Overshields are useful tricks in the Warframe veteran’s toolkit that provide extra survivability in later game content, but can be beneficial at any point in the game. At their most basic level, overshields are simply the kind of extra shield you get when your Warframe would gain shields while already full. You can tell if you have overshields because your shield bar turns from blue to purple. The number above your purple shield bar shows the total of your normal shield maximum plus your overshields.
You can have a maximum of 1200 points of overshields, with Harrow’s passive ability doubling that to 2400. Overshields can be a valuable way of keeping low-shield Warframes going, as all Warframes have a maximum of 1200 overshields, no matter their shield maximum. For Harrow’s already mid to high range natural shields, adding 2400 overshields on top, recharged by his own Condemn ability, that can be a game-changer. Hildryn’s Pillage ability gives a generous top-up to her already impressive shields. Since Pillage and Condemn can be subsumed by the Helminth, any Warframe with shields can make use of these excellent abilities.
Building effectively for overshields is very similar to building effectively for normal shields, but the big advantage of overshields is that they apply instantly whenever the Warframe’s shields would go over their maximum, and whenever they have additional shields added. No shield recharge time here! So you can run a low-shield Warframe such as Trinity with the Vampire Leech, which uses excess energy created by her Energy Vampire second ability to recharge Trinity’s shields (and the shields of those around her) very quickly. Because it pulses 4 times across the ability duration, this provides a regular shield boost that can easily go into overshields.
You can use overshields right from the start of the game: both Mag and Volt have shield-recovery abilities that give overshield, and you can also buy the reusable blueprint for the small Squad Shield Restore consumable for only 500 credits on the market. For the early game, using consumables to create overshields can be incredibly useful for making sure you can push through some of the more overwhelming fights. Like Trinity’s ability, these pulse, and the large Squad Shield Restore (available from Cephalon Suda) can restore up to 1200 shields, the maximum amount of overshields for everyone but Harrow. Pillage and Condemn can be subsumed by the Helminth, which means that any Warframe with shields can make use of these excellent abilities for getting overshields.
For later-game use, the Augur mod set is great for rapidly restoring your overshields every time you cast an ability, as it takes a percentage of your expended energy from abilities and turns it into shields, potentially at the rate of 240% with all six mods on the same Warframe at once. You can get some great shield recharge from companions as well: for instance, the Taxon’s Molecular Conversion mod allows it to blast enemies and turn the damage it does into shields. Rapid shield recharge helps keep your shields at maximum as often as possible to get those tasty overshields on top, and abilities like Caliban’s Lethal Progeny that give ongoing shield repair can keep them topped up even during shield recharge cooldown periods.
Overshields don’t quite have the epic reputation of shieldgating or overguard in the Warframe community, but they’re a valuable resource to survive particularly challenging content, and those purple shield bars are well worth paying attention to.
