The Warrior's Skill Resilience is one of the oldest skills in the game, dates way back to the pre-Beta versions. So some of its oddities stem from being added to the game when the game was a very different thing.
A thirty-second cooldown is decent for tough baddies, but not conducive to a fast dungeon run.
What I --might-- suggest, is using the skill against tough baddies, but not the weak ones. That way you get the extra defense when it matters, but aren't driving yourself insane by waiting. That was how the skill was designed. A little extra help when you need it.
Shield Mastery tends to be a far better skill for defense minded folks. It's really helpful in the early game, and still useful in the late game.
If you've played Exiled Kingdoms before, and know what you're doing, I would encourage to continue to play a Defense Focused Warrior. If this is your first playthrough the game, I might encourage you to add some offensive abilities as your play.
In the early game, you can get away with focusing on defense, and it seems like a great idea. But that's because the enemies aren't that strong. As you enter the mid-game and late-game, you'll come across creatures that are really tough to kill so you'll need some way of doing extra damage, and some fights you'll have to do by yourself, so you can't relay on your Companion.
For the truly defensive minded warriors, Duel is an obvious fit.
