Newbie Question Concerning 1-Handed vs. 2-Handed Casting Weapons

[Boyzby]

I started dabbling in casters, Conjurer and Thaumaturge, I'm not sure if the game makes it super clear about the advantages to using a 2-handed weapon to the 1-handed brother. I understand the benefit to being able to wield some sort of shield, but what do I lose if I do?

Thanks!

[Estellios]

There is essentially no difference between the two. Shields offer slightly better defenses as you can Block with a shield equipped but it isn't worth taking a one-handed weapon over a two-handed one if the two-handed has better Magic Damage (which is the most important stat as it also greatly influences healing potency). The negative of one-handed weapons is that even if the magic damage is the same, you need a shield equipped to make up for the stat difference between the two which may be annoying at some levels as if you are stuck using a lower level shield that offers lower stats.

[Urthdigger]

Essentially it boils down to "use whichever has the higher item level, and use the best shield you can if it is one-handed"

[Niwashi]

Essentially it boils down to "use whichever has the higher item level, and use the best shield you can if it is one-handed"

And in the cases where the two weapons have the same iLevel, it comes down to whether you have (or can readily get) a shield that's a comparable or better level, so that it's stats added to the 1-handed stats can match the 2-handed stats.

So in choosing between a 2-hand or a 1-hand + shield, the priorities are:

1. If one of the weapons has a higher Damage stat, use that one. (This is usually the same as saying if one is higher iLevel, except that High-Quality crafted weapons have the same iLevel as their Normal-Quality equivalents, but better stats. So a HQ may match or exceed a NQ of the next level up.)
2. If they have the same damage stat, add the Int/Mnd stats on both the 1-hand and shield, and compare those sums to the Int/Mnd stats on the 2-hand. (This essentially measures whether the shield is on-par with the weapons, since the only time the weapons have the same Damage is if they're intended to be equal.)
3. If damage and the total Int/Mnd are all equal, go with the 1-hand + shield for the added blocking defense.

(I'm ignoring the secondary stats in this comparison, because the blocking effect generally outweighs them anyway. The only time I'd consider secondary stats here is with two weapons that are otherwise identical, such as if you get two aetherial wands of the same type and level, whose only difference is which secondary stats they boost.)