10 Best Weapons And Shields In Elden Ring
Here are the best guns and shields in Elden Ring that work in the background.
Some items in Elden Ring have powers beyond just how much damage they do or how cool their Weapon Skill is. And I’m not talking about building status, which some things do do on their own. These are not live effects, but rather effects that happen even when you aren’t using the item.
You can keep them in your off-hand while two-handing something else, and you don’t even have to meet their stat standards for the effect to work. Most likely, you’ve seen this kind of power most often on Sacred Seals or Staves, which often make a certain type of spell stronger. But we already have lists that go into detail about those things, so this list will focus on guns and shields that do something on their own.
Pillory Shield
Even though it doesn’t stop damage very well, the Pillory Shield gives you 50 more Vitality while it’s equipped. So there’s no misunderstanding, that doesn’t mean it makes your Health better. That’s what your Vigor is for.
Instead, Vitality makes you less likely to get Death Blight, a status effect that will kill you right away if it builds up. Death Blight can only be caused by a few enemies, like Wormfaces and Basilisks.
But even though you won’t run into them often, it can be very frustrating to try to escape getting killed out of nowhere and to avoid enemy attacks at the same time.
So, even though the Pillory Shield isn’t very useful in most situations, it could save your life. It’s in Caelid’s Gaol Cave, behind an Imp Statue Seal that can only be opened with two Stonesword Keys. Early in Elden Ring, you might have better uses for your Keys, but if you find enough spares, it might be worth it.
Icon Shield
When fully upgraded, the Icon Shield doesn’t even stop 100% of physical damage, which is pretty bad for a Greatshield. You do get three HP back every second, though.
You can combine this with the Blessed Dew Talisman to passively heal five HP without using any FP, but it will cost you a Talisman spot and a lot of Equip Load.
That can help you keep your Flasks full while you’re exploring, and it might even be enough to let you escape an extra attack from a boss, giving you the edge you need to win. Go to the Altus Plataeu and look for a box under the Woodfolk Ruins to get your own Icon Shield.
Sword Of Milos/Sacrificial Axe
Both the Sword of Milos and the Sacrificial Act do the same thing: whenever an enemy dies near you, they give you a small amount of FP. The Sword of Milos is a better weapon because it does more damage and has an interesting Weapon Skill.
It gives you 5 FP per kill, while the Sacrificial Axe only gives you 4 in Elden Ring. It’s the better choice if you want to use one of these guns in battle.
But it weighs almost twice as much as the Sacrificial Axe, which is 10 ounces. So, if you only want to use one of these weapons for its effect, you might want to keep the Sacrificial Axe on your hip.
To get it, you have to kill the Deathbird that spawns at night on the Weeping Peninsula, north of Castle Morne. The Sword of Milos, on the other hand, is the Dung Eater’s signature weapon. It drops after you beat his invading ghost in Leyndell, Royal Capital, or kill him first.
Lion Greatbow
The Lion Greatbow isn’t the one that does the most damage normally, but its trait makes it important. It makes the damage that the Great Arrows from Radahn’s Spears do by a whopping 20% worse.
You can hold it and use a different Greatbow in your main hand, either for a different Weapon Skill than Radahn’s Rain or just to use a Greatbow that does more damage. But the real power comes when you get to New Game Plus and grab a second Lion’s Greatbow, stacking their effects and turning yourself into a walking artillery cannon. And all you have to do to get one is beat Starscourge Radahn and trade his Remembrance with Enia at the Roundtable Hold.
Spiralhorn Shield/Eclipse Crest Greatshield
Both the Eclipse Crest Greatshield and the Spiralhorn Shield give you a fifty-point boost to your Immunity, Robustness, and Focus. You might not know what these words mean, but in fact, these stats make you more resistant to Poison, Rot, Frostbite, Bleeding, Sleeping, and Going Mad.
There are Shields that protect you from each of these affects, but the Eclipse Crest Greatshield and Spiralhorn Shield protect you from all of them at once.
The Spiralhorn Shield is much lighter than the Eclipse Crest Greatshield. It weighs only two Weight, which is almost eight times less than the Eclipse Crest Greatshield. But it isn’t very good at defense, whereas the Greatshield is one of the best choices in Elden Ring.
The Spiralhorn Shield is in the Uhl Palace Ruins, a short walk northwest from the Ruined Labyrinth Site of Grace. The Eclipse Crest Greatshield drops from Mausoleum Knights, which can be found in many places but are most common in Liurnia of the Lakes and the Deeproot Depths.
Great Turtle Shell
When you wear the Great Turtle Shell, it takes you three seconds longer to get back your Stamina in Elden Ring. Those who have played other games by From Software will remember shields like the Grass Crest Shields from Dark Souls and Dark Souls 3.
And just like in those games, carrying the Great Turtle Shell on your back gives your character a little extra power, so you can do more, more often. You’ll also look like one of the Ninja Turtles. If you want to buy this top-of-the-line fashion statement, you can find it on the roof of a tower above the Castle Morne Rampart Site of Grace in the Weeping Peninsula.
Blasphemous Blade/Serpent-God’s Curved Sword
The Blasphemous Blade is a tool that has so many good effects that it almost seems unfair. It’s already one of the best weapons in Snow Rider 3D, so the fact that it heals you a lot when an enemy dies nearby seems like an extra benefit it didn’t really need.
Even though this skill doesn’t help much against most bosses, it can be very useful when you’re traveling the Lands Between. It makes the Greathorn Hammer look bad because it has a lower version of the same passive and is just a worse weapon overall.
The Serpent-God’s Curved Sword, on the other hand, is behind a Giant Land Octopus on the Ruin-Stricken Precipice. It has a weaker passive effect than the Blasphemous Blade, but it weighs only four Weight, which is more than three times lighter. If all you want is the effect, it might be a better pick.
Twinbird Kite Shield
The Twinbird Kite Shield is better than some of the other shields on this list because it can be used as a shield and blocks all physical damage. The passive is what we’re looking for here, and it’s a good one: when you have less than 20% health, it boosts your attack by 5% and your defense by 10%.
This kind of effect can be useful in many situations, from true glass-cannon builds that hurt themselves before a boss fight to do as much damage as possible to PvP, where it can give you an edge in close fights. The Deathbird that can be found east of the Hermit Merchant’s Shack in Leyndell at night will drop it.
Cinquedea
Even though Sacred Seals and Staves aren’t on this list, that doesn’t mean none of the things on it help a certain Spell school. When used with the Clawmark Seal, the Cinquedea Dagger increases the damage of Bestial Incantations by 10%.
Most Spell types in Elden Ring don’t have a weapon like this one, which could be because Bestial Incantations give Physical damage and are harder to buff than Elemental damage. If you plan to use Bestial Incantations often, it’s a good idea to include the Cinquedea.
As you might think, you can find it near the Bestial Sanctum, but you’ll have to climb down the cliffs to the west to find it.
Highland Axe
This list has a lot of useful passive benefits, but none are as important to a build as the Highland Axe. While equipped, it adds 10% to the damage of Roar skills like Troll’s Roar or the heavy attacks from Barbaric Roar or War Cry.
And the 15% from the Roar Medallion Talisman will be added to this affect.
When you use all of these Weapon Skills together, they go from being kind of interesting to being very useful and let you basically scream your enemies to death. Since you can’t stack Highland Axes, there’s no point in using two of them at once in New Game Plus.
But you can find your first copy very early in Elden Ring. It’s in the big hall of Stormveil Castle, where the Grafted Scion is.