As a passionate Division agent with hundreds of hours played, I‘ve tested every gear and skill combination possible. And I can definitively say that the Ballistic Shield build stands atop them all right now in terms of sheer survivability and tanking potential.
The ability to absorb entire boss magazines to the face while dishing out damage makes you feel utterly invincible. You‘ll laugh as enemies fruitlessly try to flank your impenetrable defense. And you‘ll relish the opportunity to lead the charge, securing objectives while your team rains fire safely behind you.
But it takes intricate optimization of shield health, secondary stats, weapon talents and playstyle adaptation to transform into a truly unstoppable juggernaut. This comprehensive guide aims to share everything I‘ve learned about constructing the supreme Division 2 shield build.
Evaluating Shield Variants and Mods
Let‘s start by examining the various shield skill options available and their strengths and weaknesses:
Ballistic Shield
- Highest Health
- Reflect Damage
- Vulnerable to Explosions
- No Healing
Bulwark Shield
- Automatic Repair
- Medium Health
- Vulnerable to EMP
- No Reflect
Crusader Shield
- Highest Mobility
- Lowest Health
- Manual Healing
- Vulnerable to Flanks
The Ballistic Shield‘s massive health pool and damage reflection make it the undisputed king for PvE tanking. With 30M+ health achievable, you can soak multiple heroics bosses simultaneously.
The Bulwark trades health for automated healing, serving better for support roles. And the Crusader functions best in group PvP where mobility matters most.
Nearly all shield health mods provide minimal returns compared to the Deflector mod:
Deflector Mod
- +500K Damage Reflection
- Significantly Boosts Survivability
The key advantage comes from redirecting bullets back into enemies, effectively adding a permanent damage buff. Prioritize Deflector on your Ballistic Shield.
Optimizing Brand and Talent Synergy
Creating a tank build relies on gear brands that enhance shield health, skill repair, and armor regeneration simultaneously:
3 Pieces Gila Guard
- +15% Total Armor
- +5% Armor Regeneration
- +10% Armor (3 piece)
2 Pieces Belstone Armory
- +20% Armor Regeneration (1 piece)
- +10% Pistol Damage (2 piece)
Emperor‘s Guard Kneepads
- +20% Total Skill Health
1 Piece Murakami
- +10% Skill Duration
Together these give you incredible sustain inside and outside of combat. Murakami could be replaced with Fenris/Ceska/Improvised for damage.
Optimizing minor attributes is also crucial:
Priority Stats
| Stat | Goal |
|---|---|
| Skill Health | As high as possible |
| Armor Regeneration | 7-10% total |
| Skill Repair | As high as possible |
| Skill Haste | 10% total |
Getting max armor regen and skill repair ensures your shield and armor recover rapidly. Skill haste reduces critical cooldowns for chem launcher, kits etc.
Dealing Damage with Liberty
While your shield soaks hits, the Liberty exotic pistol explodes enemies with its holstered talent:
Liberty Exotic Pistol
- 100% Damage to Robots, Tanks, Drones
- Shoot Weakpoints to Gain Buff
- 5 Stacks = 500% Damage Shots
Liberty exploits the shield‘s ability to safely destroy weak points without being vulnerable yourself. This enables activating the weapon‘s special "Liberty" shots for humongous damage.
Making sure to build 5 stacks before engaging challenging targets like Rogue Agents makes fighting them trivial compared to normal builds.
Specialization and Skill Augments
Either the Survivalist or Firewall specialization work best:
Survivalist
+15% Outgoing Healing
+10% Skill Health
+10% Pistol Damage
+10% Protection from Elites
Firewall
+10% Shield Health
+10% Pistol Damage
+10% Burn Resistance
+Foam Grenade
Survivalist is better for PvE with the healing and elite protection. Firewall shines in PvP with crowds control grenades.
You can also optimize skill mods to boost performance:
Chem Launcher
- Reinforcer Chem
- +Skill Repair
Reviver Hive
- Damage Mod
- Ammo Capacity
Making sure your chem launcher repair strength is at least 418k ensures full overheal each use. And enhancing reviver ammo lets you revive yourself more times.
Advanced Shield Gameplay Tips
Mastering shield positioning separates decent tanks from juggernaut elites. Follow these key principles:
Position Shield Between You and Enemies
- Move forward at angles
- Constantly face threats
- Protect flanks
Use Cover to Repair and Backup
- Duck behind to use chem launcher
- Avoid reloading/healing exposed
- Reposition shield off cooldown
Save Support Skills
- Don‘t spam chem at 100% armor
- Wait until critical thresholds
- Time heals between waves
Retreat and Recover Tactically
- Swap shield side strafing back
- Drop immobile cover to divert enemies
- Lead threats away from objectives
The Division 2 lets you pivot the shield dynamically while sprinting so make sure to constantly adjust to intercept incoming fire. Learning exactly when to heal, reposition and disengage takes practice but enables you to achieve truly impressive feats of tanking against overwhelming odds on heroic difficulty and in the Dark Zone.
Min/Max Benchmarks for Shield Health
To fully optimize this build, you should strive for the following stat checkpoints:
Minimum Benchmark
- 10 million Ballistic Shield Health
- 30% Armor on Kill
- 10% Total Armor Regeneration
- 30% Skill Repair
Elite Benchmark
- 15 million Ballistic Shield Health
- 50% Armor on Kill
- 20% Total Armor Regeneration
- 40% Skill Repair
Min/Max Benchmark
- 30 million Ballistic Shield Health
- 80% Armor on Kill
- 30% Total Armor Regeneration
- 60% Skill Repair
The minimum provides solid survivability for all content through heroic. But pushing towards the max benchmarks enables face tanking multiple heroic sponge bosses simultaneously.
30 million shield health means absorbing 30 bullets from an elite sniper before breaking!
Alternative Chem Launcher Mods
While Reinforcer repairs the most armor, other chem mods provide unique advantages:
Oxidizer Chem
- Significant Damage Over Time
- Prevents Enemy Healing
- Reduces Enemy Damage
Riot Foam Chem
- Fully Immobilize Enemies
- Prevents Grenades/Mortars
- Enables Flawless Weakpoint Shooting
Oxidizer lets you contribute bonus group damage over time (DOT) alongside marking enemies for executions. Riot foam completely shuts down problematic enemies, buying you critical time to line up Liberty one-shots.
I recommend keeping both equippable with loadouts to counter specific faction abilities and take pressure off your teammates.
Itemization and Upgrade Priority
Focus on acquiring top rolls for the following items first when collecting build pieces:
Emperor‘s Guard Kneepads
- Unique +Skill Health Talent
- Roll Armor Regeneration
Matador Named Bag
- Perfect Adrenaline Rush
- Bonus Pistol Damage
- Roll Skill Repair
The Mop Named Rifle
- Perfect Recharged Talent
- Maximizes Chem Uptime
Pyromaniac Named AR
- Applies Burn Status
- Useful for Foam Chem Crowd Control
Make the Emperor‘s Guard kneepads your first farm since they offer an exclusive talent perfect for shield builds. The others provide weapon flexibility and skill optimization.
The advantage of a fully optimized Ballistic Shield build truly shines in The Division 2‘s hardest PvE content where other builds struggle. Here‘s what you can easily manage:
Legendary Strongholds
- Facetank Multiple Heavy Supports
- Shield Immune to Sniper One-shots
- Perma Lock Rogue Agents
Heroic Global Difficulty
- Comfortably Solo All Open World Activities
- Never Die to Ambushes
- Face Tank Rogue Agent Squads
The Summit
Face Shield Ravenous Riflemen
Carry Undergeared Groups
Trivialize Nearly All Objectives
Hunter Encounters
Instant Melt with Liberty
Prevent Flanks and Hiding
Foam Grenade + Mag Dump
Outside of raid bosses and oxidizer spam, there‘s not much content a maxed shield build can‘t comfortably handle thanks to Liberty one-shots and near invulnerability. I highly recommend classy Hunters masks and bragging rights!
Conclusion
After hundreds of hours perfecting my Division 2 shield build across countless missions, it‘s clear this powerful toolkit enables resisting the toughest enemies with ease while supporting your team. Transforming into a highly mobile fortress, impervious to ambushes and able to recover rapidly feels incredibly satisfying. One-shotting smug Hunters and Rogue Agents makes all the grinding worthwhile.
I hope this guide has offered helpful advice for aspiring tank agents. Let me know if you have any other shield tips in the comments – time to equip Specialization shields!
