Holy Shield

Holy Shield is an enhanced defensive buff that completely blocks all incoming damage while active, reducing each hit to 0. Each time Holy Shield blocks damage, it loses 1 stack regardless of the damage amount. This makes Holy Shield superior to regular Shield against high-damage attacks (which would consume many regular Shield points) but equally effective per stack against small hits. Holy Shield provides absolute damage immunity for a number of hits equal to its stack count.

Like regular Shield, Holy Shield is bypassed by Burn, Bleed, and Poison damage, which deal their damage directly to health regardless of Holy Shield stacks. This keeps damage-over-time effects as consistent counters to all shield-based defenses. The Protected elite buff maintains Holy Shield on enemies, setting it to 1 if empty at the end of each turn (at the cost of -20% max health), creating a persistent single-hit buffer that must be broken through before dealing health damage each turn.

The Blessing of Peace buff generates +1 Holy Shield at turn end, but is lost when the unit deals damage, creating an interesting pacifist mechanic for support builds. Holy Shield is particularly valuable against boss attacks that deal massive damage in a single hit, as one stack blocks the entire hit regardless of its magnitude. Against Protected enemies, multi-hit attacks are more efficient than single large hits, since each hit strips one Holy Shield stack. Holy Shield is a premium defensive resource that rewards strategic timing and selective application.