In OSRS, everyone is always trying to maximize their strength bonuses. They wanna hit as hard and often as possible.
But a high defense is just as important (basically non-negotiable to get anywhere!)
And a shield is often the best route to go to buff your defenses.
Some bosses are too tough to tank without some serious defense. And you’ll want to take the best shield to protect yourself. But other times, a shield is a hard requirement to protect you from threats such as dragonfire.
So before heading out into your next brawl, take a look at these awesome shields that might just save your life.
15. God Armour kiteshield
Let’s start this list off with the best in slot F2P shields.
The God Armour Kiteshields require level 40 Defense to wield, and they come in a few varieties such as Guthix kiteshield (among others).
These shields have the exact same stats as a normal Rune kite, but have the added advantage of a +1 prayer bonus, and a fancy trim, making them look much cooler.
The shield offers decent melee and range defenses all round, but it does have a negative magic defense and attack bonus. So avoid using it if you’ll be attacking or defending magic.
How to Get: F2P players will need to buy these off another player or the Grand Exchange. Members can receive them as a drop from Hard Clues.
14. Dragon kiteshield
The Dragon Kite is an upgrade Dragon Square shield, and is better in every way.
It’s a blood red kite with a dragon painted on the front, giving it a very cool look aesthetically. Great for some fashionscape.
It can even be further upgraded with an ornamental kit, giving it a gold trim.
But just note that you’ll need 60 Defense to wear this shield, so better get leveling a bit!
That said, it offers some decent melee and range defenses, but with negative magic bonuses because it’s primarily a melee shield.
How to Get: Take a dragon metal slice, dragon metal shard, and dragon square shield to the Dragon forge to create this mighty shield. Forging this will also require a minimum of 75 Smithing.
13. Granite Shield
As one of the heaviest shields on this list at 6.8 kilograms, the Granite shield requires a level 50 Defense and 50 Strength to equip.
It’s actually one of the few shields in game to have a strength requirement.
Ultimately it’s not the most popular of shields, as it lacks the same melee defense as other options in the same tier.
But it has a very high range defense bonus, which is the only real reason it’s ever used in this tier of shields. Many ironmen grind this out too, because it’s an item required for an Elite clue.
How to Get: A rare drop of 1/128 from Ice Trolls and Troll generals.
12. 3rd age kiteshield
Personally, I love the overall aesthetic of this shield. It’s just beautiful designed.
The 3rd age kite has stats similar to a Dragon Kite, but it’s much rarer. The stats make it a decent tank shield for sure, but it’s seldom used outside of fashionscape because there are a few better shields in the same tier.
But it’s worth a good amount of gp, and looks great, so it deserves a mention in this ranking.
Wielding this shield requires level 65 defense, and a big bank balance, since it has a cost of roughly 30m.
How to Get: Either get insanely lucky on a hard, elite, or master clue, or buy this from the Grand Exchange.
11. God Books
God books are versatile and extremely useful items.
They have low stat requirements, and once finished, they’re entirely free.
Every god book is used for different things such as the Holy book for defense, and the Unholy book for offense.
Either way, each god book has a +5 prayer bonus.
The top 3 god books worth looking into are the Unholy book, Book of Darkness, and Book of Law.
They offer great stats in their respective departments, and are entirely free meaning you can risk them in the Wilderness without stressing!
How to Get: You’ll gain access to these books once you complete the quest “Horror from the Deep”. God books must be filled up with their respective pages to make them whole. There are four pages per book.
10. Dragonfire Ward
Offering the second-highest range attack bonus in the game, the Dragonfire Ward is a fantastic shield that also offers protection from Dragonfire.
And it offers decent defense against melee and magic, making it a great all around shield to check out.
It’s commonly used at Vorkath along with a Dragon Hunter Crossbow, due to the great stats and effects.
But it’s worth mentioning that you’ll need a high defense level of 70 for this, as well as 75 range, to even think about putting on a shield of this caliber.
How to Get: Slay Vorkath and get the Skeletal Visage at a rare 1/5k drop. Take the visage with an anti-dragonfire shield to an anvil with 90 Smithing, and you can make the Ward. Alternatively, Oziach can make this for you for a fee of 1.25m.
9. Malediction Ward
With a requirement of 60 Defense to wield, the Malediction Ward offers the 4th best magic attack bonus in the game at +12.
This is +2 above the Book of Darkness.
The shield is ideal for mages, but ill equipped for melee, with -8 in all melee attack stats and a -12 range attack bonus.
However, it boasts strong melee defense stats, helping you tank melee quite nicely.
How to Get: Slay all three of the demi-bosses in the Wilderness for a chance at Malediction Shards 1, 2, and 3. Once you receive these, take them to the Volcanic Forge deep in the wilderness and smith them into a Malediction ward. This action has no stat requirement.
8. Mage’s Book
Requiring level 60 Magic, the Mage’s Book has one of the best magic attack bonuses (+15) in the game – with a very nice additional +15 in magic defense to boot!
The book falls a bit short compared to some other shields, as it has no other bonuses to speak of.
But the magic attack bonus alone is enough to consider grabbing one.
It’s also very popular in the pure community since it has no defense level requirement.
How to Get: Obtaining this book is an absolute pain. It’s locked behind the infamous Mage Training Arena which is some of the worst designed content in the game (Sorry Jagex!). Getting through the arena takes around 12 hours, so be ready to grind. Alternatively you can try to buy this item off of the Grand Exchange.
7. Twisted Buckler
The Twisted buckler provides the best range attack bonus in OSRS:
A total +18 in range attack bonus, and an equally decent defense of +58.
So this is a worthwhile shield to use with crossbows like the Dragon Hunter Crossbow or Armadyl Crossbow.
This buckler also has some very nice magic defense of +26, which is one of the top offhand magic defense bonuses.
Melee-wise, the shield is sub-par. But it is not designed for use as a melee shield anyways.
Note: to equip this shield you’ll need a Range and Defence level of 75.
How to Get: This is a rare drop from the Chambers of Xeric.
6. Ancient Wyvern Shield
The Ancient Wyvern Shield is tied with the Mage’s book for the second best magic attack bonus you can get in a shield.
However, this one also offers defence across the board in melee, and protection against dragon fire from dragons and wyverns.
These added features push it a few notches up in the ranking.
And it’s important to note that this shield has negative range and melee strength bonuses too, and should not be used as an offhand for either styles.
How to Get: This is quite a process! First you have to get lucky and obtain a Wyvern Visage from the Wyverns on Fossil Island, which can be as rare as 1/12k. Then you’ll need to take the visage along with an elemental shield to The House on the Hill on Fossil Island, and use the components on the strange machine there – this requires 66 Smithing and Magic.
After all that work, you‘ll have an uncharged shield! So to charge it you need to use numulites or fossils on it. Once you do all this, you’ll have a fully charged Ancient Wyvern Shield.
5. Spectral Spirit Shield
As one of the most sought after shields in the game, the Spectral Spirit Shield requires 75 defence, 70 prayer, and 65 magic to wield. Quite a few requirements.
The shield has the highest magic defence in OSRS at +30, as well as great defences for melee and range – making it an all-round great defence off-hand.
The shield provides no attack bonuses at all.
However, it has a passive special effect.
In PvM only, the shield reduces an enemy’s prayer, draining attacks by 50%. As a result, this shield is very popular for Cerberus who’s very heavy on prayer drain.
How to Get: Face off against the Corporeal Best for a 1/1365 chance at a Spectral Sigil drop. You’ll need to attach the Sigil to a Blessed Spirit Shield. This action requires 90 prayer and 85 smithing. Alternatively, take it to the monastery and pay a fee of 1.5m to Abbot Langley.
4. Crystal Shield
As a powerful Elven shield, this one has some decent melee defence stats you can get.
However, it boasts the highest range defence of any shield in OSRS at a massive +80.
For downsides, it does have a negative range and magic attack bonus.
But since this is easy to obtain (compared to some others on this list), many players use it as a budget Dragonfire Shield.
The only big downside is that it does degrade slowly overtime, and will need to be recharged with Crystal Shards.
To wield this shield you’ll need a minimum of 50 Agility and 70 defence.
How to Get: Complete the “Roving Elves” quest and ask for the shield as a reward. You can also exchange crystal weapon seeds for the shield.
3. Arcane Spirit Shield
As the second of the Spirit Shield set, The Arcane Spirit Shield has almost identical stats to its spectral brother – except a massive +20 magic attack bonus and a +3 magic defence.
It also has the same stat requirements to wear.
Being such a well-balanced shield, it can be used for any combat style. But I think you definitely want to focus on magic with this bad boy!
Reason being that these stats make it the best off-hand magic attack shield in the game (by a +5 margin).
And with a price tag of 142m it’s definitely worth it!
How to Get: As with its brother, the Spectral, you’ll need to beat the Corporeal Best for a 1/1365 chance at an Arcane Sigil drop. Then you’ll need to attach the Sigil to a Blessed Spirit Shield. This action requires 90 prayer and 85 smithing. Alternatively, take it to the monastery and pay a fee of 1.5m to Abbot Langley.
2. Dragonfire Shield
A list without the Dragonfire Shield would just not be in the true spirit of OSRS!
This shield is aesthetically beautifully designed, and is easily recognizable as one of the better shields worth wielding.
The DFS requires 75 defence to wear, and offers crazy high melee defence stats in the 70’s across the board.
It also has a +72 range bonus, and even a slight +10 magic defence bonus.
But on the downside it doesn’t have any positive attack bonuses, and actually does have a negative magic and range bonus. So be wary of using it for those styles.
And once it’s charged, the shield can also be discharged, which sends a massive fire ball towards its target – and this can hit for some pretty solid damage.
How to Get: You’ll need a Draconic Visage, which is dropped from many dragons in OSRS at a rate of approximately 1/5k. Take the visage with an anti-dragonfire shield to an anvil with 90 Smithing, and you can make the DFS. Or alternatively, Oziach can make this for you for a fee of 1.25m.
1. Elysian Spirit Shield
The Elysian Spirit Shield is the last of the three Spirit Shields, and it is impressive.
Very impressive.
So impressive that it’s one of the few items worth well over 1 billion coins!
The Elysian offers even better defensive stats than the other Spirit shields, except in magic defence.
However, the Ely is used for its insanely overpowered passive effect. This effect has a 70% chance to reduce all income damage by 25%. So this can help you through some of the game’s hardest content, like the Inferno.
And I should mention that the effect never expires, so it reduces a ton of damage over time!
How to Get: As with the other two Spirit Shields, you’ll need to beat the Corporeal Best for an increased 1/4095 chance at an Elysian Sigil drop. Then attach the Sigil to a Blessed Spirit Shield. This action requires 90 prayer and 85 smithing, or take it to the monastery and pay a fee of 1.5m to Abbot Langley.
