Standard Shields

/Shields

Standard Shields in Dark Souls and Dark Souls Remastered are defensive equipment with a well balanced mixture of defense and weight. Standard shields vary from lighter variants used by lighter characters to heavier ones used by more robust characters. Good all round values makes this the most common shield type and the one you'll be using most of the time. A wide variety of specialized shields come in this category as well allowing the prepared adventurer to easily swap to a similarly weighted shield based on the occasion. Most of these shields have 100% physical damage reduction making them great at blocking instead of parrying.

		Attack Power Damage Reduction (%)					Requirements Param Bonus
Image	Name											Deflection	Parry Speed	Acquired From Notes
	East-West Shield	52 88	0 40	0 30	0 65	100 44	6 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	160 1.0	Medium	Fast	Starter Item: Initial Equipment for Cleric. Purchase: Undead Merchant for 400 souls.
	Wooden Shield	54 93	0 40	0 30	0 65	100 52	7 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	160 1.5	Medium	Fast	Location: On a corpse behind a door just before the first bonfire in the Undead Burg.
	Large Leather Shield	46 91	0 35	0 60	0 60	100 52	7 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	200 1.5	Medium	Fast	Starter Item: Intial Equipment for Hunter. Purchase: Andre of Astora for 800 souls. Drops: Phalanx (A)
	Heater Shield	60 100	0 30	0 70	0 50	100 55	8 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	250 2.0	Medium	Fast	Starter Item: Initial Equipment for Warrior. Purchase: Undead Merchant for 1000 Souls.
	Tower Kite Shield	64 100	0 30	0 70	0 50	100 58	10 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	250 3.0	Medium	Normal	Starter Item: Initial Equipment for Knight. Purchase: Andre of Astora for 1000 souls.
	Caduceus Kite Shield	64 100	0 30	0 70	0 50	100 58	10 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	250 3.0	Medium	Normal	Purchase: Andre of Astora for 1000 souls. Drops: Undead Crystal Soldier (A)
	Hollow Soldier Shield	66 100	0 30	0 65	0 50	100 56	11 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	250 3.5	Medium	Normal	Drops: Undead Soldier(Spear, Sword) (A)
	Knight Shield	68 100	0 30	0 60	0 40	100 56	10 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	200 5.5	Medium	Normal	Location: On a corpse in the Undead Parish just past the Fog Gate. Guarded by an Elite Undead Knight.
	Sanctus	62 95	0 40	0 70	0 50	100 51	10 D	0 -	0 -	18 -	410 3.0	Medium	Normal	Drops: Paladin Leeroy. Restores 2 HP every 2 seconds.
	Balder Shield	66 100	0 20	0 60	0 50	100 63	12 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	220 4.0	Medium	Normal	Purchase: Crestfallen Merchant for 4000 souls. Drops: Elite Undead Guard (Rapier, Sword) (A), Elite Undead Guard [Sens' Fortress] (Rapier, Archer) (A)
	Spider Shield	62 100	0 30	0 72	0 48	100 56	10 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	230 3.0	Medium	Normal	Starter Item: Initial Equipment for Bandit. Locations: Valley of Drakes, on the bridge to lower New Londo or above the Giant Rat in the Depths, drop down the hole behind the first Butcher. Protects from Poison and Toxin buildup when used to block attacks.
	Grass Crest Shield	62 95	0 42	0 70	0 50	100 51	10 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	200 3.0	Medium	Normal	Location: Darkroot Basin, cliff-side path, near cave to Valley of Drakes. On a corpse guarded by a Black Knight. Speeds up stamina regeneration, also when shield is on back.
	Bloodshield	62 100	0 30	0 70	0 50	100 53	10 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	240 3.0	Medium	Normal	Location: In the Painted World of Ariamis on the bridge near the Zombie Dragon. Raises Bleed/Poison/Curse resist by 25%, also when shield is on back.
	Iron Round Shield	68 100	0 30	0 72	0 46	100 52	14 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	280 5.0	Heavy	Normal	Drop: Shiva of the East The only heavy deflection shield that can also parry.
	Sunlight Shield	64 100	0 30	0 75	0 50	100 60	12 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	280 4.0	Medium	Normal	Drops: Solaire of Astora.
	Pierce Shield	82 95	0 30	0 70	0 34	100 49	11 D	14 C	0 -	0 -	180 3.5	Light	Bash*	Gift: Find Siegmeyer of Catarina in the Blighttown swamp near a group of slugs and give him 3 Purple Moss. *Parry is replaced by an overhead shield bash.
	Spiked Shield	78 90	0 28	0 69	0 40	100 48	10 D	12 C	0 -	0 -	160 3.0	Light	Bash*	Drops: Kirk, Knight of Thorns Parry is replaced by an overhead shield bash. 300 Bleeding Damage.*
	Gargoyle's Shield	62 85	0 40	0 75	0 70	100 56	12 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	300 4.0	Medium	Normal	Drops: Bell Gargoyle Boss (A), Gargoyle (A)
	Crystal Shield	70 100	0 60	0 80	0 80	100 60	14 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	250 5.0	Medium	Bash*	Purchase: Domhnall of Zena for 4000 souls. Parry is replaced by an overhead shield bash. Cannot be repaired.*
	Crest Shield	62 100	0 80	0 55	0 45	100 55	10 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	300 3.0	Medium	Normal	Drops: Knight of Astora, Oscar (Hollow)
	Dragon Crest Shield	62 100	0 20	0 85	0 45	100 55	10 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	300 3.0	Medium	Normal	Location: In the Valley of Drakes near the Zombie Dragon.
	Silver Knight Shield	66 100	0 40	0 75	0 65	100 64	14 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	250 5.0	Medium	Normal	Drops: Silver Knight (Spear, Sword) (A)
	Black Knight Shield	68 100	0 25	0 95	0 65	100 62	16 D	0 -	0 -	0 -	250 6.0	Medium	Normal	Drop: Black Knight (Axe, Greatsword, Spear, Sword) (A)

Table Key

Requirements / Parameter Bonus	Attack Values	Damage Reduction (%) Reducing the elemental damage taken in %	Auxiliary Effects	Others
Strength	Physical	Physical	Bleed	Durability
Dexterity	Magic	Magic	Poison	Weight
Intelligence	Fire	Fire	Divine
Faith	Lightning	Lightning	Occult
	Critical	Stability
	Magic Adjustment

Durability: The weapon's HP; when the durability hits 0, the effectiveness of its attacks become weakened to the point of almost useless. When an items durability is low, a message will come up saying "Weapon At Risk!" - at this point the weapon does not perform at it's best.
Weight: How much the item weights when equipped.
Stability: How well the player keeps stance after being hit.
Attack Type: Defines what kind of swing set the weapon has.
Regular(R), Thrust(T), Slash(Sl), Strike(St).

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- Anonymous
  26 Sep 2022 15:58
  Heater shield if you're trying hard, silver knight shield if you want something presentable
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- Anonymous
  29 Apr 2020 14:12
  Standard shields quick tier list : S - The Silver knight Shield has the best stability among standard shields (+good ligntning defense). Amazing shield for its weight. A - The Black knight Shield has the best fire defense and a good stability but weighs more than the silver version A - Balder shield is a very good early game shield : 2nd best stability among standard shields and rather light weight. B - Crystal Shield has a very good fire/ligntning defense although it can't be upgraded. B - Grass crest shield has an interesting stamina buff but bad defensive stats. B - Crest shield is the only one with a decent magic defense. C - Bloodshield can be useful in the specific situations involving curse or bleeding damages. C - Tower Kite Shield and Caduceus Kite Shield are good shields to begin with
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Standard Shields | Dark Souls Wiki (2024)

FAQs

How do shields work in DS1? ›

Shields are typically equipped on the offhand slot. Pressing L1/LB causes the player character to guard themself from incoming damage. Shields absorb damage; although weapons can also absorb damage through blocking, they almost always feature much lower Stability and damage reduction.

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What shield to use Dark Souls? ›

Depends on your build. But crest shields and balder (a sligthly worse silver knight shield with 2 less str needed) is pretty good. Silver Knight and Spider shields are good Medium options with 100% Physical blocking. Black Knight Shield is heavier then Silver, but has better Fire blocking, 95%, the best in the game!

What does shield stability do? ›

Stability is a stat in Dark Souls specific to weapons and shields. It determines the amount of stamina drained when blocking attacks.

Is it worth strengthening shields? ›

Every other upgrade level gives them increased stability (i.e. guard boost). The block values don't go up but the stamina drain when blocking goes down. That's the point of upgrading shields.

Is upgrading shields worth it Dark Souls? ›

In general, upgrading shields is arguably the best thing you can do in the entire game. WIth the exception of the Greatshield of Artorias, whose stability doesn't go any higher (But doesn't need to, either.) Upgrading increases the stability of great shields as well.

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What shield has the highest stability in Dark Souls? ›

The Greatshield of Artorias has a total of 88 stability, but the Crystal Tower Shield +5 has 90 stability which is the highest currently available, if impractical.

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How do you repair shields in Dark Souls? ›

Both weapons and shields can be repaired (100 durability points), as long as they are held in the right hand while applying the powder.

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How do you kick a shield in Dark Souls 1? ›

If so, to kick - it's press W & LMB at the same time.

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What does shield do in Soul Knight? ›

Projects a barrier that destroys enemies' projectiles. It does not block area-of-effect damage (lasers, explosions), melee attacks, spike tiles, Fire/Poison pools and status effects, nor can it do anything against attacks generated inside the hexagon.

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Standard Shields | Dark Souls Wiki (2024)