Shield Lancers are defensive Grineer units that carry large iron shields in one hand and 
Viper pistols in the other. They slowly press forward while firing over their shields. Nearby Grineer will often use them as mobile cover to variable effectiveness. Shield Lancers will also use their shields as battering rams to knock players off their feet, often doing so when a player comes too close. Shield Lancers often will not charge players while providing cover for allies, but will charge when the units behind them die, or move away.
A dive kick (jump+crouch) will knock Shield Lancers to the ground. Accurate players can damage Shield Lancers through the opening near the top of their shields, or by shooting their legs below the shield. 
Loki's 
Radial Disarm is capable of removing the shield from its wielder. 
Mag's 
Pull used to be capable of the same until the Update 8.3 (2013-07-04), where it was changed to an AoE ability; it will now simply pull the Lancer towards Mag while knocking him down.
Farming Locations[]
These are based on opinions and may not be 100% true. These should be viewed as advice for finding the enemies until better facts are proven.
- Normal Shield Lancer
| Target | Planet | Name | Type | Level | Tile Set |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mercury | Pantheon | Exterminate | 6 - 8 | Grineer Galleon |
|
|
Mercury | Elion | Capture | 7 - 9 | Grineer Asteroid |
|
|
Saturn | Cassini | Capture | 21 - 23 | Grineer Galleon |
Notes[]
- When avoiding Shield lancers at close range, they have a chance to absolutely hit you with their shields even when out of the shield lancers' distance and front view. (Possible bug.)
- Best solution to this is to move back away from the bash instead of dodging forwards.
- Strangely, Shield Lancers, as of Update 17.0 (2015-07-31), will now interact with local terminals despite their heavy shields.
- Be wary, they can still be a serious distraction when another Grineer unit is at a terminal, as they tend to knockdown players effectively.
- Despite giving the impression of a support unit, their damage with the Viper is actually very solid, making a group of Shield Lancers a potential threat if knocked down.
- Both the shooter (of any range Grineer, except other shield lancers) and the Shield Lancer switch places in attacking their target. Which makes them in a pair less efficient in dealing their targets damage.
- This also means that the Shield Lancer would move their shield out of the way before using his Viper against his target, while his shooter behind him crouches down.
- When a player moves too close (about the Shield Lancer's melee range), on the other hand, both will shoot instead.
Tactics[]
- When a Shield Lancer finds a different ranged Grineer to back with, the pair then locates their places corresponding to the location of their target. This pairing takes time before they can make an attack, which makes both of them practically vulnerable during this period.
- When alone, the Shield Lancer places his Viper on top of his shield and starts firing at his targets. This surprisingly makes the Shield Lancer independently versatile, as the shield is used as if he is a regular Lancer hiding behind cover.
- Unlike the regular Lancers, Shield Lancers do not have plasma grenades.
- Shield Lancers are suspected to be Viper-armed Butchers with knockback ability, as their melee damage is almost identical.
- This is more believable since Update 11.0 (2013-11-20), as both Butchers and Shield Lancers share the same armor.
- Their bashing does pure
Impact damage compared to the Butchers' attacks, dealing significant damage to Shields, although does far less health damage.
- The habitual range of the Shield Lancer to bash spans about 8–9 meters. Reaching this range causes the Shield Lancer to charge straight towards their target delivering the blow.
- If accompanied with a shooter, the Shield Lancer will bash targets around 2–3 meters.
- It would also seem when they are charging against the players, they can still detect their targets while being cloaked by Shades before delivering the knocking blow.
- Shield Lancers tend to bash the Tenno continuously even if they are already knocked down.
- The shield does not protect the entire body of the lancer, as its rectangular shape reveals vulnerable spaces for the Tenno to shoot at. The shield on the base and base eximus version also has narrow windows that can be shot through. These can not be shot through on the other versions with a thicker shield style, even though these shields have windows as well.
- Shield Lancers are prone to shotgun blasts, as every shot has an opportunity to pass through the edges of the shields, via spread.
- Increased speed often will not stop a Shield Lancer from bashing you, like with all enemies, as they will simply calculate when to swing to hit you before you reach them.
Trivia[]
- Prior to Update 11.0 (2013-11-20), Shield Lancers used to have cyan helmets similar to those of regular Lancers. Currently, they share the same helmet and actual armor values with Butchers.
- Up until Update 9 their weapon of choice was the Sicarus. Despite the change of weaponry, Enemy Sense and Corrosive Projection mods still show Sicarus-armed Shield Lancers.
- Up until Update 17.0 (2015-07-31) they would also still fire in 3-round bursts. Similar behavior could also be seen in Viper-armed Seekers.
- Prior to Hotfix: The Silver Grove 2 (2016-08-22), Shield Lancers in the Mastery Rank 3 test were still equipped with the Sicarus.
- Before ability cards were removed in Update 15.0 (2014-10-24), the Shield Lancer's drop table mistakenly labeled Roar as its predecessor Radial Blast.
- In-mission, the Tusk and Kuva variants of the Shield Lancer sport a more modern shield made of a synthetic material similar to the one from which Grineer Blunts are made. This cosmetic difference is not reflected in the Codex or character art, however.
- The shield they use is very identical or possibly the exact same model to the shield used by Maulers from Dark Sector, another game made by Digital Extremes.
Variants
| Tusk Shield Lancer | General | Drops | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Introduced | Undetermined | Mod Drops: Flechette 0.7587% Thief's Wit 0.7587% Endo 0.7587% Smite Infested 0.3318% Endo 0.3318% Retribution 0.0303% Endo 0.0303% | |
| Tileset | Plains of Eidolon | |||
| Weapon |  Marelok and Grineer Riot Shield Sheev
| |||
| Codex Scans | 20 | |||
| Statistics | ||||
| Cloned Flesh | 100 | |||
 +  +  +++  ‐  ‐‐
| ||||
| Ferrite Armor | 5 | |||
 ++  +++ -  -
| ||||
| Affinity | 50 | |||
| Base Level | 5 | |||
- Shield cannot be pierced by using punch through
| Kuva Shield Lancer | General | Drops | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Introduced | Undetermined | Mod Drops: Flechette 0.7587% Thief's Wit 0.7587% Endo 0.7587% Smite Infested 0.3318% Endo 0.3318% Retribution 0.0303% Endo 0.0303% | |
| Tileset | Kuva Fortress | |||
| Weapon | Marelok and Grineer Riot Shield Sheev
| |||
| Codex Scans | 20 | |||
| Statistics | ||||
| Cloned Flesh | 100 | |||
| + + +++ ‐ ‐‐
| ||||
| Ferrite Armor | 5 | |||
| ++ +++ - -
| ||||
| Affinity | 50 | |||
| Base Level | 5 | |||
- Have no eximus variant.
- Shield cannot be pierced by using punch through
Bugs[]
- Due to the physics applied to the rectangular shield, ragdolled Shield Lancers tend to bounce erratically out of place causing significant difficulty in finishing them off.
- Due to being a single unit, long melee weapons, particularly Staves, will tend to hit the shield first instead of the Lancer even if the origin of the melee strike is from behind. This bug is bypassed when a Stealth Kill animation is made instead.
Patch History[]
Update 36.0 (2024-06-18)
- (Undocumented) Base Health decreased from 100 to 40
Update 29.8 (2021-02-11)
- Fixed regular Shield Lancers' bodies looking like their Tusk variants.
Update 28.0 (2020-06-11)
- Fixed Shield Lancers flailing wildly when affected by Titania’s Lantern.
Update 27.3 (2020-03-24)
- Fixed Kuva Shield Lancer having a defective shield that blocks no bullets.
Update 25.7 (2019-08-29)
- Fixed Shield Lancers potentially getting themselves stuck forever before or after attempting to climb ledges.
Update 24.6 (2019-04-04)
- Tusk and Kuva Fortress Shield Lancers have a new look for their shield!
Update 22.0 (2017-10-12)
- Updated the Shield Lancer's shield to PBR.
Hotfix: The Silver Grove 2 (2016-08-22)
- Fixed Shield Lancers in the Mastery Rank 3 test being equipped with Sicarus’ and causing significantly more damage.
Update 9.0 (2013-07-13)
- Shield Lancers now use Grineer Viper instead of Tenno weapon.
Hotfix 8.0.4 (2013-05-24)
- Fix for Grineer Lancers not shield-bashing.
Vanilla (2012-10-25)
- Introduced.
See Also[]
- Viper, the pistol that is used by the Shield Lancer.
- Sicarus, the previous pistol which was used.
- Elite Shield Lancer, the elite variant to the Shield Lancer.
Media[]
Shield Lancer Codex
A Shield Lancer, as seen in the Codex.
