>>314880442Because on Hard/Proud Mode, you already do much less damage as is compared to the other modes, and offering up the sword means you're going to be doing minimal damage possible. Which means a pack of shadows can be actually dangerous.
The same can apply with Shield, but you can actually learn to time your attacks to counter their own, which works as a great defense that rewards you on being aggressive at the right times. In this way, you can more or less negate the Shield's stat perk completely, and don't quite need the other abilities until much later in the game anyway.
It all comes down to personal confidence and skill, really. You think you're a badass with timing? Drop the shield. You think you're a badass who can survive doing as little damage as possible even when getting gangbanged by Invisibles/Neoshadows? Drop the sword.
The two are worthless statwise anyway, as you get stat up items by the truckload. It only matters in the first 2 hours of the game.
