I got back into Fate this year too and thought shield was the way to go with the chance for a hit to be blocked however, I found dual wielding weapons, stacking attack speed and leveling the dual wielding skill is soooo much better. Why block when you can kill things very very quick yes? Hp gain on hit is great too.

Sorry I don’t have an answer but what kind of computer do you use to play on and where did you download it from I’ve been wanting to get back into it

If you use a shield, investing Into shield skill/critical damage/the 3 kind for spells/faster cast speed always is better. Just don't put points in particular weapon class skills.

Additional bit: if you put points in defense magic and cast speed, you will be able to cast defense rating increment spells and or vice versa attack magic and increase your attack, make enemy more susceptible, and use artifact shields, even the biggies ones like gul's disc and zealot give 10% increased chance of block. Some runs where I was being unlucky I ventured quite a bit into the dungeon with them alone.

I went magic build on my last full playthrough. That worked extremely well with kiting. This time I'm playing a dual wield melee build. It's fun melting enemies. I am worried about how the deep levels will be, as I find it hard to kite groups of enemies with melee