In ARC Raiders, your shield is your primary defense. It absorbs damage, but more importantly, it reduces the amount of damage that "bleeds through" to your actual HP. Understanding this calculation is key to picking the right shield for your playstyle.

The game presents a constant trade-off: do you want maximum damage protection or maximum mobility?

Important note ! The damage calculation ignores the headshot, this is all bodyshot damages.

The damage calculation breakdown

Since the ⚔️Ferro (I) is likely to be the most common weapon encountered, we are basing our calculation on its 40 damage per shot.

When you have a shield active and take a hit, two things happen simultaneously:

Damage to Shield: Your shield takes the full, raw damage of the attack.
Damage to HP: Your HP takes a reduced amount of that damage, calculated with your shield's Damage Reduction value.

The formula for HP damage is: Raw Incoming Damage * (1 - Damage Reduction %)

Once your shield HP hits zero, it breaks, and you lose all damage reduction. You will then take 100% of the raw 40 damage directly to your HP.

Here is how a single 40-damage Ferro shot affects your HP:

📦Light Shield The shield takes 40 damage and loses all of its HP. You lose 24 HP (40 x 0.60).
📦Medium Shield The shield takes 40 damage. You lose 23 HP (40 x 0.575).
📦Heavy Shield The shield takes 40 damage. You lose 19 HP (40 x 0.475).

The 📦Light Shield Breakdown (40 HP Shield, 40% DR, 0% Movement Penalty)

Shot 1 (40 Damage): The Light Shield breaks immediately (40 damage to shield). The user loses 24 HP (40 x 0.60). Remaining 76 HP.
Shot 2 (80 Damage): The shield is broken, so the user takes a full 40 HP hit. Remaining 76 - 40 = 36 HP.
Shot 3 (120 Damage): The user takes another full 40 HP hit. 36 - 40 = you ded.

Verdict: The Light Shield user is killed by the 3rd Ferro shot.

The 📦Medium Shield Breakdown (70 HP Shield, 42.5% DR, 5% Movement Penalty)

Shot 1 (40 Damage): The shield is active (30 Shield HP remains). The user loses 23 HP (40 x 0.575). Remaining 77HP.
Shot 2 (80 Damage): The shield breaks (30 damage from this shot). The user takes 23 HP damage. Remaining 54HP.
Shot 3 (120 Damage): The shield is broken, so the user takes a full 40 HP hit. Remaining 14HP.
Shot 4 (160 Damage): The user takes another full 40 HP hit. With 24 HP left, you ded.

Verdict: The Medium Armor user is killed by the 4th Ferro shot.

The 📦Heavy Shield Breakdown (80 HP, 52.5% DR, 15% Movement Penalty)

Shot 1 (40 dmg):
The shield absorbs 40 damage (40 HP remaining). You lose 19 HP (40 × 0.475).
Remaining HP: 81
Shot 2 (80 dmg total):
The shield breaks (40 HP absorbed from this shot). You lose 19 HP again.
Remaining HP: 62
Shot 3 (120 dmg total):
Shield is broken — you now take the full 40 HP damage.
Remaining HP: 22
Shot 4 (160 dmg total):
Another full 40 HP hit.
Remaining HP: 0 → You’re dead.

Verdict: The Heavy Shield user is killed by the 4th Ferro shot, like the Medium Shield, but ends the 3rd shot with more HP (22 vs. 14), offering slightly better survivability at the cost of movement speed.

Shields damage calculation