Dueling Shield

Notes

• Requires 15 Strength and 14 Dexterity, with no Intelligence requirement, and weighs 9. Standard physical damage scales more strongly with Dexterity than Strength. Heavy and Keen let you shift that emphasis for a different build.
• Deals physical piercing damage without Carian Thrusting Shield's built-in magic. That keeps its ordinary attack focused on one damage type before you choose an elemental affinity or coating.
• Its thrusting-shield attacks combine an attack with guarding during part of the motion. The guard is not free: incoming attacks and your own thrusts both use stamina. Leave enough to avoid a guard break rather than repeating attacks until the bar is empty.
• Standard blocks 88% physical damage, so physical chip gets through. Base Guard Boost is 58 and its weakest elemental blocking is Fire at 39%. It is lighter and easier to equip than Carian Thrusting Shield, but does not block as much physical damage.
• Shield Strike costs no FP and lets repeated skill inputs continue its normal thrusting attack chain. It is useful from the left hand, where an ordinary attack input would otherwise control the right-hand weapon.
• Upgrade with Smithing Stones to +25. Can use compatible Ashes of War from its melee and shield options, rather than being limited to the skills available to an ordinary medium shield.
• For a melee-weapon skill installed on a left-hand Dueling Shield, two-hand it if the right-hand weapon's skill takes priority. Shield-specific skills follow shield priority instead.
• Grease or a weapon enchantment can be applied with a compatible physical affinity. Defensive shield buffs and offensive coatings replace one another on a thrusting shield, so applying Scholar's Shield afterward removes the earlier weapon coating.
• The pickup is on a stone ledge below the third-floor walkway. Look down beside the Fire Knight before dropping; jumping straight to the bottom of the Storehouse misses the item and is dangerous.