Shields

Shields are invisible barriers that absorb or deflect energy. Equipment capable of producing personal-sized shields are worn by Raiders as a form of energy-based protection to mitigate damage.

Enhanced protection offered by more powerful shields require that special Augments are worn, but these stronger shields have the downside of reducing the wearer's mobility.

List of Shields

Name	Total Charge	Damage Mitigation	Movement Penalty	Weight	Compatible Augments
Light Shield	40	40%	None	5.0	All Augments
Medium Shield	70	42.5%	5%	7.0	Combat MK.1 Tactical MK.2 Combat MK.2 Tactical MK.3 (Healing) Combat MK.3 (Aggressive) Looting MK.3 (Survivor)
Heavy Shield	80	52.5%	15%	9.0	Combat MK.2 Combat MK.3 (Aggressive) Tactical MK.3 (Defensive)

Gameplay Notes

• Each segment of the blue shield gauge is worth 10 shield charge points.
• Shields do not behave like extra health points; they mitigate a percentage of incoming damage.
• Shields lose both charge and durability as it reduces incoming damage.
• Free Loadout includes a free Light Shield as part of the kit.
• The Used to the Weight skill reduced the movement speed penalty of Medium and Heavy Shields.

Damage Calculation

When taking an incoming damage Damage with a Shield equipped that has at least 1 shield charge and 1 durability:

• Reduce health points by Damage * (1 - ShieldMitigationPercent)
• Reduce shield charge by the full damage amount (Damage)
• Reduce shield durability by (ShieldDamage / ShieldChargeCapacity) / 5

Notably, this means:

• As long as there is 1 shield charge, the next incoming damage instance is mitigated no differently as though the shield were fully charged.
• In other words, the damage mitigation is not affected by the insufficient shield charge points.

Examples

Example 1

A player wearing a Light Shield with 40 shield charges and 100% durability is hit with a Ferro body shot, dealing 40 damage:

• The player's health points will be reduced by 24: 40 * (1 - 0.4).
• The player's shield charge will be reduced by 40, from 40 to 0.
• The player's shield durability will be reduced by 20%: (40 / 40) / 5, from 100% to 80%.

Example 2

A player wearing a Light Shield with 40 shield charges and 100 durability is hit with a Ferro head shot, dealing 100 damage:

• The player's health points will be reduced by 60: 100 * (1 - 0.4).
• The player's shield charge will be reduced by 100, from 40 to 0.
• The player's shield durability will be reduced by 20%: (40 / 40) / 5, from 100% to 80%.

Example 3

A player wearing a Light Shield with 40 shield charges and 100% durability is hit with a Renegade body shot, dealing 35 damage:

• The player's health points will be reduced by 21: 35 * (1 - 0.4).
• The player's shield charge will be reduced by 35, from 40 to 5.
• The player's shield durability will be reduced by 17.5%: (35 / 40) / 5, from 100% to 82.5%.

The player is then hit again with another Renegade body shot:

• The player's health points will be reduced by 21: 35 * (1 - 0.4).
• The player's shield charge will be reduced by 35, from 5 to 0.
• The player's shield durability will be reduced by 2.5%: (5 / 40) / 5, from 82.5% to 80%.

Additional Notes

Shield Durability

• When shield charge is depleted, shield durability is reduced.
• At 100% charge and durability, shields can fully deplete five times before they break. For example:
  • Light Shield at 100% durability can drop from a full 40 charge to 0 charge five times before it breaks.
  • Heavy Shield at 100% durability can drop from a full 80 charge to 0 charge five times before it breaks.
• Occasionally, a minor variance is observed where a shield will remain at 1% durability after five full depletions.