Crystal shield (i)

The imbued crystal shield is a powerful degradable shield created by imbuing a Crystal shield at the Nightmare Zone. It offers the same defensive stats as a fully charged crystal shield, and unlike the crystal shield, its stats do not degrade as it loses charges.

To wield the imbued crystal shield, a player must have 70 Defence and 50 Agility, as well as the Roving Elves quest completed. It can be considered similar to the Barrows rewards due to its substantial power and pricey repair costs. The crystal shield's melee defence bonuses are comparable to those of a dragon square shield. However, its ranged defence bonus is the highest of any one-handed shield.

Once the crystal shield has reverted to a crystal seed, a player has the option of either buying a new crystal shield for the cost of 750,000 coins or having the seed converted back into a full shield or bow for a fee (See Recharging below).

Because it has to be repaired fairly often, and offers less melee protection than a Dragonfire shield, the crystal shield is generally used sparingly by players. However, it is still a more economical option in the short-term, especially when used in PvP scenarios.

Degrading
The imbued crystal shield degrades over time. After 250 hits taken, it degrades into a "Crystal shield 9/10 (i)", and thereafter for every 250 hits taken, it will degrade another 1/10th, until it reverts into a crystal seed after a total of 2,500 hits, and must be recharged before it can be used again. Due to being imbued, the stats of the imbued crystal shield do not deteriorate like its unimbued version. Once it reverts to a crystal seed, the imbued status of the shield is lost, and it must be imbued again once it has been recharged.

Taking non-combat damage splats also count against the shield's charges; for example, if you are pickpocketing an NPC and happen to fail, it counts against your shield's charges. Because of this, a low-charge shield can quickly be reverted to a seed by attempting to eat rock cake continuously.

Recharging
Ilfeen will recharge crystal seeds into crystal bows or crystal shields. She can be found teleporting back and forth between two clearings in Isafdar.

Initially, Ilfeen charges 750,000 coins to re-enchant a crystal seed into a crystal shield. However, the price is decreased by 150,000 coins each time Ilfeen re-enchants a seed for a player, in the following manner, until reaching the minimum recharge cost of 150,000 coins:

The amount that Ilfeen charges is dependent on the number of crystal seeds she has re-enchanted, not the number of crystal shields she has recharged. For example, a player who pays Ilfeen 750,000 coins to re-enchant a crystal seed into a crystal bow will only have to pay her 600,000 coins to recharge a seed into a crystal shield.