Guardian is a playable Nightfarer in Elden Ring: Nightreign. He is the tank class of the game, possessing high Vigor, Endurance, and Strength. This character can tank just about anything with a greatshield, due to his passive ability, while being able to provide much needed utility for his team by crowd controlling foes, creating protective areas or reviving downed allies.
His official description states that he is "a character with high defensive capabilities who can use a shield to withstand even the most ferocious enemy attacks."
Armed with a halberd and a greatshield, Guardian is ready to face any threat in Limveld. Halberds is a preferred weapon choice for Guardian, and he gets his own unique moveset with this weapon type.
Due to his survivability and defensive capabilities, he's great choice for new players, alongside with Wylder.
Guardian Character Sheet
"A Pinionfolk captain, skilled in offence and defence, who prefers halberds."
Guardian's abilities make him an invaluable addition to any team composition in Nightreign. He essentially can provide your team with much needed tankiness, crowd control and incredible utility in terms of raised defenses and revivals.
Just as any other Nightfarer, Guardian has Passive Ability - a skill that passively provides bonuses or effects, Character Skill - a short cooldown active ability, that can either deal damage or provide utility, and Ultimate Art - a long cooldown ability that can unleash devastating damage or much needed support in the heat of the battle.
Passive Ability: Steel Guard
"Plant feet and brace with shield for a more powerful guard."
Guardian’s passive ability makes him plant his feet on the ground and brace for impact while holding up a shield, making him able to tank an incredible amount of hits without breaking his stamina if managed properly.
This skill increases poise, making it harder for enemies to stagger Guardian, which can be perfect for trading hits.
The trade-off of this ability is that while bracing, Guardian's movement is significantly slowed.
Character Skill: Whirlwind
"Beat wing to whip up a wind-churning cyclone."
Guardian's character skill makes him beat his wings and creates a whirlwind around him. It is an AoE attack that damages and knocks smaller enemies up in the circle around him, while staggering larger enemies and some bosses. On top of that, it deflects incoming projectiles, offering protection from ranged attacks. Guardian can charge this ability to increase its range and damage.
Whirlwind is an excellent ability to create opening to launch an offence, or protect your allies by nullifying ranged attacks and stunning surrounding enemies.
Ultimate Art: Wings of Salvation
"Leap up and dive back down to raise protective area."
Guardian's ultimate allows him to spread his wings and leap into the air. After a brief delay, he dives to the ground, dealing devastating area damage, creating a protective area that boosts allies' defenses and revives downed Nightfarers.
This is an excellent tool for both dealing damage and supporting your team. Keep in mind, that ultimates in Nightreign are on relatively long cooldowns, which can be shortened by killing enemies, rewarding aggressive playstyles.
Having access to a greatshield from the very beginning of the game feeds into his tank role, providing him with the best defensive tool possible. Halberd, on the other hand, provides high reach and moderate damage, allowing him to keep distance from the enemies, while dealing damage.
It is worth noting that Guardian's Halberd has a thrust move, which makes shield poking strategy available from the get go, allowing Guardian to both defend and deal damage. Additionally, Charge Forth can be a great tool to close the gap with foes or stay mobile in the fight.
Relics
As any other class, Guardian gains access to 3 relic slots - RED, RED, and YELLOW. Different relics can be slotted in these sockets in Roundtable Hold, after you obtain them. This will allow Guardian to recieve powerful passive bonuses, which will make future runs in Limveld noticeably easier.
Note that the relic sockets for your Nightfarer can be changed by purchasing certain items from a Merchant.
Guardian - Leveling, Stats and Attributes
In Elden Ring: Nightreign, you can spend your runes at the Site of Grace to level up your character. Leveling up increases Hit Points, Focus Points (Mana), and Stamina. While not explicitly shown in the game, it also increases hidden attributes, such as Strength, Dexterity, Faith or Intelligence.
Attributes Scaling
As a tank, Guardian's core attributes are Vigor and Endurance, which helps him absorb more damage, and giving him higher stamina pool for both blocking and attacking.
Credit to Zullie the Witch for finding the stats for each attribute.
Attribute
Scaling
HP (Vigor)
S
FP (Mind)
C
Stamina (Endurance)
A
Strength
B
Dexterity
C
Intelligence
D
Faith
C
Arcane
C
Level
HP (Vigor)
FP (Mind)
Stamina (Endurance)
Strength
Dexterity
Intelligence
Faith
Arcane
1
10
2
6
4
3
2
3
10
2
19
3
12
10
8
3
5
10
3
22
3
14
12
9
3
6
10
4
26
4
16
14
11
4
7
10
5
29
5
18
17
12
4
8
10
6
33
6
20
19
14
5
10
10
7
36
7
22
22
16
5
11
10
8
40
7
24
24
17
6
12
10
9
43
8
26
26
19
6
14
10
10
47
9
28
29
20
7
15
10
11
50
10
30
31
22
7
16
10
12
54
11
33
34
24
8
18
10
13
56
12
34
35
25
8
19
10
14
58
13
36
37
27
9
20
10
15
60
14
38
39
29
10
21
10
Hit Points, Focus Points and Stamina Growth
Out of all Nightfarers, Guardian has the biggest HP pool. Below you can find a table showcasing Guardian's HP, FP and Stamina growth per level.
Calculation
HP = 80 + (VIG * 20)
FP = 45 + (MND * 5)
ST = 48 + (END * 2)
Level
Hit Points
Focus Points
Stamina
1
280
55
60
2
460
60
72
3
520
60
76
4
600
65
80
5
660
70
84
6
740
75
88
7
800
80
92
8
880
80
96
9
940
85
100
10
1020
90
104
11
1080
95
108
12
1160
100
114
13
1200
105
116
14
1240
110
120
15
1280
115
124
Guardian - Strengths and Weaknesses
As every other character in Elden Ring: Nightreing, Guardian comes with his own strengths and weaknesses.
His notable strengths are:
Guardian is an easy to use character, with a straightforward kit, making him an excellent choice for new players.
Has the best defensive capabilities out of all Nightreign characters, due to his passive ability massively boosting the usefulness of the shield.
This Nightfarer has access to high amounts of crowd control with his Whirlwind, and much needed team utility with his Wings of Salvation, which makes him a valuable pick for any team comp.
His notable weaknesses are:
Low mobility to due his passive ability sacrificing movement speed while guarding with shield. Additionally, charging Whirlwind makes Guardian exposed to enemy attacks.
Requires a shield to make the most out of his kit, significantly lowering build diversity.
His abilities deal relatively low damage, compared to other Nightfarers.
Can be less effective in solo runs, due to his high focus on providing utility for the team.
Guardian - Core Playstyle and Builds
As it was mentioned already, Guardian is focused on a tanky playstyle, and requires a shield in order to make the most out of his kit. Boasting high defenses, this Nightfarer can be an unstoppable force in a battle, while protecting his allies.
The best strategies for creating a powerful Guardian build are to either use shield poking strategies, or build around guard counter mechanic (or even both).
For shield poking you want to stick with specific types of weapons, such as:
To make the most out of guard counters, however, we recommend sticking to big, heavy-hitting weapons able to deal devastating blows with each hit, as well as easily stagger and break poise of even the biggest enemies and bosses in Nightreign. Such weapons include:
Additionally, you can further improve Guardian's damage by getting weapons with passives such as Improved Guard Counters (12%), and acquiring dormant powers, such as Guard Counters Activate Holy Attacks.
Since Guardian is a Strength focused character, it is recommended to stick to weapons with Heavy Infusion.
For your shield choice, there's no better option than Greatshields, since they provide the most protection while blocking an attack.
Guardian's Remembrance Quest Rewards
Rememberance Quests explore the backstory of each Nightfarer and unlock class-specific rewards like relics, skins, and Relic color configurations.
