Best Normal Shield

[DaBanzaiFish]

I was thinking of defenders, kings, or drakekeepers. What do you guys think?

[otakon17]

I keep seeing the Watcher's Shield pop up in PvP as of late. It's got 95 physical block and it's very light but I wouldn't use it myself.

[Ms.Trust]

sometimes i use the watchdragon parma shield
90% phys resistence is ok, infuse it with dark or magic, and you have a good shield against hexer or mages.

[Rhorge]

If you want to use a shield to actively block I strongly suggest a greatshield instead.

[Lv 20 Bolting Bot]

I use a Blossom Kite Shield, but it's mostly on my back, blocking is kind of subpar any way.

[nerdalot]

would say defenders ... .watchers the best small when u infuse it with lightning cause 100% Lreist

[Muffanzo]

Blocking is pretty meh unless your using a transgresser's dark infused shield to face tank hexs for a laugh. Surprisingly this has caused several hosts to straight up alt+f4 add me to friends and call me a hacker

[ChaosBahamut]

Defender's Shield. Perfect physical damage reduction, very good damage reduction for all sorts of magic, and relatively stable.

Until you can get it though, the Drangleic Shield's pretty good as well.

[tehnoob514]

Defender's.

[SundownKid]

Stat wise, the Defender's Shield is the best. 68 stability, and good magic defense across the board. Both Drakes and King's shield have only 63 stability.

[Big Boom Boom]

Originally posted by otakon17:

I keep seeing the Watcher's Shield pop up in PvP as of late. It's got 95 physical block and it's very light but I wouldn't use it myself.

Watcher has overall high damage resistance (I think lowest is 80 on Magic or something, very high Dark and Lightning) and reasonably light, not much STR require to use. It's my favourite shield tbh.

[Druid]

Call me crazy, but beleive that some of the more common sheilds have their benefits over the more exotic sheilds. I've actually been using the Iron Parma for it's balanced defenses. It's only 3 units and it has a good resistence spread all across the board. for pure physical blocking though, the Royal kite is the lightest 100% block sheild at only 4 units.

[SundownKid]

Originally posted by Sutiban Tanuki:

Call me crazy, but beleive that some of the more common sheilds have their benefits over the more exotic sheilds. I've actually been using the Iron Parma for it's balanced defenses. It's only 3 units and it has a good resistence spread all across the board. for pure physical blocking though, the Royal kite is the lightest 100% block sheild at only 4 units.

I think you might be overestimating it. You are only sacrificing 1 point of weight for the Defenders Shield vs Royal Kite, but you gain 10 stability, and large increases in most types of elemental defense. The Royal Kite is just a worse shield when it comes down to it.

[Druid]

Originally posted by SundownKid:

Originally posted by Sutiban Tanuki:

Call me crazy, but beleive that some of the more common sheilds have their benefits over the more exotic sheilds. I've actually been using the Iron Parma for it's balanced defenses. It's only 3 units and it has a good resistence spread all across the board. for pure physical blocking though, the Royal kite is the lightest 100% block sheild at only 4 units.

I think you might be overestimating it. You are only sacrificing 1 point of weight for the Defenders Shield vs Royal Kite, but you gain 10 stability, and large increases in most types of elemental defense. The Royal Kite is just a worse shield when it comes down to it.

one point of weight can effect roll speed when your gunning for specific percentages. and many players rely only on a sheild for parrying, blocking projectiles, reducing the damage they know they are going to eat when a GS is about to swing and dodge rolling wont save them. Turtling is dead in darksouls 2, sheilds are for emergancies now, not defensive play due to how easy they are to punish. And reducing the footprint of that tool is helpful when you want to carry a spare sword to mix up your fighting style. Thats why some invaders even carry things like the leather sheild which weighs only .5 units or transgressor's leather sheild at only .3 units with the ability to 100% block dark element when infused.

[Beel]

Defenders has the highest stability, but I use Drakekeepers beacuse of higher elemental resists and I don't have to farm Petrified Bones for it xD

All 3 of those are great choices though, Black Dragon Shield is great as well with lower requirements.

[ZakisFluffy]

Watcher shield would probably be the best in terms of its resistance properties, i just hate the way it looks. Like the bell sound though.

I mostly run with the Llewelyn shield, a good alternative to the Watcher shield as it has similar resistance breakdown/distribution.

Defenders would be another alternative, this would suit a more tutler playstyle due to its high stability however it has poor resistances across the board (except for phys which is 100%) in comparison to the other two shields above, considering most players buff, that could be quite some chip damage you will be taking in. Especially against dark. Probably infusing it would be a good investment.

Another shield that comes close in terms of resistance distribution, is the Watchdragon parma, however it's 2 units heavier and has -5 resistances in physical, lighting and dark, The Llewelyn shield and the Watcher shield is, imo superior.

One shield, i haven't tried is the Silverback shield. I'ts got 80~85 across all resistances, sounds promising.