Shield or no
 

Noob question for the knowing:

When a SK or Pally is tanking, outside of AC added from the shield, is there a decent % of mitigation for block that a shield adds?

DAoC/WoW added in actual blocking with shields. Block in EQ is a monk skill

OK. Thanks for the response. I guess if you are looking for that extra AC and possible stats, that's the way to go. Otherwise a high damage 2 hander would be choice.

or if you need to bash for a spell interrupt (non-slam races)

That's a good point.

Pal and SK epics have 2 hand bash. Swap in a shield to bash when you need it until you get your epic.

+1

Thanks

Shield Block is an EverQuest AA added way later on. When shields got a lot more loving.

I know i've seen warriors swap in a shield after they burn a mallet on targets before, im guessing for the added AC/stats

The AC on shields gets treated differently than any other item slot in the game.

If you equip a shield in your secondary slot, the AC on the shield does not count towards the softcap. In other words, if you have a shield with 100 AC, then you get all 100 AC from it.

Because of the special way shield AC gets treated, I bet INT casters get more AC from their shields alone than every other piece of armor combined.

Until you get your Pal/SK epic, I would definitely recommend using a shield in group settings.