Overview
Paladin’s Shield is a hardmode accessory you can get in the Dungeon after defeating Plantera.
It works principally in multiplayer. Indeed, when the player equips it and has above 25% health, all the nearby teammates are affected by the Paladin’s Shield buff. This buff redirects 25% of the damage taken to the wearer of the Paladin’s Shield. The Paladin’s Shield also gives 6 defense and immunity to knockback, making it useful in single-player (but better choices are depending on your needs such as Ankh Shield or Worm Scarf).
The Paladin’s Shield effect range is 50 tiles. Meaning players who are at more than 50 tiles from you won’t be affected by the effect. This effect also splits the damage one time when the player with the Paladin’s Shield buff takes damage and another time when the player equipped with the Paladin’s Shield takes the redirected damage.
When the player takes damage from the redirection, it counts as if he was taking real damage, meaning it will trigger an invincibility frame, the Star Cloak effect will be triggered, etc…
You can combine the Paladin’s Shield with the Brand of the Inferno (an hardmode sword you get while the Old One’s Army event) to get the Striking Movement buff when you take damage from a redirection.
An additional thing to know is that if two players in your team are equipped with a Paladin’s Shield and someone takes damage, the damage will be redirected to the player closest to the one taking the damage. Paladin’s Shield doesn’t stack.
How to get the Paladin’s Shield
To get this accessory, you have to defeat some Paladins. You can drop it on them with a 9.33% chance (13.56% in expert or master).
Paladins are rare enemies found in the Dungeon after defeating Plantera. They are like mini-bosses as they have a lot of health and they do a lot of damage. They are also immune to knockback and they have a lot of defense. They throw hammer projectiles that can pass through blocks. They spawn mainly in the Dungeon area where there are Dungeon Brick Walls.
In the picture, you can see the difference between Slab Walls (on the right) and Brick Walls (on the left). Paladins spawn mainly on the left.
If you have a Lifeform Analyzer (you can purchase it from the Travelling Merchant for 5 Gold Coins) or one of its upgrades, you can detect Paladins. It’s the easiest way to find them because Paladins are rare, so you don’t want to miss one when he spawns.
There are no easy ways to kill them, but you can try to stay away from their line of sight as they mainly attack players they can see. To improve their spawn rate, you can drink a Battle Potion, or use Water Candles. But keep in mind these items will also increase the spawn rate of the other monsters, meaning it will perhaps become difficult to farm the Dungeon in such conditions.
If doing this is too hard (indeed, post-Plantera Dungeon is hard), you can try to build a kind of small Dungeon farm or Dungeon arena.
First, find an area with brick walls in a Dungeon’s corner. Then, try to remove all traps and shape the area by breaking Dungeon bricks with a powerful pickaxe so that it’s a big area where you can move and fight easily. Finally, just wait some time. Mobs should spawn (including Paladins) and you can fight them easily to get your Paladin’s Shield after killing a few Paladins.
Combining this with Water Candles and Battle Potions, you can farm a big quantity of Dungeon enemies and with some luck a big quantity of Paladins too.
Other uses
Paladin’s Shield is used in the recipes of two other accessories.
Frozen Shield
To get the Frozen Shield, you just have to combine the Paladin’s Shield and the Frozen Turtle Shell at a Tinkerer’s Workshop.
The Frozen Shield gives the same effect as the Paladin’s Shield and the Frozen Turtle Shell. You already know the Paladin’s Shield effect, and the one of the Frozen Turtle Shell is a buff giving you a 25% damage reduction as long as your health remains below or at 50%.
To know more about the Frozen Turtle Shell and how you can get it, check this article:
TURTLE SHELL: TOP THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW.
Hero Shield
To get the Hero Shield, you have to combine the Paladin’s Shield and the Flesh Knuckles at a Tinkerer’s Workshop.
The Hero Shield gives everything the Paladin’s Shield gives, but with more defense. Indeed, instead of giving 6 defense, this shield gives 10 defense. It also increases aggro, which is an invisible statistic that determines the distance at which enemies will begin to attack the player. It means enemies will be more willing to attack you.
To get the Flesh Knuckles, you have to farm Crimson Mimics as they have a 20% chance to drop this accessory. You can find Crimson Mimics in the Crimson Underground, or you can summon them using Keys of Night.
For more guides or tutorials, be sure to see our other articles as
THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ALL PRE-HARDMODE BOSSES IN TERRARIA or
SPECULAR FISH: A UNIQUE TERRARIA CRAFTING MATERIAL
