The best way to use the shield is to create choke points and funnel enemies into rooms so that you can control how you're attacked. Some good examples are on the maps Day One and Pavilion.

First, when you're using the shield, while it protects you, it also makes you almost totally ineffective as a soldier. You'll want to make sure you have teammates at your back, both to protect your exposed side and to shoot over your shoulder with bigger guns. The shield is best used to protect not only you, but your teammates as well.

You'll also want to take the shield to where it is most beneficial. Out in the open, the shield will really just slow you down. On Day One, one of the best places to use it, and to make a stand against a Level 20 wave, is at the top of one of the staircases. Take your teammates there, where they can shoot down on the entire level, and use your shield to protect them from the staircase area. There you can keep the enemies from reach you and attacking them, while they can kill guys from relative safety.

Another good place to hole up on Day One is the Arcade area, under one of the staircases. There are limited entrances here, lots of cover, and the shield spawns in that room. You can use it to close off some of the entrances to the room, controlling where the enemies come at you. With some teammates, you can effectively smash enemies as they come at you. You can also retreat to the staircase if things get out of hand.

On Pavilion, use shields throughout the course of the fighting to strengthen the defenses in the spawn areas, which can be effective to a limited degree. If you can cover the top entrance, the spawns can be worth fighting in. If not, the best place is the shield spawn point in the center of the map, accessible from the top of the map. Boomers can't make it through the archway there and the shields will help you deal with anything smaller. With teammates, grenades strapped to the walls nearby, and so on, you'll be hard to kill there.

If you get into a jam and you're alone, head up the stairs at the top of either side of the map to the small stone rooms there. You're hard to get to in that little room as it is, but with the shield, almost nothing can kill you until you can plan your next move.

There are good places to utilize the shield on every map. Find the tighest position where you're best protected from the sides and back, and use the shield to make a wall.
Source(s):
Excessively playing Gears of War 2 and writing the Mahalo guide.


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