Shield or dual wield for tanking monks?

**raveharu** · 26-06-2012, 12:14

1) Shield - high dex/vit/def/all resists

2) 1 Handed weapon - high dex/vit/LoH

Assuming you have at least 600 all resists, which is more effective in preventing deaths?

**Ohlmann** · 26-06-2012, 12:41

Depend on build, and on whether it's solo or not.

In my humble opinion, usually dual wield is better to prevent death, because you kill thing faster, gain more spirit, and such. But your mileage may varie.

Also, 600 @resist is not that high. It's good enough for act I, certainly insufficient for act III.

**raveharu** · 26-06-2012, 12:48

Originally Posted by Ohlmann

Depend on build, and on whether it's solo or not.

In my humble opinion, usually dual wield is better to prevent death, because you kill thing faster, gain more spirit, and such. But your mileage may varie.

Also, 600 @resist is not that high. It's good enough for act I, certainly insufficient for act III.

I heard that LoH stacks and each hit gets the total amount from both weapons, is that true?

**Yggdrasil** · 26-06-2012, 14:55

It is true, I run two 1handed sword with 120dex/120vita/670 damage each, socketed with 2 +300LoH, and each hit gives 600 Life, modified by the coefficients of skill.

In my mind, 2 weapons is best, but I am running a dodge build which makes it compulsary (based on Backlash rune, +30%dodge from mantra, 16% from FoT, 33% from Dex, 15% from path of the guardian, 20% from Dashing strike).

I would add that since the 1.0.3 patch, 15% attack speed when dual wielding is really a lot.

**raveharu** · 26-06-2012, 15:31

Originally Posted by Yggdrasil

It is true, I run two 1handed sword with 120dex/120vita/670 damage each, socketed with 2 +300LoH, and each hit gives 600 Life, modified by the coefficients of skill.

In my mind, 2 weapons is best, but I am running a dodge build which makes it compulsary (based on Backlash rune, +30%dodge from mantra, 16% from FoT, 33% from Dex, 15% from path of the guardian, 20% from Dashing strike).

I would add that since the 1.0.3 patch, 15% attack speed when dual wielding is really a lot.

Sigh, I guess I need to upgrade my other armors first.

My resists can't hit 600 without my shield, but thanks for the advice

**Malicious** · 26-06-2012, 23:19

It also depends on the direction that u r going for. Personally I think there's 2 ways to go about gearing a monk. The first is going a crit based build, with some LoH in there too. I think quite a few monks are picking up crit now and using Cyclone rune on Sweeping Winds... I know 1 of my friends is... but I don't really like it much, and I don't want to redo all my gear for it, lol. The second is basically pretty much the old method of IAS heavy, with more of a focus on LoH and LPSS, which is what I'm trying to do now.

If u do a crit based build, then I'd say go with a shield since u can find 10% crit shields. If u go with the IAS based build, go with dual wield (lets u equip dual LoH and LPSS weapons).

**Ohlmann** · 27-06-2012, 06:40

Originally Posted by Malicious

If u do a crit based build, then I'd say go with a shield since u can find 10% crit shields. If u go with the IAS based build, go with dual wield (lets u equip dual LoH and LPSS weapons).

Well, even on crit based build, dual wield is nice for 15% IAS. (also, I think it's a bit of a stretch to talk about "different" build. There is a lot of intermediate step)