Dragonfire shield



The dragonfire shield, also called DFS for short, is an anti-dragon shield combined with a draconic visage. When fully charged, it has the second greatest overall Melee defence bonus of any shield (only beaten by the chaotic kiteshield), and is the strongest non-degradeable shield in the game, with the crystal shield having a higher ranged defence bonus, the mage's book and spectral spirit shield having higher Magic defence bonuses, the blessed spirit shield and variants having higher crush defence bonuses, and the mage's book and arcane spirit shield having higher mage attack bonuses. Several shields have a higher Prayer bonus and Summoning defence bonus. When completely uncharged, its stats are somewhat better than a Mithril kiteshield. To wield this item, a player's Defence level must be 75 or higher. This shield is also unique for giving the highest strength bonus of any left-handed item. Its strength bonus beats both the rune defender and toktz-ket-xil by 2.0 and the dragon defender by 1, allowing you to hit a little higher without having a two-handed sword equipped.

It can be smithed at a Smithing level of 90, combining a draconic visage with an anti-dragon shield, earning 2,000 Smithing experience after a few clicks. If you don't have the required Smithing level, you can also bring the required items to Oziach who will smith it for you for the hefty price of 1,250,000 coins. The Assist System can also be used to make it. Only metal dragons (excluding bronze), frost dragons, the King Black Dragon, black dragons, and skeletal wyverns can drop the draconic visage. The shield itself was a possible drop from PvP Worlds until 16 June 2009.

This shield, like the anti-dragon shield, only provides partial protection against dragonfire. Unlike the anti-dragon shield, it also provides partial protection from the ice breath of skeletal wyverns. The Dragonfire shield's ability to protect against dragon breath does not change, even if fully charged. The use of an antifire potion with the shield renders full protection, except from the special attacks of the King Black Dragon and the breath of skeletal wyverns.

Charging
The shield absorbs dragonbreath from all dragons, and even ice breath from Skeletal Wyverns, when equipped. Each dragonbreath, or ice breath, provides one charge, up to a maximum number of 50 charges. Each charge increases the shield's defence against stab, slash, crush, range and summoning attacks by +1. The best place to charge a shield is anywhere with metal dragons as when you move away from them they use their dragonbreath faster than chromatic dragons. The bronze dragons in the Chaos Tunnels are particularly good since they are in a multicombat area; it is possible to have multiple bronze dragons attacking a player with their dragonbreath at once. Alternately, a safe method to charge a Dragonfire Shield is by means of metal dragons in a Player-owned House dungeon. You can check how many charges you have by right clicking it in the inventory and selecting "Inspect."

Discharging
When the shield is worn, players can also release charges of dragonbreath by operating it.The Dragon Breath is so powerful it can hit things from 19 steps away (maximum). To discharge the flame, right-click on the equipped shield while in combat and select Activate. The shield will then fire a deadly blast of fiery energy at the opponent, which hits up to 250 damage, but lowers the stats of the shield by 1 for every charge used. Even if the shield is charged with Ice breath from Skeletal Wyverns, only firebreath will be discharged, rather than the ice breath some might expect. Players can also operate the shield while not in combat and then target an opponent to release the attack on. When fired, the attack will be long-ranged, and the player will run toward the opponent to start fighting. The attack will not work against Skeletal Wyverns. Using the dragonbreath attack against a monster will earn Magic experience.

The damage of this attack is reduced just like a dragon's dragonbreath attack if the opponent is wearing an anti-dragon shield, a dragonfire shield, or is under the effects of an antifire potion. Once operated, the shield needs to cool down for exactly two minutes before the player can unleash its flames again. The only other piece of equipment to have this ability are dragon bolts (e).

Since the shield is untradeable when charged, it must be discharged completely before being sold; this can be done by right-clicking the shield in inventory and clicking the empty option to release all remaining charges in a single, harmless burst. The shield cannot be lent, whether it is charged or not.

Bonuses
Slash, crush, stab, ranged, and summoning defence bonuses will increase by 1 for every charge accumulated, and decrease by 1 for every charge spent.

Trivia

 * When a dragon breathes fire on a player wearing the shield, the player crouches behind the shield and does not make an attacking motion, however, the damage against the dragon still registers.
 * Before the PvP and Bounty world update on 16 June 2009, players could get a dragonfire shield from PvP kills; however, the aforementioned update removed dragonfire shields from PvP drop tables.
 * The anti-dragon shield weighs 5 kg and the draconic visage weighs 1; however, when joined, the dragonfire shield's weight increases to 7.2 kg.
 * In July 2010, the shield's appearance was updated so that both sides of the shield, the parts that were not covered by the visage, were orange. Previously, one side of the shield was orange, and the other side was the same colour as the visage.
 * The anti-dragon shield is held with the left hand when worn, however, when the draconic visage is attached to the anti-dragon shield, the dragonfire shield is attached to the forearm when equipped. It's possible that because of the shield's weight, the player has to get a better grip therefore holding it differently.
 * Due to the shield ability to protect you from Skeletal Wyverns' ice breath (much like the elemental, mind and body shields), this shield is the absolute best option for the off-hand slot when fighting this monster.
 * The ice breath of Skeletal Wyverns can be used to charge the dragonfire shield, just as dragonfire breath can.
 * The shield's special attack raises defence experience when used versus other players.
 * Although the Anti-dragon shield has no magic attack penalty, the Dragonfire shield does.
 * The price of the Dragonfire shield is declining due to the release of the Dragon defender. The Dragonfire shield has been less popular due to many players' preference to wield the Dragon defender instead.
 * The Dragon Defender's strength bonus is comparable to the Dragonfire shield - where an obsidian shield's +5 strength bonus is shadowed by the Dragonfire shield's +7. A Dragon defender not only gives a considerable +6 strength bonus, it also boasts the best Attack bonuses for an item equipped in the shield slot, which makes it a good replacement for the shield.
 * This was one of the shields that was not updated in the damage soaking update, so it does not soak up any damage. It was stated by a Jagex moderator on the RuneScape forums that high-levelled shields such as the Dragonfire Shield did not receive a damage soaking update due to their already boastful stats combined with other features such as absorbing dragon breath. In other words, Dragonfire shield is too good to soak damage.