The world of Borderlands 3 is lawless, violent, and filled with people and creatures with only one goal: Kill Vault Hunters. You won’t last long against the constant onslaught of gunfire without a shield. Shields are so important, it’s the second item you unlock in the game, after a gun of course.
With thousands of shields to choose from in the game, picking the right one is a daunting task. To help make your decision easier, we’ve put together a list of some of the best Legendary shields in Borderlands 3.
Firewall
Do you like sniping? Then Hyperion has the shield for you. Crouching down activates a front-facing shield that has a chance to reflect projectiles back at enemies. Even better: those projectiles convert some of the damage done toward recharging your shield! So find a good vantage point, line up your shot, and never be afraid of a tink again!
How to Obtain
Joey Ultraviolet and his main enforcers drop this shield. Make sure to track down Joey while you can. When the Revenge of the Cartels event ends, who knows when you’ll be able to get the Firewall shield again.
Messy Breakup
Similar to Firewall, Messy Breakup comes with a shield that activates while you’re crouched. What separates this legendary shield from the rest of the pack are the drones that follow you around while you have it equipped. You’ll always have one drone helping out, but once your shield breaks, a second drone appears to add further assistance.
How to Obtain
The mech-bound AI GenIVIV located on the spaceship Family Jewel in the Voracious Canopy has a chance to drop the Messy Breakup. Head over to Eden-6 for a chance to add this particularly useful shield to your collection.
Old God
There are plenty of elemental types that will do damage to you in a given battle in Borderlands 3, so it’s a good thing a shield like Old God exists. This shield can drop with a 25% resistance to any of the elemental types in the game. It also gives you a 20% boost to damage of that same element type.
But wait, there’s more! If an enemy manages to land a melee strike on you, you’ll return a ton of damage back at them in the shield’s element type. It has a chance to absorb ammo from fired rounds and it provides a health and shield boost for a couple of seconds keyed to the last type of elemental damage received. Old God might be the best elemental Legendary shield in the whole game.
How to Obtain
If you want to equip an Old God for yourself, you’ll need to head to Xylourgos, the planet where the Love, Guns, and Tentacles DLC takes place. Once there, keep taking down your enemies and opening chests. One will eventually spawn.
Re-Charger
Sometimes it can feel like an eternity between the time when your shield fails and the time it starts to recharge. Equipping the Re-Charger will help take the sting out of that wait a little. The main feature of this particular Legendary shield is an ability to instantly re-charge after the first time it depletes. Watch out though, once it depletes again, it takes 20 seconds for the shield to recharge.
In addition to the instant recharge feature, you get a bonus to your max health. Even better, when you take damage a charge will randomly drop that will refill your health by a percentage of your maximum health potential.
How to Obtain
Urist McEnforcer drops this unique shield in the Lectra City district of Promethea. Head over there to track him down, and maybe kill Killavolt while you’re there. He has a pretty great shield too (more on that below).
Re-Charger Burner
This variation on the Re-Charger shield has everything its sibling comes with. It has an instant shield recharge, followed by a 20-second cooldown, a chance to drop health charges, and it can even drop with an Anointed status. This particular version of the Re-Charger has an extra bonus in the form of a massive nova burst that explodes all around you once the shield depletes. Given that the shield can drop with a fire, corrosive, or radiation element, this is a very powerful item.
How to Obtain
The only way to collect the Re-Charger Burner is by conquering the Valkyrie Squad that patrols Midnight’s Cairn. This is no easy task though, the Valkyrie Squad is a raid boss, and arguably the most difficult boss in Borderlands.
Red Suit
Pangolin must have screwed up the power containment field…or something…when they made this shield because any enemy that comes within a few feet of you will start taking radiation damage over time. Another benefit of the careless engineering is the fact that it provides a full 100% resistance to radiation damage.
The fun doesn’t stop there. Red Suit provides a boost to weapon damage and a bonus to draining shields while at max capacity, and there’s a chance for it to drop charges that increase weapon damage.
How to Obtain
Track down Atomic on Nekrotafeyo for a chance at acquiring Red Suit. You can also take on the quest Angels and Speed Demons which guarantees one of these shields as a reward.
Rico
Though it doesn’t provide any elemental resistance and won’t stop melee attacks, Rico can make you nearly invulnerable to basic gunfire. While the shield is full, it has a 50% chance to reflect fired bullets back at your enemies, and once the shield depletes completely, the reflection chance jumps to 80%.
Rico has a specific focus, but the potential to walk out of a massive gunfight completely unscathed is a very tempting proposition if you’re looking for a great shield.
How to Obtain
Grab a Rico shield by completing the All Bets Off quest on the Spendopticon. This quest is a part of the Moxxi’s Heist of the Handsome Jackpot DLC story expansion.
Scream of Terror
If you like seeing your enemies flee in terror and confusion, then the Scream of Terror is the shield for you. Once depleted, this shield explodes in a cryo nova, and any enemy it hits becomes confused and attacks its allies for several seconds. Not only that, but while the shield is full, Scream of Terror grants you a 5% health regen per second boost.
How to Obtain
We were reluctant to include this shield in the list because the Scream of Terror was a special drop from the boss of the Bloody Harvest event that occurred last Halloween. However, Halloween comes every year, so we suspect that Captain Haunt, the main boss of the event, will terrorize Pandora once again.
Stop-Gap
The Stop-Gap is an interesting entry on this list as the special ability it provides is a hail Mary maneuver. Once the shield fails, you become completely invincible for five seconds and gain a 10% boost to your movement speed. With a long recharge delay, the intention of the shield is clear: lose your shield, then use the next five seconds to find a place to hide. This will be especially valuable for any player who finds themselves in the thick of combat and needs a rapid exit strategy.
How to Obtain
You’ll usually find the Stop-Gap around the Jakobs Estate on Eden-6. The rare enemy El Dragon Jr. drops this particular shield. You might have to zone in a couple of times to find him, so don’t give up hope if you don’t spot him on your first visit.
The Transformer
It only drops with a resistance to shock damage, which makes sense given the name, but The Transformer is still one of the most powerful shields in Borderlands 3. Not only does it have a complete resistance to the shock element type, but it converts any shock damage received and uses that energy to recharge. Oh, did we mention that it can have a chance to absorb bullets and covert them to ammo? Yeah, it’s a great shield.
How to Obtain
Complete the sidequest It’s Alive on Nekrotafeyo to receive this shield. You can also defeat Killavolt, the boss of the Kill Killavolt series of quests, on Promethea to get this incredibly powerful shield.
Ward
You almost want Ward to deplete for all of the bonuses it grants. Once deactivated, you’ll get a 25% weapon damage boost, a 300% melee damage boost, and your health regens at 4% of your max per second. Even while active, the shield provides a 2% per second health regen buff. Equip Ward if you want to leap headfirst into a sea of enemies because once the shield goes down, the real fun begins.
How to Obtain
Ward is a unique shield that drops from the Vault Boss the Graveward in the Floating Tomb location on Eden-6. It’s a tough battle, so make sure to stock up on ammo and guns before you attempt to take this particularly disgusting monster down.
Choosing the Best Legendary Shield
The above list represents some of the best Legendary shields in Borderlands 3. They offer the most diverse and flexible abilities that work with almost any character build.
However, there are also some extremely weird shield drops that are a little silly (such as a shield that imbues your slide with elemental damage). There are also shields designed for very specific builds (such as a shield that is always at zero and won’t recharge). So if you want to explore, there is plenty to discover.
With so many options, you’ll never run out of new loot to collect. With any of the above shields equipped, you will be ready to take the fight back to the bandits and restore peace to Pandora.
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