How to Get the Riot Shield in 99 Nights in the Forest

The Riot Shield is the only defensive item in 99 Nights in the Forest you hold rather than wear — and that single fact is where almost everyone goes wrong with it. It does not replace your armor. It stacks on top of it.

Last verified: 2026-09-30.

Quick Answer

What It Actually Does — Read This Part

Three things are stated the same way by every source that covers the shield, so treat them as fact:

1. It reduces the damage you take — but only while it is raised. Held down, the shield absorbs a large share of incoming hits. Lowered or stowed, it does nothing.
2. It blocks arrows outright. The fandom wiki is explicit: it "blocks all arrows shot at its holder." This is the shield's single best feature, and it is why it counters the ranged enemies in the game.
3. It works in tandem with your armor. The shield is a held item, not a body slot, so a Riot Shield plus an Iron Body or Thorn Body is the intended combination — not a choice between them.

The frontier of the protection is your front. Sources that go into detail describe the reduction as covering the direction you are facing, which means anything that gets behind you — the Deer, Bears, a flanking Wolf — lands at full damage. The shield makes you durable going forward, not durable in a circle.

And the rule that catches people out: you cannot attack with any weapon while holding the shield. This is stated plainly by the fandom wiki and it is the whole tactical shape of the item. You raise it to survive a window, then drop it to swing. If you try to hold it permanently, you are a very tough player who never kills anything.

A practical detail worth knowing: when you are not using it, put the shield in your backpack. A held item occupies a hotbar slot, and sources describe experienced players losing firepower because a shield sat in hand "just in case."

How to Get It

There are two routes, and they are independent — you never have to do both.

Route 1 — Ruby Chests

The Riot Shield is a possible drop from Ruby Chests. Sources that list its locations name the Ruby Chest first. Ruby Chests are the mid-high chest tier; the most repeatable supply of them is the Cultist Stronghold loop, which is also where the Cultist Gems for the crafting route come from. The full farming loop, including how the Stronghold resets, is on Cultist Stronghold.

It is a loot roll, not a guarantee — a Ruby Chest that can drop a Riot Shield can also drop other equipment. Expect to open several.

Route 2 — Craft It at the Tool Workshop

The shield is one of the Tool Workshop's exclusive recipes. Craft it at the Anvil inside the Tool Workshop — the large stone-brick building with vines and an anvil icon on the map. That is the same station that builds the Infernal Helmet and the Chainsaw, so the setup work is identical. For the build itself, see How to Get the Chainsaw.

To use the Anvil you first have to assemble it: defeat the cultists guarding the building, collect the anvil pieces scattered across its floors, and place them on the blueprint.

The Recipe

Every source that publishes a Riot Shield recipe publishes the same one:

The 25 Scrap is the real cost, not the gems. Four Cultist Gems is a short Stronghold run, but 25 Scrap means feeding a lot of metal into the Grinder first. If Scrap is your bottleneck, How to Get Scrap covers the fastest sources and which junk items grind into the most.

Give yourself a margin on the pelts: take 6–8 Wolf Pelts and 8 Bunny Feet rather than exactly 6 each, because those two come from small mobs you kill incidentally and running one short after a workshop run is a wasted trip.

This Is Not a Weapon — the Mistake to Avoid

It is easy to file the Riot Shield next to the Morningstar or the Ice Sword because it is craftable at the same bench as the workshop weapons. It is not one.

• It deals no damage. There is no attack while it is raised.
• It is not a body armor. It does not go in the armor slot, which is exactly why it stacks with the armor you are already wearing.
• Its job is to buy a window, not to fight. You raise it to cross open ground under arrow fire, to open a chest in a storm, or to close distance on a ranged enemy — then you drop it and swing.

Because of that, the shield's best partner is a slow melee weapon. The Morningstar is the classic example: its one-second swing roots you in place, and the shield covers exactly that gap. If you are a ranged player, the shield is far less useful to you.

Is It Worth Building?

Yes, for anyone playing melee or acting as the team's tank. It is the difference between advancing under a Cultist Crossbow volley and dying to it, and it works from the moment you craft it. In multiplayer, one player holding a shield and drawing aggro makes the whole fight easier for everyone else.

Skip it if you only fight at range. The 25 Scrap and four gems are better spent elsewhere, and a shield you never raise is just a hotbar slot you cannot use.

One honest limit: the shield reduces damage, it does not remove it, and it does nothing for your back. It softens mistakes — it does not make you invincible. See Best Weapons for what to pair it with, and All Classes if you are picking a class around a tanky frontline role.

FAQ

Is the Riot Shield a weapon? No. You cannot attack while holding it, and it deals no damage. It is a defensive held item.

Does it replace my armor? No — that is the point. It is held, not worn, so it stacks with whatever body armor you have on. Riot Shield plus Thorn Body or Iron Body is the intended setup.

Can I just hold it all the time? You can, but you will not kill anything. Raise it for the dangerous window, then stow it and fight. When you are not using it, keep it in your backpack so it does not eat a hotbar slot.

Does it stop arrows? Yes — all arrows fired at the holder, per the fandom wiki. That is its strongest use against ranged enemies.

Can I get it without crafting? Yes. It is a Ruby Chest drop as well as a Tool Workshop recipe, so a lucky chest can save you the 25 Scrap entirely.

Does it protect my back? No. The reduction covers the front. Enemies that flank you — the Deer, Bears, Wolves — hit at full damage.

Sources

Checked 2026-09-30. The recipe — 4 Cultist Gem, 4 Bear Pelt, 6 Wolf Pelt, 6 Bunny Foot, 25 Scrap — is identical across five independent sources (Of Zen and Computing's crafting list, its companion workshop guide, Moyens I/O, Sixstoreys and Rosenberry Rooms), which is why it is stated without hedging; the two named game wikis (fandom and the Miraheze wiki) list the shield's sources as Ruby Chests and the Workshop, and both describe it as working "in tandem with other Armors," independently confirming the stacking behaviour. The core mechanics — held-state damage reduction, blocking all arrows, and the rule that you cannot attack while holding it — come from the fandom Riot Shield page, with the held-state reduction also stated by the Miraheze items list. The frontal-only caveat and the tactics (advance under shield, shield-then-strike) come from InfoBytes' strategy guide and are how every hands-on description frames it, so the page presents it as the working reading rather than a stat line. The specific claim that it stacks with Thorn Armor by name is that same single source and is treated as illustrative, not fixed. The note about stowing the shield to free a hotbar slot is a fandom tip.

Related Pages

• How to Get the Morningstar — the slow melee weapon the shield exists to cover
• Best Weapons — where the shield's melee partners sit in the tiers
• How to Get Scrap — the real bottleneck in the recipe
• Cultist Stronghold — Ruby Chests and Cultist Gems in one loop
• How to Get the Infernal Helmet — the other defensive craft at the same anvil
• How to Get the Thorn Body — the armor this shield is usually paired with in a melee build
• All Classes — whether a tanky frontline role is worth it for you