Shields are so versatile for damage negation, so check out which one can suit you!
Shields in Elden Ring can really help you negate any damage against the toughest foes. They aren’t to be relied on too much since blocking attacks does drain your stamina meter, bringing you that much closer to having your poise broken. They’re more for people who may have trouble dodging every attack that enemies send at them. It’s better to sometimes block an attack for lost stamina over a chunk of health. Here, in this list, we’ll go over the best shields in Elden Ring as well as the overall best one to suit a safer playstyle.
Best Shields in Elden Ring, Ranked
- Golden Greatshield (Heavy)
The Golden Greatshield is a very solid shield for blocking all physical damage. It also does exceptional work when it comes to blocking other damage types. It’s not a bad shield per se, but it’s an extremely heavy shield that can be the difference between bringing your equipment load up an entire level. What makes this shield a solid choice regardless is the fact that it has no skill, allowing you to perform skills with your right-hand armament.
This shield can be acquired by defeating Gold Dragon Cult Knights. They’re the large knight enemies who can use incantations to imbue their weapons with lightning.
- Gilded Greatshield (Heavy)
Just like the Golden Greatshield, the Gilded Greatshield does basically the same thing. It sacrifices some damage negation from Lightning and Holy, but it has more points specced into Magic and Fire. It also has no skill which lets you perform abilities with your right-hand armament. The only downside is that this shield is 0.5 points heavier than the Golden Greatshield.
This armament can be acquired as drops from Gilded Greatshield enemies with spears at the Gatefront Ruins.
- Carian Knight’s Shield (Medium)
It can be argued that the aforementioned Greatshields have better stats compared to the Carian Knight’s Shield, but this shield is more than three times lighter than those. Having a lot of weight on your character can lower your roll speed and use more stamina. A nimble warrior is a better one in the long run compared to one with fat rolls.
This shield can be acquired from Moongrum, the Carian Knight. He’s the enemy who stands guard at the front elevator of the Raya Lucaria Grand Library.
- Heater Shield (Medium)
The standard shield you get from the beginning of the game can prove to be useful for almost the entirety of your journey in the Lands Between. For a medium shield, it’s versatile for negating physical attacks and also allows the player to perform skills with their right-hand weapon. Just like the Carian Knight’s Shield, this is a solid pick.
This is a starter item for the Vagabond class. Alternatively, you can purchase this for 1,500 runes from the Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundtable Hold.
- Beast Crest Heater Shield (Medium)
This shield is basically a better version of the Heater Shield. You basically sacrifice one point of Holy damage negated for a 7 point increase in Magic, 5 point increase in Lightning, and 6 point increase in Guard Boost.
This shield can be obtained at a camp south of the Deathtouched Catacombs in Limgrave.
- Kite Shield (Medium)
This shield is even better than the last two shields. You trade in some points negated towards magic for a stat increase in every other in Guarded Damage Negation. It is 1 point heavier in terms of weight, but that increase is basically negligible in the grand scheme of things.
The Kite Shield can be bought from the Nomadic Merchant in Liurnia of the Lakes for 1,000 Runes.
- Inverted Hawk Heater Shield (Medium)
If you haven’t seen a trend in the medium shields by now, the further you go down this list, the stats are better for damage negation and giving the player the ability to use their abilities with their right-hand weapons. The Inverted Hawk shield has better stats than all of its other medium shield counterparts. The only downside is that it has the Parry move instead of No Skill. However, that can be changed by putting in the Ash of War: No Skill on it.
This armament can be looted from a body in Siofra River. The closest Site of Grace is the Siofra River Bank. Just head south on a hill to find it guarded by some enemies.
- Jellyfish Shield (Heavy)
Despite what I said previously about shields with No Skill being extremely powerful, the Jellyfish Shield has an ability that can provide a lot of utility for people who mostly use normal and heavy attacks. This shield has the Contagious Fury Skill, providing a 20% damage buff that lasts for 30 seconds. It only costs 9 FP to cast. To top that off, this is one of the lightest Greatshields. It’s a solid choice for the standard Souls player.
The Jellyfish Shield can be obtained by looting a dead body guarded by 4 Jellyfish just north of the Foot of the Four Belfries Site of Grace.
- Erdtree Greatshield (Heavy)
A YouTuber who goes by the name Solsenu has put a rather hilarious build for the Erdtree Greatshield. If you pair this with a self DoT item or spell like Fire’s Deadly Sin, you can activate this shield’s Golden Retaliation ability. Most abilities for weapons in-game use up the FP meter, but this one is stamina-based. While you’re slowly taking damage, you shoot out a ball of energy that can deal massive damage to enemies based on the scaling of your Strength and Faith stats.
The Erdtree Greatshield can be obtained after defeating the two Tree Sentinels guarding the Outer Wall Phantom Tree.
- Brass Shield (Medium)
The Brass Shield takes the cake for the best shield in Elden Ring. While it doesn’t have damage-negating stats like Greatshields, it provides the best overall Damage Negation stats for medium shields while also not having a Skill slot. Skills for weapons are extremely powerful in the game, so this provides the most where it matters. It is one of the heavier shields for the medium class, but the tradeoff is worth it.
This shield can be dropped by Godrick and Raya Lucaria Soldiers. Drop rates are low, so you may need to do some farming.
These are some of the best shields in Elden Ring. The only reason why no Small Shields were listed is that those are more for parrying instead of guarding. These all, at the minimum, can negate physical damage entirely while providing damage mitigation from other sources.
Elden Ring is out now for the PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X/S, and PC.
- This article was updated on March 9th, 2022
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