- "A magical shield that when blocked with, surrounds it's wielder with a holy aura that harms the undead. Might come in handy."
- ―Florentius Baenius
The Dawnguard Rune Shield is a unique light shield and a variant of the Dawnguard Shield. The "sun-shield" effect is similar to Stendarr's Aura, and has similar effects; however, no benefit is gained by using both the shield and restoration spell simultaneously. Stendarr's Aura cancels out the effects from the Rune Shield.
Acquisition
It is obtained from a radiant location during the quest Lost Relic. Possible locations include:
Smithing
The Dawnguard Rune Shield can be upgraded at a workbench with a steel ingot and the Arcane Blacksmith perk, and also benefits from the Advanced Armors perk, which doubles the improvement.
Enchanting
The Dawnguard Rune Shield has a unique enchantment:
- Fortify Bash: 10 points (against vampires only)
- Sun-Shield: 10 points of damage (after a sustained period of blocking)
Using the sun-shield capability expends Stamina, and adds to the Destruction skill.
Bugs
360 If the Dragonborn switches to this shield via a shortcut in the favorites menu (i.e. left or right on the D-Pad), the enchantment will no longer work. A known fix for this is to unequip the shield and requip the shield. (Confirmed 360, PC and PS3 unknown).