Far more abrasion resistance than braid  - I usually run a shock of roughly three metres  

 single swivel attatched to main line with a length of leader to 3 way.

however , it does get costly when you run this type of rig, better off learning to tie the dropper loops. just as strong and quicker with less knots . and as mentioned always run a decent shock leader. if your bottom bouncing the reef can be harsh on braid where as mono is a bit more tolerant. 

if your not sure on how to do a braid to mono join, look at a bamini twist and either double uni or improved albright. good way to start but there are many more ways to join them but i found these the quickest for me and when tied correctly it wont slip or come undone, as with all knots it takes a bit of practice

I tie my braid straight to the three way & never had a problem. I fish some tough country for big fish & it's very rare for me to suffer a break off. When I use a running sinker rig I even run the sinker along the braid down to the swivel, again, very rare for me to suffer a break off. In all honesty I think shock leaders are a load of crap & just another thing to go wrong unless your fishing for SERIOUSLY big fish like Marlin. If you do want to use one though go with the back to back uni (double uni), it's easy to tie & works great for tying lines of very different diameters.

Shock leader is definately worth while putting on... braid doesn't stretch so the thumping headshakes of a snapper or baldy can easily rip the hooks clean out.

Soon as you hook that big dhuie hes gonna run you straight back into his home, and when your braid touches that reef you have no chance.. 3m of 100lb bare minimum for us.

40 turn bimini twist , then use a back to back uni with the doubled braid.

 as far as shock leader goes we use 50lb braid to 80lb shock leader

 Thanks for the reply guys, I'm pretty comfortable with my knots but I usually run an unweighted snell or snell with a running weight but this weekend I'm gonna change it up a bit and go with the paternoster rig and head out a bit deeper.

Ill run a 3 meter leader to the swivel and see how that works. Thanks again guys.

tie braid to a snap swivel then 3 metres of 80lb ygk flurocarbon attach two black pete slide barrel swivels and crimp them at different lengths of the leader then tie on the desired hook rigs to the swivel works for me

If your going to use snap swivels make sure they are QUALITY and rated to what your fishing...

Would hate to loose a good fish to an opened snap, when just a swivel would have been fine.

as for snap swivels I only use the black pete or paluka ones tried and tested they might cost more but at least they havnt failed me

Have never used a shock leader and haven't lost too many fish through headshakes and all that, thats what the rod is for.

Braid straight to a big swivel and about 18 inches down to a dropper knots then another 18inches to a big loop for the sinker. Top trace ties straight on to bottom eye of the swivel and second trace to the dropper know using a loop over then through loop knot then 10inches of trace to the hook.

All same breaking strain.

i never tie braid to a swivel, have had issues. i think its ok with heavy braid but i have herd that light braid can cut through itself. depending on what knot you use

Not that I regularly catch big fish or anything, but have always gone for:

 braid > wind-on leader (80lbs) > Swivel > rig (paternoster or other).

Once I got my wind-on knots right, never had one break.