The Riot Shield has been a common sight in Call of Duty titles since it was originally introduced in Modern Warfare 2. The Riot Shield is a weapon that allows players to block incoming shots from enemies. Its main use is to shield players’ front side from oncoming enemies looking to eliminate them. However, like in MW2, the Riot Shield has been taken to a new level with Call of Duty: Vanguard.
Any player that’s hopped in a Vanguard multiplayer match has undoubtedly seen an enemy or teammate running around with a Riot Shield on their back. By equipping a Riot Shield and a primary weapon, players are able to stick the shield on their back to stop bullets from hitting them. This makes flanking an enemy with a Riot Shield a herculean task, as they can only be shot in the foot.
The Riot Shield strategy has become so widespread in Vanguard that it’s strange seeing a player not take advantage of it. As a result, community members are taking to social media to plead with the developers for a counter.
The Riot Shield problem in Vanguard
One popular post on Reddit started a discussion about the shield within the community, garnering nearly 100 comments. The post detailed how Sledgehammer Games could help deal with the massive amount of players running Riot Shields on their backs.
“Every game is turtles running around the map with the shield on their back. If there’s no movement penalty to have the shield on their back, FMJ should at least shoot through it and give some damage,” the post says.
FMJ is an Ammo Type available on all Vanguard weapons. It allows players to deal more damage through surfaces, which doesn’t apply to the Riot Shield as of the time of publishing. However, players feel it should apply, as it’s one of the only ways to counter the shield. The original poster of the Reddit thread later added that the Armor Piercing Ammo Type could be a better option than FMJ.
The other option players came up with to counter Riot Shields is to restrict the weapon’s availability on the Overkill perk. Players are running Overkill in the third perk slot to have a primary weapon along with the shield. However, if the shield isn’t available to use with Overkill, then it eliminates the problem entirely.
Either way, it seems a majority of players want Sledgehammer to introduce some kind of counter to Riot Shields in Vanguard. If they don’t, players will have to continue shooting the feet of Riot Shield users.
