bighatjustin

Guys at reddit told me the same thing. Edited OP to reflect this mechanic.

It is great how a seemingly insignificant mechanic can make such a big difference. I for one, would have killed to have the shelter, lunge, swap, and shove commands in Awakening. Edit: sorry for double posting. But I can't seem to delete this post to merge it with my last one.

Absolutely! spread the word. Also have a thread on reddit, here: https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/47d98e/psa_exactly_how_the_shield_bar_system_works/

It does. Wonder where I should squeeze it in up there. Edit: Squeezed it in.

1) Whenever an attack is made by a pair, or against a pair, regardless of whether it misses, 2 shields are generated. One of each of these shields belongs to each of the units in the pair. 2) Shields cap at 10. When at 10 shields, the next attack against the pair will be automatically blocked. This seems to happen before checking if the attack will actually hit. This means that an attack with a 10% chance to hit will always burn your shield bar, whether it would have hit or not. Likewise, 0 damage attacks also burn your shield bar. 3) A dual attack made against a pair will always be blocked. A dual attack made against a pair does not generate 2 shields. 4) When separating a pair, each unit takes their own shields with them (usually half of the shields, but not always). 5) When unpaired, a unit's shields are hidden in the unit stats window, but can be found in the pair up preview window. 6) When unpaired, a unit loses 1 shield per turn. A pair loses 2 shields per turn that they are not in combat. 7) When pairing up 1 or more units that already have shields, the shields from each unit are added together to create the new shield bar. For example, a unit that has 8 shields pairing up with a unit that has 2 shields will create a pair that is immediately ready to dual guard. 8) However, each shield in the bar is associated with the unit that brought them to the pair. If you were to separate these two units again, before they were attacked, each unit would take the number of shields they brought in, that is, the first would take 8, and the second would take 2. See #4 above Knowing this, a player can make more strategic decisions, and plan ahead, when using the dual guard system.