Best Legendary Shields
There are a lot of legendary shields in Borderlands 3 and they all do amazing stuff. However, which shields can be considered “THE BEST“? Of course, this is subjective and it all depends on the character and the build you are playing.
Just like every other Borderlands game, you can take advantage of the game’s mechanics. There is a whole list of components that determine the shield’s abilities. But basically, they all have; a capacity, a reload delay, and a reload rate. The higher the shield’s rarity the more components and therefore better stats it will have. While there is a whole system that generates all these shields in-game. Legendary gear, however, breaks Gearbox Software’s own rules.
Legendary Shields will have unique components that will give the item special abilities. Each Legendary shield is designed to offer a different twist to your play style and that’s where the fun begins. And with that said, you should definitely check out these bad boys.
Table of contents
Big Boom Blaster
The Big Boom Blaster is great if you like doing explosive damage. Because when your shield gets damaged, you have a chance to drop a booster pack. This will restore your shield and will add 1 grenade and 1 rocket launcher ammo to your inventory. So if you can keep feeding on these boosters you can keep your shield up and deal a lot of damage.
The Big Boom Blaster can be obtained randomly from any suitable loot source but has an increased chance to drop from The Unstoppable who is located in Ambermire on Eden-6.
Stinger
The Stinger is a Pangolin Shield that boosts your melee damage and punishes enemies that melee you. This shield will probably shine on a melee Amara build.
The Stinger has an increased chance of dropping from Anathema the Relentless during the Guardian Takedown which is located on Minos Prime.
Faulty Star
The Faulty Star is a Hyperion Shield that has a chance to trigger a nova at the attacking enemy when the shield takes damage. Your shield needs to be at full capacity in order for this to work. There is an awesome build for Moze that lets you constantly trigger the legendary effect and therefore constantly deal damage by simply running.
The Faulty Star can be obtained in the Fantastic Fustercluck DLC. It has an increased chance of dropping from Locomöbius who is located at Sapphire’s Run in Krieg’s Mind. It’s the train boss at the end of the map. But the Faulty Star can also randomly drop from any suitable loot source.
Version 0.m
The Version 0.m is an Anshin shield that you can get from the Maliwan Takedown. When your shield breaks it releases a Nova blast in the same element as the shield’s elemental resistance. It also creates a red glowing circle on the ground on shield break. Standing inside the circle will give you AMP damage.
The Version 0.m can be obtained from the Valkyrie Squad who are located in Maliwan’s Blacksite. They have a 25% chance of dropping this shield but a 22.2% chance at Mayhem Level 4 or Higher.
Transformer
The Transformer is a Hyperion Shield which is one of the best shields in the game. Because of its special effects, it has tactical advantages and is therefore used in various character builds.
The Transformer can randomly be obtained from any loot source as a world drop but also has a high chance of dropping from Queen Ant Wanette who is located in The Splinterlands on the planet Pandora and is a quest reward for the mission ‘It’s Alive‘ in Desolation’s Edge on Nekrotafeyo.
Plus Ultra
The Plus Ultra is a Pangolin Shield that has a hidden special ability. It secretly doubles your health capacity, which is not listed on the item card. The Plus Ultra has a 25% chance to absorb bullets and it increases your action skill cooldown by 30% for a few seconds.
The Plus Ultra can be obtained in the Fantastic Fustercluck DLC. It has an increased chance of dropping from Dr. Benedict who is located at Benediction of Pain in Krieg’s Mind. It’s the boss at the end of the map. But the Plus Ultra can also randomly drop from any suitable loot source.
Old God
The Old God is not only a great defensive tool but it also enhances your offense. Because this Hyperion shield provides elemental resistance and increases your damage with that element. On top of that, the Old God has 1 additional random component that’s not listed on the card but can only be found in the stats.
The Old God can be obtained from any suitable loot source, as a world drop on Xylourgos, Check out this guide for Best Legendary Farm Location in DLC2. But the shield has an increased chance of dropping from Eleanor in Hearts Desire as she has a 15% drop chance.
Re-Charger
The Re-Charger is one of the better shields in the game as it has the capability to recharge your shield to full capacity when it is depleted. This basically gives you double the amount of shield then the listed capacity. However, this special ability only triggers once every 20 seconds. The Re-charger comes in various prefixes, each with additional bonus effects.
The Re-Charger can be obtained randomly from any suitable loot source but has an increased chance to drop from Urist McEnforcer who is located in Lectra City on Promethea.
Besides the Re-Charger you can also check out these 2 variants of this shield. The Red Card Re-Charger adds sliding damage but drains this power from your shield. Then there is the Re-Charge Berner. This one triggers a nova blast when your shield breaks. While these 2 variants add new mechanics to your shield they both generally have a lower shield capacity.
Stop-Gap
The Stop-Gap is, in my opinion, one of the best legendary shields in the game because it’s a great shield for survivability.
This Hyperion shield has a very high shield capacity and decent recharge speed. While the recharge delay seems long, you can actually cut 5 seconds off the recharge time because the shield’s special ability kicks in during that time frame.
If you get swarmed by enemies and your shield breaks, you become immune to all damage for 5 seconds.
So if your recharge time is 6 seconds, you only have to worry about that 1 second before it recharges. Because the Stop-gap can spawn with different prefixes you can have other beneficial features to this shield.
The Stop-Gap can be obtained randomly from any suitable loot source but has an increased chance to drop from El Dragón Jr. who is located in Jakobs Estate on Eden-6.
Super Soldier
The Super Soldier is an Anshin Shield that can provide some of the best Vault Hunter skills to any character. Because when your shield is full, you gain increased fire rate and movement speed but also Ammo Regeneration.
Now everyone can enjoy Moze’s bottomless mag build. This other cool thing is that when your shield is fully charged it will provide you with a protective barrier for 5 seconds. This is basically Zane’s Barrier. With an “On Action Skill Start, Trigger Shield Break/Full Effect” anoint, you can really become an unstoppable beast.
The Super Soldier is a Director’s Cut exclusive Legendary. You can get one by leveling up your ‘Fallen Heroes’ Vault Card.
Infernal Wish
The Infernal Wish is an Anshin Shield that adds 1 Projectile per shot when the shield isn’t depleted. Firing your weapon can cause Self-Combustion, which increases with each infernal Stack. Resets on Second Winds.
This is a great shield for “one-shotting” bosses as you double your damage.
The Infernal Wish is an Arms Race exclusive Legendary (Designer’s Cut). It can randomly drop from any suitable loot source within the Stormblind Complex located on Pandora. However, you have a high chance of getting the Infernal Wish from the Red Chest at location E on the map.
Re-Volter
The Re-Volter is a Hyperion Shield that will enrage you every time your shield breaks. While you are enraged you will deal an additional 200% shock damage.
The Re-Volter is the best End Game Shield in Borderlands 3 because attacking is the best defense. The damage boost from the shield’s enrage is significant allowing you to swiftly defeat enemies. Having the ‘On Action Skill Start, Trigger Shield Break/Full effects’ Anoint on this shield offers you control over this powerful ability.
Amara, FL4K, and Zane all have Fire&Forget Action Skills with a short cooldown that can easily trigger the Re-Volter.
The Re-Volter is a Director’s Cut exclusive Legendary and has a 30% chance of dropping from Sumo in Eschaton Row on Prometeah this is the boss at the end of the map in one of Ava’s Murder Mystery Missions.
More Legendary Shields
As mentioned above, there are a lot of unique shields in Borderlands 3. Check out the legendary shield archive if you are looking to exploit a different mechanic. Something you want to look into is the “On action skill, trigger on shield full or break effect” anointment. Having this on a Stop-Gap means having control over the immunity phase or in the case of a Frozen Heart you can trigger the cryo novas.
More Legendary Weapons
- Borderlands 3 Legendary Weapon Tier List
- Every Borderlands 3 Legendary Weapon
- Best Legendary Grenade Mods in Borderlands 3
- Best Legendary Rocket Launchers in Borderlands 3
- Best Legendary Snipers in Borderlands 3
- Best Legendary Shotguns in Borderlands 3
- Best Legendary SMGs in Borderlands 3
- Best Legendary Assault Rifles in Borderlands 3
- Best Legendary Pistols in Borderlands 3
