Tried a good cleaver with Toughness regen on hitting multiple enemies on Heresy and Damnation and I’m sorry to say that but it sucked hard, or at least I sucked at using it. Without the shield’s protection I was constantly getting shot up by enemy shooters, and the difference in melee combat was not that big. Good damage and toughness regen is nice but not getting blown up to bits in the first place is better.
I’ll give it a few more tries but being a slow melee combatant without a shield seems to equal prolonged suicide on higher difficulties. And don’t get me wrong, I am not one of those silly billies who think that putting down your shield at the first sight of trouble equals good gameplay; I do my best to be active.