Board Thread:Dark Souls/@comment-10209824-20130531173141/@comment-667748-20130601091721

Greatsields are viable for PVE, but 2 of them really stand out (IMO):
 * The Eagle Shield, whose stability reaches 84, for the low low weight of 6. It "only" has 95% phy protection though.
 * The greatshield of artorias: Weighing in at 16 (medium weight for a GS), it will give you the massive stability of 88. With this little baby, you can tank literally any boss, and any status effect. You can block Manus with this. Capra demons' strike will bounce off of you.

The other greatshields are really situational: Black Iron Greatshield vs fire (for example Gwyn), or Havel/stone vs magic (Kalameet).

In any case all Greatshields are mostly situational. While I enjoy using them against bosses (my play style works for me), a standard shield is much better vs standard creep.