surprised that most people prefer sword n board, personally I prefer the battleaxe barbarian build as it's challenging yet fun at the same time. They key to a 2 hand weapon is timing, if you get the timing down then you can strike first and strike hard as opposed to blocking and countering. Also you can block with a 2 hand weapon and it benefits from some block perks but obviously not as effective as a shield yet good enough to prevent death from a power attack.

The answer may be the Elementary Fury shout which makes a warhammer as fast as a longsword. If you get the Longhammer, it's as fast as a dagger. Of course it has to stay unenchanted to work but you can still smith it.

I like them both, but prefer Sword and shield (Mace and shield to be exact). The shield has many useful perks and abilities, and can easily make you 1 step away from being invulnerable to physical damage. Shields also give a 5th armor slot for enchanting, and the shield has some pretty good enchantments available to it (resist magic and increased block are especially good). The restriction to 1 handed weapons isnt that bad either, considering you can push their damage pretty high.

Two handed is still pretty nice though. The very high stagger potential is really useful, and the extra range can enable to you take less hits. My only real problem with two handed is the animations... they just look rather clumsy.