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If you're looking for other melee and ranged starting weapons, you might want to check Starting loadouts.

The subject of this article appeared in Unreal Championship. The subject of this article appeared in Unreal Tournament 2003. The subject of this article appeared in Unreal Tournament 2004.

"The Kemphler DD280 Riot Control Device has the ability to resist and reflect incoming projectiles and energy beams. The plasma wave inflicts massive damage, rupturing tissue, pulverizing organs and flooding the bloodstream with dangerous gas bubbles. This weapon may be intended for combat at close range, but when wielded properly should be considered as dangerous as any other armament in your arsenal."
Weapon description

The Shield Gun is a melee weapon in the Unreal series.

Overview[]

The Shield Gun replaces the Impact Hammer in Unreal Championship, Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2004. It is one of the default weapons players spawn with, the others being the Translocator and the Assault Rifle.

This multi-purpose weapon serves as an offensive melee weapon, a defensive shield, and as a means (albeit painful) of extending your jump height.

Primary fire works similar to that of the Impact Hammer. Hold down primary to charge the weapon and walk into an enemy for an automatic release of the charged energy. This fire mode deals up to 150 damage, enough to kill a lightly armored opponent.

Secondary fire creates a shield that protects the user's front. While the shield is up, its energy slowly drains. In addition, any damage absorbed by the shield will also drain energy. Directly after the shield is up, it can drain 100 damage twice, enough for example to completely block two rockets. An attack that deals over 100 damage in one go, a fully charged bio glob for example, will partly penetrate the shield. In addition to blocking enemy attacks, it will reflect some energy projectiles, such as that of the Link Gun primary fire, in the direction the Shield Gun is aimed. While the shield is not used, its energy recharges. In UT2004, creating the shield drains 15% of the total energy, reducing the total amount of damage that can be absorbed right after the shield is up to 170, and discouraging letting the shield down quickly in between attacks to recharge.

Tips and tricks[]

  • The primary fire is effective against a sniper that doesn’t see you coming or a player currently guiding a redeemer rocket.
  • Pointing the shield down while falling will slightly reduce the damage taken from the impact when you hit the floor.
  • You can also use the shield’s primary fire as a means of boosting your jumping ability. Charge the primary fire, point at the ground, and hit the jump button as you release the fire button. You can combine this technique with a running jump to reach high ledges or the top of buildings. You can also use it as a means of traversing a section of the map quickly (such as grabbing that power-up sooner or reaching the flag position faster). Note that the technique does inflict self-damage! Be healthy or, ideally, have a shield pack.

Unreal Championship[]

"The advantages of a shield gun are that it’s always with you and that it constantly replenishes its ammo. Also, its primary fire can be deadly.
The disadvantages are that you must be very close to your opponent to use the primary fire, and its secondary fire is not an offensive weapon.

The primary fire is a single, charged blast of energy that discharges when you hit an opponent with the end of the gun. It’s best to hit your opponent in the back. If you try frontal attacks, your foe’s weapon is likely to do you in before you get close enough to use the shield gun.

The shield gun’s secondary fire creates a shield in front of you to block energy weapons. If your timing is right, it can even stop rockets. Using the shield depletes ammo rapidly. Use the secondary fire in flag-running or bomb-running situations as a last-ditch way to break through enemy defenses or escape when you have what you came for.

The shield gun is most useful on maps where energy weapons are prevalent. It’s least useful on maps with many flak cannons. In the first place, its secondary fire shield is not very effective against shrapnel or bullets. In the second place, you’d be lucky to get close enough to anyone armed with a flak cannon to use the shield gun’s primary fire.
The shield gun is used best as a last resort. Other weapons are better offensively. Still, learn to use the secondary shield. It occasionally comes in handy."
Unreal Championship Prima's Official Strategy Guide


Capture tips[]

The following are a series of tips released by the defunct website Capture.

"The Versatile Shield Gun

The Shield Gun is a very useful weapon. It is very multipurpose. It can tear enemies to pieces with its powerful primary fire shock, but the shield gun can also be used as a defensive weapon with its ability to absorb damage caused by enemy fire or from falling a great distance.
Yep, the secondary will in fact reduce falling damage if you hold it down and look down at the ground before falling. This can be used very effectively on maps where you use a high upper level as an escape route (CTF-Face3, CTF-Citadel, CTF-Magma, etc.). Try to hit ledges in a sequence rather than one long fall directly to the ground. This way, the shield can absorb more of the damage. Try "shield falling" down the varying ledges on Face3, and the spokes around the bottom of the tower on Citadel.
In fact, on Citadel, try grabbing the flag, then whipping out your Shield Gun and running through the transporter. If you've charged up your primary, you should be able to score a couple of kills or at least bump some snipers off the top before using the secondary to drop to safety.
Another use for the shield gun is hammer jumping, which is something you were able to do in the original UT as well. It can be used to reach places you wouldn't normally be able to jump to, but because nothing good can be for free, you will lose a big portion of your health. To do a hammer jump, charge up the hammer's primary completely, start running, look down at the ground, release the hammer and jump, and then make a second jump at the apex. You should hit the top lip of the bunker opening, and slide down onto the edge. Voila! A shortcut for tricky flag runners."
ThRaWn70[1]


Trivia[]

Preview Notes[]

Unreal Tournament 2003[]

"The impact hammer has evolved into the Shield Gun. You can still perform Impact jumps with this little gem, and it works well against shock hits."
Unreal Playground[2]


Gallery[]

External links and references[]

  1. "The Versatile Shield Gun". Capture. Archived from the original on Jan 6, 2004. Retrieved Nov 22, 2024.
  2. StealthDP (May 26, 2002). "E3 Report". Unreal Playground. Archived from the original on October 11, 2002. Retrieved July 10, 2020.

See also[]


Unreal Championship weapons
Shield GunAssault RifleBio RifleShock RifleLink GunMinigunFlak CannonRocket LauncherLightning Gun
Special weapons: TranslocatorBall LauncherSuper Shock Rifle
Superweapons: T.A.G. Rifle
Unreal Tournament 2003 weapons
Shield GunAssault RifleBio RifleShock RifleLink GunMinigunFlak CannonRocket LauncherLightning Gun
Special weapons: TranslocatorBall LauncherSuper Shock Rifle
Superweapons: Ion PainterRedeemer
Unreal Tournament 2004 weapons
Shield GunAssault RifleBio RifleMine LayerShock RifleLink GunMinigunFlak CannonGrenade LauncherRocket LauncherAVRiLLightning GunSniper Rifle
Special weapons: TranslocatorBall LauncherSuper Shock Rifle
Superweapons: Ion PainterRedeemerTarget Painter
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