Tips for using the ballistic shield?

[SteadyFreedom]

I wanted to try out the ballistic shield but it seems to be kind of underpowered atm.

* It doesnt protect at all agains't melee making it useless against Terminids
* It doesnt protect at all against acid, flame attacks, and explosions,
* It doesnt seem to have any sinergy with the team other than allowing you to be a little bit more out in the open tanking some long range shots

Any suggestions on what I should be doing to use it effectively?

[McDinglefart]

Originally posted by Red Knight:

I am a ballistic shield user and it takes a back slot, not a heavy weapon slot. It's a physical object, it will provide protection from the direction it is facing so if it is stowed away on your back it will cover precisely your back.

It is important to note it will not protect you against: Acid, Fire, Rockets and melee.
What does it protect you from? Normal ranged attacks, ie, bullets. The shield is absolutely impervious to normal gunfire and you can stand there and take it indefinitely.

With that knowledge its clearly an anti Automaton tool especially when paired with an SMG as a primary which you can use at the same time with the ballistic shield. You can also carry a heavy weapon of choice with you such as an EAT or an LMG.

Just use something useful. Like any other strat.

[Eagle_of_Fire]

Originally posted by Red Knight:

I am a ballistic shield user and it takes a back slot, not a heavy weapon slot. It's a physical object, it will provide protection from the direction it is facing so if it is stowed away on your back it will cover precisely your back.

It is important to note it will not protect you against: Acid, Fire, Rockets and melee.
What does it protect you from? Normal ranged attacks, ie, bullets. The shield is absolutely impervious to normal gunfire and you can stand there and take it indefinitely.

With that knowledge its clearly an anti Automaton tool especially when paired with an SMG as a primary which you can use at the same time with the ballistic shield. You can also carry a heavy weapon of choice with you such as an EAT or an LMG.

Too bad that the normal ranged attacks is the one attack nobody care about. Even if you get hit you're only going to get a few HP off your health bar and anybody with a brain is going to learn to dodge and take cover. I simply cannot find a good enough reason to just stand there almost completely defenceless, waiting for a rocket robot or a rocket devastator to show up.

[Frisky]

It's strongest use case is vs bots, for bugs it has very little utility in comparison, I do wish it could atleast block bug melee or something

one thing that helps a ton is crouching, by crouching with the shield out you minimize the odds of a stray shot hitting you since you're less exposed, especially around the head as it's more consistently behind the shield so you won't be randomly hit there anywhere near as often

also swap to your support weapon when retreating with enemies behind you so they hit the shield more often than you, also best to put it away when picking up samples, super credits, or doing objectives, mainly so you can do objectives with your back protected and for collectables it's so you don't do that weird pose glitch and have to swap weapons to fix it

[Wutever]

Originally posted by Soppothetoppo:

You use it against bots, not against bugs and you need an SMG as your primary. Also be sure to have a gun in your third slot because this allows you to put shield on your back which is usefull when runing and those bots shooting you in the back. Still can't recomend for higher difficulties as it's basically an inferrior energy shield kinda. I mean technically you can pair it with a railgun to deal with heavier enemies but it's unlocked on a lvl20 same as an energy shield which makes no sense to use it aside from lower level and difficulties.

It's unlocked at 12 not 20, and it serves a completely different role. Shield pack is there to save you from the occasional rocket and prevent stagger. Ballistic shield is there to allow you to push into objectives aggressively while ignoring (most) non-explosive gunfire.

Does it become worse at 7+ because lmao amounts of rocket devastators? Yes, but literally nothing will save you from that ♥♥♥♥. At least the ballistic shield allows you and your team to focus on dealing with rocket threats because gunfire becomes a minor inconvenience.

[A1SteakSauce]

Its good for bots and that's it. You also need to pair it with the smg main weapon, don't use secondaries, ammo runs out too fast. You can be out in the open assaulting bots or retreating while firing back. As long as you're a good shot and aim for weakspots on bots and pop the heads off the walker pilots, its great for that. Crouching should help as well, you aren't as exposed. If you have a teammate or two handling the heavies, its great for handling the smaller enemies, making you impervious to small arms fire. I could have sworn that the walker lasers also bounce off it too.

[( °□°） ︵GAMBASAD]

If heavy armor actually heavy then maybe otherwise don't

[Eagle_of_Fire]

Originally posted by Wutever:

Shield pack is there to save you from the occasional rocket and prevent stagger. Ballistic shield is there to allow you to push into objectives aggressively while ignoring (most) non-explosive gunfire.

Yeah but that's the whole thing: I already commonly do this "naked". Just run, weave and bob and throw yourself on the ground every five seconds and you barely get hit ever.

[Wutever]

Originally posted by .:

If heavy armor actually heavy then maybe otherwise don't

Light and medium are better for it anyway. You need speed for closing distance and repositioning during combat. The whole point of the shield is to avoid taking damage.

[Metalshock]

I'll mention this, since nobody else touched upon it really; At the time of writing, don't pick up Samples while holding the shield, have a nearby teammate pick those up. additionally, if you need to stim yourself, be prepared to swap between primary and secondary.

The glitch with the shield affects SSSDs as well, or pretty much anything in your offhand: Picking up samples or using stims lock you in the animation of carrying an explosive barrel or other large item, though you're not actually carrying an item. The only way to remove it is to pick up that offhand item again, and in the case of the shield, that's swapping to another weapon that uses the shield.

It's this and the heavy armor bug that stops me from really using the shield. otherwise I'd love to be the mobile cover the squad rallies behind to push into objectives against the bots.

[Bybliiik]

Honestly that strange why shield dosen't block melee, acid, flame cuz basicly there no reason for that, automatons or termites dosen't focus melee attack on zone where no shield, they just hit you, acid and flame also easy to block with shield, and it's even not OP if shield block that all, explosiong easyly throw it away

[cherub5667]

The only thing I noticed with the shield that is useful (debatable) is keeping it holseterd on your back, and you can run from the robots without fear of getting hit in the back.

[Felix]

Use the shield generator instead.