Summary
- Nightfarers in Nightreign offer preset characters with unique abilities, including the tank Guardian.
- Guardian relies on powerful relics like Night of the Champion to enhance his playstyle and effectiveness.
- Utilizing skills and relics like Stone Stake can boost Guardian's damage output and support abilities.
The Nightfarers are one of the most interesting new features in all of Nightreign, allowing players to jump in with a preset character, each with their own unique abilities and playstyles. Among the classes, there are spell-casters, assassins, bruisers, and more. One of the more interesting characters is Guardian, the tanky frontliner who holds a shield proudly and stops anything from getting too close to his allies.
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When jumping into a run for the first time as Guardian, players can get a good idea about the kinds of builds that would be most effective with them. Part of what makes certain Nightfarers really shine is the use of relics, powerful buffs that can be equipped before the game even begins to give players a head start in the land of Limveld. Much like everyone else, Guardian has quite a few relics that are particularly good that players should keep an eye out for and equip as soon as they get the chance.
7 Night of the Champion
Counterattacks That Hit Even Harder
Effects:
- Increased Maximum Stamina
- Guard counter is given a boost based on current HP
- HP Restoration upon Thrusting Counterattack
Night of the Champion is a great relic that gives Guardian everything he could ever need. Some built-in sustain to help clear out enemy camps, a larger stamina bar to keep the shield up longer, and a guard counter bonus that scales with a stat the player is going to want to grab anyway, everything about it is perfect.
The relic plays into the traditional Guardian playstyle whilst not restricting players to a specific weapon or damage type. All of the benefits can be gained from a variety of weapons and approaches, letting players maintain some flexibility in their run as well as having an incentive to go full on into the frontline fantasy.
6 Third Volume
A Halberd User's Dream
Effects:
- (Guardian) Creates whirlwind when charging halberd attacks
- HP Restoration upon Halberd Attacks
Guardian might not be the strongest class by himself, but he has one of the strongest early game abilities that absolutely tears through groups of enemies in a matter of seconds. Having a powerful relic that applies that same effect to every single halberd charge means that players no longer have to wait for the cooldown to knock their opponents high into the air.
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The secondary effect is also pretty useful, giving some healing while in combat that speeds up encounters and allows players to continue restoring health when their flasks run out. While it is limited to halberds, Guardian is one of the few classes that can really make the most of the weapon class to piece through enemies and take out hordes all at once.
5 Character Skill Buffs
Even More Aura Buffs
Effects:
- Damage negation for allies improved when using Character Skills
- Increased duration for Character Skill
Providing buffs to allies is a very important part of Nightreign, as using as many of the cooperative gameplay elements as possible can really improve the team's chances of winning. Guardian already has a few handy tools to help his team out in a pinch, but these relic effects can elevate his supportive capabilities in a big way.
For one, being able to swing for longer and deal more damage is a great way of bringing some more effectiveness into the final fight. But aside from the damage output, the ability to cast a skill near an ally who has been grabbed or who is suffering heavy focus can save them from near-instant death, making it an important relic when used in the right circumstances.
4 Stone Stake
Whirlwind After Whirlwind
Effect:
- (Guardian) Increased duration for Character Skill
- Character Skill Cooldown Reduction +3
Skills are one of the core aspects of any Nightfarer's kit. They serve as the identity and reason why players will choose them over others, with each bringing something new to the fight. Guardian has a pretty useful skill that really shreds through groups throughout the days, and by allowing players to hold it for longer, it means that nothing is left standing by the end.
The other benefit that players will want to look out for is cooldown reduction for the skill. Among all the relic powers, being able to cast skills much sooner adds so much DPS to the player's attack patterns, and allows them to be much more efficient when dealing with large groups as well as individual opponents.
3 Guard Counters
Retaliate With Vengeance
Effect:
- Improved Guard Counters
- Max HP increased by a portion when guard counter is used
When running around Limveld as Guardian, players will be blocking and swinging at everything they come across, avoiding damage whilst also dealing significant chunks themselves. Having a relic that buffs an already powerful playstyle is the perfect way to elevate Guardian to a higher level, letting him dish out far more damage without sacrificing defense.
Guard counters are an integral part of any shield user's kit, and being able to reflect heavy hits and return fire with an even deadlier blow means that players can remain high on HP at all times, on top of decimating anything that steps in their way.
2 Supportive Guarding
Everyone Behind The Shield
Effect:
- Draw enemy attention while guarding
- Art gauge charged from successful guarding
- HP Recovery From Successful Guarding
One of the most interesting relic passives that Guardian can make use of is the ability to draw enemy aggro while guarding. It's one thing to be able to hold up a shield and block attacks, but it doesn't help if the enemies are showing far more interest in the rest of the team. This relic effect removes that struggle and attracts all the enemies in one direction, letting spellcasters and archers shoot freely and safely.
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There are also some other great blocking passives that can make shielding even stronger than it already is. Healing effects just by blocking a single attack can be incredibly powerful against lots of smaller enemies, and just as useful against the Nightlord. And, with an ultimate that is as useful as Guardian's is, being able to recover it faster means that everyone is more likely to stay alive right until the final fight ends.
1 Witch's Broach
A Whole Other Level Of Tankiness
Effect:
- (Guardian) Slowly restores nearby allies' HP while Art is active
- (Guardian) Reflect a portion of damage received when ability is activated
- Vigor +3
The Witch's Broach is easily Guardian's most powerful individual relic. It grants so much additional power to every aspect of his kit, as well as giving him a huge boost to the player's starting HP that lets them soak more damage far earlier into the game, as well as live through some of the Nightlord's devastating blows.
The reflection passive is hugely beneficial for any shield user, and being able to negate damage and still put up some decent numbers means that the player becomes a double-edged sword of both offense and defense. Guardian's ultimate can also be a great defensive tool when used correctly, so adding some extra healing on top of the protection turns it into the ideal supportive tool on an already great supportive class.
Elden Ring Nightreign
- Released
- May 30, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- From Software
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Soulslike, Roguelite
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC
