Summary
DespiteElden Ringbeing a challenging game, players have already managed tospeedrun through the entire storyline in less than 25 minutes. But not everyone who playsElden Ringcan 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.
FromSoftwarehas 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 inElden Ringis that of Holy Damage. Fortunately, several shields inElden Ringcan help a player survive Holy Attacks, but players will need to know which ones are the best.
Updated June 04, 2025, by Hamza Haq:With the release of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, FromSoftware has introduced a plethora of new weapons, armor pieces, talismans, ashes of war, and, of course, shields. Among them, two stand out in terms of their holy damage negation, giving players looking to counter holy damage-dealing enemies more options to choose from. Considering that thehardest boss in all of Elden Ringprimarily deals holy damage during his second phase, this is excellent news, especially because one of the two new shields handily dethrones the previous best shield.
12Gilded Iron Shield (Small Shield)
The perfect companion for any player that enjoys traveling light, theGilded Iron Shieldis among the best Small Shields for Holy Damage Negation. Moreover,players familiar with Parrywill 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 bylooting a corpse sitting on a grave outside theChurch of Pilgrimagetowards the West in Weeping Peninsula. Players can refer to the above image to see the exact location of the shield.
11Pillory Shield (Small Shield)
ThePillory Shieldis not only useful in blocking most Holy Attacks, but it also has a useful Passive thatincreases 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, andrequires Two Stonesword Keys. Once a player has the Stonesword keys, they can head over toGaol 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.
10Beastman’s Jar-Shield (Medium Shield)
Even though Medium Shields aren’t as agile as Small Shields, they do a good job reducing lethal blows. TheBeastman’s Jar-Shieldis 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 foughtBeastman Of Farum Azulanear the Church of Elleh. Fortunately, players won’t have to fight a boss to acquire this shield, asit drops from normal Beastman next to the Crumbling Beast Grave Depthsin Crumbling Farum Azula, located at the tip of the arrow on the previous image.
9Carian Knight’s Shield (Medium Shield)
TheCarian Knight’s Shieldreceived a major buff inElden Ring’slatest 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 byunlockingRaya Lucaria Academy Gate, which is North of Rose Church. Moreover, players will need to defeatMoongrum 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.
8Ant’s Skull Plate (Greatshield)
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 thatElden Ringfeatures 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 whyAnt’s Skull Plateshould be consideredElden Ring’sbest 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 toprogress through Ranni’s questline, take the Eastern Liurnia Lift, or plunge deep into Deeproot Depths.
7Crossed-Tree Towershield (Greatshield)
TheCrossed-Tree Towershieldis one of the better-looking Greatshields inElden 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 theideal 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.
6Crucible Hornshield (Greatshield)
Players who are part of the Crucible Knight Fan Club undoubtedly know that theCrucible Hornshieldhas 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 amongElden Ring’sbest 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.
5Verdigris Greatshield (Greatshield)
The Verdigris Greatshield offers 68 Holy damage negation, which, while quite decent, is not the main reason players should opt for this shield. That being said, when upgraded to +10, it boasts a whopping90 in Guard Boost, the highest in all ofElden Ring. This means that not only will the Verdigris Greatshield block a decent chunk of Holy damage when used, it will also conserve player stamina better than any other shield, making follow-ups easy to execute.
Verdigris Greatshield is part of the Moore set, which can be obtained either by completingMoore’s questline or killing him at any point in his story in theShadow of the Erdtree DLC. When defeated, he will drop the entireVerdigris Set,Moore’s Bell Bearing, andVerdigris Greatshield.
4Erdtree Greatshield (Greatshield)
Despite being affected by the nerf hammer in the1.03 patch, theErdtree Greatshieldstill 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 inElden Ring:Golden Retaliation Skill,which deflects any magic attack back to the attacker.
Unfortunately, obtaining the Erdtree Greatshield is quite challenging since players mustdefeat two Tree Sentinelsguarding Leyndell Royal Capital’s gates. But instead of facing both Tree Sentinels simultaneously, players canrun 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.
3Fingerprint Stone Shield (Greatshield)
This Greatshield requires a lot of Strength to use, but it’s among the best Greatshields inElden 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 theFingerprint Stone Shieldrequires the player to be well into the main storyline. They will need to have defeatedMorgott, the Omen Kingin the Royal Capital, andMohg, the Omenat theCathedral of the Forsaken(Subterranean Shunning-Grounds).
