Absorption Shield

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

Overview

In battle, it manifests as a transparent bubble that surrounds the wielder. Elemental damage does inflict damage against certain types of Absorption shields. The most obvious way to tell if a shield is weakened by a certain damage type is to see what color it is; for example, Fallen Captains with blue shields are susceptible to Arc attacks. Likewise a Vex Minotaur is susceptible to Void damage, and Wizards and Centurions respectively are vulnerable to Solar damage.

Gameplay

Destiny 1

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 and Hive are unchanged, 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.

Enemy Shield Types

Fallen

• Captain—Arc
• Shank (Noble and higher)—Solar

Hive

• Knight (Anointed and higher)—Arc
• Wizard—Solar

Vex

• Harpy (Zealot and higher)—Arc
• Minotaur—Void
• Hobgoblin—Solar
• Hydra—Arc

Cabal

• Centurion—Solar
• Bloodguard Legionary—Arc
• Bloodguard Incendior—Solar
• Bloodguard Centurion—Void
• Elite Psion—Void
• Psion Flayer—Arc; Solar; Void

Taken

• Taken Acolyte—Void (on higher difficulty in Strike playlists)
• Taken Captain—Solar
• Taken Centurion—Arc
• Taken Goblin—Arc (projected toward Taken allies)
• Taken Wizard—Void

List of appearances

• Destiny (First appearance)
• Destiny 2