Hand Shield

	This article is non-canon.
	The subject matter of this article does not take place in the "real" Half-Life and Portal universe and is considered non-canon.

	The title of this article was translated for the wiki.
	The name of this subject in the original language, Japanese, is "ハンドシールド".

Hand Shield
Production information
Type	Shield
Technical specifications
Max ammo	5 (Ranger) 4 (Soldier)
Usage
Used by	Ranger (CU) Soldier (IS)
Game information
Entity	weapon_hshield_mp (weapon entity) thing_handshield (shield entity)

 

The Hand Shield is an item (used as a weapon game-wise) available in the Battle Mode of Half-Life 2: Survivor. It is unlocked for the Ranger by reaching AA-Class, and can be purchased for the Soldier for 80,000 SG. Being a hand-held version of the Provisional Shield, most of its properties are similar to it. It was added to the game in the Survivor 2.0 update, which was released on November 29, 2007.

Overview

Primary fire creates blue-colored semi-transparent floating shield in front of the player. This shield can absorb up to 100 points of damage, and can be used to take cover from enemy fire. By holding the secondary fire, the player is able to charge the shield, making it more durable and able to withstand up to 200 points of damage at maximum charge. Charged shield appears orange in color and takes away some amount of the player's suit charge, which depends on shield's charge level. If the player uses secondary mode with no charge left in the suit, shield will still appear to be charging, but regular blue shield will be placed instead. After taking damage, shields gradually become more transparent, and finally break and disappear completely.

Unlike the Provisional Shield, Hand Shield does not stay in one place, but follows the player and tries to stay in front of him as long as it still is selected as the active weapon. If active weapon is switched, shield will stop following the player and will continue function similar to the Provisional Shield, although with a much shorter possible duration of 5 seconds.

Tactics

• If the active weapon is not switched, the shield can only be destroyed by damage, and without it can stay up indefinitely.
• Although the shield moves with the player, it is a bit slower than even the player's walking speed, so caution must be taken when moving sideways.
• It is also smaller than the Provisional Shield, so most of the time the player's head and feet may still be exposed to enemy fire.

Trivia

• Shields completely block bullet damage and mostly absorb explosive damage, but some projectile-based weapons can pass through completely, without reduction of their damage or damaging the shield. These weapons include Crossbow, the Poison Crossbow, the Charge Bow and physics objects, such as thrown weapons and props launched from the Gravity Gun. Grenades launched from SMG also pass through, rockets, energy balls and thrown Pulse Knives, however, do not.
• Weapons that can be placed on the walls, such as the S.L.A.M, the Powershake, and the Wave Canceller, can also be placed on shields, but will explode shortly after the shield is broken or moved.
• Shields can be painted with the Paint Gun, thus reducing visibility of players behind them.

Gallery

• 

  HUD icon.

• 

  Loadout icon.

• 

  Worldmodel.

• 

  Viewmodel (blue team).

• 

  Normal shield, in hands.

• 

  Normal shield, in air.

• 

  Shield charging process, indicated by a light.

• 

  Charged shield, in hands.

• 

  Charged shield after weapon switch.

• 

  View through the painted shield

List of appearances

• Half-Life 2: Survivor (Non-canonical appearance)

External links

• Hand Shield on the official Survivor website (archived)
• Hand Shield on the Survivor wiki