Shields (Skyrim)

Shields are pieces of armor held in the hand to deflect blows from weapons or unarmed attacks. Available in both heavy and light variants, the shield is favored by many warriors and other offensive classes.

The effectiveness of shields is governed by the Block skill and the corresponding armor type -- Light or Heavy. All three contain customizable perk trees. When allocated with the right perks, shields are able to block not only direct melee attacks, but also incoming arrows, power attacks, and even fire, frost, and shock damage. Their bash ability can be used to stagger and even knock down opponents.

Enchanting
The following is a list of enchantments that can be applied to shields.

Bugs

 * For certain enchanted shields, such as Spell Breaker, power attacks will sometimes not work; they will take up no stamina, and not do the damage that the attack would normally do.
 * When a shield is dropped, there is a chance that whenever a follower picks it up it will respawn.