Despite Elden Ring being a challenging game, players have already managed to speedrun through the entire storyline in less than 25 minutes. But not everyone who plays Elden Ring can pull that sort of stunt, which means they'll need to play the game the way it is meant to be played...by repeatedly dying to the same enemies and bosses.
FromSoftware has never held back when it comes to punishing players for using the wrong Shield or Weapon on certain bosses since all of their games feature a wide array of Status Effects and Damage Types that players must learn about, and one Damage Type that's quite prevalent in Elden Ring is that of Holy Damage. Fortunately, several shields in Elden Ring can help a player survive Holy Attacks, but players will need to know which ones are the best.
Updated May 21, 2022, by Daniel Dilena: Even though some time has passed since Elden Ring first came into the lives of gamers everywhere, the fanbase continues to create unique builds to tackle some of the most challenging enemies in the game. And that's because Elden Ring features hundreds of unique enemies and bosses that test the skill and knowledge of players, forcing them to have to rethink their builds for every encounter.
Holy damage negation in Elden Ring continues to be of utmost importance in any playthrough, especially since many of the main story bosses lean toward the holy-side on the damage scale. Thankfully, FromSoftware has decided to lend players a hand by buffing a couple of shields, making them worthy of being included in this list.
10 Gilded Iron Shield (Small Shield)
- Requirements: Strength 8
- Base Holy Damage Negation: 51
The perfect companion for any player that enjoys traveling light, the Gilded Iron Shield is among the best Small Shields for Holy Damage Negation. Moreover, players familiar with Parry will find this Small Shield useful in Parrying most enemies and bosses. Using the Sanctified Affinity also boosts its Holy Damage Negation to 63, which is quite high for a Small Shield.
Players can easily acquire the Gilded Iron Shield by looting a corpse sitting on a grave outside the Church of Pilgrimage towards the West in Weeping Peninsula. Players can refer to the above image to see the exact location of the shield.
9 Pillory Shield (Small Shield)
- Requirements: Strength 10
- Base Holy Damage Negation: 46
The Pillory Shield is not only useful in blocking most Holy Attacks, but it also has a useful Passive that increases a player's HP by 50 points. Furthermore, it also increases a player's Vitality, which means players can resist the Death Status Effect (one of the many deadly Status Effects players need to be aware of).
Obtaining the Pillory Shield is no easy task, and requires Two Stonesword Keys. Once a player has the Stonesword keys, they can head over to Gaol Cave, located East of Fort Gael in Caelid. Players should come prepared as this location is filled with Vulgar Militants and Rats, but getting this shield is worth the risk.
8 Beastman's Jar-Shield (Medium Shield)
- Requirements: Strength 10
- Base Holy Damage Negation: 55
Even though Medium Shields aren't as agile as Small Shields, they do a good job reducing lethal blows. The Beastman's Jar-Shield is a decent Medium Shield that can negate up to 68 Holy Damage once a player applies Sanctified Affinity.
Most likely, players are familiar with Beastman, especially if they fought Beastman Of Farum Azula near the Church of Elleh. Fortunately, players won't have to fight a boss to acquire this shield, as it drops from normal Beastman next to the Crumbling Beast Grave Depths in Crumbling Farum Azula, located at the tip of the arrow on the previous image.
7 Carian Knight's Shield (Medium Shield)
- Requirements: Strength 10, Dexterity 10, Intelligence 15
- Base Holy Damage Negation: 71
The Carian Knight's Shield received a major buff in Elden Ring's latest patch, 1.03, going from a mere 58 Holy Damage Negation to an astonishing 71. Of course, this shield is aimed towards magic builds since it has a 15 Intelligence requirement. But even for non-magic users, this Medium Shield is well worth the investment.
Players can obtain Carian Knight's Shield by unlocking Raya Lucaria Academy Gate, which is North of Rose Church. Moreover, players will need to defeat Moongrum, the Carian Knight, which can prove a challenge to players since it has both melee and magic attacks. Fortunately, players can cheese this fight by running to the elevator the Carian Knight is guarding and blocking him from getting on, making him fall in the hole as the elevator goes up.
6 Ant's Skull Plate (Greatshield)
- Requirements: Strength 28
- Base Holy Damage Negation: 57
FromSoftware has always been known to go above and beyond when it comes to creating unique weapons, armors, and shields, so players shouldn't be surprised that Elden Ring features a Greatshield in the shape of a Giant Ant's head. The best part is that this Greatshield has Holy Damage Negation of 57, which is more than enough to survive the Elden Beast's onslaught of holy attacks. But, there's another reason why Ant's Skull Plate should be considered Elden Ring's best holy shield: it causes Poison build-up (90) and raises Immunity by 60 points.
Obtaining this Greatshield is no easy task since, Players will first need to gain access to Nokstella, Eternal City, which means they will either need to progress through Ranni's questline, take the Eastern Liurnia Lift, or plunge deep into Deeproot Depths.
5 Crossed-Tree Towershield (Greatshield)
- Requirements: Strength 30
- Base Holy Damage Negation: 66
The Crossed-Tree Towershield is one of the better-looking Greatshields in Elden Ring, perfect for players who focus on the Fashion Souls aspect of the game. Nonetheless, the Crossed-Tree Towershield is a robust shield that can protect its wielder from Holy damage (66). But there's more to this Greatshield than the Holy Damage Negation. It also has 66 Fire Damage Negation, making it the ideal choice to use against The Fire Giant.
Fortunately, players can purchase the Crossed-Tree Towershield for 3,800 Runes from the Nomadic Merchant West Altus Plateau, who also sells the Ancient Dragon Apostle's Cookbook. Players can find the Nomadic Merchant right next to the Forest-Spanning Greatbridge Site Of Grace.
4 Crucible Hornshield (Greatshield)
- Requirements: Strength 26
- Base Holy Damage Negation: 64
Players who are part of the Crucible Knight Fan Club undoubtedly know that the Crucible Hornshield has a decent level of Holy Damage Negation. Most players avoid using this Greatshield since they find it lackluster when it comes to Shield Bash, but apart from that minor detail, the Crucible Hornshield more than deserves to be counted among Elden Ring's best holy shields.
Moreover, this Greatshield has an Equip Load of 11.5, less than half of the Fingerprint Shield, which has an Equip Load of 29. But, the real issue with this Greatshield is that players will need to defeat a Lesser Crucible Knight found patrolling the bridges of the Siofra Aqueduct.
3 Erdtree Greatshield (Greatshield)
- Requirements: Strength 30, Faith 12
- Base Holy Damage Negation: 76
Despite being affected by the nerf hammer in the recent 1.03 patch, the Erdtree Greatshield still useful for PVE. And even though its base Holy Damage Negation doesn't go higher, the Erdtree Greatshield has one of the best Shield Skills in Elden Ring: Golden Retaliation, which deflects any magic attack back to the attacker.
Unfortunately, obtaining the Erdtree Greatshield is quite challenging since players must defeat two Tree Sentinels guarding Leyndell Royal Capital's gates. But instead of facing both Tree Sentinels simultaneously, players can run past them into the city and active the Outer Wall Phantom Tree Site of Grace. After this, they can aggro one of them into the city gates, which makes the fight a lot easier.
2 Fingerprint Stone Shield (Greatshield)
- Requirements: Strength 48
- Base Holy Damage Negation: 75
This Greatshield requires a lot of Strength to use, but it's among the best Greatshields in Elden Ring, especially in PVP since its Weapon Skill, Shield Bash, causes Madness Build Up. On top of that, its Fire Damage Negation is 81, Lightning Damage Negation is 79, and Magic Damage Negation is 77, making it even more valuable.
Obtaining the Fingerprint Stone Shield requires the player to be well into the main storyline. They will need to have defeated Morgott, the Omen King in the Royal Capital, and Mohg, The Omen at the Cathedral of the Forsaken (Subterranean Shunning-Grounds).
1 Haligtree Crest Greatshield (Greatshield)
- Requirements: Strength 36
- Base Holy Damage Negation: 79
The final Greatshield players should consider using to Negate Holy Damage is that of the Haligtree Crest Greatshield. This shield the highest base Holy Damage Negation in the game. Furthermore, at max upgrade and imbued with Sanctified Affinity, it reaches 98.75 Holy Damage Negation, which will prove useful in the final boss fight.
The best part is that players won't have to kill a boss to obtain it, but rather farm Haligtree Knights that are scattered around Miquella's Haligtree. It seems that players get best drop results farming only the Knights, not Archers, and doing it during the daytime.
Elden Ring is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.