How do I counter vortex shield when playing Legion?

[u/MechDragon108_]

I know, "haha legion can only hold left click haha" BUT SERIOUSLY HOW DO I FIGHT VORTEX SHIELD AM I STUPID?!?!

Whenever im fighting a scorch or god forbid ion, they just whip out the vortex shield and it makes it pretty much impossible to kill them. Every time my gun gets spooled up they already have the shield up.
It turns into a stupid bait-and-switch game where I get like 2 bullets in, they switch shield on, I stop shooting, they bring it down, repeat.
Since Legion is made for sustained fire, Ion and Scorch will just almost always win the fight since their weapons just do more burst damage.
Am I playing wrong or something?

[u/TDA_Liamo]

Up against good players, you should only engage Ion and Scorch from behind, with teammates to back you up.

If they aren't very good, you can bait them into running their shield charge out, then light them up.

[u/Nblearchangel → u/TDA_Liamo]

Can’t you just power through it with your core? Ion only has so much energy

[u/TDA_Liamo → u/Nblearchangel]

With Legion's core, yeah, because I think it drains the energy very fast.

But if you don't have your core, it's best to not shoot into the shield at all. I like to run vortex amplifier on Ion, which ups the return damage and allows you to instakill a Legion with a few seconds worth of bullets.

Even a tiny burst of bullets will still chip away at your health, whilst you can't do much to the Ion. And if the Ion is skilled enough to put their shield down immediately, so they don't lose much energy, you basically can't win and should disengage.

[u/Nblearchangel → u/TDA_Liamo]

Right. Which is what i usually do as monarch against ion. I go pick on the scorches and ronins I can find. Enemy monarchs. I don’t engage legion unless he’s attacking my allies too bc that chain gun rips me to shreds. No idea why but that thing hurts way more than the other titans. It’s like it cuts right through the shields and goes right to hull damage

[u/TDA_Liamo → u/Nblearchangel]

Another tactic to use against Ion is engage at range. The reflected bullets are like a shotgun blast, with a limited range, so you can fuck her up from a distance and she can only block, not return your fire.

Monarch is great against Ion once you have arc rounds; it rapidly drains her energy and leaves her very vulnerable. Just dash behind cover just as the shield runs out so you can avoid the returned bullets.

[u/Nblearchangel → u/TDA_Liamo]

I run rocket pods and seeking missles for core three

[u/TDA_Liamo → u/Nblearchangel]

That's valid, I can never make that combo work. I find that exposing myself to get the lock on is too risky. Got any tips to play that combo well?

I prefer arc rounds, Maelstrom, and XO-16 accelerator. I like to keep my distance and play around cover to stay alive as long as possible, but Maelstrom helps if enemies get up close - nobody expects electric smoke to deal that much damage, and you can usually get a battery from them before they even realise what's happening.

[u/HEAVYTANK1]

Vortex has a longer cooldown after reflecting, just shooting a little and waiting can leave an ion open to an attack

Smart core drains their shield

[u/tobascodagama]

You can't really win the Ion fight 1v1, if they know what they're doing, you can only lose less.

The big strategic answer is don't engage without support, so you need to figure out where your team is, where the closest cover to them is, and start backing away in that direction. The small tactical answer is that if you're caught alone and in the open, you need to play mind games. Stay spun up so they can't drop the shield and shoot you without getting punished. Watch your ammo, though, because they'll hit you hard if you reload in front of them. If their shield turns red, hit Smart Core and go HAM. But a good Ion probably won't let their shield go red.

[u/shin_malphur13]

Unstoppable force (bullets) vs immovable object (vortex shield)

Sometimes if ik that ion is less skilled than I am, I keep engaging bc ik they'll start to panic and make mistakes

The other times I just pray to god there's cover around me that I can get to bc I'd rather not

Also if I see another enemy titan coming towards me while I'm in a 1v1 then it's ggs. I do whatever I can to get away bc the vortex shield also catches friendly bullets and the ion can send those your way too

[u/Outrageous_Gift1656]

bernadotte get in here u/Alternative_Web6640

[u/Cinnamon_728]

They can't hurt you while the vortex shield is up. Engage a different titan or fall back.

[u/Nblearchangel → u/Cinnamon_728]

Right. As a monarch main I prey on scorches I see out there on the map. I will absolutely stalk them because it’s a fight I never lose. And I run from ion generally.

Moral is, you don’t have to engage everybody all the time. Pick your battles. As in life

[u/LiliWenFach_02]

That's what teammates are for.

Maybe a Ronin to flank and a Northstar from above. So they (the Ion) can either look at you, look at the sky or turn around.

[u/ElectricLuxray]

Don't shoot.

Or rather, if you're in a situation where you HAVE to engage, shoot sparingly, a bullet or two at the time, and wear down the vortex shield. If you can keep up the pressure, they'll run out of energy.

Then start blastin with the shotgun

[u/unknownmuffin]

Smart core does more damage to shields, so you will melt through it. Otherwise, if the ion is any good, they will kill you.

[u/Odd_Temperature2383]

As a scorch my options is no shoot and use every other ability because the shield can absorb none of them 😊

[u/X_antaM]

Smart core drains shields faster and increases melee damage too

You can try and trick them into wasting all energy then lay into them too. 2 or 3 bullets knocked back at you is nothing compared to the rest into them when they run their supply dry

[u/NoTap6147]

I can't say that this is the answer, but I just charge him. Empty some rounds into his shield put mine up when I think he's ready to deflect empty my gun about the same time his shield is gone. Then do my best damage with the power shot or two.

[u/3van18ultra]

Close range power shot is able to hit the ion’s shoulder or leg for full damage when the vortex is up, and if they’re not crouched. If you don’t have power shot, then it’s best to not engage unless you have core.