Shields

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Active mechanics

Holding down a shield's assigned button holds it up after 0.37 seconds. Attacks that hit the front of the shield are reduced by the shield’s damage absorption percentage (usually 75%) before any other damage reduction effects. Shields’ block damage, listed as their regular damage, is also dealt to enemies using melee attacks.

Tapping a shield's assigned button instead attempts a parry. If no attacks connect within the parry window, the player cannot block or parry again for 0.6 seconds. If a non-shockwave attack hits the shield during the parry window, the attack deals no damage, you can block/parry again immediately, and additional effects occur depending on the attack:

  • Melee attackers take parry damage, indicated on the shield as its critical damage value.
  • Ranged attacks are reflected for 80 base damage.
  • Bombs are reflected for 90 base damage.
  • Explosions are absorbed without retaliation.
  • Festering Zombie eggs are turned into biters, which attack enemies.
  • Any arrows stuck in the parried enemy will return to the player.


Note: Attacks are also automatically parried if they land within the first 0.2 seconds of holding up the shield and the shield's button is still held.

Effect scaling

All Shields’ damage scales with the player's Health Stat.png Survival stat, but some also scale with Skill Stat.png Tactics (e.g Parry Shield Icon.png Parry Shield and Knockback Shield Icon.png Knockback Shield) or Strength Stat.png Brutality (e.g Assault Shield Icon.png Assault Shield and Bloodthirsty Shield Icon.png Bloodthirsty Shield).

Damage absorbed while blocking can only be increased by the Shield Absorb affix.

Passive effects

Carrying a shield creates a force field for half a second when the player takes damage. This barrier absorbs most damage, but not damage-over-time from status effects like poison or darkness. Some enemy attacks do not activate the force field, such as that of Lacerators.

Since active force fields reduce the decay recovery by 65%, carrying a shield makes it more difficult to recover recently-lost health.

List of shields

This is a list of all obtainable Shields in the game.

Icon Name Description Blueprint location Base block damage Base absorbed damage Scaling
Old Wooden Shield Icon.png Old Wooden Shield Hold to absorb partial damage. Tap to try to parry and block all damage. Always unlocked 20 (40) 75% Health Stat.png
Front Line Shield Icon.png Front Line Shield Melee attacks inflict 50% extra damage for 6 seconds after a successful parry.
The tears of the community are engraved upon the inside of this shield.
Secret area in the Ancient Sewers 25 (50) 75% Str Hp.png
Cudgel Icon.png Cudgel Stuns blocked enemies. Stuns lasts longer if a parry is successful. Always unlocked 20 (40) 75% Health Stat.png
Punishment Icon.png Punishment Blocked attacks inflict damage to nearby enemies. Critical damage if parry is successful. Puzzle door in Clock Tower; requires Bell Tower Key 40 (64) 75% Health Stat.png
Knockback Shield Icon.png Knockback Shield Blocked attacks knocks enemies back, they take +80 damage if they hit a wall. Double damage for a parry. Drops from Catchers (0.4%) 40 (80) 75% Skill Hp.png
Rampart Icon.png Rampart Absorbs more damage. Generates a force field for 2 sec on a successful melee parry. Drops from Shieldbearers (0.4%) 20 (40) 85% Health Stat.png
Assault Shield Icon.png Assault Shield Blocks attacks while charging forward. Timed door in the Passage before Promenade of the Condemned 33 (66) 75% Str Hp.png
Bloodthirsty Shield Icon.png Bloodthirsty Shield Blocked attacks inflict bleeding (15 DPS for 3 sec). Effect extended to nearby enemies on a successful parry. Drops from Shieldbearers (0.4%) 15 (30)
15 (15) bleeding DPS
75% Str Hp.png
Greed Shield Icon.png Greed Shield A successful parry knocks out enemies' teeth (1 per enemy every 10 seconds) and transforms arrows into gold. Always unlocked 50 (100) 75% Health Stat.png
Spiked Shield Icon.png Spiked Shield Inflicts major damage on blocked enemies. Drops from Cleavers (1.7%) 90 (216) 75% Health Stat.png
Parry Shield Icon.png Parry Shield Cannot be held up. Blocked grenades and shots are returned with added power. Secret area in Stilt Village (52) 0% Skill Hp.png
Force Shield Icon.png Force Shield Generates a temporary force field when held up. It regenerates slowly when the shield is not held up. Parries speed up the process. Drops from Festering Zombies (0.4%) 40 (40) 15% Health Stat.png
Thunder Shield Icon.png Thunder ShieldRotG Inflicts 32 electric DPS in front of you for 8 seconds when blocking, or all around you after a successful parry. Use again to stun all nearby enemies. Inflicts 32 shock DPS around for 3 seconds. Drops from Defenders (100%) 40 (40)
32 (32) shock DPS
50% Skill Hp.png
Ice Shield Icon.png Ice Shield Parrying an attack freezes nearby enemies. Reflected projectiles freeze enemies they hit. Drops from Shieldbearers (10%) 20 (40) 75% Health Stat.png
Alucard's Shield Icon.png Alucard's ShieldRtC Can be used to attack in melee. Deals critical damage after a parry.
When Alucard uses it in combat, you could say that the dhampir strikes back
Drops from lore room in Castle's Outskirts.
110 (330) DPS
75% Str Hp.png
RotG: Rise of the Giant DLC
TBS: The Bad Seed DLC
FF: Fatal Falls DLC
TQatS: The Queen and the Sea DLC
RtC: Return to Castlevania DLC