Dragonfire shield

A dragonfire shield is an upgraded anti-dragon shield, and one of the best shields in the game behind the elysian spirit shield and Dinh's bulwark. Equipping it requires 75 Defence and having started Dragon Slayer I. It retains the same dragonfire protection as the anti-dragon shield and it also provides partial protection against the icy breath of wyverns, like the dragonfire ward, elemental shield, and mind shield.

When uncharged, it is tradeable and offers slightly more defensive bonuses than a mithril sq shield, however, each charge it gains increases melee defensive bonuses and the range defensive bonus by 1 for a total of +50 at maximum for those four defensive stats. To charge the shield, dragonfire needs to be absorbed from dragonfire or icy breath attacks while it is equipped. Bottled dragonbreath can also be used to charge the shield.

Up to a maximum of 50 charges, the shield will absorb one charge per adult dragon dragonfire attack and icy breath attack from wyverns, although it will still discharge dragonfire. Alternatively, the shield can be fully charged by using one bottled dragonbreath on it. Each charge increases its melee and Ranged defensive bonuses by 1, giving a maximum total bonus of +50 to melee and Ranged defensive bonuses on top of the shield's base defensive bonuses. Prior to getting all 50 charges, any dragonfire attack will cause the player to brace behind the shield, stalling the player from doing other actions, but not affecting attacks.

Quickly gaining charges requires a multi-combat zone with multiple metal dragons as they will always use dragonfire when at a distance. The best location for this is the iron and bronze dragons area in the Catacombs of Kourend. Avoid being in melee range and drink an antifire potion to avoid all damage from the dragons. Charging to full with this method will take less than a minute. Elvarg in a practice run of Nightmare Zone may also be used as a free and completely safe alternative.

Clicking the Inspect option, while the shield is in the inventory, can be used to check its current number of charges. For example, using Inspect on a fully charged shield would display the message The shield has 50 charges..

When blocking a dragonfire attack while the shield is fully charged, the message Your dragonfire shield is already fully charged. is displayed.

During Combat, right-click "activate" on the equipped dragonfire shield to expend one charge and unleash a blast of dragonfire at a target, hitting up to 25 damage. This attack has a cooldown of about 1 minute and 56 seconds, has a range of 10 tiles including over obstacles, after which the player will initiate a normal attack if possible.^[1] The accuracy roll is based on the player's Defence level, which is rolled against an opponent's Magic defence.^[2][3]

Each charge expended reduces the shield's melee and Ranged defensive bonuses by 1. The dragonfire attack mostly follows the standard rules for dragonfire; it will be less effective against a target that has dragonfire protection, such as a player that used an antifire potion and/or an anti-dragon shield. If the target has an anti-dragon shield equipped, the max hit of the dragonfire blast will be reduced to 3 points of damage, and can be reduced even further when combined with a dose of an antifire potion.^[4] The use of Protect from Magic does not help mitigate the damage of a dragonfire shield's discharge however.^[5]

Furthermore, the dragonfire attack will not work against chromatic dragons, metal dragons, wyverns, frost dragons, and some boss monsters.

A dragonfire shield can be drained of all charges at once by right-clicking the shield in the inventory and selecting Empty, releasing it all in a harmless burst. This is useful when selling or trading the shield, as it can only be traded when completely uncharged.