It’s no secret that there are loads of different weapons in the Dark Souls trilogy. However, shields can sometimes also be the deciding factor on if the player will survive or see that dreaded game over screen. Not all of them are solid choices for defense, though. Here’s a look at some of the shields that aren’t exactly practical when it comes to defeating the legendary enemies in Dark Souls.

10 Spiked Shield

The Spiked Shield from the original Dark Souls is, as the name suggests, a small metal shield covered in spikes. It can only be acquired from one of the three times Knight Kirk appears. The spikes can be used to apply bleed damage to enemies.

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Unfortunately, this shield offers little damage reduction. Players looking to use bleed statuses are better off trying a better weapon. Also, a shield covered in spikes wouldn’t be very practical when rolling constantly, like the chosen undead often do.

9 Yellow Quartz Shield

The Yellow Quartz Shield is available in Dark Souls 2 and is a standard shield made entirely of quartz. It was available as a pre-order bonus, and can be bought from Chancellor Wellager.

This shield offers decent stats but has nothing to make it stand out from other shields with similar attributes. Its bizarre shape and material don’t exactly make for the most practical shield. In the real world, this wouldn’t hold up in battle.

8 Plank Shield

The Plank Shield is first introduced in the original Dark Souls. It can be found a corpse in Blighttown, right in front of the hidden entrance to The Great Hollow. It is also available at the start for those who chose the infamous Deprived class.

It’s fairly obvious as to why a small wooden shield would be ineffective when going up against the many different types of deadly beasts found in the game. It doesn’t help that the shield also has terrible stats, even when upgraded to the max.

7 Cracked Round Shield

The Cracked Round Shield is found in the first game and is, predictably, a small wooden shield with a large crack in it. It is part of the starting equipment for the Pyromancer and is sometimes dropped by Hollow Warriors.

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This shield is so useless that it is often recommended that players don’t use it at all, unless they are roleplaying or cosplaying. With only 65 physical damage reduction, it’s no surprise players avoid this one.

6 Giant Door Shield

The Giant Door Shield is part of the Ringed City expansion of Dark Souls 3. Consisting of two greatshields combined to resemble giant doors, this shield is certainly unique not only in its own game, but the franchise overall.

While it does offer good protection from most physical attacks, its massive size make it difficult to use. What’s more, being made of wood makes it weak to fire damage. It’s a shame that such a special shield isn’t practical.

5 Bonewheel Shield

The Bonewheel Shield is available in both Dark Souls 1 and 3. In both games, it can be dropped by those infamous wheel skeletons.

This shield actually has some decent stats and could be useful as an offensive shield with the right build. The impracticality comes from the fact that it is simply a large wheel with lots of openings. Not necessarily the best design for an object that’s meant for protection.

4 Carthus Shield

The Carthus Shield is available in Dark Souls 3, and is actually quite a rare find. It is only dropped by red-eyed skeletons using shields in the Catacombs of Carthus.

The shield appears old, tattered, and battle worn. It is surprisingly light for its size, but doesn’t offer great stats or special abiliites that other shields can’t do. Its worn out look also makes it impractical lore wise.

3 Moon Butterfly Shield

The Moon Butterfly Shield can be acquired in Dark Souls 2 at Armorer Maughlin’s house. When imbued with a poison stone, this shield gains 100% poison resistance and can apply poison while bashing. This makes it actually quite good when used properly.

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Unfortunately, from a lore perspective, a shield made from a small butterfly couldn’t possibly stop any attacks from the massive beasts the cursed undead is forced to fight. Though it works in the game, it wouldn’t in the real world.

2 Foot Soldier Shield

The Foot Soldier Shield is a poorly made shield from Dark Souls 2. It is dropped by hollow infantrymen found in The Forest of Giants and by some skeletons.

This is a fairly standard small shield that offers no advantage whatsoever over other shields in the game. It has weak stats and offers little protection, both literally and from a lore perspective. Best trade it in for something better.

1 Ghru Rotshield

The Ghru Rotshield is found in Dark Souls 3 by defeating the Ghrus wondering in Smouldering Lake and Farron Keep. It is a rotting and tiny makeshift shield.

Due to its rot, the Ghru Rotshield does have some poison resistance and some poison damage. Unfortunately the shield offers very little protection, and it’s possible to get better poison shields elsewhere. Why anyone would want a rotting shield is a mystery.

The Dark Souls Trilogy is available on Playstation, Xbox, and PC.

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