General

1h sword and shield, cus thats the original pally way, 1h is cheaper, and greater att speed thus more DPS

2H sword and rosary for days

I am selling rosary+ 2h sword 256 atk in scania. Find handsumdude

First, i prefer sword over mace, 10% max crit > 5% pdr.
2h sword in terms of damage is better than 1h. but i prefer 1h sword + shield cuz i like the extra speed stat of 1h sword,

[quote=theguytom]
Off Topic: We really need this information stickied on the Pally page because it just gets asked over and over again.[/quote]

I agree with you completely.
Thanks everyone for your contribution, I think i will be sticking with the 1H Weapon + Shield right now since I'm not funded enough to get the same speed with a 2H Sword.

If you want highest DPS then go 2H Sword with DSI or Weapon Speed Inner Ability. If you can't get the speed then 1H Sword would be next. If you can't afford expensive weapons 2H BW would be the best option. 1H BW is only recommended if you want the extra attack speed and the Mace Animations. Between a shield and a Rosary only get a shield if it has more weapon attack than the rosary and you are using a 1H weapon. Another upside to shields is that you can fuse them together to try to get better potentials. Other than that there is no difference between the properties of rosaries and shields beyond cosmetics.

The reason swords are preferred is because High Paladin gives swords 10% Max Crit and it gives BWs 5% PDR. 10% Max Crit will do more for your damage than 5% PDR will in any situation. The reason 2H is preferred over 1H is because it has a higher weapon multiplier and will give you more damage per attack with the 2H.

tl;dr Damagewise
2hS>1hS>2hBW>1hBW
10% Max Crit>5% PDR
Shield >or= Rosary

Note: Once capping with all lines of damage 1h does more dps. I can't think of a Pally who can do this in GMS yet though so no need to worry about that for a while.

Off Topic: We really need this information stickied on the Pally page because it just gets asked over and over again.

It's honestly about what sort of equipment you can get your hands on. I went with shield + 1h mace because I got a good deal on perfect VIP and Fafnir mace. 2h and rosary only really beats 1h out if you have enough funding to break the speed cap, which is very difficult for most people.

if you are not rich or uber funded, get a 2h mace, they are the cheapest weapon out there

if you got tons of money to blow on a weapon, use a sword, preferriably a 2h one. though dunno if you scroll a 1h one high enough att to make up the lower weapon multiplier.
if you are capping with both 2h and 1h, go 1h, since it is faster

Ignore what @DawnEmperor and @iproxD said.

Just get a 2h sword. 2h multi bonus is always going to be at least roughly 3% (forgot exact number) higher output than 1h factoring speed difference from start. Then swords give you an additional 10% max critical damage just from having it equipped.

I prefer 1H Mace and Shield
IMO the Mace Animations look better then the swords, I also like how the shield gives you crasy defense.
For Damage ^^^^^^^^^^ read that dood's post.

If possible, both a 1H and a 2H. I'm currently using a 2H BW for everything. Working on a 1H Sword for bossing, then making the BW grinding only unless the 1H works out to being 2 lines of boss and a line of %ATK. 2H has a higher multiplier but lower attack speed (in most cases) so you smack harder while grinding. 1H are faster but lower on the multiplying end. It depends on what your primary goal is and what you're looking for. Swords are generally preferred because you get 5% bonus crit damage from mastery but are slightly more expensive. BW are cheaper and mastery only gives you 5% PDR for your troubles, which is next to nothing.

If you're not going to scroll your shield, you may as well go for a Rosary since you can get a 5 attack one from Evo so that's 5 more attack than what you'd get from using a clean but pot'd shield.