Elemental Shields, Reworked

Shields have had a rough time. You'd land a 16,000-damage hit on a 10,000 shield and watch the bar barely move. Under the hood, every shield had diminishing returns based on DPS, that curve was way too harsh because I had underestimated the amount of DPS the average person would be able to put together. Here's how shields will work in the next update, plus the two new systems built on top of them: Shield Tiers and Elemental Grades.

All example numbers below are illustrative, to show the shape of things. They aren't the live values, which are still being tuned.

Breaking a shield: the DPS curve

A shield's break time now depends on your sustained DPS, following a curve:

break time = max( pool ÷ your DPS ,  floor + span × (knee ÷ your DPS) ^ curve )

In plain terms:

• At low damage it's just maths. Below a certain DPS (the knee), a shield breaks exactly as fast as your damage says it should. A 10,000 shield at 1,000 DPS takes 10 seconds.
• Above the knee, returns diminish. More damage is always faster, but each extra chunk of DPS buys a little less time than the last.

What that could look like on one shield (JUST AN EXAMPLE NOT HOW IT IS, IT IS STILL BEING TWEAKED):

Going from 1k to 10k DPS saves you seconds. Going from 50k to 500k still helps, just a lot less.

Other things worth knowing:

• Fire rate doesn't matter as much. Damage is measured as a rolling DPS estimate, so a slow sniper and a fast SMG with the same DPS break a shield in about the same time.
• One giant hit can't usually one-shot a shield, but can do a bigger chunk now. A single huge hit now takes a solid bite, much quicker than before, and this is greatly enhanced by vs shield multipliers as well.
• Bigger shields take longer, in proportion. Twice the pool means twice the time, at any DPS. This should not affect much in the Ascension Atlas or rifts (below tier 6).
• Everyone chips in. Each player gets their own curve and the drains stack, so teamwork breaks shields faster. Larger parties make shields a little sturdier to compensate.
• The wrong element still barely scratches it. Only matching elemental damage drains a shield properly. Everything else chips.
• Shield bonuses make the whole curve faster. Weapons and traits with "vs shields" bonuses divide your break time. A 2x bonus roughly halves it at any DPS.

Shield Tiers (I to X)

Shields now come in tiers, set by the content you're running. Higher-end Atlas maps (to be released content) and some endgame encounters field higher-tier shields. Party size does not raise the tier.

Each tier does two things:

1. It multiplies break time. A higher tier is simply tougher.
2. It asks for a minimum Elemental Grade (see below). Fall short and your damage against it drops off sharply.

What the ladder could look like:

Recognising a tier: the numeral shows next to the shield bar, and the bar itself gets fancier as tiers climb. Higher tiers shimmer, grow metal rims and glowing caps, and the top ones crackle with prismatic energy. The shield shell around the enemy also burns brighter, moves faster and grows a thicker edge.

Elemental Grades (F to S+)

Every elemental trait on your weapon now has an Elemental Grade, and so does your weapon's own element:

F · D · C · B · A · S · S+

Grades are PvE only. They affect how well that element breaks elemental shields and nothing else at the moment, but maybe down the road we can do some very interesting things with this.

How a grade changes your damage against a shield:

shield effectiveness = (1 + bonus per grade × your grade)  ×  penalty ^ (grades below the tier's requirement)

• Every grade helps a little everywhere. Even against easy shields, a higher grade drains a bit faster.
• Being under the requirement hurts a lot. Each grade you're short of a tier's requirement multiplies your effectiveness down again. Bring F-grade fire to a tier X fire shield and you'll be there all day.

What that could feel like (break time relative to an F grade on a tier I shield):

Which grade counts for a hit?

• Damage from a trait (a chain lightning, a frost nova) uses that trait's grade.
• Your weapon's own element damage uses the weapon's grade.
• Summons and turrets use their owner's grades.

Some traits start at a higher base grade, and a grade can never roll below its trait's base.

On your stat card: each trait's grade sits beside its element icon. A glows, S shimmers molten orange to gold, and S+ cycles through the whole spectrum. Hover it to see your drain bonus, the highest tier you meet, and your Resonance progress.

Getting better grades

Grades come from a new family of crafting orbs, found only in Atlas maps. Better orbs drop from higher-tier maps, so your grades climb as you push deeper.

TL;DR

• Shield Break times follow a DPS curve, this curve has been adjusted with this next update. More damage is always faster, with diminishing returns. This should make nukes feel a bit better than the prior curve.
• Shield Tiers I to X make NEW content tougher and ask for a minimum grade (existing content should remain untouched, tier I shields should feel very similar to what you're used to for the most part).
• Elemental Grades F to S+ on your traits and weapon decide how well you break high-tier shields.
• Grades come from Atlas map orbs, gated by map tier, with Resonance guaranteeing progress.