Wooden Shield

The Wooden Shield is a recurring shield in the Legend of Zelda series. As its name implies, this small shield is made of wood, and is often of inferior quality to other shields.

In some games, wooden shields are a type of shield that are flammable making them weak against fire though are strong against electricity due to wood being a natural insulator, though Wooden Shields may still appear as an items though are usually depicted as the most basic and among the weakest of shield made from wood.

Appearances

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons

In both games, the Wooden Shield serves as the default shield that Link carries. It can be optionally replaced with the Iron Shield in both games. It can also be replaced with the Mirror Shield when playing a Linked Game.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

The Wooden Shield an optional item. It is larger than the Ordon Shield and posesses a metal trim, but despite these visual differences, the two shields are functionally identical. If the Ordon Shield has been burned, a Wooden Shield can be purchased as a replacement from the Goron Shop in the Hot Spring or from the Malo Mart located in Kakariko Village. A Wooden Shield cannot be purchased if the Ordon Shield remains intact. This item could be considered a superfluous purchase, as the Wooden Shield becomes available at the same time as the Hylian Shield, a metal shield that will not burn. If one wishes to use a Wooden Shield regardless, it can be saved from burning by quickly putting the shield away when it is ignited, just like the Ordon Shield. In addition, there is one small, but somewhat helpful, benefit to using a Wooden Shield or the Ordon Shield instead of the Hylian Shield. Any enemy arrows that strike the shield will become stuck in it, and when Link puts the shield away, he will add any arrows stuck in the shield to his own stock. Arrows that strike the Hylian Shield will bounce off, so you cannot use the Hylian Shield to collect arrows.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Aside from a lobster symbol being engraved in the Wooden Shield, this shield is almost identical to the Hero's Shield from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. It is available for purchase from the Mercay Island Shop or the shop on Goron Island for the price of 80 Rupees. If the shield is powered up using ten Wisdom Gems, Link will take less damage from attacks and have the ability to stun weak enemies, such as Red ChuChus, with his shield. Unlike most other Wooden Shields, this shield cannot burn. This is the only shield in the game. The design of this Wooden Shield in Phantom Hourglass is also shared by the Shield of Antiquity from Spirit Track.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

The Wooden Shield is round, with a white bird claw emblem on it. Unlike in other games, the shield will break should it sustain too much damage, and Link will have to buy another. This can be prevented by bringing it to the Scrap Shop in the Bazaar or by using a Revitalizing Potion and repairing it before it breaks. The Wooden Shield can protect Link from electric based attacks but will burn if it comes in contact with fire. When on fire, the shield meter will quickly deplete. Link can save a Wooden shield from burning with a quick Spin Attack or roll. After obtaining the Bow from the Sandship, Link can use the Wooden Shield (and its upgrades) to block Arrows fired by Bokoblin Archers, allowing him to collect them when they become lodged in his shield.

A Wooden Shield can also be upgraded to a more durable Banded Shield at the Bazaar. The upgrade costs 30 Rupees along with two Amber Relics, one Monster Claw, and one Jelly Blob.

Moblins also wield large square wooden shields which Link can cut with his sword until it becomes unusable causing the Moblin to discard it leaving them more open to attack though Moblins become more aggressive to make up for the lose of their shield.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Shield

"This lightweight, simple shield is ideal for less-experienced fighters. It can withstand light attacks, but blocking stronger blows is not recommended."

— Hyrule Compendium

The wooden shield is a round shield from Breath of the Wild featuring an eight-pointed star design. It has a base defense rating of 2. Like the wooden shields in Skyward Sword, it will break if it takes too much damage, and it cannot be repaired. It will start burning if exposed to fire or high volcanic temperatures in areas such as the Death Mountain, but it will not attract lightning during thunderstorms. It is the weakest wooden shield after the Pot Lid in terms of defense and durability while Boko Shield has the lowest durability despite having higher base defense than both the Wooden Shied and Pot Lid. Link can also use it to shield surf though its low durability makes it unsuitable for serious shied surfing or surfing on rough terrain, thus it is best used to Sand Seal surf as the desert sand does not effect Shield durability when Sand Seal surfing. Despite its low durability, legendary shield surfer Selmie has one on display in her cabin.

One spawns inside the enemy campfire located in the ruins of the Equestrian Riding Course near Hateno Tower, in the East Necluda region, though nearby enemies may pick it up and use it if alerted to Link's presence. Another can be found in a campsite on Firly Plateau.

Shield Type

The eponymous Wooden Shields are not the only shields made of wood in Breath of the Wild, as the Boko Shield, Dragonbone Boko Shield, Emblazoned Shield, Fisherman's Shield, Forest Dweller's Shield, Hunter's Shield, Kite Shield, Pot Lid, Shield of the Mind's Eye, Soldier's Shield, Spiked Boko Shield, and Traveler's Shield all are either made of wood or have wood in their construction that makes them flammable, though due to their wooden construction they do not attract lightning during thunderstorms. Like in Skyward Sword, Arrows shot by enemies will become lodged in wooden shields allowing him to use them to collect arrows shot by enemies, though like in Skyward Sword this will reduce their durability though they cannot be repaired in Breath of the Wild. Some of these wooden shields are wielded by enemies allowing Link to use the shield's flammability again them by lighting the shield on fire provided it is not raining (this is only a problem in outdoor areas). Forest Dweller's Shields are among the strongest of all wooden shields in terms of base durability and base defense, while Boko Shields have the lowest base durability and Pot Lids have the weakest base defense though have higher base durability than Boko Shields.

Armed Hylian travelers tend to wield this type of shield though interestingly their shields will not burn if hit with fire and can actually survive being hit by Fire Arrows and fire elemental weapons. The same applies to any wooden shield on display in Selmie's Spot and the Forest Dweller's Shield that the Korok Damia has on display in Korok Forest for "The Test of Wood" though it will burn when used during said Korok trial. Additionally despite Rusty Shields being metallic feeding one to a Rock Octorok may cause it to be refreshed as a shied made of primarily out of wood. However presumably age and rusting of a wooden shied's minor metal components may have effected the wood's chemical makeup making its chemical composition more metallic causing it to lose its flammabiliity and insulating properties though presumably Rock Octorock's somehow reverse this process through chemicals within their bodies that cause rusty equipment to be restored to its original form.

Other appearances

Hyrule Warriors

In the games opening cutscene, Link briefly wields a square Wooden Shield while training with one of the other cadets. He uses it to skillfully block an attack from the cadet's wooden spear, allowing him to counter attack with his Wooden Sword. This shield and Wooden Sword only appear in the opening cutscene and cannot be obtained.

See also

• Banded Shield
• Braced Shield
• Deku Shield
• Ordon Shield