shields are broken up into several factors:
[ego][quality][type][bonus][shield level][bonus level][resistance]
The name of a shield is [type][bonus][shield level][bonus level]. example: Respark Regenerator V ARK
- Ego increases the capacity
- Rarity/Quality determines how many plates the shield has (white/green=1, blue/purple=2, orange=3). also determines the maximum shield level and bonus level. purple will be III or IV with a bonus that is up to EX. with 3.0, the quality now determines the MINIMUM bonus level too. purple = DX or EX, orange = EX or ARK
- Type determines the base stats of the shield's capacity, recharge/sec, Recharge Delay
- The bonus is an optional effect that triggers upon "shield break," "Shield down," "While Recharging," "when shield fully rechargers," etc Having a bonus lowers the shield's capacity.
- shield level is a roman numeral (I, II, III, IV, V) that changes the shield's stats slightly. capacity up, recharge/sec up, recharge delay down
- bonus level (D, DX, EX, ARK) determines the magnitude of the shield bonus. some bonuses have a minimum. Examples: "survivor" only shows up on ARK shields. Rearm only shows up on EX or ARK, etc
- Resistance makes you take less damage from a specific nano type. having a resistance lowers the shield's capacity. I was told that the resistance value is HIGHER as the shield level is LOWER. meaning that a III shield will have more resistance than a IV. However, I tested this with a II and III which gave the same 20% resistance. An ARK shield CANNOT have a resistance which is what makes the Guardian Angel special
- on full recharge means as soon as your shield hits 100% the ability activates. This can be trigged multiple times if you hit 100% then take damage and get your shield restored in other ways (execution, BMG, syphon,etc)
- While Recharging means as it says. After the "recharge delay" is over, your shield starts recharging. these abilities stop working when you get hit or shields are full since you are not "recharging" anymore.
- While shields down/empty means the ability is active the entire time that you have 0 shield.
- Shield break means as soon as your shield hits 0. the only difference between this and "when shields are empty" is that these abilities have a specific duration or activate instantly.
- Natural HP regeneration doesn't take effect until your shield is fully recharged (including the "Regenerator" shield bonus)
- when you get hit, your shield stops charging and the "recharge delay" timer resets (as mentioned above).
- Activating Cloak bypasses your Recharge Delay. (forgot if this is true or not. I haven't used cloak in a long time)
- shields take 75% damage from no-nano,rad, and bio.
- shields take 150% damage from electric
- shields take 50% damage from fire
what makes the shield useful to me is if the bonus works with the shield's recharge delay and recharge/sec. For instance, any "while recharging" bonus is useless on a Respark since a Respark recharges 85-95% in a second so that bonus is useless and essentially just lowers the capacity of a Respark. However, if you get a "while shield recharges" bonus on a Rebel, Rebels start charging after less than 3 seconds and recharge slow, so you have that bonus active for 10 seconds.
Even the ones with long recharge delays can be useful if you take advantage of perks like Kill or Be killed and Execution.
Shield related perks:
http://www.defiancedata.com/abilities.php?t=Shield
While Shield Empty ("down"):
Kill or Be Killed: +45% Crit Mult
Nothing To Lose: +30% Melee DMG
Survival Instinct +45% Reload speed
On Shield break:
Escape Artist: +45% faster movement for 5 sec
Emergency Ammo: 15% instant reload of your weapon
Risk Taker: +15% ego duration
on Full recharge:
Displacement Field: 45% faster movement for 3 sec
Energy Surplus: 6% more damage on next shot
Feedback: 15% of damage reflected (only first hit)
While Recharging:
Failsafe: 15% less damage taken
Other:
Execution: critical kill, 15% shield recharge
Agressive Defense: melee kill, 15% shield recharge
Pheonix Boost: Self-Revive, 100% shield recharge to group members
