The only shield of its kind, wielding it offers two attack options: pummel and block. While the pummel option is active, players can attack and use the shield's special attack. While the block attack style is active, players lose the ability to attack but incoming damage is reduced by 20%. The damage reduction will not work in PvP. In addition, there is an 8 tick (4.8 seconds) delay before the damage reduction applies when switching weapons to prevent abuse by people equipping it on a damage tick and switching back to a damage-centric weapon for the attack tick. Furthermore, players wielding the bulwark will not be able to cast any combat spells; players attempting to do so will receive the message "Your bulwark gets in the way.".