Metal Shield

Blocking hits from the front

In ARK: Survival Evolved, the Metal Shield takes the damage of attacks from the front while it is raised. The game describes it as "A metal shield on a layer of leather. Absorbs damage from the front when activated." The ARK Wiki calls it far stronger than the Wooden Shield that came before it and a useful item in the mid game, and names the Riot Shield as the shield that supersedes it.

Engram and recipe

The engram unlocks at level 39 for 9 engram points. The shield is crafted in a Smithy or on an Argentavis Saddle from:

• 80 Metal Ingot or Scrap Metal Ingot
• 20 Cementing Paste or Achatina Paste
• 15 Hide

Each craft takes 5 seconds and gives 11.5 XP. Repairs, according to our data, include 40 Metal Ingot and 7.5 Hide.

Durability and weight

The shield has 1250 durability and a stack size of 1. It weighs 45, and the wiki calls it extraordinarily heavy, which makes it more of a hindrance than a help in anything other than combat.

Using it in combat

• Combined with a Sword, it lets you take down strong enemies, even Rexes, according to the wiki.
• Raised in first-person view, it blocks a good part of your sight, worth keeping in mind against several enemies at once.
• Since version 223.2, Grenades and Rocket Propelled Grenades do not damage the shield itself, though its user still takes damage.

Loot and maps

Our records count 316 crate types that can contain the shield, for example Aberration Blue and the Aberration Dungeon Blue, Purple, Red and Yellow crates. It is recorded on 9 maps, among them The Island, Extinction, The Center and Valguero. The wiki dates it to version 222.0.