Return of Reckoning

Okay, so I ended up deciding on messing around with a Blackguard. I personally always favor using a Sword and Shield as a Tank, I don't mind breaking out a Polearm for very small scale situations, but on the whole I favor SnS at all times.

My issue is this, everyone I've asked and inquired about this says I'm sort of wrong to use such. They all seem to say if I am not using a Polearm, I'm pretty much entirely wrong. Now I am not asking for a build or anything like that, I'm just wondering from other (preferably higher level ones who've put the time in longer than I) think of this, is it possible to be a Shield BG and be viable, or better than Polearm?

I wager the Polearm is supposedly better due to the fact some of our skills hit and heal based on raw impact, so any veteran BG's out there mind giving me some advice on the matter?

You are not doing anything wrong if you want to go SnB, only thing you miss out except some dmg output is Crimson Death & rebound hatred wich is 2h req (Granted malignent strike also, but you have spitfull slam wich is a kd aswell..req. a block to use thue). Rebound hatred is nothing to worry about since you do have HTL (also noone shall pass only for your self) as a tank and also helps friendly out wich RH dont. Crimson death (And more dmg output) is why you go 2h as a BG imo, so that's the only real thing you will really miss out on. Go SnB if you want and enjoy it, there is so many treats to pick up with that option to !

With that said, i do favor the 2h offensive BG since it does that job very well

2h Gives you cool stuff other tanks dont have and the damage is good.

S/B doesnt really give you much that the other tanks would give you if they went S/B. So the idea is probably that if you wanted to play that way, you would be more effective if you played a different tank.

It's not terrible, you just dont offer much besides being a hard to kill guardbot.

I would only recommend going SNB if you intend to tank in a 3/2/1 comp, or warband play.

2h giving everyone on your realm a 10% increase to crit target(s) alone makes it better than SNB for group.

hello fellow shield BG.
i haven't tried halberd so far. only used shield for 50+ rr.
so can't compare which is better.
( better for what? is real question )

generally SnB is better at tanking, 2h is better at dps.
2h may become tanky with fine tuning.

ppl say 2h is only viable option for BG because of crit buff.
maybe it's effective but how dull is it that couldn't play class how i want? for 1 skill.

you may have hard time getting in premade.
and a lot of whine about how wrong u are.
if you can overcome those obstacles you will have fun.
don't worry tank has always role in battle.

be tanky and spread buffs with dark protector and guard.