Shields are a key part of God of War’s combat mechanics and in this article, we list and explain all shields in God of War Ragnarok.
Shields are vital and life-saving in God of War games including the latest God of War Ragnarok as they help you deal with the many scary combat encounters. God of War Ragnarok has more shield options than God of War 2018 so in this article, we’ll list all the available shields in Ragnarok and what each of them is capable of.
Dauntless Shield
This is one of the earliest shields you get in the game and if parrying is your playstyle then this one is for you. Once you successfully parry an attack with this shield, you will stun the enemy and build up charge on your shield for your next shield bash to deal a lot more damage.
Here are some other neat tricks you can use to maximise this shield’s abilities:
- Slam enemies against an obstacle or wall when charge attacking them with the shield. The knockback and collision with the obstacle will build more Stun on the enemies.
- When you time your counter or parry right you can do a perfect parry which deals more damage and Stun to enemies.
Stonewall Shield
This, alongwith the Dauntless Shield, are the two shields you get to choose between at the start of the game. The unique ability of this shield is that it can absorb up to 4 hits to build up stacks and it can perform a Shield Slam instead of a Shield Bash which, when fully stacked, can launch enemies airborne and this can even be followed up with a combo.
There are some things to note however when it comes to special enemy attacks which have coloured rings around them.
- Yellow-Ringed Attacks: These attacks are typically meant to break your shield but with this shield, they can be blocked to build up two stacks instead of one as long you have two stacks remaining on your shield. If your shield is already fully stacked or one stack away from full then your guard will be broken as usual.
- Blue-Ringed Attacks: You’ll encounter these attacks the more you level up in the game and encounter higher-leveled enemies. These attacks specifically need a Shield Bash or Shield Slam to block and so you might find yourself slamming this shield at incomplete stacks thus minimising the viability of this shield in the late game as even an incomplete Shield Slam will consume your remaining stacks.
Guardian Shield
You start God of War Ragnarok with this shield and it gets broken during your fight in the Intro of the game but fear not as the dwarves will repair and return it to you after you complete the Vanaheim Story Arc. This shield is a returning classic from God of War 2018 and even though it has lost some abilities due to the lack of a skill tree in God of War Ragnarok, it still retains the ability to counter and parry enemy projectiles.
When fighting enemies at close range, this shield offers two types of counters after the first parry:
- You can follow up the first parry with a Shield Bash (R1) which also deals decent Stun damage.
- You can also follow your initial counter with a Ground Slam (R2) which knocks a nearby enemy prone.
One neat trick is that you can also pair this shield with the Sonic Status Effect at higher levels to make sure an enemy stays prone after the Ground Slam.
Onslaught Shield
This is one of the new shields in the game and it allows you to run at the enemy when you perform a Shield Bash. This is not only a good mobility trick but since you’re charging at the enemy with your shield up, it also blocks incoming projectiles. Its second unique ability is that after a certain distance of running, your shield will glow red indicating that when it connects with an enemy it will launch that enemy airborne.
This can be used to follow up with some powerful follow-up combos to deal massive stun damage to airborne enemies and if that’s your playstyle then this is the shield to go with. This shield thus fits right at home with Stun-focused builds so unless that’s your playstyle, we don’t recommend this for you.
Shatter Star Shield
This is also one of the new shields and at first glance, this may look like the most complicated shield but we’ve boiled its mechanics down to the basics for you here.
Essentially you build up charges on the shield as you hold it for Block. The longer you hold it for Block the higher more charges you build. A maximum of three charges can be built this way. Instead of having a Shield Bash or Shield Slam, this shield fires off a Concussive Wave when you double-tap L1. Here’s what the Concussive Waves at each charge amount to:
- 1st Level: At the 1st Level, it does the same damage as a Shield Bash and is only thus useful for breaking enemy guards. At 1st Level, the shield glows yellow.
- 2nd Level: At the 2nd Level, the Concussive Wave will stagger and push back incoming enemies and this can be used to interrupt attacking enemies. At 2nd Level, the shield glows bright orange.
- 3rd Level: At the 3rd Level, the Concussive Wave knocks back and launches enemies airborne while dealing massive damage and Stun damage. At 3rd Level, the shield glows dark red.
If you get attacked while building up charges you lose one charge but if you double-tap L1 just before an attack hits then you can effectively counter it using the Concussive Wave of the next charge. So if you’re at one charge and you attempt to parry this way, you hit a 2nd Level Concussive Wave and so on. Countering when you have all 3 charges doesn’t get you bonus damage.
One of the downsides of the new shields is that they can’t be used to counter or parry opponents. This means that after their initial attack has been blocked, they can follow it up with other attacks without getting stunned.
