Dragonfire shield



A Dragonfire shield is a modified anti-dragon shield which, when fully charged, has the greatest overall Melee defence bonus of any shield, with the Crystal shield having a higher ranged defence bonus, the Mage's book and Spectral spirit shield having a higher Magic defence bonus, the Blessed spirit shield and variants having higher crush defence bonus, and the Mage's book and Arcane spirit shield having a higher mage attack bonus. Several shields have 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.

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 adult black, iron, steel and mithril dragons, the King Black Dragon, and skeletal wyverns will drop the draconic visage. The shield itself was a possible drop from PvP Worlds until 16 June 2009. After the release of Spirit shields and PvP Worlds, the price of the dragonfire shield significantly fell.

This shield, like the Anti-dragon shield, does not provide full protection against dragonfire or dragonbreathe fgbreath of skeletal wyverns, even if it is fully charged. Use of an Antifire potion with the shield renders full protection.

The shield absorbs dragonbreath, which stays in the shield and gives it charges. Each dragonbreath attacks gives it one charge, up to a maximum number of 50. Each charge increases the shield's defence against stab, slash, crush, range and summoning attacks by +1.

When the shield is worn, players can also release charges of dragonbreath by operating it. To discharge the flame, right-click on the equipped shield while in combat and select 'Operate'. The shield will then fire a deadly blast of fiery energy at the opponent, which hits up to 25 damage. Players can also operate the shield while not in combat, and then target an opponent to release the attack on. If done so, the attack will be long-ranged and the player will also run toward the opponent to start fighting. This will not work against dragons, however, and the damage is reduced just like a dragon's dragonbreath attack if the opponent is wearing an Anti-dragon shield or 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 is an enchanted dragonstone bolt.

Trivia

 * The dragonfire shield is one of the few items of armour that provides a significant offensive ability.
 * Some players use the shield as a surprise weapon in player-vs-player combat, such as on PvP worlds. Many players who are fighting other players are often not equipped with defences against dragonfire. The dragonfire shield player often keeps the shield in inventory so that the other players are not even aware it is present and then equips and operates it at an opportune moment.
 * When a dragon breathes fire on a player wearing the shield, it visually appears that the player forgoes attacking and just crouches behind the shield. However, although unseen, the player still makes an attack as normal.
 * Though the dragonfire attack from the shield is a devastating attack, most players reserve their charges for use of the combat bonuses.
 * It is important to note that when used against monsters, will earn magic experience. Defence pures should avoid this in order to prevent unwanted levels, however, when used against other players, it does not earn magic experience.
 * When Dragonfire shields were released in the spring of 2007, they were worth about 25m. In the summer of 2008 they fell below 20m and in the fall of 2008 they reached 15m. They slowly crept back up to almost 18m by May 2009, but when the new Bounty hunter worlds were released, the Dragonfire shield suddenly crashed to under 14m. This was related to the fact that Dragonfire shields can be obtained as a drop in PvP, but some of the actual crash was due to panic and also people temporarily selling expensive items to obtain PKing equipment. After this crash, the dragonfire shield rebounded to about 16m and is currently somewhat stable in price.
 * On 16 june they were deleted from the pvp drops list, and the price rose 804k on the first day and 1.8m on the second day.