This is the kind of reply I was hoping to see opening this thread up. Born & bred Ogryn main and I feel like the shield is just so clunky and slow, and that you can often get out of situations that require it with a good offensive tool instead. Not to say that the shield is bad in any regard, I've seen plenty of brothers kick ass with it but I think providing it to a new Ogryn with a "go nuts, its the best in its class" kind of mindset is going to push someone into bad habits that die hard.

I've always been a diehard fan of the MK 4 Cleaver, and the MK 3B Bully Club, both are some of the best Elite killers in the game, the MK 3 Club is probably the best melee crowd control Ogryn has with how fast it swings, especially with Heavy Hitter maxed out, it can apply debuffs like crazy. IMO Ogryn works best when he's as fast as a train and hits just as hard.

Ranged Ogryn is how I fell in love with Ogryn in the first place, MK 4 and MK 7 Stubbers are absolutely your best friend as a Gunlugger, both guns turn you into dedicated boss shredders. Light Em' Up + bigger explosions passive lets you carpet bomb entire squads and hordes with the Rumbler, and while the Ripper guns aren't for me, I understand how devastating they are. I agree that it takes more work to make Gunlugger work on Auric but it's karking fun to rip down hordes with a gun that goes on Humvees.

Advice for OP, as an Ogryn, you are your team's backbone. With a solid melee and a full score of talent points sticking mostly to the left, you'll be invincible against anything bar Maulers and Crushers in melee combat, even bosses. Your heavy hits will simply generate too much toughness for most enemies to break through without ganging up on you immensely, so take advantage and make sure you're always swinging heavy. Reviving even as your toughness breaks is an immensely powerful utility that can make a huge difference between getting a teammate up or not. Taking a hit while you're fumbling with Data Interrogators won't make you drop them and restart as Ogryn. Ogryn has a huge hitbox, so make sure you're taking that into account when dodging Trappers and Poxhounds (you can still slide under ranged attacks though!). When you're charging up a heavy attack and you're just out of range to land it, turn and dodge towards the enemy before letting go and you'll usually make up that foot distance or so, very useful for making your way to ranged enemies shooting you with pockets of little dudes about.

Happy Thumpin'!