[GT] General Taktiks

Here is last of our 4 post series on the Riot Shield.  We hope you have found this information useful and that you have been able to use some of what we discussed to help you in your MW2 exploits.

Advanced Enemies:

Occasionally, you’ll come across an enemy that has some equipment that can actually put you at a big disadvantage.  Sometimes it’s just dumb luck (the enemy is working on challenges, etc) or maybe our riot shield guide has forced non-shield carrying players to learn to deal with them properly.  Either way, enemies with Semtex Grenades, Grenade Launchers, or C4 cannot be taken lightly.

Semtex is by far the deadliest of the two.  As we all know, Semtex in MW2 is sticky, and it sticks just fine to your riot shield.  Semtex that is lying on the ground in front of you will have the explosion deflected by your shield, but if you’re stuck with it, it will kill you when it detonates.  Unfortunately, there isn’t really anything you can do to prevent this from happening, aside from dispatching any enemies you come across quickly before they can stick you.  The trick is to know when you’ve been stuck, and what to do with the two seconds you have left!  Semtex has a couple of quick “tells” that you’ll need to look out for and they both revolve around the detonator on it.  The first is that it has a blinking red light.  This light leaves a bit of an arc trail when an enemy throws it at you.  The second is the beeping noise that the detonator makes.  With experience, you’ll be able to tell when someone has thrown a semtex, and you’ll be able to judge if it’s stuck to you or not.  Once you’re stuck, you have very few options and even less time to react – however, most enemies are content to watch you blow up, so you may be able to catch them off guard and take them down with you.  The first option you have is to charge at the enemy and get them inside the blast radius of their own semtex.  Sometimes you just get the satisfaction of them dying too, other times you’ll actually be credited with an Assisted Suicide (we’re not sure why this happens sometimes and not others).  The other option you have is to go down shooting.  Swap to your pistol and start firing!  You may or may not get your enemy, but at least you didn’t throw in the towel!

Another difficult enemy is one with a grenade launcher (M203, Thumper, etc).  While your shield will protect you from direct hits from the front, any shots that explode beside or behind you can get you with splash damage.  Depending on how close you are to your enemy, you either want to back away, or rush forward.  If you’re a long way away, you should think about retreating.  You don’t have any weapons that are effective at a distance, and charging ahead will likely see you blown to pieces.  If you’re close to the enemy, you need to get inside the “arming range” of the GL as fast as you can.  Inside this distance, the GL round will just bounce off instead of detonating.  Of course this puts you in danger of being knifed, but you should be able to handle a shield beat down by now.

C4 is more frustrating than it is deadly to a person wielding a riot shield.  As with other explosives, your shield can protect you from the blast, however you don’t know exactly when the C4 is going to detonate.  It is easy for a riot shield to chase after someone that puts down a claymore in front of you (move up, listen for the trigger, then crouch down to stop the blast from getting your feet), but a person that throws down C4 can wait for you to walk over it before detonating it.  This will have the blast go off behind your shield, resulting in your death.  The reason that C4 is so frustrating is that usually you’re only option is to retreat or let the enemy run away.  If you have the opportunity you could try a stun to mess with the C4 or you could use your pistol to shoot it, but both of those may be unnecessarily dangerous.  Sometimes, you just have to let them go.

You will also come across enemies that try to stun or flash you to try to gain an advantage.  A person with a riot shield has decreased mobility, making you an easy target to take a full-on stun or flash hit.  This will give your enemy a few seconds to dispatch you, so you need to take that advantage back with something we call “counter-stunning.”  The technique is very simple and isn’t limited to players with riot shields.  It simply involves throwing a stun grenade immediately after you yourself have been flashed/stunned.  This will slow down your enemy, hopefully long enough for you to recover.  If you are aware of your surroundings, you could also try to retreat or find a more defensible spot while both you and your opponent are still under the effects of the grenades.

Aggression

Typically, the riot shield puts players into a defensive frame of mind, but it can be used in full-on “Aggro” too.  We’re not talking about waiting for your chance to strike like we’ve discussed before, we’re talking about taking it to the enemy and setting the terms yourself!

Generally it’s not important in an FPS game to know which hand your character uses to hold his weapons, but when it comes to MW2 and the riot shield, it does actually make a huge difference.  Your character holds the riot shield with his left arm, and because of this, when you sprint, the shield is not held in front of you but off to your left.  Knowing this, you can sprint at enemies and still be afforded some protection from your shield.  Once you close the gap, it’s simply a matter of bashing them down like normal.  To execute this properly, you need to charge them like you’re going to run past them on the right, then turn and square up when you’re in bashing range.  You don’t want to be covering long distances, but shorter ones will prevent the enemy from having time to adjust from shooting your shield to shooting your legs.

Being super aggressive can be great for dealing with players carrying RPGs/AT-4s, because if you close the gap enough the RPG will blow up in their face.  Assisted Suicides are some of the most rewarding kills in the game, and stopping an RPG right after it leaves the launcher is up there with the best.

Another advantage you can use is the ability to switch to your pistol really quickly.  If you equip your M9 with the tactical knife, with a little practice on the timing, you should be able to get out some lighting-quick knife attacks.  This can be used at any time, but is great for when you’re charging around the battlefield with your shield.  It’s faster than bashing and it’s quieter than your M9.

Speaking of running around with the shield, as the game mentions in a loading screen, you can throw that bad boy on your back and have it take some hits from enemies behind you.  This can be great in some game modes (capture the flag, etc) and buy you a second or two.  If you’re going to be spending a lot of time with your shield on your back, you may want to either switch your loadout from an M9 to a shotgun, or find a dead body and pick up whatever they were carrying.  This way you’re no longer at a disadvantage when it comes to firepower.  The only thing to be aware of is that the shield behaves differently on your back than it does when you have it in front of you.  First off, it is much higher on your character.  You probably won’t get shot in the head from behind, but pretty much from the waist down is wide open.  Secondly, crouching doesn’t make much of a difference on lower body coverage.  The shield is on your back, and your character bends at the waist, so instead of it going down to the ground, it actually goes more horizontal.  Crouching to prevent a threat from behind actually gives you less protection and makes your character less mobile.  You could turn around and switch to your shield to properly address the threat, or you could keep running – either way, a shield on your back is only good for a bullet or two before the enemy realizes what is going on.

Alternatives

By this point you’re probably pretty seasoned at using the riot shield, and our guide has reached it’s final section.  Like many classes in Modern Warfare 2, our riot shield loadout does have a couple of limitations.  There are some loadout changes you can make to deal with specific situations, though you will have to decide if each one is right for you or not.

• Scavenger instead of Marathon.  Depending on how you play, you may find yourself left with just your shield and your USP .45 on numerous occasions.  Stun grenades obviously get used up quickly, and all it takes is one bad knife throw to make it really difficult to find.  You can still function without these tools, but keeping a constant supply obviously has it’s benefits.  If you find that you don’t sprint long distances, you may want to switch to Scavenger to keep the stuns coming and the knives flying.
• Tactical Knife instead of FMJ. Some players really benefit from the small added power that FMJ adds to their pistol rounds, but you may consider the tactical knife instead.  The increased knife speed, combined with the already quick USP .45 swap speed, may allow you to get some lighting fast swap/stab/shield back up kills.  The timing takes a bit to get used to however as the blade isn’t instantaneous after hitting the swap button.  We don’t recommend this for face-to-face encounters as you are vulnerable for a brief time.
• Blast Shield instead of the Throwing Knife. Taking away one of your most potent offensive weapons for increased survivability can be a tough choice, but it can be worth it.  You lose the offense of the throwing knife, and the blast shield greatly limits your incoming information (score/radar/etc), but it does provide the invaluable benefit of being able to survive semtex and grenade launcher shots.  Semtex that sticks to your shield will injure you but not kill you if you have the blast shield equipped, and players that launch 203s to the side of your riot shield will find you much harder to kill.  You don’t have to be actively wearing the blast shield all the time, so you could only put it on (and lose your radar, etc) when you meet some danger minimizing that drawback.

Welcome the to phase 3 of our 4 phased approach to the riot shield.  In this post we will discuss Challenges and situations that seem impossible until you use the riot shield.

Challenges & Specific Situations:

Challenges that can only be completed with a riot shield

• Back-Smasher – Crush an enemy from behind with your Riot Shield.
• This is easy, just take advantage of your marathon pro to run up on an unsuspecting sniper.

• Smasher – Get a 3-kill streak with the Riot Shield without dying.
• This sounds impossible at first, but you can do it pretty easy on Derail in the warehouse.

• Owned – Get Game Winning Killcam with a Riot Shield melee kill.
• This one takes being in the right place at the right time, but it is very doable.

• Shield Veteran 1,2,3 – Kill x enemies with the shield melee attack.
• Just smash as many people as you can level 3 is completed after only 15 kills

• Unbreakable: 1,2,3 – Deflect x explosions with your Riot Shield.
• This is easy if you point your shield towards grenades or exploding barrels.  You can even run around shooting barrels with you pistol so that they light on fire, then switch to you shield and watch them explode!  Level 3 is completed after 100 deflections.

• Sponge 1,2,3 – Absorb x damage with your Riot Shield.
• Level 3 sounds like a lot at 50,00 but it is easy and it comes very quick on its own.

• Bullet Proof 1,2,3 – Deflect x bullets with your Riot Shield.
• This is by far the one that takes the most time.  It takes forever to get the 10,000 bullets to complete level 2, so you can just imagine what it would take to get the 50,000 for level 3.  The best advice we can give here is to find sentry guns and harrier jets.  If the harrier jet isn’t shooting at you, just switch to your secondary weapon and fire a couple shots at it.  ***One thing that you may want to consider is setting your Kill Streaks to Care Package (for Sentry Gun or Harriers) and  Sentry Gun and letting the enemy team pick them up (Helicopters too if you’re feeling bold).  That way they’ll call them in and you will get the benefit of having them shoot at you!  Your team will probably think you’re crazy, but if you keep the enemy rewards busy, they may not mind.*** It also helps to ask your team not to shoot down the Harrier. We’ve found that most people will refrain from shooting them down but every once and a while you will get that one guy that just has to shoot it down.




Here is how to get the harriers attention, just switch to the shield before it starts shooting:

Challenges that the riot shield makes easier

• Did You See That? – Kill someone with a Throwing Knife while flashed or stunned.
• In most situations you have to be lucky as a leprechaun with a 4-leaf clover in one hand and a horse shoe in the other – on St. Patrick’s day.  With the riot shield this becomes very very easy.  The best place to do this is on Terminal.  Go on the plane then go into the little thing you walk down to get to the plane, like in real life.  Just stand there and wait for someone to come by.  Typically they will shoot at you first, then throw a grenade or Semtex. As long as that doesn’t kill you they will always flash bang you and try to rush you.  That’s when you throw the knife when your blind.  Since you are in the tunnel they have to run straight at you, making it really easy… almost too easy.

• The Resourceful – Kill an enemy by sticking semtex to an ally.




• It takes 2 to tango here. The best place for this is on a bridge in Rundown or in the big bunker on Afghan. You and a buddy both equip riot shields and proceed to one of the locations mentioned above. When the enemy comes rushing in, slap your Semtex on you buddy, yell the code word, and watch him run in and get the kill with your nade. Just make sure it is on the person. If the nade is on your buddies riot shield it won’t count.

• Blindfire – Kill an enemy while you are still dazed by a flashbang.
• Same as “did you see that”, just switch to your secondary weapon.  If you have trouble getting the kill with your pistol, walk over a dead body and switch your pistol for an assault rifle.

• Slow But Sure – Kill 1 enemy while being stunned by a stun grenade.
• Same as “Blindfire” you just need the enemy to throw a stun grenade instead of a flashbang.

• Invincible – Fully recover from enemy damage 5 times without dying. Screen must turn red/bloody
• This is still difficult but can be done much easier with a riot shield.  Just expose your feet by standing and crouching while being shot at.  Once the screen gets bloody, retreat, recover, and repeat.

• Survivalist – Live for 5 consecutive minutes.
• Without the riot shield you can just camp and not play.  That’s pretty easy, but with the riot shield you can play and achieve this.  Just keep your head on a swivel and make sure you don’t get shot in the back.

• Flawless – Play an entire full-length match without dying.
• Same as “Survivalist”.  You could camp for an entire game, but what is the fun in that.

• Carnie 1,2,3 – Kill 5 players with a Throwing Knife.
• Carnie is so easy with a riot shield.  We got very specific with throwing knife strategy earlier in this guide, but basically you hit them with the throwing knife when they rush, reload, or just sit there trying to figure out what to do.

• Unbelievable – Get a Throwing Knife kill in Game Winning Killcam.
• This still takes being in the right place at the right time and a little luck, but because of the ease of Carnie in general your odds are better with a riot shield.

• Fast Swap – Hurt an enemy with a primary weapon, and then finish them off with a pistol.
• The riot shield does a fair amount of damage, and with your M9 equipped you can swap pretty fast.  Bash the enemy once, then swap it out and pop them.  This works well on unsuspecting enemies and enemies that are trying to flee.

• It’s Personal – Hurt an enemy then finish them off with a throwing knife.
• This is similar to Fast Swap – bash them once with the shield, then let the knife fly!

• ATM – Get payback with a throwing knife.
• The knife is one of your main weapons when using the shield, so the percentage of this happening just in the course of a normal match is increased.

Here is the second round of our Guide to the MW2 Riot Shield.  In this section we are focusing on different “types” of enemies that you will encounter and how you can defeat them.  We also included a video with this one to help you visualize what we are talking about.  The first minute of the video is just showing you how effective the Riot Shield & throwing knife can be.  The last min recaps the different enemy types that we discuss later in the post.  Take a note of the teamwork… an enemy is shooting the riot shield, a teammate pops in and drops him to last stand, and  the riot shield finishes him off with a throwing knife.  That is an example of how playing with the riot shield can enhance team play and give you a sense of accomplishment.  Let’s face it, anyone can knife across the room with commando pro… how fun is that?

Defeating Enemies:

Once you’ve mastered staying alive and distracting enemies for your teammates, it’s your turn to get in on the killing action.  Many enemies view a lone person with a riot shield as being helpless, but you have many tools at your disposal that will quickly prove this assumption to be a fatal mistake.

The first weapon at your disposal is the shield itself.  You can use the shield to bash enemies into submission by performing a melee attack.  It requires two hits to kill an enemy player (non-hardcore) with full health, so you need to be agile and work on your timing.  Even though it requires two successful hits, attacking in this manner doesn’t open you up like methods we’ll discuss later.  The riot shield will even keep enemies from knifing you if you keep the enemy directly in front of you.  After landing your first hit, you may need to square up again quickly to avoid a bullet or swiping knife.  Once you’ve got your enemy in front of you again, go in for the second hit.  A danger with using the shield to attack is the chance of losing sight of your enemy, which is greatly increased if the enemy tries to knife you while using the Commando perk.  The two drawbacks to using the shield as an offensive weapon (requiring two hits, close proximity to enemy), prevent it from being your weapon of choice in every situation.  Using other weapons can open you up to enemy fire, however, the stun grenades, throwing knife and USP.45 pistol can be used quickly to minimize the time you are exposed.

Stun grenades can be thrown fairly quickly, though it does require briefly lowering your shield to do so.  Like other actions, you need to time throwing your stunners for when the enemy is not shooting you (reloading, changing weapons, etc).  A direct hit with a stun grenade gets you the time you need to take out the threat with your other weapons.  Your target will be greatly immobilized, allowing you to run up and bash them, skewer them with a throwing knife, or pull out your pistol and plug them.  It is important to note that enemies can still shoot when stunned, but they are very slow to move – this applies to their travel, as well as their ability to change the direction they are facing.  Make sure to side step and attack a stunned opponent from the side, as they will unable to turn quickly enough to shoot you.  Stun grenades are superior to flash bangs when using the shield because of their ability to slow an enemy down.  This benefit can be exploited to catch up to a fleeing enemy, make an enemy an easier target to hit, or facilitate your own retreat if overwhelmed.

The throwing knife is another choice that requires you to lower your shield only momentarily.  The throwing knife is a little tricky to use at first because of the arcing path it takes, as well as the slight delay from when you press the button, to when your character actually releases the knife.  Generally, enemies don’t react fast enough if you catch them with the knife by surprise.  If they are charging directly at you without shooting, or if they are standing still deciding what to do, these are excellent times to strike with the throwing knife.  The other benefits of using the throwing knife are that it is silent and can be picked up again.  If you kill an enemy with your throwing knife, you can find it again by standing over their dead body.  If you miss, your knife is out there somewhere (stuck in a wall, lying in the grass, etc), however it may be difficult to find.  Use it wisely and remember that stun grenades can make for easy targets.

The USP.45 Pistol is another tool at your disposal, but has the disadvantage of requiring you to put your shield away instead of just lowering it momentarily.  The advantage of the USP.45 is that it can be more accurate than your throwing knife, and it is easier to hit targets that are further away.  The USP.45 does allow you to switch from shield to pistol, and back again, very quickly.  You could hit an enemy with a stun grenade, pull out your USP.45, shoot him up, and get your shield in front of you again before any of his reinforcements arrive.  You just need to be sure it is safe to put away your shield before you decide to use your USP.45.

Knowing how to use your weapons is very important, but being an effective shield-wielding attacker also requires you to know when to use them.  We can’t possibly go over every situation and provide a defacto choice on how to react, but we can give you some insight into how to handle common enemies you will face online.

• The Reloader – Players that are inexperienced in dealing with riot shields will often continue to shoot at you, despite your shield stopping every bullet.  They may try to move to your side and shoot around your shield, but if you stay back enough and keep them squared up, they will eventually run out of bullets.  When they reload, this is your chance to strike.  Any of the tools we have work well against reloading enemies.  Stun them if you want, then finish them off.

• The Confused – After playing against shield players for a while, players sometimes become uncertain as to how to proceed.  It may be that they know a specific weakness and they’re waiting to exploit it (ie. shooting your feet when you advance), or they may be waiting for back up to flank you.  Regardless, you need to take this moment of hesitation and use it to your advantage.  You need to try to get them to make a mistake.  This might mean trying to bait them into shooting at you (and then reloading…), or tricking them into thinking you’re harmless (throwing knife…), or make the worst mistake they can and turn their back to you.

• The Retreater – Players that have fought skilled shield users may decide to back off entirely from an enemy with a shield.  Maybe they don’t know how to kill an enemy with a shield, or maybe they’ve been killed by a shield before and don’t want to risk it.  If they back away, you’re options are limited.  If they are not already shooting at you, you’ll likely be able to get a throwing knife or stun grenade off before they can react.  As usual, a stun grenade will give you lots of options, and even allow you to catch up to an enemy that has put some distance between you.  In some situations, you may want to let the enemy escape (running into the open, etc).

• The Rusher – These players feel that their best chance of taking you down is to knife you.  This can be true, but it also allows you the best defensive position possible, as you can finish a rusher off by bashing them, and if they are rushing from a distance, a throwing knife can stop them in their tracks.  You can only use a throwing knife on an advancing enemy if he’s not shooting at you, and once he’s fairly close, he may “Commando” you while your character is throwing the knife.  If the throwing knife is not an option, it is imperative that you keep them squared up at all times.  This will give you the best chance at having their knife swipe hit your shield.  To keep them squared up properly, once they get near “Commando” range, make your character stand up.  You are much more mobile when standing, and when an enemy is that close, it is very difficult for them to shoot at your feet (besides, they’re usually focused on knifing you).  Bash them with the shield as soon as you can, refocus, and bash them again.  Remember that it can be easy to lose sight of your enemy at close range.  Regular enemies are not that difficult, but tactical knives can be very troublesome, as they may get two or three knife attempts in before you get your second shield bash.

• The Dismisser, a.k.a The Idiot – These are the players that see a riot shield, and dismiss it as “not being a threat,” and move on to something else.  This is the worst mistake that an enemy can make.  Some may just continue about their business, others may see you and turn to run away.  In either case, this frees you up to finish them however you want.  The easiest is often switching to your Pistol, but a stun grenade may be necessary if the enemy is running away.

This video shows some of what we have talked about:

Riot shields can be a very strategic weapon on the battlefield in MW2.  We have put in countless hours crafting the best uses of the riot shield and we are sharing the fruits of our labor right here.  This guide will prove to be beneficial whether you’re looking for an edge in clans wars, trying to get some of the more difficult titles, or if you’re just looking for a fun change of pace to your MW2 experience.  So grab your favorite snack and soda, and enjoy GT’s take on the riot shield.

Load Out:

The first thing you’ll want to look at is how you set up your class.  The default “Riot Control” class consists of a riot shield, akimbo PP2000s, Blast Shield, Stun Grenades, Marathon, Hardline, Commando, and Pain Killer.  This class can be fun for messing around with the riot shield if you don’t want to give up a custom class slot to make your own, but isn’t as strong as the one we’re going to suggest.  The default class tries to make up for it’s lack of offensive power with the akimbo PP2000 and Hardline, but both of those choices have their own drawback – swap speed for the pistols, and decreased mobility and overall difficulty of reaching a devastating kill streak reward.

When using the riot shield, it is important to set up a class to maximize your ability to help your team, not to just be a nuisance for the enemy.  Marathon, Lightweight, and Commando are excellent choices when using the riot shield.  Marathon allows you to get to choke points and hot spots quicker, Lightweight offsets the movement penalty imposed by having the riot shield, and Commando provides you with another weapon when it comes time to strike.  Along with these three perks, Martyrdom is a very useful death streak, as you’ll often be in very close proximity to enemies when you die.

The riot shield provides you near impenetrable protection, but at the cost of offensive firepower.  To make up for your decreased firepower, it’s important that you pick the proper secondary weapon, equipment, and special grenades so you go from being a nuisance to being a dangerous threat to any enemy.  An excellent loadout is the USP .45 Pistol, the Throwing Knife, and the Stun Grenades.  The USP .45 is excellent because of it’s high rate of fire, accuracy, and the speed at which you can switch to it (we recommend FMJ as your USP attachment).  Other weapons may pack more punch (like the SPAS12 Shotgun for example), but you cannot switch to them as fast.  The throwing knife allows you to briefly drop your guard and go on the offensive in a flash, and the stun grenades will make your life much, much easier overall.

One thing to keep in mind, is that some of our suggested equipment/perks are only attainable at higher levels.  Waiting until you reach those levels to use the shield will provide you with lots of experience and familiarity with the maps.  We’ve had plenty of time on this game, so we’re making some assumptions about how much you know about your environments.  Sometimes the riot shield is about patience, so you might as well start being patient now – you’ll be get to bash plenty of people later.

Staying Alive:

Before you start thinking about killing enemies, you need to spend time learning to keep yourself alive.  The riot shield is a phenomenal defensive device, but it is not without limitations.  The major flaw is the actual size of the shield.  It is not much wider than your character, nor is it as tall, leading to the two most important things to learn:

• Square Up To Your Attacker – you must always try to keep your riot shield pointed directly at the threat you wish to defend against (enemy, sentry gun, harrier, etc).  Any bullets that hit your riot shield will not get through, but if the threat is at a relatively small angle from center, the bullets will be able to go by the edge of the shield and hit your character.
• Get Low, Stay Low – when using the shield in a standing position, it will not cover your lower legs or feet, leaving an opportunity for a enemy you have properly squared up to still kill you from head on.  It is important to get into the crouched position as soon as you can, as this puts the bottom of the shield practically on the ground, making it nearly impossible to shoot your feet.  It is important to note that if you are moving while crouching, the shield doesn’t quite reach the ground and your feet can still be shot.  This is also the case if your player is looking up more than necessary.  You will need to try to time your movements for when a threat is reloading, etc.

While you’re still building up your experience with your shield, retreating is an excellent survival strategy.  Not only will it prevent solitary enemies from shooting around your shield, but will help cut down the angles when facing more than one enemy.  If the enemies split to either side of your shield, your only chance is to get back far enough that they’re both still in front of you instead of beside you.

Another important aspect of using the shield is knowing where to use it.  When you’re first starting out, you want to find locations that are fairly narrow.  It will be easier to square up opponents if they can’t physically run too far to either side of you.  An great spot can be found in an unexpected map – Derailed.  The majority of the map is the open outdoors (really bad for riot shields), but often the fighting takes place at the building in the center of the map.  The second floor of this building provides a great playground for the riot shield, as the small rooms and numerous doorways make it easy to keep enemies directly in front of your shield.  As you learn the limitations of your shield, you’ll find that you can use it in more locations that you might have originally thought, and some maps that might initially seem suitable might not be as easy as you think.

Really take your time in learning the limitations of your shield.  It is important to know exactly what you can and can’t get away with in terms of the protection it offers.  The one benefit to dedicating yourself to the riot shield is instant feedback.  You’ll know right away if you have made a mistake, as it will usually lead to your death.

Teamwork:

The riot shield is best utilized with the guns of other members of your team.  You provide them with increased cover, they provide you with the firepower that you don’t have yourself.  This will result in a lot of “Crowd Control” points, which are gained when your shield is being shot up by an enemy and one of your teammates kills that enemy.  It is important for you to remain low, as your teammate’s bullets will be stopped from reaching the enemy if they hit the backside of your shield.  It is important for your teammate to stay right behind you, maximizing the amount of protection he gets from your shield.

Another important role a riot class can provide is that of distraction.  Often, enemy players become fixated on the riot shield player and in some cases even try to gang up on you.  They may view you as an easy kill because you don’t shoot back [we'll get to that ], or maybe you’re just in a highly visible location.  You may also be able to get concealed players to reveal themselves.  If you are patient and do your best to stay alive, you’ll be providing your teammates with time to either flank the target, or pick off the distracted enemies.  Even if your teammates aren’t there to help pick off the enemy, the fact that you have the enemy fooling around with you means they are not out there getting kills on your teammates.  That can go along way to contributing to a win for your team.

Enemy players aren’t the only threats you can distract on the battlefield.  Many enemy kill streaks are unable to penetrate your riot shield as well.  With Sentry Guns and shooting Harrier Jets, once they start shooting at you, they’ll become fixated until you die or they stop functioning.  This will prevent them from killing your teammates, not only allowing them to go about their business, but also keeping the enemy’s kill count down.  You can also absorb rounds from Attack Helicopters and Pave Lows, but because they move around, they may not continually target you.  There are also kill streaks that you cannot survive.  Predator missiles, bombings (Precision, Harrier, Stealth), Chopper Gunners, and AC-130s will still cut you down.

That’s going to do it for phase 1 of our Riot Shield User Guide.  In the days ahead we will be posting additional phases.  Here are some of the topics you can look forward to in our future posts: Defeating Enemies, Challenges, Specific Situations, Advanced Enemy Tactics, and more.