SH-20 Ballistic Shield Backpack

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Stratagems
Engineering Bay
Supply
Backpack
SH-20 Ballistic Shield Backpack
“

A backpack which can be wielded as a one-handed ballistic shield, protecting against small arms fire.

— Ship Management Terminal

The SH-20 Ballistic Shield Backpack or Ballistic Shield for short is a Stratagem which provides portable cover against enemy small arms fire when wielded.

Stratagem Statistics

General
Call-in Time 9.75 seconds
Uses Unlimited
Cooldown Standard 300 seconds
With Morale Augmentation 285 seconds
With Hand Carts 270 seconds
With All Upgrades 256.5 seconds
SH-20 Ballistic Shield Backpack
Main Health 600
Main Armor Armor AV3 Icon.png Medium
Ergonomics 65
Cooldown 300 sec
Call-in Time 5 s

Functionality

To use the Ballistic Shield, the player must equip a weapon with the One-Handed trait, such as the CB-9 Exploding Crossbow, all submachine guns except the SMG-32 Reprimand and any of the secondary weapon. When using a compatible weapon, the Ballistic Shield will expand and player will hold it in their left hand. Aiming the weapon will cause the player to raise the shield directly in front of themselves, granting forward coverage that protects most of the player's body.

When the shield is equipped, the weapon's sights are unusable and first-person aim is a view through the shield's viewport, requiring the player to aim using the weapon's laser pointer (if present) or otherwise eyeballing it.

Equipping or switching to a two-handed weapon, picking up a two-handed carriable object such as a SEAF Artillery shell, interacting with two-handed objectives such as the cranks on the Radar Station or E-710 Pumps, or picking up an objective that requires transport in the off-hand such as an SSSD Hard Drive, will collapse and stow the shield on the player's back.

The Ballistic Shield blocks projectiles at all times, including when stowed on the back or even left on the ground.

Tactical Information

  • Crouch to minimize exposure to enemy fire. While prone, however, the shield is held nearly flat off to the side, severely limiting its effectiveness.
  • The in-game description is slightly misleading, as the shield will block any enemy fire, including the Scout Strider's guns, Shredder Tank quad laser repeaters, and the miniguns of a Factory Strider.
    • Explosive projectiles should be dodged entirely, for while the shield will technically block explosive projectiles, the explosion will still damage and ragdoll the player.
    • As it has health and armor, the Ballistic Shield can be eventually destroyed, at which point it will automatically drop to the ground, appearing warped and broken.
  • The Ballistic Shield cannot protect the wielder from explosive damage, flamethrowers and fire, or arc electricity.
  • As of patch 1.002.101, the Ballistic Shield can now protect the user from melee attacks and, though undocumented, Terminid bile.
    • The shield is capable of absorbing melee blows that would otherwise instantly kill Helldivers like Charger and Bile Titan stomps, or the Hulk Scorcher's buzzsaw. Be aware that these attacks will destroy the shield with two hits or less due to their extreme damage.
    • While the Ballistic Shield will block Terminid bile, it does not protect the user from the area-of-effect damage that accompanies it.
    • The shield offers great protection against Illuminate enemies, foremost the Overseers, whose ranged and melee attacks cannot penetrate it.
      • It is also capable of blocking a Harvester's laser. However, due to the massive damage output of this weapon, the shield will be destroyed in less than half of a second.
  • The player can switch to a two-handed weapon to deliberately stow the shield on their back, providing protection during retreats.

Applicable Ship Modules

Department Ship Module Effect
Patriotic
Administration
Center 		Hand Carts Decreases cooldown for all Backpack stratagems by 10%.
Bridge Morale Augmentation Reduces cooldown time for all Stratagems by 5%.

Media

Tutorial Video Demonstrating Use of the SH-20 Ballistic Shield Backpack

Change History

Patch
Description

1.002.101
2025-02-04

Change

  • Now blocks melee attacks until it breaks from taking enough damage

Undocumented Changes

  • Now absorbs damage from Terminid bile
  • Armor Value lowered from Armor AV4 Icon.png Heavy to Armor AV3 Icon.png Medium
  • Health Increased from 400 to 600
  • Increased Durability from 0% to 70%

1.001.100
2024-09-17

Fixes

  • Fixed issue where first-person view was misaligned with weapon sights when using the Ballistic Shield Stratagem.

1.001.002
2024-08-06

Fixes

  • No longer blocks the enemies line of sight.
  • No longer collides with the combat walker.
  • Fixed a bug where picking up an SSSD drive would cause ballistic shields to be dropped.
  • Fixed ballistic shield to not collide with player as long as wielded.
  • Made improvements to the physics of the Ballistic Shield Stratagem.

1.000.402
2024-06-18

Fixes

  • Fixed not being able to stand up while wielding the ballistic shield.

1.000.400
2024-06-13

Fixes

  • Ballistic shield now collides with grenades.

1.000.300
2024-04-29

Fixes

  • Secondary weapon no longer remains in the Ballistic Shield ADS position after using a stim with the Ballistic Shield Backpack equipped.

1.000.200
2024-04-02

Changes

  • Collision mesh has been slightly increased in size for more forgiveness
  • Changed shield poses so that less of the helldiver is exposed
  • Addressed bug where parts of the helldiver would become vulnerable while using the shield in first person


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