How to Make a Shield in Minecraft?

In Minecraft, players can craft a variety of items to help them survive the attacks of hostile mobs.

A shield, for example, is highly valuable in combat.

It'll protect you from enemy melee attacks and block incoming arrows.

In this guide, we'll teach you how to make a shield and use it effectively to rule supreme in Minecraft.

Let's get started!

What Can You Do With a Minecraft Shield?

The shield's primary function is defense.

When using it to block from the front, the player doesn't sustain damage. Instead, the shield takes durability damage if hit with an attack of three or stronger.

It's effective against all melee attacks, besides from mobs or players who wield axes.

As for projectiles, the shield deflects normal, tipped, and spectral arrows. Moreover, the carried status effects don't pass through in Java.

There is only one Minecraft shield recipe and, as a result, a single type of shield. Once you craft it, you will gain protection from:

• Flaming arrows, fireballs, and ghast fireballs without the burning affecting you
• Snowballs, eggs, llama spit, and pufferfish spine thrown at you
• Shulker bullets without the levitation effect passing to you
• Creeper explosions, TNT lit by another player, and bee stings
• A ravager's headbutts, but you'll still be knocked back about three blocks
• Guardians beam attacks but only by 50%

The Minecraft shields aren't helpful against:

• Arrows shot from a crossbow with the Piercing enchantment
• Status effects from splash or lingering potions
• Evokers' fangs and breath from the ender dragon
• TNT lit by the player

There are two ways to obtain a shield — craft or buy one.

You may only purchase a shield from a journey-level armorer villager for five emeralds as their six trade.

However, the chance of that happening is two in five in Java and one in three in Bedrock.

How to Make a Shield in Minecraft?

The basic shield crafting recipe is straightforward, requiring a few easy-to-find resources.

1. Collect Wood, Iron, and Fuel

You can find trees pretty much everywhere around you.

Just chop them down to get wood.

For iron, you'll have to mine underground and look for blocks with pinkish specks.

Lastly, wood, coal, or charcoal will power up your furnace.

2. Make Planks and an Ingot

Turn the wood into planks by placing them in your crafting menu. You'll need six of them to make a shield.

Then, put the iron ore in the top slot of a furnace and the fuel below it to smelt it into an ingot. 

3. Follow the Minecraft Shield Recipe

Now that you have the materials, place them in the following configuration on the crafting table:

1. One plank in the first and third slots of the first row and the iron ingot in the middle
2. Three planks on the second row
3. One plank in the middle of the third row

How to Use a Shield in Minecraft?

You can place the shield in your off-hand slot and hold a weapon in your other hand.

You have to right-click in Java or sneak in Bedrock to block with a shield.

It'll deflect attacks coming from the direction the player is facing.

You can also hit with it by left-clicking on a target.

If you need to repair it, you may either combine two shields in the drafting grid or use an anvil.

How to Enchant a Shield?

To enhance your shield, you'll have to combine it with an enchanted book using an anvil.

The available shield enchantments for Survival mode are:

• Curse of Vanishing — to make the shield disappear after you are killed.
• Unbreaking III — to increase the shield's durability.
• Mending I — to repair the shield using XP points.

How to Customize Your Shield?

In Minecraft, you can also add colors or patterns to your shield to give it a little more personality.

For that, you'll need a banner, loom, dye, and, optionally, a banner pattern.

To make a banner:

1. Place six wool blocks of any color in all slots of the first and second row of the crafting grid
2. Add a stick to the middle of the third row

To craft a loom:

1. Put one string in the first and second slots of the second row of the crafting grid
2. Place one plank of any type in the first and second slots of the third row

To make a Minecraft banner pattern for your shield, you'll need to combine paper and a particular material in the crafting grid. You can choose from:

• Paper and an enchanted golden apple to get the former Mojang Studios logo
• Paper and a wither skeleton skull to get a skeleton skull and crossbones pattern
• Paper and a creeper head to get a creeper face design
• Paper and an Oxeye Daisy to get a flower print
• Paper and bricks to get a field masoned pattern in Bedrock edition only
• Paper and vines to get a bordure indented design in Bedrock edition only

Once you have everything, to make a custom shield, place the loom on the ground and open it. 

1. Put in the banner and dye of your choice to personalize the banner using the available options

1. Add a banner pattern if you want to make even more elaborate designs.
2. Place the banner you created next to the shield in the crafting grid to combine them.

If you set up your own server, you can add customizations, invite your friends in, and show off your new shield designs.

To Wrap Up

Now you know how to make a shield in Minecraft and use it to your advantage in combat.

You can also enchant it to enhance its characteristics and customize its appearance in any way you want.

So get out there and start exploring the world, protected by your very own shield!