Quote Originally Posted by DonTheoden View Post
Hey guys, crawl newbie here.

I recently played a dwarf fighter of Trog (who managed to get to level 12, and die a horrible death in the Lair, running from a pack of angry Death Yaks, only to be ambushed by a couple of black snakes or something like that) and at some point Trog starts giving you weapons. Well, I got 2 interesting axes from him, a +5,+2 broad axe of chopping and a +1,+9 executioner's axe of something (it dealt extra damage of some element, can't remember which). The thing is, I had been training shield skill the whole game and decided to go with the broad axe (because it can be used one handed), but now I'm wondering if that was a good idea. I don't really know if shields are that useful, it's hard to measure how effective they are because they don't give AC. So, for future reference, in a strengh-based melee character: two-handed weapons or weapon+shield?

Edit: Also, i had 25 AC, 6 EV and 9 SH, was it good enough for the Lair? What is considered good for the middle-game?

Thanks
All depends on the character, and what you like. There are a lot of factors to consider. Did you have really good armor? Then you don't need the shield so much. Did you need the high damage from the executioner's axe, or the to-hit from the broad axe? If you have plenty of heal potions and contingencies, or really strong offense, then you don't need high AC/EV/SH. There's no right answer. 'Sides, you're gonna die soon enough anyways.