Shield (HD)

Type:	Melee Weapon
Function:	• Crushing enemies and items. • Blocking damage.
Source:	Dropped by The Black Knight
Damage:	• Instant Kill (Wall Crush) • 1 (Thrown)
Weight:	Heavy

The Shield is a powerful melee weapon that can be used both offensively and defensively, capable of killing enemies whilst blocking incoming damage.
It can only be found in The Haunted Castle, carried by the Black Knight who will drop it when killed or stunned.

Functionality

The shield is carried in the hands when picked up, and will automatically block nearly all forms of damage incoming from the front, including contact damage, projectiles, Tiki Traps, and even psychic attacks (such as those from Anubis or the Alien Overlord), but offers no protection from above, below, or behind, and does not protect against explosions.

Enemies that contact the shield will not deal damage to you, allowing you to shove them backwards. By crushing them against a wall, they will be killed instantly and leave no corpse. Even large enemies may be pushed and crushed to death, such as the Mummies, Anubis, Mammoths and even Old Bitey can be killed in this way! Unfortunately, the shield does not interact with the Alien Queen.

Be careful, however, as you can also crush Damsels and items in this fashion, including treasure. Usually this prevents you from collecting the treasure, but not always, so it is not recommended for the 'Low Scorer' achievement. However, simply pushing the treasure without crushing it is of course a good idea—just be careful not to fall onto treasure from above.

Crushing explosive items (such as a bomb, fire frog, mine, or jetpack) will cause it to explode and kill you immediately. Do not even drop a bomb while close to a wall if you are holding the shield. It may get instantly crushed and kill you.

Hired hands that pick up a shield can push you around with it and kill you with it. Don't let them pick it up.

The shield will also reflect projectile attacks, such as bullets from a Shotgun, the Mummy's fly swarm attack and thrown objects, potentially dealing damage to the attacker.

This makes the shield very effective against Mummies and angry Shopkeepers, but be aware that this is also applies to yourself when fighting the Black Knight, making the Shotgun a risky and ineffective weapon to use against him. Although Shopkeepers can't shoot you when protected by the shield, remember that they are still capable of hurling you if they can get close enough to grab you.

In a pinch, the Shield can also be thrown at enemies to damage them, but does not travel far unless the Spelunker also has the Pitcher's Mitt. This only deals one point of damage, but is useful against flying enemies or when the terrain is unsuitable for a wall crush.

The shield can also be used to stall Olmec's descent. It cannot stop him from doing a downward stomp, but if he is falling at regular speed and the shield is placed beneath him, it will prevent him from falling the rest of the way until you move.

Bugs

• The shield will get out of place when being pushed against a Pushable Block in an Entrance/Exit platform.
• If one player or Hired Hand holds the shield while is being grabbed by another player, walking against a wall will cause the player not holding the shield to get inside of the wall, and the second player to go through it, this can effectively be a way to get through walls with no resources at the cost of one player's life.
  • If this is done with the Ankh while a Hired Hand is holding the Shield, the Hired Hand will be duped with the Shield, effectively having two Shields in the same run.