Absorption Shield

Absorption Shields are a form of defensive barrier employed by various enemies during combat.

A Cabal Centurion with its shield engaged

Overview

An Absorption Shield manifests as a translucent bubble that surrounds the wielder. Damaging the shield will make it deteriorate, until it is removed. Elemental damage of the appropriate type, identifiable by the shield's color, drains it faster. If a shielded enemy doesn't receive damage for some time, its barrier will recharge quickly. Every race has at least one type of enemy shielded by default but will also have another type of enemy that's shielded whenever the Epic modifier is active (or during certain public events).

Gameplay

Destiny

If one inflicts enough damage into a shield regardless of the color, it will deactivate, though this method takes longer, and may waste precious resources and ammo. A high impact weapon of sufficient destructive capacity can deactivate absorption shields in a single hit regardless of its elemental type.

Elemental grenades can take down shields of their respective element by simply detonating next to the target.

Destiny 2

Shields gain a new appearance that varies between the enemy races: Fallen are unchanged, Hive gain more oblong and refined shields, Cabal shields are spherical with glowing angular patterns, Vex shields are cylindrical grids similar to the Hydra's, and Taken shields are blackened and "corrupted". Deactivating a shield with a weapon of its corresponding elemental type now triggers an area-of-effect explosion that damages nearby enemies. Also, during Nightfall strikes and certain other difficult activities, the presence of elemental shields has switched between certain enemy types. For example, Psions no longer have Void shields during the Nightfall strike, but Colossi have Arc shields now.

Enemy shield types

Race	Solar Shield	Arc Shield	Void Shield	Stasis Shield	Strand Shield
Fallen	Shank¥, Heavy Shank¥, Scorch Captain, Brutal Shank, Kell's Scourge†	Captain, Shock Captain, Brutal Shank, Kell's Scourge†	Splicer Captain, Servitor¥ Destiny 2, Null Captain, Brutal Shank, Kell's Scourge†, Dark Council Guard
Hive	Wizard	Knight¥	Savathûn's Handmaiden
Vex		Harpy¥	Minotaur
Cabal	Centurion	Blood Guard Legionary, Colossus¥ Destiny 2	Blood Guard Incendior, Interceptor Pilot¥, Incendior¥, Psion¥Destiny		Shadow Guard Incendior, Shadow Guard Legionary, Shadow Guard Centurion
Taken	Taken Captain, Taken Knight¥	Taken Centurion	Taken Wizard, Taken Acolyte¥, Taken Hobgoblin¥Master VotD
Scorn	Chieftain†, Wraith¥Master VotD	Chieftain†	Chieftain†, Raider¥
Bosses	Kolar, Psion Flayer, Navôta, Eir Spawn, Perfected Shank†, Skiffiks, Privateer†, Valus Trau'ug†, Vorlog†	Ksimikaa the Painsmith, Omnigul, Will of Crota, Perfected Shank†, Skiffiks, Privateer†, Vatch, Psion Flayer, Valus Trau'ug†, Vorlog†	Numoc, Psion Flayer, Perfected Shank†, Skiffiks, Privateer†, Valus Trau'ug†, Vorlog†

† Indicates enemies that alternate between different shield types.

¥ Indicates that the enemy gains shields in high difficulty activities or in otherwise special circumstances.

In addition to this list, Nightmare Hunts will also frequently spawn large groups of enemies (typically the lowest classes associated with the Nightmare's original race) with Solar shields that are unusually resistant to even matching elemental damage. Nightmare Breaker mods, obtained from the gamemode, are required to effectively penetrate these shields.

List of appearances

• Destiny (First appearance)
• Destiny 2