Aegis Shield

The  is an active ability available to the New Conglomerate MAX. It is auto-granted at rank 1, and upgraded using Certification Points.

When activated, the MAX pulls their right arm across their body and from it projects an aegis shield. This shield covers most of the MAX from the front, and absorbs any damage that directly strikes it. The MAX cannot fire while it is projecting the shield, although will continue to reload its weapons if the process was started prior to activating the ability. When not in use, the shield takes up to 9 seconds to recharge.

Damage received by the shield will drain energy directly, and the shield will be disabled if its energy is fully drained. The shield's strength does not upon activation nor does it have an upkeep cost, and it can be activated regardless of the remaining energy (so long as it is not empty) although only regenerates energy when not active.

The shield will prevent any explosive damage received from passing through and damaging the MAX, and items which typically stick to MAXes (such as Anti-Vehicle Grenades, Nano-Repair Grenades, and Sticky Grenades) cannot stick to the shield.

To activate this ability, press the Use Ability hotkey ( by default).

Mechanics
While active, an aegis shield will prevent any damage that strikes it from damaging the MAX itself. Any damage it receives is directly drained from its energy pool. If the damage dealt to break the shield exceeds the shield's remaining energy, the damage will bleed over and damage the MAX behind it.

The shield recharges at a constant rate whenever it is not in use, taking a total of 9 seconds to recharge from empty. If the shield reaches zero energy and is broken, however, it will suffer a 5 second penalty delay before recharging resumes.

Both the shield's recharge rate and strength are affected by the ability's rank. This scaling, despite what the certification may imply, is not linear, and the strength of the shield at each rank beside ranks 1 and 5 may not be as expected. Because of the two improvements being identical to each other, the time taken to recharge a given percentage of the ability's maximum energy is the same regardless of rank.

At rank 1, the shield appears to have a total strength of 1500 energy, with rank 5's shield at a total strength of 3000 energy. The shield uses the same resistances the MAX beneath it, including the effects of Kinetic Armor and Ordnance Armor where present, to dictate how much damage it receives.

The exact statistics of the shield, as found by in-game testing, can be found below.

Certifications
Generates an energy Shield to absorb incoming head-on damage.

History

 * June 6, 2019 Update
 * NC MAX's Aegis Shield should now block explosives.
 * Fixed and updated Shader Visuals for NC Max's Aegis Shield