Deployment Shield

 is a defense slot upgrade available to the Sunderer. It is auto-granted at rank, and upgraded using Certification Points.

While attached, a deployment shield activates whenever the Sunderer is deployed using the Sunderer Advanced Mobile Station (S-AMS), providing it with a regenerating shield layer that reduces the damage taken from certain damage types while it holds.

Once the Sunderer has finished deploying, the shield will immediately begin charging from 0 health. After approximately 13 seconds, the shield will reach its maximum strength of 2500 health. Damage taken at any point, whether directly to the Sunderer's health pool or to the shield, will interrupt shield regeneration and force the full listed delay to be incurred again.

The shield provided by Deployment Shield changes the Sunderer's resist profile slightly while shielded. While the shield holds, the Sunderer takes slightly reduced damage from Tank Shells, and heavily reduced damaged from C4 and Tank Mines.

Damage Resistance
While the Sunderer's health bar is covered by shielding provided by Deployment Shield, the Sunderer is affected by a slightly different resist profile, providing the following changes.

Any damage dealt while the shield holds is subject to the Deployment Shield's resist profile, even if the damage exceeds the remaining health of the shield.

History

 * January 12, 2017 Hotfix
 * Deployment Shield maximum health from 2000 to 2500.
 * Dev Note: This change aims to lengthen the time it takes for a single infantryman to destroy a Deploy Shield Sunderer while uncontested, allowing for more time for defenders to respond to the threat.
 * March 20, 2019 Update
 * While the shield is active, the vehicle no longer receives additional damage to Tank Shell (resist type 7)
 * Dev Note: This change nullifies the Tank Shell resistance adjustments above for Deploy Shield Sunderers whose shield is currently active.
 * September 15, 2021 Update
 * Standard vehicles have received rank 1 Nanite Auto-Repair as their default defense item, except for the Sunderer, which has received rank 1 Deployment Shield.
 * March 30, 2022 Update (The Arsenal Update)
 * Deploy Shield now uses hex shield visuals to show when it's active.