Shields

== == Active mechanics == == Holding down a shield's assigned button holds it up after 0.37 seconds. Attacks that hit the front of the shield are reduced by the shield’s damage absorption percentage (usually 75%) before any other damage reduction effects. Shields’ block damage, listed as their regular damage, is also dealt to enemies using melee attacks.

Tapping a shield's assigned button instead attempts a. If no attacks connect within the window, the player cannot block or  again for 0.6 seconds. If a non-shockwave attack hits the shield during the window, the attack deals no damage, you can block/ again immediately, and additional effects occur depending on the attack:
 * Melee attackers take damage, indicated on the shield as its critical damage value.
 * Ranged attacks are reflected for 80 base damage.
 * Bombs are reflected for 90 base damage.
 * Explosions are absorbed without retaliation.
 * Festering Zombie eggs are turned into biters, which attack enemies.
 * Any arrows stuck in the parried enemy will return to the player.

Note: Attacks are also automatically parried if they land within the first 0.2 seconds of holding up the shield and the shield's button is still held.

== == Effect scaling == == All Shields’ damage scales with the player's Survival stat, but some also scale with  Tactics (e.g  and ) or  Brutality (e.g  and ).

Damage absorbed while blocking can only be increased by the Shield Absorb affix.

== == Passive effects == == Carrying a shield creates a force field for half a second when the player takes damage. This barrier absorbs most damage, but not damage-over-time from status effects like poison or darkness. Some enemy attacks do not activate the force field, such as that of Lacerators.

Since active force fields reduce the rally effect’s recovery by 65%, carrying a shield makes it more difficult to recover recently-lost health.

== == List of shields == == This is a list of all obtainable Shields in the game.


 * : Rise of the Giant DLC
 * : The Bad Seed DLC
 * : Fatal Falls DLC
 * : The Queen and the Sea DLC