Impaler is a legendary spike shield in Borderlands 2 manufactured by Maliwan. It is obtained randomly from any suitable loot source, but has an increased chance to drop from The Warrior located in Vault of the Warrior and the Handsome Sorcerer located in Dragon Keep.
Special Effects
Vlad would be proud. – Launches corrosive homing spikes when damaged with bullets, and deals corrosive spike damage to melee attackers.
Usage & Description
Against melee attackers, the Impaler operates as a standard corrosive-element spike shield. When struck by a bullet, however, the Impaler launches a homing spike, which will initially aim at the attacker. The spike has a low projectile velocity, a broad turning radius, and travels initially in a slight arc directly toward the target. If the target is too close, the spike may fail to track it, traveling fruitlessly in a broad circle until it exhausts its range. Hard cover in front of the target will also block the spike. If a closer target presents itself during the spike's arc, the spike may change course to track that alternate target instead.
Notes
- The ranged attack is triggered as a response from bullets, similar to an absorb shield. No other enemy ranged attack will trigger this.
- Kills made by launched spikes don't count towards the "Game of Thorns" challenge.
- Launched spikes (but not melee spikes) deal elemental splash damage, and are buffed by grenade damage bonuses. Kills with launched spikes will trigger Blood Bath.
- A launched spike that detonates at close range can damage the wearer of the shield. This may happen when the shield is struck by a bullet while the wearer is engaging a melee opponent.
- The Impaler can spawn with a Maliwan capacitor, granting the "Alkaline" prefix and corrosive immunity to its wearer. Howerver, it cannot spawn with resistance against any other element.
- Bullets fired by the wearer, when deflected back to them, will also trigger the ranged attack.
Trivia
- The launched spikes are identical to the ones launched by a Necrophage.
- The ranged attack of the Impaler is similar to the Antagonist's special effect.
- The red text is a reference to Vlad the Impaler, the ruler of Wallachia, who killed enemies and impaled them on spikes.
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