Elden Ring: Greatshields Tier List

Key Takeaways

Elden Ring
features a wide variety of useful shields, with Greatshields offering the best protection and often doubling as powerful weapons with unique skills.
Greatshields are typically very heavy, requiring high Strength to wield, and are best suited for builds focused on defense with limited mobility.
The
Shadow of the Erdtree
expansion introduces two new formidable Greatshields: the Verdigris Greatshield and the Black Steel Greatshield.

As a seasoned Elden Ring adventurer with countless hours spent dodging, blocking, and parrying my way through the Lands Between, I must say that this list of Greatshields is quite insightful. Having personally wielded most of these shields during my journey, I can attest to their varying degrees of effectiveness in combat.

As a gamer immersed in Elden Ring’s realm, I must admit it’s a merciless journey. Similar to other games from FromSoftware, this one doesn’t shy away from being challenging – even minor adversaries can deplete my health if I’m not vigilant. Fortunately, Elden Ring offers a range of defensive tools for us players to survive its lethal inhabitants.

In three main groups, shields in Elden Ring can vary from barely useful to essential for most character setups. The majority of the game’s Greatshields fall into the latter category, providing exceptional defense against Elden Ring’s formidable bosses and treacherous environments. As is characteristic of FromSoftware games, these Greatshields can also function as powerful weapons at certain moments.

S-Tier

: The Ant’s Skull Plate is a striking and memorable Greatshield, fashioned from a beheaded creature. 100% physical damage negation, and some decent elemental reduction, the Ant’s Skull Plate is a good piece of defensive gear, but it truly shines as a weapon. While also boosting the player’s immunity by 50 points, this shield inflicts 90 points of poison build-up per hit, making it a rare and lethal poisonous weapon in Elden Ring.
: One of the two new shields introduced in Shadow of the Erdtree, the Black Steel Greatshield, is unsurprisingly powerful, quickly earning a spot as one of the best Greatshields available to players. Wielded by the formidable Black Knights, the most loyal servants of Messmer the Impaler, this shield is both menacing and stylish, symbolizing an unyielding force of iron conviction. Despite its heavy weight of 19.5, the Black Steel Greatshield offers 100% physical damage negation and boasts one of the highest defenses against Holy damage, with a base value of 84 that can be increased to 105 when infused with Sacred. This makes it unparalleled for battles against bosses that deal substantial Holy damage, such as Promised Consort Radahn. To obtain this shield, players must defeat Black Knight Garrew, located at Fog Rift Fort.
Almost comparable to the Black Steel Greatshield in potential, the Verdigris Greatshield is the second new Greatshield introduced in the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. What sets this shield apart is its emphasis on guard capacity rather than pure damage negation. At +10 upgrade level, the Verdigris Greatshield boasts a 90 Guard Boost, the highest of any shield in Elden Ring. Additionally, it comes with a unique skill called Moore’s Charge, similar to Shield Crash but with one key difference: while it doesn’t deal damage directly, it creates an AoE splash at the end of the charge that can knock down multiple enemies. The tradeoff for its high stats against physical, fire, and magic damage is its considerable weight of 28.0 (second only to the Fingerprint Stone Shield) and a staggering Strength requirement of 49, the highest in the game. The Verdigris Greatshield is carried by Moore and can be obtained when he is defeated at any point in the story.

: A shield that verges on being broken, the Fingerprint Stone Shield is infuriating to play against but incredibly satisfying to use. With a whopping guard boost of 81, a player holding this shield can keep blocking for a staggering amount of time. To make it even better, the Fingerprint Stone Shield also has some of the best elemental blocking on any shield in Elden Ring, and when used as a weapon, this shield even causes 50 points of Madness build-up. The only trade-off is that this shield is the heaviest in the game. Even after five months of updates, various nerfs, and reworks, the Fingerprint Stone Shield still remains one of the most infuriating, satisfying weapons to use in the entire game. Though players have found a few workarounds to those using the Fingerprint Stone Shield, the weapon still claims victory in the vast majority of scenarios, whether it’s through actual skill or just sheer dumb luck.
: Aside from not being the most exciting shield visually, the Eclipse Crest Greatshield may just be the best shield in Elden Ring. A low weight of 15.0 allows most builds to wield it easily, it blocks 72% of magic damage, and has a high guard boost of 67, meaning that less stamina is drained per hit absorbed. On top of all this, the Eclipse Crest Greatshield also passively adds 50 points to the user’s Immunity, Robustness, and Focus.
: One of the few Greatshields that’s actually managed to improve with updates, Elden Ring‘s Golden Greatshield is a phenomenal mid-late game shield, capable of tanking just about anything the game can throw at the player. Though the Golden Greatshield isn’t quite as light as the Eclipse Crest Greatshield, its weight of 17.0 is still on the lower side when compared to the rest of its class. While the Golden Greatshield isn’t the most sturdy option at first, upon being upgraded, it becomes one tough piece of gear, with a Guard Boost stat of 78. It doesn’t have any special gimmicks, and it isn’t quite as tough as the rest of the shields above it in this tier, but the Golden Greatshield is a great option for most heavier builds, especially when it can be easily farmed in both the Altus Plateau and Leyndell.

A-Tier

: A striking, and fearsome visual design, the Dragonclaw Shield is another Greatshield that works just as well as a weapon as it does as a defense. Boasting a fairly low weight of 13.5, and an upgraded Guard Boost of 67, the Dragonclaw Shield offers a good amount of protection, especially with some extra lightning negation added for good measure. But where the Dragonclaw Shield really shines is through its use as a weapon. Equipped from the offset with the Shield Bash Weapon Art, players can use the Dragonclaw Shield to ram into their opponents, often breaking their guard and staggering them temporarily. While other Greatshields have this same Weapon Art, the Dragonclaw Shield offers the best damage of the lot, even dealing a small amount of lightning damage on top of the physical. Using a Greatshield as a weapon isn’t often a recommended strategy, but with Elden Ring now being out for a good few months, it provides a fun new way to experience the game’s intense fights.
: A decapitated head of one of Elden Ring‘s adorable Jellyfish creatures, the Jellyfish Shield is one of the best Greatshields in the entire game. With an incredibly low weight of just 8.0, the Jellyfish Shield can be wielded by a good variety of build types. While blocking 100% physical damage, the Jellyfish Shield’s Weapon Skill, “Contagious Fury,” is by far its most unique, and helpful asset, boosting damage by 20% for 30 seconds.
: Amongst some of the most unique shields in Elden Ring, the One-Eyed Shield does great damage negation across the board, but its primary use is actually as a ranged weapon. Using the attached Weapon Skill, “Flame Spit,” the user can launch fireballs out of the shield’s mouth. It may take some effort to land a hit, but once it does, the damage is pretty sizeable.

: Much like the One-Eyed Shield, the Visage Shield fires flames out of its mouth. As opposed to one devastating fireball, though, this shield sprays several jets of fire at once, and can also be used while moving, making it a tough weapon to counter. This Greatshield is also generally admired for its menacing appearance, making it a popular choice for players looking to create visually striking heavy builds in Elden Ring.
: Boasting some of the best fire damage resistance of any Greatshield, the Redmane Greatshield is another great option, especially for builds that aren’t looking for a heavier shield due to its moderate weight of 14. The only real issue with this great-looking shield is that it can take some time to farm.
: The Cuckoo Greatshield is an excellent option for those looking to absorb some magic damage, but unfortunately, it’s outshone by the Eclipse Crest Greatshield in just about every way. Still, this shield remains a great one for magic and holy defense if the player hasn’t found the Eclipse Crest yet.

: The Erdtree Greatshield may not be the toughest shield around, nor is it the lightest, but it may just be the best option for any Faith builds. To start with, the Erdtree Greatshield is fairly light, coming in at just 13.5, and once fully upgraded, it offers a solid Guard Boost of 66. The real advantage of the Erdtree Greatshield is that it’s impressively resistant to any type of Holy and Sorcery damage, making it the ideal choice for any of Elden Ring‘s tougher mage fights. The top it all off, the Erdtree Greatshield has a Weapon Art that lets it deflect oncoming sorceries and incantations. Called Golden Retaliation, this Weapon Art can be used to absorb oncoming magic attacks and launch them back at the enemy. Though the timing for this can be pretty difficult to nail down, especially in the heat of battle, a successful Golden Retaliation can deliver a devastating counter-blow.
: With a visual look that pairs well with a vast range of Elden Ring armors, the Distinguished Greatshield is a great fashion option, and a great defensive one, with good stats across the board. It is especially effective in encounters against enemies dealing heavy magic or fire damage.
: Requiring slightly less strength to wield than most of the shields on this list, the Dragon Towershield still offers good elemental damage absorption, and a base guard boost of 69, which is more than worth the trade-off. Players may want to consider switching this Greatshield for another option when facing enemies that deal significant amounts of lightning damage.
: Though its stats aren’t quite as high as the rest in this tier, the Manor Towershield just has the edge by being available quite early on, once the player gets to Stormveil Castle, making it a great early-game option. It is a decent option for fire and magic protection, featuring relatively moderate weight and Strength requirements.

B-Tier

: A disappointing Greatshield, the Crucible Hornshield looks incredible, but its functionality doesn’t really match. Though it can pack a punch as a weapon, its elemental damage negation and guard boost aren’t great, and don’t quite justify the lofty requirements.
: Offering the best holy damage negation of any Greatshield, the Haligtree Crest Greatshield is a good piece of defensive gear, but the amount of effort required to farm the item won’t be worth it for many players.
: There’s nothing wrong with the Inverted Hawk Towershield, being another good shield across the board, and taking minimal effort to farm, but there’s also nothing too special about it, landing it on the B-tier of this list by default.

: For a shield that just requires 24 strength to wield, and only weighs 12.5, the Golden Beast Crest Shield is a great option for builds that don’t specialize in strength, with stats that aren’t the best, but are still decent.
: Another shield that can be infuriatingly difficult to farm, the Gilded Greatshield is otherwise a pretty good shield, having decent elemental damage negation, and a relatively high guard boost. Like most Greatshields, it’s notably weak against lightning damage.
: Another shield that doesn’t technically have anything wrong with it all, the Crossed-Tree Towershield is another Greatshield that lands in the B-tier by default, having decent stats, but being outshone by most of the other shields on this list.

C-Tier

: Just scraping in alongside the most disappointing Greatshields out there, the Icon Shield only has 95% physical damage negation, but its passive ability does slowly regenerate the user’s health, potentially making it worth the trade-off in most situations.
: As a shield, the Spiked Palisade Shield isn’t all that great, only negating 95% of physical damage, and only having a guard boost of 59. On the other hand, this shield isn’t a bad weapon, causing 70 points of blood loss build-up with each successful hit.
: The Briar Greatshield is a similar story, but a little worse, only blocking 93% of oncoming physical damage while causing 70 points of blood loss per hit. It’s quite disappointing, especially considering its appearance and how late in the game players can obtain it.
: A pretty good early-game Greatshield, the Lordsworn’s Shield can be farmed fairly easily at the Gatefront Ruins, and has a surprisingly good guard boost of 60, but its low physical damage reduction of 94% lands it in the C-tier.
: Still not a bad shield, especially for Elden Ring‘s early game, the Wooden Greatshield still offers good knockback on enemy attacks, but its defensive stats are much lower than the rest of the shields on this list, landing it right at the bottom.

2024-10-20 16:53

Key Takeaways

S-Tier

A-Tier

B-Tier

C-Tier

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