<Is there any mechanical difference between the shield skill (sbash) and combat maneuver (bash)?>

There shouldn't be. From my understanding, they just copied the CMAN skill over to SHIELD when SHIELD maneuvers were released.

Unless you're high enough level you have all the CMANs you want/need and have points left over, it prolly makes more sense to get Shield Bash with shield points. Depending on your hunting style, type of shield you use, and what you hunt, it might make more sense to switch it over to the CMAN version eventually if there are more SHIELD skills you wanted (since either one can be used to meet the requirements for any SHIELD skills that require them). I'm considering doing this myself once I get the second rank in Mobility and the final rank in Wspec.

Starchitin

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