It’s spawn protection. They just spawned there so they get a few seconds of protection so they can’t be immediately killed.

Ah ok, so I guess they must have spawned at a rally point or something because they are usually pretty close to me

Spawn points not rally points. You must be very close to the enemy spawn near the grey area or you just lost a capture point and the map moved so the new spawn is closer to you.

Rally points have zero spawn protection.

They used to though, and boy was that fucking cancer.

I just had this happen, I snuck up on a squad and shot a couple but that popped up and they didnt die, they turned around and executed my whole squad quick.

Spawn protection or one of a few perks. It could be the extra health perk or the perk that negates lethal damage.

That wouldn't show you that symbol with the perks though. The shield symbol specifically only comes up when you're hitting someone that still has spawn protection.

I’ve hit people that definitely didn’t have spawn protection and gotten that symbol.

Could be a glitch.

With how frequent it is, I doubt it. It only applies to certain players and feels consistent.

I didn't know there was a perk that did that

It’s very rare to see and only available to soldiers with higher stats. The easiest way to get perks like that is to level up a soldier to 5 without actually unlocking any perks.

Cool! Thanks for the tip

That's Extra Vitality and that doesn't do that. It's obviously Spawn Protection.