Warframe 1999: How to break Barbican Shields

Warframe 1999, the latest mainline update for Warframe, has brought about a sleuth of new additions and changes, including a rework of the Warframes Nyx and Trinity, and new additions like a separate progression system, romance and Chemistry Ranks, the H-09 Effervon boss battle, the Cyte-09 Warframe, and more.

The 1999 update also includes a new type of shielded enemy that needs specific combat methods to overcome. This isn't the first time a shielded enemy has appeared in Warframe, as they have existed since the inception of the game. However, the Scaldra Barbican shields are a blend of nostalgic enemy design from the game's olden days and newer foes from the recent updates.

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Take these steps to break a Scaldra Barbican's shield in Warframe 1999

You hate to see the Barbican shield on this board (Image via Digital Extremes)

Long story short, here's the process of breaking a Scaldra Barbican's shield:

• Equip a weapon with no Punch Through. Any charged shot from bows and AoE weapons should be avoided. Take care of Incarnon evolutions as these can mess up punch-through as well.
• Target the central green zone of a Scaldra Barbican shield.
• Fire away until it breaks
• Profit?

Keep in mind that the simplest solution is often the best one. The reason we are advising you to use a weapon with no Punch Through is so you don't accidentally kill the Barbican holding the shield and fail any secondary objective.

Punch Through is a mechanic that allows your weapon's projectiles to penetrate a specific distance, regardless of cover or enemies. Usually, it is a great tool for clearing swathes of enemies, however, here it hinders the goal. Now the only question remains as to why you'd want to destroy the shield of a specific enemy.

In Warframe 1999, you can undertake bounties from the bounty board at Hollvania Central Mall. Members of the Hex syndicate can assist and give you special objectives for more rewards. Eleanor, the Nyx Protoframe of the Hex, often issues a side objective of breaking five Scaldra Barbican shields as a part of her bounties.

While this wouldn't be a problem at any other time, the objective has seemingly caused a small uproar among the greater Warframe community. Since the launch of Warframe 1999, players have voiced concerns over their inability to break the Barbican shields, despite following the aforementioned steps.

Some have even reported certain bugs affecting the progress, such as the shield break only counting for the session host, which led to players missing out on their chance to get double rewards from the bonus objective. While there have been many post-launch hotfixes for the more pressing concerns, this issue has been seemingly left untouched.

There is a silver lining to this, as Digital Extremes is likely preparing a hotfix as we discuss this matter and the patch will be in the following days. The developers are responsive to reward-affecting bugs and have fixed similar past issues. For now, you can try your luck breaking the shields or wait until the next bounty cycle rolls around.

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Check out our other Warframe guides and articles:

• All Warframes tier list
• Incarnon weapons tier list
• Kuva weapons tier list