A shield doubles up as a defensive and offensive tool, especially when the shield in question is a massive tower shield. It's a blunt force weapon that can also be used to suppress an assailant to the ground. Remember, the Sultansworn started out as elite bodyguards.

Likewise, Cecil was an offensive powerhouse, regardless of whether he was DRK or PLD. I like that they moved away from "PLD is the defensive tank", because this mindset led to a lot of balance problems. PLD is in a good place right now. The problem is that WAR is overtuned and DRK is undertuned.