Effigy Shield upgrade path

So I am thinking about using the Effigy shield. Which upgrade path is best? Normal +15 for stability, Magic +10 for the extra 12 MR, or Fire +10 for the extra 14 FR?

+15 normal path.

fire is very good since it goes up to 85 or more iirc. the stability sucks anyway so you really shouldn't block more than once, just set up parry if your opponent is spamming r1. but if you really want that extra stability then go for it.

In terms of stability, the effigy shield already lost compared to a grand majority of other shields. So you might as well make it an anti-mage shield.

It has good stability at +15. Its lightning reduction is spectacular. Use the stability to your advantage. Lots of people use lightning weapons...

If you want a fire or magic shield use something else.

If it weren't for the faith requirement, Fire+10 Effigy is actually pretty useful for setup parrying while taking minimal damage, especially if you're using a low level faith build.
It blocks more than 80% physical/lightning/fire. Magic is the only weakness so you can parry anything aside from magic/enchant/Magic Weapon-buffed weapons with minimal damage on a partial parry. It pretty much replaces the Dark Hand aside from the weight and magic resistance.
Really good choice for fighting builds that use lightning weapons while throwing in an occasional combustion for countering your parries.


If you're looking for a shield to block with, then pick something else. Effigy has pretty bad stability.

If you don't intend on blocking the majority of the fights, +15 is not necessary. I would say an elemental upgrade perhaps Magic or Fire.

Don't let your shield become a clutch.

Automancer wrote:If you don't intend on blocking the majority of the fights, +15 is not necessary. I would say an elemental upgrade perhaps Magic or Fire.

Don't let your shield become a clutch.

ALthough "not letting your shield become a crutch" is good advice for builds outside of tanks, it still doesn't justify upgrading the effigy shield outside the standard path imo.

Here's why.

Play with the Darkhand for awhile. It has 80/80/80/80 damage reductions, but only has 30 stability. You notice a difference.

Stability scales directly with how much stamina consumption you'll use in order to successfully block an attack. The lower stability, the more stamina you'll need to sacrifice to block the shot.

If a shield has 76 stability, and another shield has 45 stability, the difference in stamina drained is NOT 31. It scales by percentage. The percentage is directly related to your blocking tools stability and the total AR of your opponent.

An effigy shield upgraded to +10 fire (according to mugen) has a stability of 45 and a fire reduction of 84%. While that might seem like decent fire reduction, its misleading.

That means if your opponent is dealing 200 points of fire damage, a +10 fire effigy shield will block 14% more fire damage....is that worth it? 28 points of damage???? The answer is no. It is not.

You are much better off using the effigy at a standard +15 upgrade path. 56 stability as compared to 45 stability may not seem like a lot, but you'll feel the effects in game for sure.

If you're lucky enough to have the stats for the effigy, you should always use it at +15. If you need to quick swap shields, then I would do that instead of wasting the potential of having a shield that is highly effective against lightning weapons (which are still widely used).

Also, at +15, the effigy still has a 70% fire reduction, which is nothing to scoff at.

Lastly, the wiki states upgrading the effigy to +10enchanted/magic provides apprx 50% magic reduction...hardly worth it.

Use the shield the way it was intended, any other way, imo, is a waste.

Use the Darkhand for low stability shields. Otherwise, use a combination of the effigy, dragon crest, and crest. Learn to quick swap. That will be your best bet.

It may not be the best shield but.... It looks cool.

I don't like the effigy shield much, even at +15 the stability is pretty low, and in my experience most folks use chaos weapons these days after the lightning nerf. Even if you do run into lightning weapons, the chip damage from blocking them isn't much.

Consider a fire gargoyle shield +10 or a fire sunlight shield +10. Gargoyle weighs 1 more but is basically to fire (90 fire block, 85 phy) what effigy is to lightning (90 lightning block, 90 phy). Both have 56 stability. Sunlight also weighs 4, but gives you 100 phys block to go with 90 fire block, and 57 stability. I'll sometimes hotswap between +15 and elemental versions of the same shield, either gargoyle or sunlight, so the image doesn't even change on the screen, but you can pick between higher stability or resistances as needed.