# (not a bug) Footmen not equipping shields

**URL:** <https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/not-a-bug-footmen-not-equipping-shields/23194>\
**Category:** uncategorized\
**Created:** [June 17, 2016, 11:41pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/not-a-bug-footmen-not-equipping-shields/23194 "2016-06-17T23:41:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jjjshab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@jjjshab](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/jjjshab)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 11:41pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/not-a-bug-footmen-not-equipping-shields/23194/1 "2016-06-17T23:41:45Z")

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i have 2 level 6 footmen that won’t equip either bucklers or iron shields in my inventory. haven’t tried bronze shields

a17, 3013

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**Author:** ![LePheel](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/lepheel/32/48304_2.png) [@LePheel](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/LePheel)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 11:56pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/not-a-bug-footmen-not-equipping-shields/23194/2 "2016-06-17T23:56:06Z")

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Have you checked to see if they are using two handed weapons? If they’re using giant bone clubs or pikes they can’t use shields

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**Author:** ![ChicagoPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ec8ea/32.png) [@ChicagoPhil](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/ChicagoPhil)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 12:05am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/not-a-bug-footmen-not-equipping-shields/23194/3 "2016-06-18T00:05:13Z")

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Upper left icon on the shields, I normally thought were only for Knights. I haven’t seen a footman use a shield in a few updates. Footmen - DPS, Knights are Tanks.

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**Author:** ![LePheel](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/lepheel/32/48304_2.png) [@LePheel](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/LePheel)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/not-a-bug-footmen-not-equipping-shields/23194/4 "2016-06-18T00:17:51Z")

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Fairly certain footmen still use low tier shields. Not at a computer to check, but I believe only a few shields are knight specific

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**Author:** ![Vyrasa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@Vyrasa](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/Vyrasa)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/not-a-bug-footmen-not-equipping-shields/23194/5 "2016-06-18T00:54:27Z")

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Footmen use shields - they have 3 they can equip, a wooden one, a bronze one, and a iron one. The (non-bug) issue is that footmen will always prefer 2-handed weapons over 1-handed weapons (presumably because they have a higher dmg/dps rating), so once they get to level 3 (when the first 2-hander becomes equippable) it can become quite rare to find a footman with a shield.

I assume this is fully intended, with the logic being that if you want to keep them as “sword and board” (1hander+shield) melee fighters, you can switch them to knights at that point. If you keep them as footmen, that implies you don’t want them as knights/sword&board, so they favor dps equipment over tanking equipment.

Sidenote: Given that footmen can use more shields than knights (footmen 3 [wood/bronze/iron] vs knights 2 [default/steel] (+1 [wood] one they would never equip as its worse than their default shield)), I find it humorous that it’s apparently common to forget footmen can use them 😉