Metal Shield (2)

Source:	Shop Robot Pangxie
Damage:	• Instant Kill (Wall Crush) • 1 (Thrown)

The Metal Shield is a powerful melee weapon that can be used both offensively and defensively, capable of killing enemies whilst blocking incoming damage. It can be bought from shops or very rarely dropped from Robots or Pangxie.

It is the spiritual successor to the Black Knight's shield from Spelunky HD, as he himself does not make an appearance in Spelunky 2.

A weaker, easier to obtain variant of the Metal Shield can be found by looting Tiki Men and Pangxie, known as the Wooden Shield.

Functionality

The shield is carried in the hands when picked up, and will automatically block nearly all forms of damage incoming from the front, including contact damage, projectiles like those from Arrow Traps, and even Totem/Lion Traps, but offers no protection from above, below, or behind, and does not protect against explosions.

Enemies that contact the shield will not deal damage to the player, allowing them to shove the enemy backwards. By crushing them against a wall, they will be killed instantly and leave no corpse. Even large enemies may be pushed and crushed to death, such as Mummies, Pangxie, and Anubis can be killed this way. Unfortunately, the shield does not interact with Lahamu or bosses like Kingu, Tiamat, or Hundun. Larger enemies like Quillback and Great Humphead will not be pushed backward by the shield.

The user should take caution when holding the shield as they may also crush Pets, items, NPCs like Shopkeepers, and even treasure in this fashion. 

Crushing explosive items (such as a bomb, fire frog, mine, or jetpack) will cause it to explode, likely killing the player immediately from the explosive blast.

The shield will also reflect projectile attacks much like a Forcefield, such as bullets from a Shotgun, the Mummy's fly swarm attack, and thrown objects, sending them back at the attacker. Note that any projectiles reflected off the shield that hit NPCs will have them hold the player accountable for it, as if it was the player's projectile.

The shield does not have any of its properties when not held by an entity.

Tips and Tricks

• Hired Hands that pick up a shield can potentially push the player around with it and kill them with it, meaning that they should not be trusted with one in the slightest.
• When fighting an adversary armed with a Shotgun, such as an angered Shopkeeper or one of Tusk's Bodyguards, they are smart enough not to shoot a player holding a shield if they are in point-blank range, although they may attempt to fire if they are far away enough from the player.
• In a pinch, the Shield can also be thrown at enemies to damage them, but does not travel far unless the Spelunker also has the Pitcher's Mitt. This only deals one point of damage, but is useful against flying enemies or when the terrain is unsuitable for a wall crush.
• Note that using the shield to crush enemies is likely to no longer entitle to player to the items they may drop, as they are likely to also be crushed along with the enemy.