Balancing aside: the power fantasy of the ol sword n’ board is to stand still and take it. That: Or the whole “Stand behind me!”
The slabshield however; feels lackluster in two ways.
1: Enemies phase through you. No unit collision is accounted for when it comes for specials going for your allies behind you: Whose bullets get soaked up by your big butt/back/head.
Blocking ranged enemies is fine and dandy: but you also move slow as mollases and are more of a detriment to your team advancing to enemy fire than anything because you block their shots.
2: CC enemies (hound, muties) are able to pick your big butt right up as if you didn’t have a shield in the first place. The brace (Special attack) is slow enough that I think it would warrant being able to block the cc if not the regular shield block with enough stamina. Or maybe I’m missing something here.