Elden Ring is the latest entry into the Soulsborne genre of games by developer FromSoftware. It takes their award-winning game design and combat systems and drops them into a refreshing open-world experience people are spending hundreds of hours in.
The game lets you play how you like, and using a shield and sword is a pretty common combat style most players lean into. Knowing which shields are the best and where to find them can make the challenging experience of overcoming the difficulties of Elden Ring much more approachable.
8 Kite Shield
When comparing the Kite Shield to others in its class, it simply falls short based on being slightly heavier, requiring a bit more strength in a build, and not being acquirable until you reach the merchant in Lirunia of the Lakes. This is shortly after defeating Godrick, the Grafted toward the end of your journey in Stormveil Castle.
It's a staple of FromSoftware Souls-like games and serves as a comfort item for fans of the developer who want something dependable, and that they trust in a world full of untrustworthy.
7 Inverted Hawk-Heater Shield
If you happen to find yourself heading down a large elevator in East Limgrave and descending to the Siofra River, don't immediately fast travel away. If you navigate up the left side of the hill, past a bunch of crystallized miners, you'll come across a corpse with an item, serving as an ambush spot.
The risk is worth it as the item in question is the Inverted Hawk-Heater Shield. It's great for both parrying and blocking and only needs ten strength to properly wield. It serves as the jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none type of shield in Elden Ring.
6 Blue-Gold Kite Shield
Among the various shields on this list that may require some game progression or nifty searching to find, the Blue-Gold Kite Shield is one of the easiest to acquire. A merchant located just south of the Minor Erdtree in East Limgrave will sell it to you for 1,000 runes.
It's a larger shield that limits nimbleness but is solid at reducing damage in the early game. Parry is the active skill it comes with, which is self-explanatory. Access plays a big part in an item's usefulness, and though the Blue-Gold Kite shield is rather standard in a lot of ways, it happens to be an easy get for most players.
5 Erdtree Greatshield
Most people reading this list would argue that the Erdtree Greatshield should be much higher on the list, especially considering its active skill called Golden Retaliation has been exploited by the Elden Ring community to great effect. Stats-wise, it's hard to deny the Erdtree Greatshield's place as arguably the best shield in the game, but its acquisition is rather hard and not accessible to everyone.
It requires you to defeat a pair of Tree Sentinels located in the Altus Plateau. If you happened to try your luck fighting the Tree Sentinel patrolling the opening area of the game, then you understand just how challenging of a mission it is to obtain this shield.
4 Carian Knight's Shield
The Carian Knight's Shield is a medium shield that drops after defeating Moongrum, The Carian Knight inside the Raya Lucaria Academy. Elden Ring is a game that allows you to play how you like, and those who enjoy blocking with a shield know how scary stamina management can get. Each attack blocked absorbs some of your stamina.
Shields have a stat called Guard Boost that limits stamina consumption in this scenario and the Carian Knight's Shield, especially when upgraded, is hard to match. Unlike many other shields, this one only requires ten strength and ten dexterity to wield, so even magic builds can make the most of it.
3 Jellyfish Shield
When a shield in Elden Ring has its own unique active skill, it immediately gives it value. The Jellyfish Shield is a great shield with a skill called Contagious Fury which raises the wielder's attack power for a certain amount of time.
In terms of the acquisition, you will simply need to head north of the Foot of the Four Belfries site of grace until they happen upon four jellyfish enemies. Located at their center is a dead body with an item pickup that happens to be this very shield. Appearance-wise it's unlike any other shield in Elden Ring.
2 Brass Shield
If you were to look up where the Brass Shield drops, you'd be happy to know it's available in three locations. Despite that, it is still super rare with a reported drop chance of just 0.8 percent. In order to farm for the drop, it's best to either kill Godrick Soldiers carrying the shield, or the Raya Lucaria soldiers found just outside of the Raya Lucaria Academy.
The Brass Shield doesn't have anything special going for it, it's just a solid all-around medium shield choice for the early to mid-game. It also doesn't hurt that it is entirely gold and works in most fashion-souls equipment loadouts.
1 Beast Crest Heater Shield
Consider to be the best early-game shield in all of Elden Ring, the Beast Crest Heater Shield can be found near the entrance to the Deathtouched Catacombs located at the northernmost part of Limgrave, just southeast of the closed cliffside Colosseum. It's in a chest protected by a few low-level enemies and a Beast Crest Heater Knight.
It only weighs 3.5, which will aid in keeping a light or medium load, and only requires ten strength, which you'll likely have from the beginning of the game depending on which class you chose. Add Ashes of War to it, and you have something that will be by your side for a good portion of your adventure.
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