Talk:Medium Shields/@comment-101.185.91.232-20161109080141/@comment-4511886-20161109094218

Deflection refers to the amount of weapons that a shield will stop. There's low, medium and high deflection on most shields, although the Cracked Round Shield has no deflection whatsoever. Generally, but not always, low deflection will be on small shields, medium deflection on medium shields and high deflection on greatshields. I'm not sure how weapon deflections work, but if there is any difference, it most likely also relates to the weapon's size. Enemies also have deflection, although that seems to be based on enemy type, and not the specific shield they use.

Higher deflection will cause more weapon and enemy attacks to bounce off of your shield. This has the advantage that attacks that bounce off will deal significantly less damage, on top of the actual damage reduction, since the swing isn't completed. Heavier weapons, as well as heavier attacks (two-handing and/or using the heavy attack, for example), are more resistant to deflection, and many great-weapons can't be deflected no matter the deflection.

Higher deflection also has a drawback, since it makes it harder to counter attack due to the attack frames being cancelled alongside the animation. There's also no deflection in PvP.