Educate me on shields.

I have like 30 shields mostly purple with a few orange mixed in and I am afraid to vend something that might be pretty useful but I need space. I am not looking for any price checks or anything but if someone could tell me what people usually look for in a shield that would be great. Is there a type that is more sought after or a bonus ability that people usually look for? I personally just use the Guardian Angel because I like the name and felt great when I pulled it from a box so I don't know anything about what else people look for and I don't want to throw away something cool.

Shields

http://www.defiancedata.com/shields.php

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Originally Posted by konstantinov

Shields

http://www.defiancedata.com/shields.php

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Thanks! So I should be fine vending all the DX stuff and hanging onto the EX and ARK stuff?

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Originally Posted by Derailer

Thanks! So I should be fine vending all the DX stuff and hanging onto the EX and ARK stuff?

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Patch 3.000 made it so that all OJ shield drops will be either IV EX or V ARK versions.

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V

* Updated shields coming from drops and lock boxes so they’ll only drop the most effective shields within the rarity tier. For example, all random legendary shields will either be IV EX or V ARK shields.

Resparks tend to be the most popular by far in non-expedition pve situations. Rebels are similar to Resparks but the lower regen rate makes people generally like them a bit less. Ironclads (the Guardian Angel is a type of ironclad) and Rhinos offer a different playstyle in pve than the first two with their higher capacity, but in pvp that trait is what makes them king. Also, in expeditions the enemies in later stages hit much harder so the higher capacity of the Ironclads and Rhinos are preferred in that case. I don't think I've ever seen Hurricanes and Tachyons get much use at all. Personally I would check defiancedata's shield page that konstantinov listed and keep any Respark, Rebel, Ironclad, and Rhino IV EX, V, V DX, V EX, or V ARK that has a somewhat useful trait.

Tank it up with Ironclad, GA or Chimera Claw. Have a handy hellfire weapon and youre damn near invincible. NEVER STOP SHOOTING :cool:

Gotta say I prefer EXs over ARKs generally, because of nano resists. Dunno why ARKs don't have nano resists, seems silly to me.

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Originally Posted by Mister Derpenhowser

Gotta say I prefer EXs over ARKs generally, because of nano resists. Dunno why ARKs don't have nano resists, seems silly to me.

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It's due to the bonuses being the highest available.

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Originally Posted by konstantinov

It's due to the bonuses being the highest available.

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Yeah but meeeh. Lol, got a few ARKs but my EXs see more action. Not really a shield collector though. Have a small lot which each serve a purpose

Personally I think shields are the most complicated thing in this game. You have extra moving parts, everything you think about with a weapon and then some, theres the rarity, the type (Rebel/Respark/Tachyon/Rhino), the rolls (is Cap be all end all? recharge delay?) nano resistance, then they add roman ******* numerals and a letter designation. And of course you can upgrade from purp to Oj and depending on all of the above certain things will change or they wont.

Anyway the only thing we can all agree on is that Tachyons suck unless you are very low ego. Everything else is entirely dependent on your play style and perks. My perks are all defensive and the one I have found that fits me best is the Rebel V. General consensus is that is just an average OJ. But it fits me perfect. Play with them. Dont take anyones word for gospel.

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