Kiteshields are a type of armour wielded in the shield slot. They are normally used as a melee protection and provide a good defence against all melee attack types. They can be smithed from all types of metals except for black and white, among others. Kiteshields offer a higher armour rating than square shields but provide the same health bonuses. Kiteshields tend to cost more than square shields in both price and smithing bars. Some kiteshields can be bought in Cassie's Shield Shop in Falador.
You can obtain special kiteshields from Treasure Trails. These consist of differant types such as Black, Adamant, and Rune. These special armours offer no special bonuses compared to their normal counterparts (with god armours have the same stats as rune). While heraldic kiteshields are just called "shields", they have stats identical to kiteshields.
A Heraldic kiteshield is a decorative Steel or Rune kiteshield. Note that painting the crest on the kiteshields turns them into members-only items, and untradeable, and cannot be removed once applied.