Spartan Shields — Guide

Shield Types: Standard vs Tower

The mod splits its shields into two families that look and behave differently.

Standard shields - the everyday blocking tools. They are the same shape and speed as the vanilla shield but come in every material tier, with rising durability and protection. Most of your shields will be standard shields.
Tower Shields - taller, heavier shields that offer stronger protection and higher durability than a standard shield of the same material. In exchange they are bulkier to carry. Their standout feature is that they can be decorated with banners (see the Banners section), so they can display a custom crest or emblem.

Each shield shows its Max Protection value in its tooltip, so you can hover over two shields and instantly compare which one blocks more before you commit to crafting or carrying it.

Material Tiers

Shields are made across a wide range of materials. Higher tiers give more durability and better blocking, and the mod also supports metals added by other mods so your shields can match a modded playthrough.

Vanilla-based tiers (low to high):

Wood - the Crude Wooden Shield, the starting point and the base for nearly every other shield.
Stone - a cheap early upgrade over wood.
Copper - an early-mid tier metal shield.
Iron - a reliable mid-game shield with solid durability.
Gold - a decorative gilded tier; some gold-based shields carry special effects.
Diamond - a high-tier shield with strong durability and blocking.
Netherite - the strengthened top tier of the vanilla-material shields.
Obsidian - the Bulky Obsidian Shield, with enormous durability and blocking power, at the cost of slowing you down while it is equipped.

Modded-material tiers: if you play with tech or magic mods, the mod adds shields for common modded metals and alloys such as bronze, steel, silver, lead, and other materials, so your shield can match those tiers too. Modded shields only appear when the mods that add their materials are installed.

Decorating Tower Shields with Banners

The signature feature of Tower Shields is that you can print a banner onto them, giving each shield a personal crest.

How to apply a banner:

Craft or find a Tower Shield (a Wooden Tower Shield is the easiest to make first).
Make a banner with the pattern and colours you want, using the normal banner and loom crafting.
Combine the Tower Shield and the banner in a crafting grid. The banner's design is transferred onto the shield face.

The result is a Tower Shield that carries your flag, emblem, or team colours into battle. This is purely cosmetic - it does not change the shield's protection - but it is a great way to mark allies, factions, or your own personal look.

Elemental & Special Shields

Several shields do more than block - they have on-block effects that trigger when you successfully guard an attack.

Silver Gilded / Silver shields - when an undead mob (such as a zombie or skeleton) hits you while you are blocking, the shield damages that mob in return. Silver shields turn defence into an anti-undead weapon, which is very strong on horde-heavy nights and in dungeons. Their tooltip reads "On Block: Damages Undead mobs".
Bulky Obsidian Shield - trades mobility for raw protection: it has huge durability and blocking power but slows your movement while equipped. Good for holding a line, less good for chasing.
Other material shields - many tiers carry their own protection values and small effects; always check a shield's tooltip for its Max Protection and any listed on-block behaviour before choosing it for a fight.

Match the shield to the threat: silver against the undead, the heaviest shields when you expect to take big hits, and lighter tiers when you need to stay mobile.

Shield Bash

Beyond blocking, the mod lets you bash with your shield, turning it into a short-range offensive tool.

A shield bash shoves and damages an enemy in front of you, useful for creating space, interrupting an attacker, or finishing a weakened mob.
The bash pairs with the mod's enchantments: Firebrand sets the bashed target on fire, and Payback stores blocked damage to make your next bash hit harder.

Use the bash to break out of being surrounded, to knock an enemy off a ledge, or to trade a defensive stance for a quick counter-attack.

Tips

Compare Max Protection. Hover over shields to read their Max Protection value and pick the strongest one you can afford to carry.
Carry a silver shield for the undead. On mob-heavy nights or in dungeons, a Silver Gilded Shield damages zombies and skeletons that hit your guard.
Save the Bulky Obsidian Shield for standing your ground. Its huge protection is worth the slowdown when you plan to hold a position rather than chase.
Enchant for a counter-attacking build. Spikes plus Payback and Firebrand turns blocking into a way to hurt attackers, not just survive them.
Use Tower Shields for a personal crest. Apply a banner to a Wooden or metal Tower Shield to carry your own emblem or team colours.
Upgrade from an undamaged shield. Combine a full-durability shield with a better material so the upgraded shield keeps maximum durability.
Match modded metals. If you play with tech or magic mods, craft shields from their metals so your defence keeps pace with your modded gear.

Enchantments

Most shields can be enchanted at an Enchanting Table (or combined with enchanted books at an anvil), and the mod adds shield-specific enchantments that reward an aggressive, defensive playstyle:

Spikes - gives the shield a chance to reflect damage back onto any mob that hits it, so simply holding your guard can wear down attackers.
Firebrand - causes your shield bash to set the target on fire, adding burn damage to your counter-attacks.
Payback - absorbs a portion of blocked damage and stores it to boost the power of your next shield bash, so blocking a big hit powers up your retaliation.

Combined, these let you build a shield that not only survives incoming attacks but actively punishes whatever is attacking you.

Crafting & Upgrading

Shields are made and improved at a normal crafting table through a simple upgrade path.

Getting started:

Craft a Crude Wooden Shield - this is the base for almost every other shield. Craft a Wooden Tower Shield instead if you want to apply banners.
To make a stronger shield, place an undamaged shield in the crafting grid together with a better material (for example iron, diamond, or a modded metal). The shield upgrades into that material's tier.
Repeat the upgrade as you gather better materials, working up through stone, copper, iron, gold, diamond, netherite, and any modded tiers you have unlocked.

Because upgrades use an undamaged shield plus raw material, it is worth repairing or crafting a fresh shield before upgrading so you carry the new tier's full durability. To see exact recipes, open your recipe book or use a recipe-viewer mod such as JEI/EMI if you have one installed.