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As I understand, the praesidiul shields gave 3++ inv save during the 8th edition, and +1 armor save, making them just straigh out better than custodians with spears. However they were nerfed, and now only give a +1 armor save. On the other hand, swords now deal more dmg (+1 strength, d2, -3pa) in melee, and WAY more dmg in range as pistols (S4, pa-1, d2...compared to S4, pa0, d1 before, it's just infinitely better). Spears now give +2 strenght instead of +1 and D2, but that's the only change they got.

I suppose that the idea was to make it much harder to choose between the two...and that's exactly how it feels (lol), I just don't know which one is the best now.

Are spears better, or is the sword + shield combo still slightly better?

Thank you

depends on your matchup I feel.
If you go against a melee heavy army, you'll want the shields.
TAAC - spears.
And if you know you'll have your backfield objectives not contested by dedicated melee troops - Sagittarum.

They did not improve armour saves in 8th.

Look at tournament lists and consider whether your local meta deviates enough from tournament metas to not just copy what the top performers for your faction are taking.

 vict0988 wrote:
They did not improve armour saves in 8th.

That depends on whether you mean the 8th edition codex, or 8th edition core.
You're right that during core 8th edition they did not improve armour saves.
But shortly after the release of 9th edition they did release an update to the 8th edition custodes codex to make their storm shields do the same thing as 9th edition space marine ones, 4++ and +1 to armour saves (although the 4++ stacked with the custodes +1 to invulns ability, so they still got a 3++ from them).

Back to the main question. I do have a bit more trouble deciding between them now too. Which is a good thing, as having one option being clearly better than another leads to static list building.
However I think that if you have access to sagittarum guard then there's a bit less reason to take spear guys. The sagittarums can stand on a backfield objective and shoot, while the tougher shield guys move up to claim the midfield.

Why not both?

I like a 1-in-3 or 2-in-5 sword-and-shield to spear-and-misericordia ratio for an unit. You lose out on Praesidium Shieldwall I guess, but you get effectively the durability of a shield unit (if all the sword guys and some of the spear guys die before the unit gets into combat the unit was going to die anyway IMO) and the extra attacks + extra strength + 5 point per model discounted price of a spear unit in the same package.

If there's so little to choose between them, why not pick the one you prefer the look of? A mix or all shields (to make use of the stratagem) is probably best - but it's marginal whichever way you look at it.

Tiny magnets are your friend.
That way, when the rules change to favor one or the other, or you discover a preference, you can swap hands/arms.

*never having built a Custodes I'm not sure how hard this might be....

ccs wrote:
Tiny magnets are your friend.
That way, when the rules change to favor one or the other, or you discover a preference, you can swap hands/arms.

*never having built a Custodes I'm not sure how hard this might be....

You can do that.
The main difficulty is that you need to get extra pauldrons from somewhere if you want to magnetise them at the shoulders.
Otherwise you can still magnetise them at the wrists, but since you're switching between a two handed weapon and a sword + shield, that means their arms can end up being posed a bit weirdly for the sword + shield.

Spears also let you take the knife and are 5 points cheaper. Not huge differences but they can add up with enough troops and over enough turns.

Spears are far more versatile. But if you are intending to get your shield bois into melee, have fun. Either you are using them to camp objectives or play defense on a back field. Your melee threat shouldn't be your 3 attack 50pt troops, it should be the 5 attack terminators, wardens, or Blade Champions/SC. Hell, even the mechs are better in melee for the cost then your Guardians. Go spears and plink some wounds off with shooting, while camping an objective.