I don't bother Charging. It's awesome in theory, but I toss a Shield Break at my enemy, then ride towards them during the GCD instead of waiting to charge. On NPCs, this keeps them from charging me like they typically want, and if you're quick you keep them from Shield Breaking you, too. They're basically struggling to keep their shields up, while you're always sitting on a full stack poking away their HP.

I haven't jousted a Player yet.

Every time they put up their own shield, the cooldown on their own charges and shield breaks provides you the chance to lower their armor by one level without suffering the same. Just peel off and throw a shield break their way.

Similarly, any time they break away you can throw a shield break and then follow it in to prevent repercussions. I recommend ignoring charge altogether; it just sets you up for a shield break yourself.

Ultimately, it's just a matter of keeping your own shield level higher than the enemy's.

Ah so I'm not the only one who has completely forgone the whole charge thing. Not only does charging make you fly AWAY from them it also means that you'll end up with no shields whatsoever. DON'T charge, it's useless.

And there's absolutely no need to fight other players, this is completely PvE. The only reason (that I know of so far) you duel players is to get achievements.

Whenever the enemy rides away i charge and as you wheel around to hi them again i throw a shield breaker. This strips them of all shields and usually i never lose my third rank of the shield buff.

That's how the squire told me to do it and it works rather nicely. Does require a certain amount of coordinationwith the mouse and keyboard though.