I prefer shorts word because some of the combos are very appealing to me, but i don't use a shield. Henry becomes so ddamn powerful by leveling him the right way and its pretty easy to get some powerful shortswords, I was killing fully armored enemies with 2 to 3 strikes with the valentine blade near the end and ive found a noble sword (basilard is also a relatively easy to get poweful shirt sword), also faster swinging means at times u can interrupt the opponents swinging. More actions per minute i think saves you more often than more damage per swing.
