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For whatever reason, shields are extremely rare in screenshots. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=820&title=barbarian-battles&cat=560 Only one screenshot] thus far released shows a Barbarian using a shield, and there are no pieces of concept art that show characters using shields.
It seems that shields will not be a very popular item in Diablo 3, unlike Diablo 2 where they were very commonly equipped for their huge defensive and blocking bonuses. Barbarians seem to prefer dual wielding or two-handed weapons, Monks can not use shields at all, and [[Wizard]]s can use a special item type, the [[orb]] in their off-hand, along with a [[wand]] or [[short staff]]. Orbs provide offensive bonuses, and may be more popular for the glass cannon style character. It's not known if [[Witch Doctor]]s have an off-hand item that they'll prefer to shields; something like the class-specific totems favored by [[Necromancer]]s in Diablo 2. And finally, the [[fifth character]] is unknown as of March 2010, but is widely assumed to be an archer/ranged attack specialist, who would have little use for shields either.
Also note that the lack of a [[weapon switch hotkey]] in Diablo 3 makes hybrid builds non-viable, and that characters will thus find little use in collecting two different weapon sets, to utilize in different situations.
