CoD Vanguard’s Riot Shields are completely broken and players are furious

Nathan Warby
Riot Shield in CoD Vanguard

Riot Shields are easily one of the most controversial weapons CoD Vanguard, but it appears the latest update has completely broken them as they are no longer protecting players from shots.

The Riot Shield has always been one of the CoD series’ most divisive weapons. While there’s no denying that it takes a certain amount of skill to use effectively, it can be a source of frustration for enemy players.

CoD Vanguard is no exception, with at least one player acting as a bullet sponge in nearly every match. In fact, players have already called for a counter to Riot Shields because of how effective they are.

Well, after the latest Vanguard update, players have seen their wish come true – but not exactly how they would have imagined. As it stands, Riot Shields appear to be broken, offering no protection to the players using them.

Riot shield bug
Riot Shields have long been a staple of Call of Duty titles.

The idea of Riot Shields is that they deflect all incoming fire, making players extremely tough kill but giving them a limited chance of attacking back. Following the recent update, this is no longer the case.

One fan uploaded a video to the game’s subreddit showing that any shots fired at a Riot Shield are now causing damage to the player carrying it. It means they can be killed as if they weren’t holding a shield to begin with.

What makes the glitch even more confusing, is that if you switch to your secondary weapon and put the shield on your back (commonly known as ‘turtling’) – it protects you from damage as intended.

This is a pretty severe issue, especially for those who run normally run a Riot Shield loadout or are looking to unlock Diamond camo. The glitch makes them unusable unless you you simply want protection from behind.

The clip has sparked an angry reaction from the community. Many called out the developers after a glitch-filled launch for Vanguard.

“Actually pretty pathetic programming from the devs. IMO an inexcusable error – like do you not QA anything?” asked one player. “This is hilarious at this point,” said another.

Others were almost happy that the Riot Shield had lost its effectiveness and even called for it to be removed from the game altogether. “They should just delete this thing from the game and no one would be mad.”

Sledgehammer Games are yet to address the issue, and there is no mention of it on the devs official Trello board. With the launch of Vanguard Season 1 just days away, many fans will be hoping for a fix sooner rather than later.

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