Elden Ring: 6 Best Medium Shields [750+ Hours Experience]

The Brass Shield stands out as the premier shield choice in Elden Ring, especially for medium shields. Its stylish Heater design complements various armor sets and I’ve used it pretty frequently.

The shield not only provides highest guard boost but is also efficient in using against every single enemy in the game due to its exceptionally high defenses. The only drawback is its low drop rate and high weight. Ashes of War can further enhance its capabilities through upgrades.

If you are having trouble farming this shield, you can always go for Jellyfish Shield which is easy to obtain and provides almost the same result.

The Great Turtle Shell, a medium shield resembling a tortoise shell, offers high protection with low weight that makes it easily slotable in low Endurance builds. Additionally, my reason for recommending it is the nice stamina regen passive, which remains active even after dual wielding the right/left armament.

Through the use of Ashes of War, you can enhance the Great Turtle Shell’s capabilities. It also possesses the Barricade Shield special ability, which significantly improves its blocking effectiveness for a brief duration.

The Inverted Hawk Heater shield is considered the best-looking medium shield in Elden Ring, featuring a striking red and black design. This shield provides high defenses with considerably low weight, efficient throughout many mid-to-late game scenarios where a shield with high elemental as well as physical negations is necessary. 

With a Guard Boost slightly higher than the Turtle Shell, it excels in defense. The Inverted Black Hawk shield offers the Parry Weapon Ability and can be upgraded using Ashes of War. It pairs well with armor featuring red accents. If your strategy relies on parrying, I’d say this is the top choice for a medium shield in Elden Ring.

The Blue Gold Kite Shield, resembling a heater shield despite its name, suits Aired Tree Knight-type characters in Elden Ring. You can get your hands on it pretty early and it stays relevant throughout early-game. This shield can be infused with Ash of War to increase its efficiency. With its parry skill, low weight and good defenses, I believe it’s an ideal medium-sized shield.

With the same parry skill, slightly low weight, and better Holy defense, you can opt for the Scorpion Kite Shield.

The Carian Knight’s Shield is one of Elden Ring’s finest-looking and most effective Medium Shields. It provides efficient protection against Physical and Magic attacks. Along with a high Guard Boost, effective Damage Negations, and conserving stamina when blocking, I consider it the best magic-defense option in early-game.

The shield can be obtained by defeating The Carian Knight at Raya Lucaria Academy. You can further improve it using Ashes of War, which I suggest you do, particularly to enhance its Guard Boost.

Banished Knight is just another piece of gear and one of the best medium shield in Elden Ring. Plus, I think the shield looks really cool and suits with a lot of armor, hence, appearance-wise definitely an excellent-looking shield. It is impressive not only for the looks but also boasts high defenses all-around. But, comes with the demerit of high weight. 

Moreover, it has a high Guard Boost which either starts off with no skill or the Parry skill and can be upgraded using Ashes of War, so either way you can put whatever you want on it and make it the shield that suits your playstyle the best.