Edit: Well crap. Reddit decided to eat the Animation out of the animated example images I made. ¯\_ :/ _/¯

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Hello contestants

Contestant spinning in the lobby screen

Reddit's homepage algorithm is giving me too much negativity from this sub about my favorite way to play The Finals, so here's a little something to counter that. (Also I've been collecting too many little clips to not do something with them.)

Riot Shield is so much fun you guys.

It's like a miniature mesh heavy, but with more support. (and no gun)

You're great at defense

If you're standing on the objective, the enemy gamers are forced to either

• get close (That's what you want.)
• use movement (Typically uses a cooldown, and forces them to be creative.)
• use gadgets (Same as movement, but the item-swap animations give you an extra moment to react.)
• coordinate with their team (Your biggest weakness, but the shield can buy time for you and your teammates.)

You're pretty good at flanking and rushing

Because you can just eat most damage for free, you can get away with very risky flanks. Force their attention. If they pay attention, they waste time. If they don't, you're free to strike.

Riot Shield lets you make very risky flanks

BTW, Riot Shield is still "active" when it's at your side, so you can press Shift+W+A to sprint strafe and keep most of your speed while rushing someone. You can turn this into a rhythm game with snipers and slow shotguns but just full sprinting them and flicking to the right when they are about to shoot, once you learn the lag and timing. (Rhythm game? in my FPS? More likely than you think.)

The sniper match up is sometimes a little weird because Lights have the tools to actually out run you. But again: If they're running away from you, then they're not sniping your team.

Pair it with Smoke

Smoke does a lot for you

• Counters fire. Fire grenades are a very effective Riot Shield counter, but Smoke straight up deletes it. (It also helps you keep your Goo fort up longer if you're on defense.)
• Keeps you safer when out in the open. Great for risky revives and useing heal beam.
• It's a very effective way to hide. Let it build for a moment or two, and then you're free to just camp next to an objective. You'll have a hard time seeing the enemy gamer too, but you have the range advantage within the smoke cloud.
• Lets you win a Flamethrower 1v1.

Pretty careless and risky fight against a flamethrower, (missed 3rd swing) saved by smoke.

Just be sure that your heavy is not running Flamethrower. It'll make their job much harder. Consider switching to Gas (Flamethrower can clear it if needed), Mines, or APS.

Use the Carriables

If your foe is committing to running away from you, you don't have many options. Usually your speed is enough to keep up with enemy gamers, (most will turn around to check on you, greatly reducing their speed, letting you strike.) But if they are committed to running, picking up crap off the ground and chucking it at them might be enough to finish them off.

According to the wiki, all carriables (besides heal ball and revive statues) do at least 50 damage. That's already better than quick melee, but some (Fire/Gas/big decor) go as high as 70. That's almost as much as your 90HP melee swing, and the Fire and Gas barrels let you throw them again.

Eliminating a Light by hitting them with the same gas can twice

BTW glitch barrels are especially awesome because most of your counters are gadgets and specializations.

Your Weaknesses

• You're extremely vulnerable to getting flanked and getting surrounded. All contestants are vulnerable to this, but since you need to get into melee range to do damage, you'll find yourself in bad positions frequently.
• Balloons are uniquely out of reach for you. You will find yourself in want of a glitch barrel, and there's a balloon right there. But you'll need to burn a cooldown to get it.
• Your contestant, in their infinite wisdom, leaves their freaking toes sticking out from under the shield. So the enemy gamers can still get you while you're full blocking. If you want to really hold your ground, you'll need to find some scrap of wall to hide your feat behind.
• Gas is annoying. It's not as bad as fire since the damage stops once you leave the cloud, and usually one of your teammates (in casual) is running a fire grenade. But it usually force you to give up your ground.
• I have skill issue, but you'll do great.
• Probably something else.
• Untested in comp.
• Frankly not well tested in Cashout either.

My Loadout

I play a mostly supportive/defensive riot shield.

• Riot Shield
• Smoke
• Goo
• Data Reshaper
  • Super effective against enemy barricades and turrets, and as a Riot Shield, you'll be well in range too.
  • Lets you upgrade a pile of decor into more useful barrels.
  • If you're quick and clever, it also counters grenades and RPGs.
• Heal Beam.
  • I can't do ranged damage, so if we're stuck in a long ranged fight, I need to keep my teammates as healthy as possible.
• Other options
  • Heal Beam → Shockwave (For a more offense playstyle and some on-demand movement.)
  • Goo → Breach Drill (Mostly just for Point Break Attack. Gotta get those defenses.)
  • Smoke → Gas (If my team has a lot of fire benders.)
    • Gas → Fire (if enemy team is unusually stinky)
  • Data Reshaper → Jump Pad (If I need movement and heal beam.)
  • Riot Shield → Cerberus (It's like Riot Shield with none of the defense, slightly more range, and you need to reload it. But it's got a fun fire gimmick and it says "BLAM!")

That's right. No defib. Smoke is your defib now.

OK. That's all the time I've got.

I've gotta get back to playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf, on my Nintendo 3DS.

Out of context out of body experiance