The crystal shield is a powerful shield available after a player completes the Roving Elves quest, and a possible reward from this quest along with the Crystal bow. To wield the crystal shield, a player must have 70 Defence and 50 Agility, as well as the Roving Elves quest completed. It can be considered similar to the Barrows rewards due to its substantial power and pricey repair costs. The Crystal shield is especially good against Ranged attacks.
Once the crystal shield has reverted to a crystal seed, a player has the option of either buying a new crystal shield for the cost of 750,000 coins or having the seed converted back into a full shield or bow for a fee (See Recharging below). Because of its short degrading time, costly repairs, and medicore Melee Defence stats in comparison to the Dragonfire shield, the Crystal shield is generally used sparingly by players. However, it is still a more economical option in the short-term, especially when used in PvP scenarios.
Degrading
The crystal shield degrades over time. However, after 250 times of taking damage, it degrades into a "Crystal shield 9/10", and thereafter for every 250 times of damage taken, it will degrade another 1/10th, until it reverts into a crystal seed after a total of 2,500 times of damage taken.
As the shield degrades the negative Magic and Ranged attack bonuses remain the same while the positive bonuses decrease as shown below.
| Condition | Defence Bonus | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Range | ||
| Full | +51 | +54 | +53 | +80 | |
| 9/10 | +49 | +52 | +51 | +78 | |
| 8/10 | +47 | +50 | +49 | +76 | |
| 7/10 | +45 | +48 | +47 | +74 | |
| 6/10 | +43 | +46 | +45 | +72 | |
| 5/10 | +41 | +44 | +43 | +70 | |
| 4/10 | +39 | +42 | +41 | +68 | |
| 3/10 | +37 | +40 | +39 | +66 | |
| 2/10 | +35 | +38 | +37 | +64 | |
| 1/10 | +33 | +36 | +35 | +62 | |
However, if your shield is imbued (from the Nightmare Zone), your shield will remain the same stats as a full shield as it degrades. If you imbue a crystal shield that has already degraded to 9/10 or below, the defence bonuses will go back up as if it were a full 10/10 shield.
An interesting thing to note is that if you are pickpocketing somebody and happen to fail, the amount they hit you for also counts against your shield's charges. Thus, pickpocketing is an effective way to degrade your crystal shield. However the best method to remove the shield's charges is eating rock cake continuously.
Recharging
Ilfeen will recharge crystal seeds into crystal bows or crystal shields. She can be found teleporting back and forth between two clearings in Isafdar.
Initially, Ilfeen charges 750,000 coins to re-enchant a crystal seed into a crystal shield. However, the price is decreased by 150,000 coins each time Ilfeen re-enchants a seed for a player, in the following manner, until reaching the minimum recharge cost of 150,000 coins:
| Enchantment | Cost for re-enchantment |
|---|---|
| First | 750,000 |
| Second | 600,000 |
| Third | 450,000 |
| Fourth | 300,000 |
| Fifth and thereafter | 150,000 |
The amount that Ilfeen charges is dependent on the number of crystal seeds she has re-enchanted, not the number of crystal shields she has recharged. For example, a player who pays Ilfeen 900,000 coins to re-enchant a crystal seed into a crystal bow will only have to pay her 600,000 coins to recharge a seed into a crystal shield.
