Importance of shieldFollow

So I'm taking PLD up to cover all roles aside from healing/buffing(hate backliners) but I'm pretty much packed as far as combat skills go. So im wondering just how much of a loss i am at with 8 less shield skill in my arsenal

I dont have them(I removed them temporarily), and I consider being a main tank always anytime a pld is needed. I still retain 310+ in gear. Job gets done w/o them just fine.

Full sword merits would probably do more for a pld than full shield merits, depending on gear mind you, but when all is top notch, sword merits should win out. -however this wouldnt pertain to you, but to any other pld wondering.

Anyhow for most things, you would do fine with 300-315 in shield. Fill in the rest of the slots with -damage taken gear when shadows are down. Depending on the amount of -damage taken gear vs skill, you might wear -damage gear over skill, example odin head over koenig.

Just wanted to add that shield skill+ is GREAT during xp when you are /WAR as you are a leveling up (or /DNC I suppose if you want to go that route). As Drac said, though, sadly no one has really bothered to do the tests on exactly how much shield skill affects proc rate (ever since /NIN got big it's not nearly as important, and ever since Atonement, sword merits are definitely the most important combat merit on PLD @ 75).

So... honestly shield skill+ would be most helpful while you are taking PLD up! If you want to get the merits on another job prior to leveling PLD, it would make you slightly more awesome (PROBABLY not worth the time it would take unless you really love meriting -.-).

Thanks for all the comments guys, yes im capped on sword, though i was planning to drop some for h2h skill, still debating on that one >.>

H2H merits are awesome, pretty much the strongest improvement of any combat merit, and even more so on PUP than MNK because while you're both getting 2 base damage, PUP has less skill and therefore, 2 base damage is a larger increase for them, plus PUP always benefits from the acc.

PUP rant aside, there are tons of PLDs out there that do just fine and don't even have capped shield, so capped skill > > > merits in shield. Obviously both is superior, but the fact plenty of people do without shield merits, even uncapped shield, would be a stronger push towards H2H merits.

On an individual job comparison of what their merits do for them, monk and puppetmaster are pretty much at the top for H2H's effect on their job.

Now if all you do is kill weak things on monk and endgame on PLD, you could make a case for sword/shield merits, but if you do equal shares of end game things, IMO H2H wins.

Shield skill definitely has use, but it really depends on what you're fighting on PLD for how much use, ie if you're often /nin you only really benefit from shield procs to save you from interrupting, and even then with reprisal you'll be blocking often when you might potentially get hit.

Sword merits can make more of a difference if you're low manning something where you're relying heavily on atonement for damage and hate, though I would much rather have 16 skill on a pure DD job than a tank.

OP already has sword merits, so you would have to consider how much fun/use it would be for you to wipe those merits and get H2H. It really depends on what job you play/enjoy more. Personally, PUP always takes priority for merits, augmented gear, etc so I'm probably biased.