Few games are as punishing as the Dark Souls franchise. Each game puts players up against enemies that deal extreme amounts of damage. This series of games demands mastery over its systems, but there are ways of making the game easier. One such method is to block attacks using shields.
These items are especially useful in Dark Souls 2 with the game's focus on group encounters. Blocking attacks from multiple enemies can help turn the tide, but not every shield is created equal. Some shields vastly outperform others, whether by their stats or unique properties. Here are the seven best and worst shields players can use in Dark Souls 2. This article is based on the Scholar of the First Sin edition of Dark Souls 2.
Updated August 7, 2021, by Charles Burgar: Surviving in a world as harsh as Drangleic is no easy task. With how many enemies dot Dark Souls 2's myriad of locations, having a good shield at the ready can save most players from certain death. The best shields can trivialize some of the game's hardest boss fights and encounters. To help players find the perfect shield for their build, this article has been updated to include stat blocks and acquisition methods for each shield. It should be much clearer how each shield fares against one another. Some entries have also seen a slight expansion to further discuss a particular shield's strengths and weaknesses.
14 Best: Defender's Shield
Defender's Shield Stats
- Defense Rating: 100% Physical | 70% Magic | 60% Fire | 65% Lightning | 50% Dark
- Stability: 60
- Shield Type: Standard Shield
- Required Stats: Strength (15)
- Scaling: Strength (D) | Dexterity (D)
- How To Obtain: Crafted with Throne Defender Soul
Nearly everything a player could want from a medium shield exists on the Defender's Shield. It has 100% physical damage mitigation, 60 to 70% mitigation of elemental damage, a stability stat of 60, and only weighs five units. All of these stats should make it a meta-defining choice for shield users, so why is this shield seldom used?
It's because players earn it after they beat the game. Trading the Throne Defender's Soul to Ornifex will grant this weapon. Since the Throne Defender is part of the final series of bosses in Dark Souls 2, most players will need to go partway through NG+ before they can craft this shield. It is certainly worth the effort, but the work required is so high that it prevents the Defender's Shield from being ranked any higher.
13 Worst: King's Shield
King's Shield Stats
- Defense Rating: 100% Physical | 60% Magic | 85% Fire | 65% Lightning | 45% Dark
- Stability: 55
- Shield Type: Standard Shield
- Required Stats: Strength (16)
- Scaling: Strength (C) | Dexterity (C)
- How To Obtain: Crafted with the Soul of the King
Statistically, the King's Shield is a solid off-hand item for players to use. It features 100% physical defense, great fire resistance, and a solid stability stat of 55. The issue is how much effort players must go through to obtain it.
Players must kill Vendrick in the Undead Crypt, which in itself requires players to obtain Giant Souls. From there, players need to obtain the King's Soul from Shrine of Armana, then transmute Vendrick's Soul into the unique Ruler's Sword, the incredibly powerful King's Ultra Greatsword, or the mediocre King's Shield with no auxiliary bonuses. It's just not worth the effort.
12 Best: Buckler
Buckler Stats
- Defense Rating: 75% Physical | 30% Magic | 65% Fire | 50% Lightning | 50% Dark
- Stability: 50
- Shield Type: Small Shield
- Required Stats: Strength (17) | Dexterity (13)
- Scaling: Strength (D)
- How To Obtain: Found near the Cardinal Tower Bonfire in Forest of Fallen Giants.
Parrying is an important skill to master in the Dark Souls trilogy. It is much harder to pull off in Dark Souls 2 than the first entry, but the Buckler somewhat returns the parrying window to what it was in the first game. Obtained from the Forest of Fallen Giants, this early-game shield is a fantastic parrying tool with solid early-game defensive stats. Its low weight also means virtually every build can use this shield.
11 Worst: Loyce Shield
Loyce Shield Stats
- Defense Rating: 60% Physical | 80% Magic | 45% Fire | 50% Lightning | 50% Dark
- Stability: 50
- Shield Type: Standard Shield
- Required Stats: Strength (12) | Dexterity (15)
- Scaling: Dexterity (C)
- How To Obtain: Crafted with Soul of Zallen, the King's Pet
- Unique Trait: Restores 40HP per minute
Crown of the Ivory King introduced a plethora of new, unique items to Dark Souls 2. One of these items is the Loyce Shield, a medium shield that can only be obtained by transposing Zallen, the King's Pet's soul to Ornifex. Lud and Zallen are widely regarded as one of the hardest bosses in franchise history due to their location. With the amount of frustration that comes from killing them, is the shield worth the effort?
No, it's not. This standard shield has 60% physical resistance, 80% magic resistance, 45% fire resistance, and 50% lightning and dark resistance. A stability of 50 and a weight of 4.5 is average at best. FromSoftware tried to make up for this by giving this shield a passive health regeneration effect of 40 HP per minute, but this effect is pitiful considering players have around 1,400 HP by the time they get this shield. The Loyce Shield is simply not worth the effort.
10 Best: Watchdragon Parma
Watchdragon Parma Stats
- Defense Rating: 90% Physical | 75% Magic | 75% Fire | 60% Lightning | 60% Dark
- Stability: 50
- Shield Type: Standard Shield
- Required Stats: Strength (10)
- Scaling: Strength (D)
- How To Obtain: Defeat the dragon in Heide's Tower of Flame
- Unique Trait: Increases item discovery
Dark Souls 2 is notorious for locking away nearly all of its good shields behind mid-game bosses and zones, all except for one. The Watchdragon Parma is by far the best early-game shield in Dark Souls 2 that can even scale reasonably into the endgame.
Obtained after killing the dragon in Heide's Tower of Flame, the Watchdragon Parma boasts an impressive set of stats. This shield has 90% physical damage resistance, 75% magic and fire resistance, and 60% lightning and dark resistance. With a stability of 50 and a weight of 4.5, that's a fantastic stat line to work with. Better yet, the shield only requires ten Strength to equip. Few medium shields are as easy to use as this one.
9 Worst: Porcine Shield
Porcine Shield Stats
- Defense Rating: 65% Physical | 40% Magic | 65% Fire | 40% Lightning | 40% Dark
- Stability: 40
- Shield Type: Standard Shield
- Required Stats: Strength (9)
- Scaling: Strength (D)
- How To Obtain: Found after the Smelter Demon boss
The Porcine Shield has the defenses of a small shield but the weight of a medium shield. Physical attacks are reduced by 65%, magic by 40% fire by 65%, and both lightning and dark damage receive 40% reduced damage. A stability stat of 40 and a weight of four is nothing to write home about, either.
All of these negatives would be fine if it was obtained rather early, but the Porcine Shield is locked behind the Smelter Demon boss in Iron Keep. A strength requirement of nine is certainly appreciated, although that isn't enough to excuse the shield's poor stats. Having a golden pig as a shield is certainly unique. At least it can be used as a fashionable off-hand item.
8 Best: Havel's Greatshield
Havel's Greatshield Stats
- Defense Rating: 100% Physical | 90% Magic | 80% Fire | 80% Lightning | 75% Dark
- Stability: 75
- Shield Type: Great Shield
- Required Stats: Strength (45)
- Scaling: Strength (D)
- How To Obtain: Found in The Gutter
Builds that wish to be tanky will want to obtain Havel's Gretshield. Obtained from The Gutter, this greatshield provides complete immunity to physical damage and a solid amount of damage resistance against most magic damage types.
It is also one of the heaviest shields in the game, requiring 45 strength to use and taking up a whopping 20 equip load. Fortunately, it also has an absurdly high stability stat of 75 to help with blocking multiple attacks in quick succession.
7 Worst: Sunlight Parma
Sunlight Parma Stats
- Defense Rating: 65% Physical | 45% Magic | 30% Fire | 45% Lightning | 40% Dark
- Stability: 35
- Shield Type: Small Shield
- Required Stats: Strength (7) | Dexterity (11)
- Scaling: Strength (D) | Dexterity (C)
- How To Obtain: Heirs of the Sun Covenant reward
Dark Souls 2 had a competition before launch that asked the community to create various shield designs to be incorporated into the game. One such winner is the Sunlight Parma, a shield depicting Solaire from the original Dark Souls. It looks fantastic, but the stats on this shield are sorely lacking.
With a stability of 35 and below-average defensive stats, the Sunlight Parma is rather poor at blocking hits even when compared to other small shields. Its main use is to ignore lightning damage when infused with lightning, although this only works in the Scholar of the First Sin edition of the game. It sounds good on paper, but there are few times where players will fight Miracle invaders or PvE monsters using lightning. At least it looks amazing.
6 Best: Sanctum Shield
Sanctum Shield Stats
- Defense Rating: 85% Physical | 70% Magic | 85% Fire | 70% Lightning | 70% Dark
- Stability: 40
- Shield Type: Standard Shield
- Required Stats: Strength (6) | Dexterity (7) | Intelligence (18) | Faith (18)
- Scaling: None
- How To Obtain: Found at the highest level of the Dragon's Sanctum
- Unique Trait: Heavy attacks cast hexes, sorceries, and miracles
Introduced in the Crown of the Sunken King DLC, the Sanctum Shield is an undervalued shield amongst the Dark Souls 2 community. This shield has solid defensive stats for a medium shield, excluding its rather poor 40 stability stat. However, it makes up for this by being able to cast every spell in the game.
Hexes, sorceries, and miracles can all be cast from this shield. It can mimic spell parrying shields by casting Repel, buff the player's main-hand weapon with an infusion spell, or even be used as a two-handed bashing machine. There is practically no weakness to this shield, but only those who spec somewhat into magic will get the most use out of this item.
5 Worst: Spirit Tree Shield
Spirit Tree Shield Stats
- Defense Rating: 60% Physical | 65% Magic | 55% Fire | 55% Lightning | 45% Dark
- Stability: 50
- Shield Type: Standard Shield
- Required Stats: Strength (10)
- Scaling: Strength (D)
- How To Obtain: Blue Sentinels Covenant reward
Unlike most shields, the Spirit Tree Shield can parry spells if the player times their parries correctly. Unfortunately, that's about all this shield has going for it. Subpar defensive stats and average requirements make this one of the game's weaker shields. Worse, it's obtained either from reaching rank 1 with the Blue Sentinels Covenant or reaching NG++. Considering how late most players will obtain the Spirit Tree Shield, this shield's stats are extremely subpar.