Originally posted by screamingcrane:

I found so far that for me I could do the fastest damage with the spear and Atgier, but from what I understand parrying is only doable with the round shields which I have not used yet but will certainly try out along with the blunt weapons.

There's actually a difference between the round shields and bucklers. Round shields are really good with swords, axes, and maces because they leave enemies stunned for longer. But they only give a 1.5x damage bonus. It's just the bronze and iron small bucklers that get the special 2.5x bonus.