Description
A Shield is temporary HP that sits on top of a unit's real Health.
Damage hits the shield first. The unit's real Health is only touched once the shield is gone.
Listed in: Buffs, Team buffs
Items that grant or benefit from Shields (11)
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- +20 MR
- +18% AD
- +18% AP
- +20% Omnivamp
Once per combat at 50% Health, gain a 30% max Health Shield that lasts up to 5 seconds.
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- +100 HP
- +20 Armor
- +20% AP
Combat start: Gain a 25% max Health Shield for 8 seconds. When the shield expires, gain 20% Ability Power.
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- +25 Armor
- +25 MR
- +1 Mana Regen
Combat Start: Gain 20 Mana. At 40% Health, gain 15 Mana and a Shield equal to 20% max Health.
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- +300 HP
- +45% AD
At 60% Health, gain a Shield equal to 40% of the wearer's maximum Health that rapidly decays over 4 seconds.
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- +40 MR
- +40% AD
- +40% AP
- +40% Omnivamp
Once per combat at 50% Health, gain a 60% max Health Shield that lasts up to 5 seconds.
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- +200 HP
- +40 Armor
- +40% AP
Combat start: Gain a 50% max Health Shield for 8 seconds. When the shield expires, gain 50% Ability Power.
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- +50 Armor
- +50 MR
- +2 Mana Regen
Combat Start: Gain 40 Mana. At 40% Health, gain 30 Mana and a Shield equal to 50% max Health
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- +600 HP
- +90% AD
At 60% Health, gain a Shield equal to 80% of the wearer's maximum Health that rapidly decays over 6 seconds.
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- +35% AP
- +1 Mana Regen
Combat start: Form a pact with the highest Health allied champion, If they die, gain 10 Mana regen and 40% Ability Power. When the ally uses their ability, gain 10 Mana. Every 6 seconds, shield your ally for 200% of the holder's Ability Power.
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- +500 HP
- +2 Mana Regen
Shields have 40% of their value converted to max Health instead.
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- +55 Armor
- +55 MR
Every 3 seconds, Shields the lowest percent Health ally for 70% of the holder’s combined Armor and Magic Resist for 5 seconds. On death grants this shield to all allies.
Champions that grant Shields (13)
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13 shown · a team holds 10 — filter to 10 or fewer
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Defensive Sweep Slice the target for 160 / 240 / 425 physical damage and gain 60 / 90 / 200 Shield for 2 seconds. -
Bellows Breath Active: Gain 400 / 460 / 550 Shield for 4 seconds and deal 200 / 300 / 450 magic damage to enemies in a cone. Quest: Each player combat, Ornn stores damage blocked as Forge Power, increased by 85% at 3-star. Gain an Artifact Anvil each time he gains enough Forge Power. (Forge Power: ? / ?)
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Entrancing Dance Gain 290 / 340 / 435 Shield for 4 seconds. Then grant the ally who has dealt the most damage this combat 90 / 100 / 130% decaying Attack Speed for 4 seconds.
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Sun's Wrath Gain 315 / 412 / 567 Shield for 4 seconds. Then cleave in a cone, dealing 90 / 135 / 205 magic damage and strike in a line, dealing 120 / 180 / 270 magic damage to enemies hit.
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Ki Barrier Grant 375 / 450 / 575 Shield to Shen and 225 / 300 / 400 Shield to a nearby damaged ally for 4 seconds. Both of their next 3 attacks gain 40% Attack Speed and deal 35 / 55 / 80 bonus magic damage.
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Pale Barrier Gain 150 / 275 / 500 shield for 2 seconds and send out 6 moonlight orbs spread among enemies within 2 hexes, each dealing 75 / 115 / 180 magic damage. -
Rock and Roll Passive: On death, split into two Kruglettes with 182 / 338 / 608 Health which immediately taunt, forcing enemies to attack them. Active: Gain 175 / 225 / 325 max Health, then roll into the target, dealing 223 / 358 / 620 damage. Slate Buff: On death, Krug and Kruglettes Shield allies for 8% max Health.
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Defensive Ball Curl Taunt, forcing enemies to attack this champion. For 4 seconds, gain 400 / 550 / 700 Shield and 60 Armor and Magic Resist. When the Shield breaks, deal 50 / 75 / 120 physical damage to enemies in 2 Hexes. -
Petrified Bark Gain 700 / 850 / 2000 Shield for 4 seconds and become petrified. When the shield breaks, unleash a wave of dark energy, dealing 82 / 123 / 3399 magic damage to enemies within 2 / 2 / 3 hexes.
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Azure Shockwave Gain 480 / 684 / 2421 Shield for 4 seconds. Slam the ground, sending a fissure in the direction of the most enemies. Enemies hit are briefly knocked up, take 100 / 150 / 3500 magic damage, and are Mana Reaved for 10. Blue Buff: Each time Sentinel casts, allies gain 2 Mana Regen. Mana Reave: Increase the Mana cost of the next Ability cast.
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Triggerseed Passive: Shields from this Ability can critically strike with Precision. Active: Grant 2 / 2 / 10 allies 185 / 350 / 3000 Shield and 10 / 15 / 100% Damage Amp for 6 seconds. Then deal 155 / 235 / 2000 magic damage to enemies adjacent to them. After casting 6 times, also grant 100% stacking Attack Speed to targets.
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Firestorm Charge up, gaining 15% Ability Power per Burning enemy. Then, gain 230 / 300 / 3000 Shield for 2.5 seconds and rush through a nearby group of enemies, dealing 80 / 120 / 1500 magic damage to each. After rushing, unleash a 2 Hex firestorm that deals a total of 475 / 715 / 5000 magic damage split among all enemies hit over 2 seconds.
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Emerald Radiance Passive: The first time Taric or his paired ally drops below 50% Health, unleash emerald energy from both of them, granting 270 / 501 / 14212 Shield to allies within 3 Hexes for 3 / 3 / 99 seconds. Active: Restore 275 / 450 / 3000 Health. Taric and his paired ally deal 100 / 150 / 1000 bonus magic damage on their next 2 attacks.
Augments that grant Shields (4)
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Celestial Blessing III Prismatic Your team gains 25% Omnivamp. Excess healing is converted to a shield up to 1000 Health.
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Your team gains 18% Omnivamp. Excess healing is converted to a shield up to 400 Health.
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Infinity Protection Gold Gain 3 gold now. On Stage 3-7, gain an Infinity Force. Infinity Force gives allies in the same row a 12% Health shield. Monsters Attack Championship, 2023
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Celestial Blessing I Silver Your team gains 12% Omnivamp. Excess healing is converted to a shield up to 200 Health.
Traits that grant or benefit from Shields (3)
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Your team's damage, healing, and shielding attracts Pixies. Each Pixie grants Fae champions Attack Damage and Ability Power, and after they fall below 50% Health, they heal for each Pixie.
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Your champions gain a 5% max Health shield and deal 8% bonus magic damage. Gain additional bonuses for each unique 3-star champion: 1 : Increase shield and magic damage by 1% for each 3-star. 3 : 15% and 12 5 : Convert 40% of the bonus magic damage to true damage. 7 : Every 4 seconds of combat, a 3-star champion ascends to 4-star.
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At Combat Start and after dropping below 50% Health, Vanguards gain a max Health Shield for 10 seconds.
Wisps that benefit from Shields (6)
What benefits from Shield (6)
- Bark Armor Combat
Your champions gain 150 shield for 10 seconds.
- Barrier Combat
Allies gain 1250 Shield, decaying over 6 seconds.
- Bulwark Combat
Your Tanks gain a 20% Max Health shield upon falling below 50% Health.
- Fellowship Combat
Champions gain 4% Max Health Shield and 4% Damage Amp per adjacent ally.
- Petrify Shields Combat
10% Slow enemies and reduce their shields by 20% for 10 seconds.
- Plated Shields Combat
Shields are 15% stronger. Allies gain 150 shield for 10 seconds.
What counters Shield
Frequently asked questions
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What is a shield in TFT, and how is it different from Health?
A shield is a temporary pool of hit points on top of a unit's actual Health.
The shield takes incoming damage first. Damage only spills into the unit's HP once the shield is fully used up.
A shield has two independent properties:
- Strength is the amount of damage it can absorb.
- Duration is how long it lasts before it expires or decays away.
Note: A shield does not count as max Health for any %-Health calculation. Percent-HP damage, execute thresholds and heals all read the unit's actual HP, not HP plus shield.
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Do Armor and Magic Resist apply before or after a shield absorbs damage?
Before. Resistances apply first, then the shield takes what is left.
TFT inherits this from the League engine. The engine runs Armor or MR (Magic Resist) through the standard reduction formula on incoming damage. Only the reduced amount is then subtracted from the shield.
The practical result: shields are dramatically more efficient on units that already stack Armor and MR. Each point of shield absorbs damage that resistances already reduced.
Example: A 200-point shield on a unit with 100 MR effectively soaks 400 raw magic damage before any HP is touched.
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Do shields block true damage and Burn ticks?
Normal shields block both. Type-restricted shields do not.
A normal shield is the default kind, shown as a greyish-white overlay. It absorbs every damage type, including true damage. Burn is dealt as %-max-Health true damage every second. A normal shield eats those ticks until it is used up or expires.
Type-restricted shields work differently:
- A magic shield (purple) only absorbs magic damage.
- A physical shield (orange) only absorbs physical damage.
- Neither blocks true damage.
Note: Most TFT shields you will meet are the normal type.
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When a unit has multiple shields at once, do they add together or take damage one at a time?
It depends on the source.
Multiple copies of the same shield item generally stack additively. Three copies of a 25%-max-Health shield item start the unit with a 75%-max-Health shield pool.
Shields from different sources active at the same time do not merge into one bar. TFT inherits the League engine rule here: damage goes to the shield with the shortest remaining duration first.
Note: A few trait-granted shields are explicitly tagged as non-stacking on the trait's tooltip. Those overwrite one another instead of adding up. Always read the trait text.
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Does anti-heal (Grievous Wounds) reduce shield strength?
No. Anti-heal does not touch shields.
Wound (also called Grievous Wounds or anti-heal) in TFT reduces self-healing and incoming healing by a percentage. Shields are a separate mechanic and are not affected. A unit covered in Wound still receives the full shield value from any source.
Note: This is exactly why shield-heavy frontlines stay durable against teams that lean entirely on Wound to deny sustain. The answer to a stacked-shield team is shield-specific tools, for example flat damage amp against shielded targets. Anti-heal is not the answer.
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What amplifies shield strength? Is there a heal-and-shield-power stat in TFT?
Yes, but not as a stat. Shield-power amplification exists in TFT.
The game delivers it through trait synergies and specific effects, not a generic stat slot on the unit sheet. Support-style traits apply a tiered multiplier to the outgoing shields the unit grants. These are the traits whose tooltip explicitly says "healing and shielding are stronger".
Note: The exact size, and which traits carry the keyword, shift by set and patch. Always read the active trait's tooltip for the current value.
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What's the difference between a shield that "lasts X seconds" and one that "rapidly decays over X seconds"?
A duration shield keeps its full strength until the timer runs out. A decaying shield loses strength the whole time it is up.
Example: A duration shield of 25%-max-Health for 8 seconds absorbs up to 25% max HP at any point in those 8 seconds. Any leftover value is wiped when the timer ends.
Example: A decaying shield of 40%-max-Health that rapidly decays over 4 seconds is ~30% strong after one second. It is ~20% after two, and so on.
Note: Decaying shields are tuned around emergency-trigger items. The design goal there is a short panic-button burst, not sustained protection.
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How do you actually counter a shield-heavy frontline?
Shield-counter tools split into three classes.
- Damage amp against shielded targets. Items and effects whose tooltip reads "deal X% more damage to shielded enemies" punch straight through the shield while it is up.
- Sustained or burst output that simply outpaces the shield's strength plus duration. A shield that absorbs 800 damage does not matter against 2000 damage of follow-up.
- %-max-HP true damage (Burn). Shields do absorb each tick, but Burn ignores Armor/MR. So the units behind the shield can't lean on resistances to multiply their effective HP further.