In this guide I'll be talking about how to improve your gameplay with a riot shield. I'm not saying I'm the best, I'm not saying I win every game, I am however saying I have improved a LOT since I started playing with a shield. These are the things I'll be talking about in this guide.

• Basics and Playstyle
  
• Quick Improvements
  
• Class Loadout
  
• Advanced Tips
  
• Video Overview
  
• Summary

If you hadn't realized just yet, Riot Shield classes are defensive builds that rely on making opportunities to strike. Such opportunities are, for example: hitting them with a stun grenade, forcing them to reload, forcing them to run, catching them unaware or my favourite, baiting them into making the opportunity themself.

There are a few things you can bait out of your enemy, you can make them think you're running by turning a corner, causing them to throw a flash/stun grenade. But instead of running, you turn around and catch them while they're throwing. Often the grenade will bounce off your shield and catch them instead. So even if you can't kill them before they take out their gun again, they are now flashed or stunned.

You can also make them chase you, then turn around and wait for them to pop up and either stun them or hit them with your secondary weapon.

If you know you can't make an opportunity on an enemy, you should never engage. This is very important, often people will go in a fight they know will be very hard to win, because they feel invincible with a riot shield. You're still very vulnerable if you can't open them up to a counter-attack.

As I will mention in the Loadout section, there are a lot of paths to take with a riot shield, you can take Ninja Pro and Cold Blooded and be a stealthy backbasher, you can get claymores and a thumper and sit in a building for the entire game or you could just scavenge all the stungrenades you could ever want and bash your stunned enemies into oblivion.

However you should always remember to stay away from long range confrontations, never allow yourself to get chased (due to your reduced movement speed). For every build, there's a counter, so you need to watch out for those counters and avoid them.

This section is dedicated to little changes that will make your life a lot easier. I'm fairly sure if you play with a Riot Shield now and again, you're familiar with the following situation.









Due to the many bullet impacts in your shield, your vision is now completely cluttered with the holes. Luckily there is a way to solve this problem. If you go into your options screen, then video and advanced video, you'll notice you have an option called Bullet Holes. Turning this off will allow you to have a clear shield at all times. No matter the job, no matter the gun, you are clear to retaliate.



Another quick improvement is, if you can, bind your grenade/special grenade and melee buttons to your mouse. These are used incredibly often when you're playing with a Riot Shield, so you really need the fast access.

In this section I'll be talking about: Weapons, Equipment & Grenades, Perks, Death Streaks and Killstreak Rewards. As a quick preview, this is an example of one of the recommended builds I ran.

I like this build because you can start it at a very low level, in fact you can almost make it as soon as you unlock custom classes, as riot shield, spas, stun grenade, semtex, commando, marathon and lightweight are all unlocked from the start. The only thing you can't get immediately would be painkiller, but as you unlock it at level 5 or so, it's not a long wait.

• Weapons
  The primary weapon is obviously a Riot Shield, as that's the whole point of this guide. For the secondary weapon, I'd go with either a Shotgun, a Launcher or rarely a Machine Pistol.
  
  For Shotguns, you should be going for one that can quickly kill one or two players. In order of my preference, an AA-12 works absolute wonders if you have Scavenge on (See Perks). If you chose another perk, I would go for either a M1014 or a SPAS-12. I prefer the M1014 because you get additional range, speed and damage for a small exchange of accuracy. As you will most likely be running a Foregrip on it, you'll have enough accuracy for a shotgun anyhow.
  
  For Launchers launcher I only recommend a Thumper, anything else takes far too long to set up and will be completely useless. The only other launcher I could allow is a Stinger if you're going a full support build, but that's not for me. I've found that if you pair a thumper with one man army or scavenge, danger close and claymores, you get an absolute beast of a camping class.
  
  As for Machine Pistols, whatever you do, don't use G18 because you'll just look like another one of THOSE guys (yeah, I'm talking G18, (Silenced) UMP45, automatic snipers, etc. guys). I know AA-12 is looked upon as a scumbag weapon, but I only consider it a distasteful move if you use it for clearing an entire room of players, which it is probably the best weapon at. Either way I try to stick with the other two shotguns.
  
  
• Equipment & Grenades
  For your normal grenade/equipment, you can have success with any of them, however there are 3 I would disrecommend picking. The first is the regular Frag Grenade, if you wish to get a kill with it, you'll most likely have to "Cook" the grenade, making you vulnerable for quite a while. As you're already a slow target, cooking makes you even slower. You're basically a sitting duck at that point. Instead I'd go for semtex, as it's much faster and get in almost ALL of the spots a frag can get into. For the same reason, I'd say no to C4, it can be replaced by a claymore or a semtex in almost all cases.
  I also wouldn't go with Tactical Insertion, sure it can be usefull as you're in the enemy base most of the time, but you will lose out on a lot of kills this way and it won't really help you survive. If you do decide to put it in a build, I'd make sure to have another riot shield build with a different grenade on it.Throwing knifes are a bit looked down upon, unless you take something other than Scavenger, in which case it's the only grenade you can re-use. So I'd recommend taking it with you if you can get some hits with it and you're not taking scavenger.As for blastshield, if you're quickfingered and can quickly press escape to check minimap, I'd let it pass. I rely too heavily on the minimap for constant navigation to give up the loss of it, even if just for a moment. It helps against a full on semtex, but that rarely happens. If you play often enough, you'll know when people use semtexes and will be able to avoid them.
  
  
  For Special Grenades, I see no reason to take anything other than stun grenades, they are simply too good, no matter what class you are playing. And if you're playing a close quarters class like this, they're even more exceptional.
  
  
• Perks
  I'll refer to perks as being part of the Blues, the Reds or the Yellows, as I doubt anyone knows what number the perks are in, but they do know the colors.
  
  For the Blues, there are two good perks and one that is okay if the circumstances go the right way. I would go for Scavenger in almost any occasion, as it gives you access to unlimited grenades. Due to that, you have infinite opportunities to get kills. You can use Marathon if you have a large map, you want to get into the enemy's comfort zone quickly or you die so often you can't really restock your grenades.
  You CAN take One Man Army if you're doing a lot of camping and you can't resupply off your claymore kills.
  
  For the Reds, there are again two good perks, but two perks that are okay. I usually run Lightweight or Hardline, as they generally are the best perks in most circumstances. The two okay perks are Danger Close (See Weapons -> Launchers) and Cold Blooded, if you take Cold Blooded, I'd recommend running it with Ninja Pro for the silent footsteps and possibly Marathon.
  
  For the Yellows, Commando is your go to perk, it is what makes this build work. Your bread and butter. It allows you to back away after every Shield Bash, disallowing your enemy to knife through your shield or jump over it. You can also have great success with Ninja Pro as people won't hear you approaching. I'd only take it if you're more experienced though.
  In a way, SitRep could help you, but it's completely in the dark if compared to the advantages of the other two perks. As for scrambler, you should never under any circumstance use this perk, as it will alert your enemies someone with scrambler is near them. If you're the only one with it on (quite likely) your enemies will know that "that pesky Riot Shielder" is closing in on them again and that they have to be carefull.
  
  
• Death Streaks
  
  Two options, plain and simple, Painkiller or Martyrdom. You won't get the effects of deathstreaks often, anyhow. So they're not really important, but I'd go for Martyrdom as you're almost always in close quarter combat and the grenade will often blow people up.
  
  
• Killstreak Rewards
  
  This depends on your skill level, you can take any rewards you like. I tend to run a 5-7-9 or 5-7-11 with Predator Missile, Harrier, Pavelow and Chopper Gunner/AC130 depending on the map.
  
  If you don't think your teammates will be able to keep a steady upkeep of UAVs, either take it or care package yourself.

In this section we'll be discussing some of the more hidden tricks to improve your Shielplay. The most important thing to talk about is... Well... Lag compensation...
If you're using a riot shield, you will know that lag is extremely deadly in all cases, if an enemy turns you and you turn with him, lag will make him kill you 90% of the time. You can complain all you want, but the fact stays that this lag will ALWAYS be there. Therefor I've started using behavioral studies to predict enemy movements using this, you can turn before they start running around you, effectively blocking their attempts and letting you pick up the kill.
This will still often fail and you'll need to get a new feeling for the timing on each server, but eventually you'll get the hang of it and be able to survive around half of these situations.

Another problem is people shooting at your feet. When you load a game, a message will often come up "When using a riot shield, look directly at your target to get full cover." or something similar. Do not pay attention to this message because it's wrong, you should always look a bit under your target, the amount depending on the distance between you and his height. If you're crouching and looking at a player, there's a very large chance he can still shoot under your shield and the tips of your feet. I've also noticed that your shield can shock under bullet impact, so that also gives them a chance to shoot under it.

Learning to see the opportunities in each situation. As explained in the Basics, there are a lot of ways to get your chances, but you need to see all of the chances and be able to make a quick decision which has the highest chance of getting you a kill without putting yourself in danger. This is a lot harder than it seems, because you need to take note of the location of all your enemies, the movements of your target, the terrain surrounding both of you and your current grenade counter.

In this section we'll be looking at a video I made of a generic match I play with a Riot Shield. Remember that this was just a random game I picked, not because I did great, but just to show you some of my points. I'll be giving step-by-step information of what I did, why I did it and what I could have done better.


In the start, I go immediatly to the right side, I know this will give me the best advantage over my enemies as I have good cover to hide behind and ready my stun grenades and I will have long vision of them approaching me.

At around 0:20, I spot a target, immediately crouch and hide behind a pillar, letting him come.
I throw my stun grenade, due to estimating he had enough time to come close enough to get hit by it.
I see one of my friends is coming in from the side, so I use the smoke of the stun grenade and his distraction to get closer
I throw my semtex, knowing he can't retaliate to it and I'll have to resupply my stun grenades anyhow.
I move to the tunnel, baiting him (see basics) to come out from his cover to chase me. I know he's close enough for my Commando to pick him up so I go for the kill.
After the first strike, I back away, causing his knife to deflect on my shield (See Perks -> Yellows). Due to Commando, I can easily get close enough to get the kill.
I throw my semtex to be able to resupply my second special. (for some reason you don't pick up a scavenge pack if you're only missing a special grenade)

At 0:50 I'm caught offguard, thinking my team had the area behind me on clear (which is why I was heading the other way). I toss my stun grenade, thinking he'll back off just enough for it to blow up and create an opportunity, only to notice he rushes and picks up the kill.

I respawn and know that side is enemy territory, so I randomly shoot off a Thumper round as there's no downside to it.
I throw a stun behind a container because it's out of my vision field and it's an area people are often moving through, when I see a target.
I jump and toss a special to not lose speed and be hard to hit, get the stun and turn around the container to not get hit by a stray bullet.
And get shot by his buddy.

I respawn and notice teammates at the water, thus there will be a gunfight. As usual I try to avoid these so I go around
At 1:20, I notice someone fired shots in the tunnel, I use walls to get my Thumper shots to blow up near that area and pick up a free kill.

At 1:40 I use a stun to create an easy chase, but someone of my team knifes him and takes the kill
I notice the gunner up top and use a semtex to create a smoke field and get a chance at a kill. I know my thumper has to be reloaded, so I can't use it to kill him.
As I run closer, I see my buddy went up top and got the kill so I move on.

I hear an enemy carepackage and UAV being called in near me at 1:55. I go around and throw a stun.
As I foolishly didn't know there was a little area on the right, I throw my second stun over the container to get the area that's close to the care package but out of my vision. He throws a flash(or a stun?) out, I spot it and realize my mistake. I try to hide behind cover while taking out my semtex, but he pops out and kills me. Luckily, I already threw the semtex and it got him before he could take his Care Package.

I use my thumper randomly at 2:30, knowing there's a large chance there's enemies in the big tunnel. Like I guessed, there was an enemy there and I get another free kill.
At 2:40 you can see me noticing an enemy riot shielder up top, I have no more thumper shots so try to get him with a Stun+Semtex combo, I would have gotten the kill, but he used a blast shield. Surviving my combo.
I get low health due to being shot while doing this, so I jump down to try and hide, but get picked off from the side by someone else.

I know where he is, so I use my thumper to shoot a round against the window, hitting him with the first blast. For some reason, I change my aim and completely miss my second shot, and thus the kill.
I spot an enemy in the tunnel and hug the wall, getting cover by the small pillar sticking out, I toss a stun grenade against the wall to catch him in the rebound.
I notice the stun grenade was too far away to stun him long enough, so I run to the boxes while throwing another.
Aaaaaaand I get picked off by another guy at the side again.

At 3:20, I think there's someone above me, so I fire my thumper, only to realize it's a corpse. Time and a round wasted.
My second round hits the corner of the box, unlucky, and is also rendered useless.
I saw someone running over the boxes so I toss a stun.
I notice they throw a stun too and get a hit on my teammate, they probably now assume I'm stunned and are coming in for the kill, so I throw another stun and rush out to catch them unaware.
I quickly notice they're not moving in, but I know where the guy will be that ran over the boxes, I quickly kill him and move to cover.
I use the big smoke cloud and a stun grenade to move in. (Always keep getting closer to the enemies)
At around 3:38-3:40 I notice there's a semtex to my side, I quickly jump away to the area with a barrels after tossing my own.
I get a kill and move to cover, quickly checking behind the box as it's one of the most used camping spots in this map.
At around 3:46 I notice there's another target, namely the guy with a riot shield. I could have taken him, but there's others around and I'm pretty low health, so I instead go for the other target, I know is there.
At 3:55 I realize I got shot by a sniper, I know I need my vision (See Quick Improvements) so I swap to my thumper to get a knife kill in combination with my Commando (again, I love Commando).
Looking at my minimap, I know there's a very large chance there's enemies at the other side of the water lane, so I shoot a thumper round over there and pick up a double kill.
I swap my thumper for a sniper seeing as it's empty and useless and I might need some long range weaponry soon.
At 4:55 I get lagstabbed due to not having time to compensate for the lag.

At 5:10 I spot someone proned on the floor, he has a good shot at my feet, so I aim a little below him (see Advanced Tips) and pick up a kill.
At 5:30 I know there's a guy in the building, because he shot at a teammate, I double check to see if he's there and toss in a stun
I rush in try to get to him before the stun runs out, but he kills me by a lucky stray bullet.

6:15, I notice I'm standing on a whole shipment of Scavenger bags, so I start tossing grenades in random directions.
6.30m I see both of them haven't spotted me, so I take out my thumper to get quicker kills and because the danger(if any) would be coming from behind, not from the front.
At 6:55 I'm suspicious and go to check up on my backside, find an enemy and get the game ending killcam.

I end the game with a decent 2:1 k/d and the game ender, so I'm a happy man.

• Turn off Bullet Holes in Advanced Video
  
• Look a tiny bit under your enemy
  
• Compensate for the lag by turning/moving ahead of them
  
• Create opportunities in which you can get kills by baiting/stunning
  
• Scavenger, Hardline, Lightweight Ninja and Commando are the best perks.
  
• Shotguns and Launchers for secondary weapon
  
• Semtex or Blast Shield for equipment
  
• STUN GOES IN SECONDARY GRENADE SLOT

And remember guys, if you practice enough, even riot shields can get nukes.

Thanks for reading and happy Bashing!
-Laser