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Elden Ring Nightreign
Guardian Best Build, Weapons, and Relics Guide
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This is a Guardian build guide for Elden Ring Nightreign. See Guardian's best build, weapons, relics, playstyle, and character profile here!
| Guardian Character Pages | ||
|---|---|---|
| Build | Remembrance | Skins |
List of Contents
Best Guardian Build
| Jump to a Section! | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weapons | Relics | Dormant Powers | |||
| Items | Talismans | ||||
Guardian Best Weapon
 Commander's Standard
|
Minimum Level: 7 Attack Scaling: STR/DEX Damage Type: Physical |
|---|---|
 Pest's Glaive
|
Minimum Level: 3 Attack Scaling: STR/DEX Damage Type: Physical |
 Ripple Crescent Halberd
|
Minimum Level: 3 Attack Scaling: STR/DEX Damage Type: Physical |
 Visage Shield
|
Minimum Level: 7 Attack Scaling: STR/DEX Damage Type: Physical |
Halberds are the usual preferred weapon for the Guardian, but faster weapons, such as Axes or even Fists, are also viable choices mainly due to their speed and common STR/DEX scaling even while paired with a Greatshield. For some stagger potential, Colossal Weapons can also be considered.
When in a fight, we recommend always having a shield on one hand and a weapon on the other as opposed to two-handing. Two-handing is an alright choice if you can take advantage of large attack windows.
For weapon skills, we recommend skills that can buff your team or deal lots of poise damage, such as:
- Rallying Standard, which is exclusive to the Commander's Standard, for buffing your team's damage and damage negation.
- Tongues of Fire, exclusive to the Visage Shield, that costs gradual FP but deals signifcant continuous fire and poise damage.
- Blood Tax is an excellent offensive skill for the Halberd and is often found on the Pest's Glaive with Bleed affinity.
- Golden Vow, found on Holy affinty weapons, for added attack power and damage negation.
- Stormcaller, usually a great offensive AoE skill for Halberds.
- Charge Forth is a useful offensive skill since it deals a lot of poise damage against a target.
- No Skill for shields since it will allow you to prioritize your main weapon's skill instead, removing the clunkiness of having to switch to two-handed to access it with a shield.
Best Weapon Passives for Guardian
| Best Passives for Offense | |
|---|---|
| HP Restoration Upon Attacks | Improved Guard Counters |
| Alternative Offense Options | |
| FP Restoration Upon Attacks | Successive Attacks Negate Damage |
| Best Passives for Defense | |
| Improved Guarding Ability | Improved Damage Negation From Successful Guard |
HP Restoration and Guard Counter-related effects are usually the best go-to offense passives for the Guardian. For defense, you will want to focus on Guard-related effects and Damage Negation.
Alternatively, you can also go for an FP Restoration skill for offense if you find yourself often using weapon skill spams. You can't go wrong with Damage Negation on successive attacks also, which can make your attack trades with pokes more forgiving.
Weapon Passives Will Still Apply Even if Not Using Them
Weapon passives apply as long as the weapon is in your inventory, even if you're not actively using it. Exceptions to this rule are weapons that have a hand icon on their passives. These weapons must be equipped for the passives to take effect.
Be sure to fill your inventory with useful passives, even from random weapons you won't use, if the effect suits the build so you don't waste an inventory slot.
Guardian Best Relics
| Recommended Relic Rites | |
|---|---|
 Guardian's Chalice |
|
| Relic | Effects |
 Witch's Brooch
|
・[Guardian] Slowly restores nearby allies' HP while Art is active ・[Guardian] Reflect a portion of damage received when ability is activated ・Vigor +3 |
 Grand Luminous Scene |
• Strength +2 • Character Skill Cooldown Reduction +3 • *Any Alternate Guardian Passive |
 Stone Stake
|
• [Guardian] Increased duration for Character Skill • Character Skill Cooldown Reduction +3 |
| Alternate Guardian Relic Passives | |
|
• [Guardian] Creates whirlwind when charging halberd attacks • HP Restoration upon Halberd Attacks • HP Recovery from Successful Guarding • Art gauge charged from successful guarding • Draw enemy attention while guarding • HP Restoration upon Thrusting Counterattack • Improved Guard Counters • Endurance +3 • Vigor +3 |
|
Check the short list below for suggested random passives.
For passives, we highly recommend the Stone Stake in particular due to the Whirlwind passive buff it applies, turning the skill into a powerful crowd control skill that can stunlock mobs. To better improve the frequency of Whirlwind, going for Character Skill Cooldown Reduction passives are recommended.
We encourage you to complete the Guardian's Remembrance quests to obtain the Witch's Brooch. This Brooch guarantees your Guardian having team-wide healing on Wings of Salvation along with damage and poise reflection on Steel Guard.
If you do get other relic passives, it's best to look for those that increase the survivability of the Guardian. Do keep in mind that the passives you get from the normal Relics are completely random so it is fine if you do not get all the suggested passives.
Alternative Guardian Relics
| Relic | Effects |
|---|---|
 Grand Luminous Scene
|
・[Executor] Character Skill Boosts Attack but Attacking Drains HP ・HP Recovery from Successful Guarding ・Art gauge charged from successful guarding Bought from the Collector Signboard for 3 Sovereign Sigils. |
 Grand Burning Scene
|
• [Guardian] Reflect a portion of damage received when ability is activated • Art gauge charged from successful guarding • Endurace +3 Bought from the Collector Signboard for 3 Sovereign Sigils. |
 Night of the Fathom
|
• Increased Maximum HP • Flask Also Heals Allies • Items confer effects to all nearby allies Obtained from defeating the Nightlord Augur. |
 Night of the Champion
|
• Increased Maximum Stamina • Guard counter is given a boost based on current HP • HP Restoration upon Thrusting Counterattack Obtained from defeating the Nightlord Darkdrift Knight. |
 Grand Tranquil Scene
|
• Partial HP Restoration upon Post-Damage Attacks • Vigor +2 • Poise +2 Example Relic that's randomly obtained. |
The mentioned Grand Luminous Scene is recommended even though it has an Executor passive due to its next 2 complementing the Guardian's playstyle.
Feel free to switch out Relics and even change Vessels when find passives that have great passive combinations. The first 4 above are guaranteed finds from the Collector Signboard and specific Nightlords, while the last is a sample Relic with a fine set of passives.
Your best bet into getting better Relics is by grinding out expeditions and spending your Murk or Sovereign Sigils (obtained from the Everdark Sovereign Nightlord) on Scenic Flatstones.
Guardian Best Dormant Powers
| Best Utility Dormant Powers | |
|---|---|
| Violent Deluge of Star Rain While Walking | Improved Stamina Recovery | Best Dormant Powers for Offense |
| Improved Physical Attack Power | Improved Stance-Breaking | Best Dormant Powers for Defense |
| Improved Flask HP Restoration | Increased Maximum HP |
| Improved Physical Damage Negation | |
For the Guardian, Stamina-related and Walking-related Dormant Powers are great picks, with Stamina buffs making it easier for you to sustain your guards and walking effects to provide some passive damage against the enemy while you focus on tanking.
On offense, the go-to Dormant Powers for the Guardian are Physical Attack Power and Stance-Breaking buffs. Not only can the Guardian use more damage output, but it also makes it better at breaking stances especially on Guard Counters.
On Defense, Physical Damage Negation is a top pick followed by Flask HP Restoration for the Guardian. You can then follow it up with Increased Maximum HP to further boost the character's survivability.
Guardian Best Consumable Items
| Item | Effect |
|---|---|
 Pickled Turtle Neck
|
Temporarily boosts stamina recovery. |
 Warming Stone
|
Temporarily provides passive healing in an area when used. |
 Boiled Crab
|
Greatly boosts physical damage negation for a certain duration. |
 Exalted Flesh
|
Temporarily boosts physical attack. |
Above are the best common items for the Guardian.
Given that the Guardian consumes a lot of stamina when using the shield, Pickled Turtle Necks are the best to have alongside the Warming Stone for passive healing for you and your team.
You can make yourself tankier by having Boiled Crabs on hand. Then, the last you can have is Exalted Flesh for more damage. Alternatively you can opt for Starlight Shards if you need more FP for skills.
Guardian Best Talismans
| Talisman | Effect |
|---|---|
 Dragoncrest Shield Talisman
|
Improved Physical Damage Negation (+15%) |
 Erdtree's Favor
|
Increases Maximum HP (+7%) and Maximum Stamina (+7%) |
| Alternative Best Talismans | |
 Greatshield Talisman
|
Improved Guarding Ability (+20%) |
 Pearldrake Talisman
|
Improved Non-Physical Damage Negation (+20%) |
The best pair of Talismans for the Guardian is the Dragoncrest Shield Talisman and Erdtree's Favor. The former significantly decreases physical damage taken while the latter buffs increases both your HP and Stamina cap (scales well especially at high levels).
Alternatively, you can also use other defensive talismans such as the Greatshield Talisman for better guarding ability since you will mostly use your shield or guard, and the Pearldrake Talisman for better damage negation from non-physical sources such as elemental damage and spells.
How to Play Guardian
| How to Play Guardian |
|---|
|
|
Use Steel Guard for Tanking
Perform Steel Guard by dodging while guarding. The video above demonstrates Steel Guard with the Guardian's damage reflect passive.
Steel Guard drastically decreases the stamina drain on your guard and is essential for tanking heavy hits. It's best used on strong attacks by enemies while the normal guard can be used freely on weaker strikes. You will have to observe carefully on when to best use it since dashing also consumes stamina – observe your stamina drain carefully!
Steel Guard benefits a lot mainly from one (1) Guardian-exclusive relic passive: 'Reflect a portion of damage received when ability is activated'. You can get this from normal relics or the Witch's Brooch from the Guardian's Remembrance. Not only does this reflect damage itself, but also poise damage, so you can take advantage of it along with Guard Counters for stuns on larger enemies.
Another relic passive you'lll want for it is 'Draw enemy attention while guarding'. Though, it's completely optional. If you're not aiming for anything else, Stamina-related and Improved Guarding Ability are always great passives that bolster Steel Guard.
Use Whirlwind on Groups of Mobs
The above video demonstrates the upgraded Whirlwind from the Stone Stake relic passive. The skill's tornado lasts for 7 seconds.
You'll often come across mobs of enemies in an expedition and the Guardian has one of the best tools for dealing with them wholesale: Whirlwind. This skill will allow you to knock enemies in an area upward, interrupting their attacks and sending them into a state of being open for counterattacks.
The Guardian-exclusive relic passive 'Increased duration for Character Skill', which is guaranteed on the Stone Stake Remembrance relic, upgrades Whirlwind from a crude crowd control skill to a 7-second area denial attack. Mobs with little poise caught inside them will be pulled inward and constinuously stunned until the end of the tornado.
The upgraded Whirlwind from the increased duration passive also deals tick damage, so you can make use of this to stall the death timer of downed players.
Save Wings of Salvation for Revives
The Wings of Salvation ultimate art is capable of reviving 2 downed players with 3 full purple bars instantly.
Wings of Salvation is the most valuable tool in your kit after Whirlwind. It will instantly revive downed players on its slam and temporarily provide full damage negation. On top of that, its slam also deals a lot of burst damage against enemies in an area.
While it looks attractive to use on paper, its best use case is being saved for emergencies, such as a situation where two players are downed with full 3 bars. As much as possible, reserve this Ultimate Art for those situations.
Maximize Guard Counters
The video above showcases Guard Counters with the 'Guard Counters Activate Summoning Attacks' dormant power.
Guard Counters are essential to the shield-based playstyle of the Guardian – learning it will expand the Guardian's offensive kit from pokes to stance-breaking. Guard Counters can be buffed with passives or Dormant Powers that you obtain in an expedition.
It's good to mix your attack plan with Guard Counters, but also mind that this takes up stamina. You'll also want to use it only during safe windows since using it in a middle of an enemy's attack chain will open you up to taking a hit.
Stall Enemies and Play Safe
The key to playing Guardian is to play patiently and hold back the enemy. Mix your plays with Steel Guard and fish for enemy stance-breaks with the Guard Counter (but don't overdo it!). If you are about to run out of stamina, start moving away from the enemy's attack range to recover.
If possible, also try to circle around enemies since some of their attacks can be evaded by moving away. For smaller mobs, this will also prepare you to position for a backstab critical hit.
Guardian Character Information
 A character with high defensive capabilities who can use a shield to withstand even the most ferocious enemy attacks. |
|||
| Preferred Weapon | Halberds | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| HP | FP | Stamina | Strength |
| S | C | A | B |
| Dexterity | Intelligence | Faith | Arcane |
| C | D | C | C |
Guardian Ranking
| Tier List Ranking |  |
|---|
The Guardian is a great character for serving both defensive, support, and crowd control roles. Its Ultimate Art in particular, Wings of Salvation, is a very powerful utility skill that can revive Nightfarers in clutch situations.
The Guardian, however, will still struggle in terms of DPS as a trade-off for its tanky nature. Due to this, it often becomes dependent on other damage-dealers or a good setup for taking down foes.
Guardian Abilities
Guardian Passive Ability - Steel Guard
Steel Guard - A powerful guard stance that is difficult to break. |
Guardian's Passive Ability, Steel Guard, lets Guardian enter a special guard stance if you dodge while guarding with a shield (holding guard after will maintain this stance). While in this stance, Guardian will have increased Guard Boost, giving you significantly less stamina drain on receiving hits to the shield.
While in this stance, however, your Stamina will continuously drain, so release the skill to recover Stamina or you will be forced out of the stance once your Stamina is empty.
Guardian Character Skill - Whirlwind
Whirlwind - Summon a cyclone that knocks small enemies off their feet and can repel light projectiles. |
Guardian's Character Skill, Whirlwind, lets Guardian summon a cyclone of wind that knocks smaller enemies up and slightly staggers bigger ones. Additionally, this whirlwind deflects small projectiles, protecting those inside the area from distant archers.
Enemies that get knocked upwards by Whirlwind will end up prone on the ground upon landing, leaving them open to attacks.
Guardian Ultimate Art - Wings of Salvation
Wings of Salvation - Dive from above to attack a large area and protect allies. |
Guardian's Ultimate Art, Wings of Salvation, has Guardian leaping into the air before crashing down. Upon landing, Guardian will deal damage to all nearby enemies and instantly reviving allies at the landing area.
If the Ultimate Art button is held following the landing, a protective area will be raised around him for the duration of the input. While this protective area remains active, teammates inside the area are immune to attacks.
Guardian Initial Equipment
 Guardian's Halberd |
Minimum Level: 1 Attack Affinity: Standard/Pierce Damage Type: Physical |
|---|---|
 Guardian's Greatshield |
Minimum Level: 1 Attack Affinity: Strike Damage Type: Physical Guarded Damage Negation: ・Physical: 100.0 ・Lightning: 53.0 ・Magic: 59.0 ・Holy: 62.0 ・Fire: 66.0 ・Guard Boost: 60 |
Guardian Stats
| HP | FP | Stamina | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lvl 1 | 280 | 55 | 60 |
| Lvl 2 | 460 | 60 | 72 |
| Lvl 3 | 520 | 60 | 76 |
| Lvl 4 | 600 | 65 | 80 |
| Lvl 5 | 660 | 70 | 84 |
| Lvl 6 | 740 | 75 | 88 |
| Lvl 7 | 800 | 80 | 92 |
| Lvl 8 | 880 | 80 | 96 |
| Lvl 9 | 940 | 85 | 100 |
| Lvl 10 | 1020 | 90 | 104 |
| Lvl 11 | 1080 | 95 | 108 |
| Lvl 12 | 1160 | 100 | 114 |
| Lvl 13 | 1200 | 105 | 116 |
| Lvl 14 | 1240 | 110 | 120 |
| Lvl 15 | 1280 | 115 | 124 |
Elden Ring Nightreign Related Guides
All Character Classes
 Wylder |
 Guardian |
 Duchess |
 Recluse |
 Ironeye |
 Raider |
 Executor |
 Revenant |
 Scholar
|
 Undertaker |
||
How to Unlock
| Duchess |
Revenant |
| Scholar |
Undertaker |
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