I saw the thrusting shields and immediately knew I wanted to use one. Thing is, I much prefer faith for utility spells like regen and resistance spells, so it feels like 15 int for the carian shield is a waste of levels (keep in mind I want to keep this character at 150 to use it in pvp). My first question is should I eat the 15 int to use the carian, or just use the duelist shield?

I've had a couple different ideas for how to set up a build but I'd like suggestions on what out of my ideas would get me the best results. I will now list my ideas.

1. Left hand shield frost infused with a flame art weapon. Also, using shield left handed does give a bit more value to 15 int for scholars shield spell. Questions about this idea: if I'm going to go flame art should I pump faith up, or is flame art still good when I'm only using like 25 faith to cast utility spells? Should I instead hit like 50 faith and just meet base str and dex requirements? Should I forget about frost and just go pure strength faith with heavy infusion? Is this much split damage going to be a bad thing in pvp? I would be doing magic, fire, and physics damage with this setup. I would like the build to be able to handle itself in pvp as well, as I'm solo hosting invaders.

2. Right handed shield with a poke halberd in left hand, or maybe a spear. Question about frost vs pure heavy still remains. Could charge heavies with shield and use axe talisman with spear talisman and greatshield talisman. Scholars shield cant be casted on right hand shield. This setup would probably be a bit more fun in pvp, and I could tank right through pve attacks while charging heavy. Can also put an ash on the shield like giant hunt.

I have also considered sword lance but I feel that using guard counters instead of attacking with the shield would be better of with a greatshield.

In summary, the major questions: Cant decide between 25 faith/45ish str or 50fth/minimum str Carian or normal shield? Frostbite on shield and flame art, or do away with this combo for pure physical and a weapon buff incant? For the record, shield does 104 frost buildup. What out of these ideas is going to do decent pvp damage as well?

If you guys thing frostbite and flame art is the way to go, should I go pure faith for better flame art damage?