Board Thread:Dark Souls II/@comment-28661852-20160611172634/@comment-70.172.201.28-20160802054422

Depending on what type of elemental defense you're worried about you should consider the Gyrm Greatshield from Doors of Pharros. It's the only greatshield in the game that has the same stability as Havel's shield but upgrades with regular titanite (for another 5 stability points), and comes with 100 percent fire damage resistance. Using the baneful bird ring can net you a total of 85 stability which makes some boss fights like Velsdat hysterically easy to simply shield your way through. Along with the chloranthy ring +1 from the shaded woods and stamina loss is pretty negligible.

Also upgrading vitality will allow you to reach a lower equip load % which will also help with stamina regeneration, making this probably the easiest shield setup I've ever used.