Elite Buff: Shielded 3

Internal engine status effect. Standard elite variant of Shielded at tier 3. Grants the elite enemy 7 Shield stacks that refresh at the start of each round, at the cost of -20% max health.

At 7 Shield stacks, this mid-high tier requires a solid damage investment each round to break through. Damage-over-time effects and Marked bypass Shield entirely, making them the most efficient counters. Concentrated damage within a single round is more effective than spreading attacks across rounds.

The -20% max health trade-off means Shielded elites are somewhat glass-cannon once their Shield is broken. Focus fire from multiple cats in a single round maximizes health damage before the Shield refreshes. Boss variants at tier 3 have 12 Shield stacks instead.