Dragonfire ward

The dragonfire ward is a ranged shield requiring a Ranged level of 70 and a Defence level of 75 to equip, as well as having started Dragon Slayer.

The ward offers two special characteristics: it acts like a regular anti-dragon shield in terms of dragonfire protection, and it also protects against the icy breath of Wyverns, similar to the elemental, mind, ancient wyvern, and dragonfire shields.

Creation
The dragonfire ward is created by attaching a skeletal visage to an anti-dragon shield at any anvil. The process requires 90 Smithing and a hammer, giving 2,000 Smithing experience and an uncharged dragonfire ward. Players who do not have the required Smithing level to make the ward can go to Oziach in Edgeville, who will smith the ward for any player at a cost of 1,250,000 coins.

The skeletal visage is dropped exclusively by Vorkath.

Charging
As it absorbs the dragonfire attacks of adult dragons, the dragonfire ward builds charges. The ward can also be charged by absorbing the breath attacks of wyverns, although it will still discharge dragonfire. Each breath attack gives the ward one charge, and each charge increases its Melee and Ranged defensive bonuses by +1. The ward can hold up to 50 charges, giving a total bonus of +50 to Melee and Ranged defences, in addition to the ward's base Defence bonuses. The Check option, while the ward is in the inventory, can be used to check its current number of charges.

The quickest and easiest way to charge an uncharged dragonfire ward is using a vial of powered bottled dragonbreath on it.

Other fast ways include being attacked by dragons rapidly. Metal dragons use only dragonfire when they are at a distance, making them optimal; iron and bronze dragons in Catacombs of Kourend are located in a multi-combat area, where charging a shield to full takes less than a minute. As long as the player is not in melee distance and they have used an antifire potion, they will take no damage from the process. Elvarg in a practice run of Nightmare Zone may also be used as a free and completely safe alternative.

Discharging
During Combat, the dragonfire ward can expend one charge to unleash a blast of dragonfire at one target, which can hit approximately 25 damage. This attack can only be used once every two minutes, and each expended charge reduces the ward's Melee and Ranged defensive bonuses by one. Note: you do not have to use these attacks, as it does lower the wards defensive bonuses per attack. The dragonfire attack follows the standard rules for dragonfire; it will be less effective against a target that has resistance to dragonfire, such as a player that used an antifire potion and/or an anti-dragon shield or dragonfire ward. Furthermore, the dragonfire attack will not work against chromatic dragons, skeletal wyverns and some boss monsters, although metal dragons below mithril are vulnerable to it. The dragonfire attack can be used at range (up to 10 squares away) and over obstacles, after which the user will initiate a normal attack with their equipped weapon, if possible. The damage splat is rolled with accordance to the user's Defence level and target's Magic Defence bonus. When used upon an NPC, Magic, Defence and HP experience is gained; however, when used upon another player, only Defence experience is gained.

Players can drain all of the dragonfire ward's charges at once by right-clicking the ward in the inventory and selecting Empty. This will release all of the ward's charges in a harmless burst. This function is useful when selling or trading the ward, as it can only be traded when completely uncharged.

Also, if dropped on death in an unsafe environment, when recovered, the dragonfire ward will be completely uncharged.