Helldivers 2 - it's about time we go ballistic (shield)

The ballistic shield got a little bit of love the most recent Helldivers 2 patch. I wanted to do a bit of a deep dive into the ballistic shield and share some of my thoughts and what I think are useful tips. Let me know what you think about the ballistic shield as well as if there are any other cool things you found out!
QUICK NOTE!
At 8:24 I misspoke, the shield does extend while you are crouching. Also, you cannot carry the SSD with the shield. Didn't realize what I said in the recording until now. Oops.
Like and subscribed if you enjoyed!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Socials:
/ wallbouncing_
Twitch
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:43 Patch Notes
1:21 Ballistic Shield
2:09 Ballistic Shield Basics
3:16 Some Caveats about the Shield
3:47 Note about Terminids
4:42 Weapon and Armor Pairing with the Shield
6:19 Heavy Machine Gun and Machine Gun
7:06 Stamina Management
8:14 Crouching with the Shield
8:58 Using the Shield with a Two-Handed Primary
9:34 Teamplay with the Shield
10:00 Overall Thoughts
11:28 Shield Trickshot?
Background Music: Left Bank Two by the Noveltones

[@Wallbouncing]

QUICK NOTE! At 8:24 I misspoke, the shield does extend while you are crouching. Also, you cannot carry the SSD with the shield. Didn't realize what I said in the recording until now. Oops.

[@sirrealism7300]

You can carry it if you switch to your support weapon, it will be on your back though.

[@loup067]

And yet all we ask is for the shield to help against melee attack. Common, a shield that don't block melee. x_x

[@Wallbouncing]

how about we go one step further and ask for a parry

[@Deadeye313]

A shield bash would be epic ​@@Wallbouncing

[@curtisbrown547]

If the shield could block berserker chainsaw swings i could see allot of shield haters converting to the cult of the shield

[@keldon_champion]

I think the biggest issue is the SMG isn't that great. Give the shield a better one handed primary and I think that would be enough.

[@enrictudelavoronine2218]

​@@keldon_championcan you use the hand Cannon with it?

[@keldon_champion]

@@enrictudelavoronine2218 yes you can use the revolver but a strider takes 1/2 the magazine to the pelvis to drop one and the reload is pretty clunky to deal with while being shot at. Also the revolver can drop 1 berserker quickly but then has no answer to his friends. I really want to make the shield work because it's cool being the tank but I still think it's problem is less the shield itself and more the weapons you have available when using it.

[@curtisbrown547]

@@keldon_champion ??? The defender and the sickle are quite good.

[@keldon_champion]

@@curtisbrown547the sickle is 2 handed so IDK what that has to do with anything. The defender on the other hand is fine at close range (not amazing though) and it's not very good at medium range and further because it burns through a lot of ammo to get kills when you can't ADS. Also it's capacity to deal with medium armor is basically zero unless you throw grenades or swap to the revolver which has its own problems. I have seen people using it only with their pistol and taking a 2 handed primary quite effectively but I feel at that point you're limiting your support weapon choice, giving up your backpack slot, and a stratagem slot for very little gain. I want to like the shield but I don't think it's quite there yet. I might do more testing though with other loadouts and see if I can get it to work as I'm over level 50 and I have unlocked everything so I have nothing better to do anyways lol

[@smallestgoober9399]

Another reason why the bots are so much fun to fight is I get to run explosive res heavy armor and ballistic shield, playing the tank role for the team.

[@pavlerajkovic3601]

I like to use the shield with the senator revolver, the frequent reloading is fine as its very effective against most automaton enemies

[@Wallbouncing]

The frequently reloading makes the fight for my life feel more cinematic haha

[@pavlerajkovic3601]

It certainly does!

[@pyroknight4099]

The dagger IS a laser sight by the by

[@Wallbouncing]

thanks for pointing that out, appreciate it!

[@jackfrost3274]

The standard pistol also has a laser and can therefore also be used well with the shield

[@Wallbouncing]

oh you're right, tbh I forgot the pistol was a thing. Now I wanna try it with the shield!

[@Banderoism]

Dude i love this shield. Its saved my life so many times. I run this with the defender and grenade Pistol. If this thing blocked melee, this would be meta so quick

[@Wallbouncing]

A shield that blocks melee? Unheard of! Thanks for checking out the video and sharing your experience. The shield has also saved my butt a lot of times haha.

[@Verbose_Mode]

I do run the Defender, but I run it on Semi-Auto. It's so accurate you can just headshot most things.

[@Wallbouncing]

Good tip! I've tried the same thing with the SMG secondary since it is also light penetrating and carries like 30 rounds. I just can't shoot that well so I've long abandoned that route. But if you're pretty good with your shots I can definitely see it cooking. Thanks for the tip!

[@Saved2_447]

The x bow shouldve been 1 handed. Need more one handers cause kinda tired of the smgs

[@GGBlaster]

I feel like the ballistic shield is slept on more than it deserves. I’ve used the shield to march right into bot outposts while taking almost no damage. You can also reload and stem while holding the shield up, basically keeping a constant barricade in front of you. It’s not the latest and greatest, sure, but if your teammates are specializing in anti-heavy and building destruction, you could spec a sort of tank build with the shield and heavy armor.

[@bausHuck]

Next warbond has a pistol that has explosive bullets. I think it will be good to run SMG and explosive pistol with the shield. Then maybe Quasar Cannon. That way you have SMG for fodder bots, explosive vs striders and for packs, and quasar for tanks, hulks, gunships, etc. Something nice about the shield is you can block a lot of damage from the devastator class enemies. You can get really close to them. Then just headshot them 2 or 3 times with the SMG and they are down. Doesn't really work against the rocket guys though.

[@Wallbouncing]

Really excited for the new warbond. Even though it might not be, it would be awesome if the explosive crossbow was also one-handed 😍

[@stephenpuisis632]

Ballistic shield will bounce grenades off. Do with that what you will.

[@zwordsman]

hope they fix the issue where healing yourself glitches your shield off

[@averageeughenjoyer6429]

would be nice if you could use every weapon with it at the cost of awful accuracy

[@Wallbouncing]

your dreams are bigger than mine and I like it

[@alexturnbackthearmy1907]

Imagine just one-handing the machinegun and spraying bullets everywhere BUT enemy.

[@valorandrews190]

You may know this already and just have it set this way by preferrence, but you can switch your settings to display the 3rd person crosshair at all times even when not in "ads" mode. This can help a lot with any weapon but even more with one handed weapons like the smg as it helps shooting behind you while running away.

[@seanjenkins5505]

The problem with the shield isn't the shield itself. It's the lack of a good SMG and not being able to one hand any other primary. This is only compounded by not being able to take a backpack support weapon as well. The Defender isn't a bad gun overall, but it doesn't excel in power or precision. I could make do with one of those for bots lacking but not both. I tried to make this work for several Helldives and the whole time I was just thinking "If I was using the sickle or plas 1 this devastator would be dead already" So now I'm busting out an arc thrower or Amat rifle to kill big guys and now I'm getting absolutely no benefit from the shield. If they had the smg from Helldivers 1 that you could load with armor piercing rounds this build could be really fun. It seems like the only point of it now is to laugh at marauders not being able to kill you which already wasn't an issue. I don't count the DLC smg since it's mainly a meme gun and it also costs money outright not even super creds.

[@Andrew-pq3lj]

The defender is better vs bugs imo where as the shield is best vs bots, this clashing is probably where the issues cone from. If there was a primary weapon that was one handed and good vs bots it would be a lot nicer.

[@c.wubby.u861]

the senator with medium pen can headshot devastators and kill striders (shoot their crotch piece or leg joint). But i agree we need more options with this shield (like Buffing the dagger or getting tools like the grenade pistol)

[@Wallbouncing]

I agree, I think the shield is at a great place right now just by itself, there's just nothing to pair it with (or a lack of variety to be more specific)

[@PaxEmpyrean]

"It's the lack of a good SMG and not being able to one hand any other primary." The Defender is a really solid weapon. Higher DPS than the Liberator, significantly less recoil, more total damage capacity. The combination of much higher damage per bullet and less recoil per shot, with its lower rate of fire, means that you can pop Devastator heads with consecutive shots at longer range than you could manage with a Liberator. The Scorcher is more forgiving, but if you're a crack shot the Defender does it faster and with far more ammo. The only downside is the poor first person sights, but you'll never see those with a shield anyway. My biggest complaint with the shield is that you drop it when you get ragdolled, and that it takes your backpack slot. Blocking melee attacks would be nice. Personally, I'd like to see it usable with a backpack slot, but you wouldn't be able to put it on your back so any time you pull out a two handed weapon you'd drop it on the ground. You could run something like Ballistic Shield plus Supply Backpack with two eagle/orbital strikes and be just fine, basically trading your support weapon slot for the shield instead of your backpack slot unless you wanted to do the fiddly work of picking it back up every time you pulled your support weapon.

[@DummyFace123]

How does it work with corner peeking? I know you can change which side that you peek from, can you take good advantage of ads corner peeking?

[@Wallbouncing]

From what I remember, yes. Shoulder swapping would also affect the view you have when you ADS your weapon. Correct me if I'm wrong though haha.

[@5anctuary]

Shield should protect you from direct fire dmg when blocking, imo. You still get the fire dot dmg if you catch flame. Make it more useful.

[@Wallbouncing]

Blocking fire damage with the shield, especially with how fast we get cooked in this current patch would be very helpful. Thanks for watching and for your comment!

[@MrAwesomeBart]

I hope they will boost is so it block the melee attacks you said. Imagine if they would give us melee weapons to pair with the shield. That would be great.

[@josiahchadwick5099]

Yooooo the trickshot was INSANE good shhhhiii.

[@Wallbouncing]

Thanks man, that took about 20-30 minutes to do. I felt like a budget mortar haha. Thanks for watching and for your comment!

[@headlessjim6206]

Bro has the most nostalgic background music ever

[@Wallbouncing]

ty ty ;)

[@hungryhedgehog4201]

You can also use the Knight with it, but idk why you would

[@PaxEmpyrean]

Because you hate the sky and want to shoot it as much as possible.

[@erikbell1723]

I don’t get it the defender is awesome for bots, just put it on burst fire and it’s really accurate. You can stand in the open and take whole waves out. Even Devastators as long as you hit the head. Which is easy cuz it’s accurate especially in burst and crouched

[@erikbell1723]

Use your other slots for stuff to take out bigger enemies, the anti material rifle can take out most other threats from safety. Then you waltz in and clear the riff raff. Impact grenades are good for up close devastators and striders which you are safe from with your shield anyway

[@babylon4953]

Love the 4k video. 👌

[@Wallbouncing]

Glad you enjoyed the video! Always looking to upload at 4k so everyone can see how pretty the game is haha

[@josiahchadwick5099]

Yo hear me out boys, crossbow needs to be one handed for the shield. Crossbow + sheild= GODTIER. I think it's fair because it doesn't destroy bug holes nd fabricators.

[@Wallbouncing]

Dude, I thought the crossbow was going to be one-handed straight from the get-go. It looked compact enough to be able to hold in one-hand. Maybe one day...

[@neilorourke71]

should be able to plant it into the ground, and should offer even more coverage. There's pretty much no reason to run this over the personal shield gen or the bubble shield. Maybe if you're trying to be the squad's aggro guy, but bots don't really aggro to you alot of the time, if they're shooting your ally they'll keep shooting even if you're dumping into them

[@Wallbouncing]

I've never even thought of such a mechanic. Being able to plant the shield as a mechanic and use your two handed weapons behind it sounds like a really cool thing. Thanks for watching, appreciate your comment!

[@hobowithabow9865]

Isn't the Knight also one handed?

[@journeyknight1526]

I dont know why he doesnt seem to have it.

[@OTOMAGIC]

To answer both of you, yes you can use the Knight and it is unlocked by getting the Super Citizen edition, maybe he doesn't have it? One issue it has with the shield is the lack of a laser pointer, which makes aiming in first person a problem unless you have a third party software highlighting the centre of the screen.

[@Wallbouncing]

first time I've ever heard about this gun. I thought it was just the fun helmet, sick title, and arcade game you get on your ship with the super citizen edition. Thanks for pointing it out!

[@DuelMp5]

try the Knight in burst mode, surprisingly good

[@Wallbouncing]

just learned there was a thing called the knight in the game. Reading up on it now

[@PaxEmpyrean]

@@Wallbouncing You get it with the Super Citizen stuff. The main problem with it is that the recoil per shot is very bad for an automatic and its rate of fire is extremely high, so it's an absolute mess to keep it on target even at medium range. If you're using it with burst fire, you lose the DPS advantage that is the only reason you'd want to use it. For comparison, it's double the recoil per shot of the Defender and ~2.5 times the rate of fire (so five times the recoil per second), with 50 damage per shot instead of 70. A three round burst is comparable in damage to two rounds from a Defender (150 vs 140) but with three times as much total recoil.

[@Wallbouncing]

@@PaxEmpyrean I know what you mean. After I made this video I looked into it, bought the super citizen edition just to try out the weapon and even made a video about it!

[@lolbenneh]

is the name "orphan maker" a call to critical role, or is it just a damn cool username?

[@Wallbouncing]

Thanks for your comment! The name wasn't intended to be a call or a reference to anything. When I played team fortress 2 I saw a weapon called the widowmaker, and thinking of the implications of the name, I went a step further and just used the username "Orphan Maker" from there. Thanks for checking out the video!

[@dylanr.cerezo4325]

They should let it help against melee and give you a shield bash.

[@Wallbouncing]

Blocking melee would make it at the top of my list, shield bash would just be the cherry on top haha

[@stridernfs1]

You can’t carry an SSSD with the shield. You will drop the shield.

[@Wallbouncing]

Oops! Good catch, didn't realize I said that until you mentioned it. I'll edit my pinned comment and desc. Thanks for watching and appreciate your comment!

[@robbypatty3903]

You actually can if you have a support weapon and a shield. Switch to the support weapon and you'll put the shield on your back then pick up the sssd and you will put the shield and the support weapon on your back and carry the drive.

[@frankd8958]

🥰

[@Wallbouncing]

😊

[@anteep4900]

Hehe...hehe... it's about time we don't

[@sethiest]

Disagree about the SMG. It can take out everything other than the obvious super heavy armours like hulks and tanks. It can two shot devastators, (rocket, shielded etc) and it's way easier because of the laser sights. The walkers are annoying but you can strafe them. You can melt chainsaw guys if you go for the weak point in the stomach which is way easier to hit.

[@Funkloned]

If HD2 ever do indoor/underground missions(or parts of the map), the ballistic shield would shine. Even though the shield generator pack is like a must have for some ppl, I rarely use such defensive stratagems because I learned to avoid damage instead of tanking it, specially since I love the autocannon and that fills your back slot, and offensive stratagems are really poweful. So if you cant use offensive stratagems or your movement as freely, I would see the ballistic shield with other eyes, since it will cover a need now that you cant avoid damage as easily.

[@Wallbouncing]

Oh man a close quarters mission into the bug tunnels with shields. BRO. THAT'S SICK

[@lesdoleague]

So I think that they need to buff the shield again. This is because it is just weak compared to the other options. PLUS it is literally an option you can only use vs 1 faction. How to actually buff it. Either make it reduce melee damage so it can be used vs the other faction. OR at least make it comparable to the backpack. Reason why it would not replace the backpack shield is because you cannot use ur primary with it. The shield should be the TANK option while the should block a small amount of damage stop you from getting bursted down by rockets. Remember the backpack shield literally lets you use almost all other weapons. While the riot shield well not be very good until we get some very strong 2ndaries. I play mostly on 9 (helldiver) when my friends are not online and 5-7 when they are. The change I would prefer is if it just gave you 50 percent more health OR 50 percent reduction to explosion when behind shield. You have to keep in mind in difficulty 9 on atomatons we have had only 3 stratagems. So spending a 3rd of your fire power on something does not protect you vs tanks, air units, rockets, or even melee while not even having a good ability to kill those because you are using ur pistol seems really silly. Or if you just want to make it fun to use give it hell melee damage lol.