In times of combat, having a shield is crucial to survival, especially when dealing with enemies in Valheim. From simple mobs to dangerous bosses, the shield negates as much of the damage you take from a damage source as it possibly can, which ranges to small-time hits to heavy, potentially one-shot attacks. While there are different kinds of shields in the game, the early access nature, as well as the linear gameplay makes things far less complicated to understand which is good, as you’ll only need to know what your playstyle is and what tier your shield is. Learning all the shields is one thing, but knowing which one to get on different parts of the game is the challenge, and with this list, we deflect confusion and understand which shield goes where.

As with the previous lists, this was created using the latest version available at the time of writing (version 0.202.70). The list is ranked worst to best, with shields being grouped to their material tier as the use of different kinds of shields are different for each shields’ use case. Videos shown will either be a full walkthrough of the item or a walkthrough of a core item needed to make the shield that isn’t immediately obtainable or requires that specific item to unlock the shield.

7. Wood Shields (Wood Shield / Wood Tower Shield)

Going with shield basics, the Wood Shield, both in the round, and tower form, offer the bare essentials of protection from otherwise certain doom.

They are by far the easiest to craft and gather and that is all you need for your start in the game. When you go through the Plains, gathering Wood and other necessities, this will be the thing keeping those pesky Graylings at bay, as well as a blocking option for when you hunt aggressive mobs like Neck and Boar, if you are not confident with kiting them. Expect this to be with you for at least the Black Forest phase of the early game.

What Makes the Wooden Shields Great?

Wood Shield:

• Customizable
• More versatile compared to the Wood Tower Shield
• Parry is a plus

Wood Tower Shield:

• Customizable
• Cheap to make early
• Ok blocking for early mobs

How to Make the Wooden Shields?

YouTube Channel: TotalXclipse

 

 

6. Bone Shields (Bone Tower Shield)

Something new added is the Bone Tower Shield, which is the only shield made of Bone, and makes piles and piles of previously, near-useless Skeleton Trophy a more substantial piece to an armor piece.

This has the same traits as any other tower shield, which is the inability to parry for bonus damage, but it’s something that can slide if you intend on tanking up as much damage from a hoard of mobs, which is common in the Black Forest. The materials are also relatively easy as you only have to source them from 2 places, Wood from trees and Bone Fragments and a Skeleton Trophy from a Skeleton. The real challenge here is to not die while fighting them as they can chunk your health pretty easily, but that’s easier said than done. You’d likely need the help of blunt weapons, as they are weak to it, so a weapon like the Club or the Stagbreaker should do the trick when you’re going toe-to-toe with Halloweens’ favorite mascot.

Once created, you’ll have a surprisingly capable shield that can guide you through up until you get enough materials to craft your first metal shield, which we’ll get to next.

 

What Makes the Bone Shields Great?

 

Bone Tower Shield:

• Offers much better-blocking power than the Wood Tower Shield
• Plentiful amounts of resources to build anytime
• Good blocking for a sizeable number of early mobs like Graydwarves

 

How to Make the Wooden Shields?

YouTube Channel: Lucky Shot

 

 

5. Bronze Shields (Bronze Buckler)

With the first of the metal armors, the Bronze Buckler is the first of the metal shields we have on this list and the absolute go-to shield choice for those wanting a solid option that can help you get resources in the Swamps.

There used to be a time when the Bronze Buckler can be the only thing that you’ll need in the Swamps because of its strong blocking power and 2x parry damage bonus, and that still holds to a degree. Now, its use is more towards the early stages of the mid-game, giving much better- blocking power as the tier before it again and upgrading the parry bonus to 2.5x with the added benefit of being able to, confidently, fully upgrade it without having to think about switching to another Bronze shield type… because there isn’t one.

Its use will be smaller or larger depending on how much Iron Ore you’ll get, the biome difficult to obtain said ore, and the priority to make weapons first from the smelted Iron, which we’ll get to that in a bit. For this entry, the Bronze Bucklers 2.5x parry mod and accessibility make it a really solid shield that is leagues ahead of anything that comes before it.

 

What Makes the Bronze Shields Great?

 

Bronze Buckler:

• A strong upgrade compared to the Wood Shields
• The only shield that’s made of Bronze
• Has a 2.5x parry mod

 

How to Make the Bronze Shields?

YouTube Channel: Jade PG

 

 

4. Iron Shields (Iron Buckler / Banded Shield / Iron Tower Shield)

The most diverse metal in the game, Iron is such a key component to many of the items in Valheim, and with good reason. Its use in both mid and late-game is important in weapons, crafting, and for this list, the shields.

There used to only be 2 shields made of Iron, but as the game progressed with updates and content, a third choice is now possible, and we’ll quickly go through all 3 and their use case. The Iron Buckler is the new shield on the block which is a better version of the Bronze variant we touched on earlier. While it may not be the most block-focused shield among the 3, it shares the same 2.5x parry bonus making that bonus attack with your newly crafted Iron weapons a huge plus to damage. The other 2 shields, the Banded Shield and the Iron Tower Shields have mostly been the same since Valheim’s launch, offering a good defense and parry option with the former and strong outright blocking power for the latter. Choosing which is best is up to your playstyle, but when you craft any one of them, they offer really good defense for Swamp and Mountain biome creatures.

What Makes the Iron Shields Great?

 

Iron Buckler:

• Lighter on Iron ingots to make it
• Decent blocking power
• Has a 2.5x parry mod

 Banded Shield:

• Customizable
• Scalable parry percentage on upgrades
• Good shield overall for the mid-game

Iron Tower Shield:

• A huge gap in blocking power to the tower shield below it
• A more reliable shield to tank Swamp creatures

 

How to Make the Iron Shields?

YouTube Channel: ESO

 

 

3. Silver Shields (Silver Shield)

Back with the lone shield tier, the Silver Shield is one of the better late-game shields you can get in the game, and with more limited use on Silver, you have the option to beef this up to the max, should you choose to.

Going to what makes the Silver Shield a viable choice, it’s got a strong boost in terms of blocking power, allowing you to better protect yourself from Mountain creatures. While any upgraded Iron Shield is fine for the casual runs, once you have enemies swarm your left and right, the extra base stats and blocking power can mean the difference between parrying, say, a Wolf to kill or retreat from, or being its meal. A strong reason to get this shield is that the weapons that you can get from Silver are also pretty strong and can assist you further in getting a lot of things done in the snowy peaks, and every bit counts. It’s a nice shield, not too bad but as per any tier list, there can be better, and that’s where the next shields come in.

 

What Makes the Wooden Shields Great?

 

Silver Shield:

• Ore needed also access good weapons that go with it
• A better shield based on block value vs an upgraded Banded Shield
• Parry is a plus

 

How to Make the Silver Shields?

YouTube Channel: Jade PG

 

 

2. Serpent Shields (Serpent Scale Shield)

One of the most unique-looking shields in the game, the Serpent Scale Shield has a place in being one of the coolest shields in the game, and that also comes with some benefits that we’ll get to next.

It’s got less of a movement speed penalty, meaning, not only does it slow you down less, but compared to the other tower shields. It’s got decent blocking power for what it is and has great durability that goes with it, and its core metal to make this shield is Iron, which by this point, you’d likely have some lying around to use. Something new that was added to this shield to make it more enticing is the resistance to Piercing damage, making those enemies with a bow less likely to chip away your health bar, which keeps you much safer than normal.

Compared to the Silver from earlier, it’s a cheaper commodity to farm up and is in a less dangerous area to farm in the Swamp compared to the Mountain, but that’s not saying that hunting Serpents isn’t a dangerous prospect, to begin with, so prepare those stamina foods and arrows and you’ll be walking in the fight with one of the best-looking shields this game has to offer.

 

What Makes the Serpent Shields Great?

 

Serpent Scale Shield:

• Lightest tower shield in the game
• Most durable tower shield in the game
• Resistances to Pierce damage is a bonus

 

How to Make the Serpent Shields?

YouTube Channel: Old School Game Snob

 

 

1. Blackmetal Shields (Blackmetal Shield / Blackmetal Tower Shield)

Now we have reached the peak of what a shield should be, strong but versatile, hard to get but strong to use, and generally the best overall package a shield offers this game, the Black Metal Shield. You have the choice of being an absolute unit by building the tower shield or the rounded shield that offers the parry bonus that, alongside Blackmetal weapons, can get you some serious dueling power. With a lot of the changes being more on the scaling side of things, the Blackmetal tier of items has some serious weight in its class making it the top defender for all things shields.

 

What Makes the Blackmetal Shields Great?

 

Blackmetal Shield:

• Best overall shield in the game
• Costs less to make than the tower shield
• More maneuverable and is great for a wider playstyle

Blackmetal Tower Shield:

• Highest block value shield in the game
• Upgrades make it even stronger in blocking power
• Customizable

 

How to Make the Blackmetal Shields?

YouTube Channel: Exploration of Games

 

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