Paladin's Arsenal (Weapon question)

What's the main advantage of using 1 handed sword with a shield, two handed sword, or two handed blunt weapons? Is the defense boost from the Shield that useful? Is the increased speed that 1 handed sword has over all end game Two Handed Swords (other than Stonetooth) good enough to compensate for the lack of damage? Is the extra attack on blunt weaponry good enough to compensate for the slowness?

1h weapons are faster, which is almost always better, and you can both scroll the shield for attack and have potential on it. a few attack point difference can't even begin to match the difference between normal and fast. The 2-handed weapons have a higher multiplier but they still can't match a faster 1-h weapon with a nice shield. The difference in defence is minuscule.

The difference in defence is minuscule.

maybe only in equips, but adding to the 1H, the fact that you are using a shield will make most of your defense skills trigger, granting even more defensive skills.

Using a shield on a pally its required you like it or not, since most of our survival depends on the Procs on guardian (That only Procs when USING a shield). The fact that a shield boost your defense and Magic Defense by 2x of their current value (Before using the shield) its just a plus... At least thats how it was when i was still playing MS dunno about now.

Ah yes, of course forgot about Pally skills with shields. There is really not a single reason for a Pally to ever pick up 2-handed fighting other than the fact that 2-h swords and maces are so much cheaper.