The Guardian is one of the first characters you can play as in Elden Ring Nightreign. This character focuses on tanking incoming damage and is the best choice for those who like using shields and don't mind being the center of attention in combat.
Knowing how to play a character effectively is crucial for making it through an expedition in Elden Ring Nightreign; here's how to play Guardian for those just starting out and those looking to master the character.
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Basic Mechanics & Passive Skill For Guardian In Elden Ring Nightreign
The Guardian is a tanky character that focuses on blocking incoming damage with a shield instead of trying to dodge every attack. The Guardian has a heavy focus on strength and can still do a lot of damage even when hiding behind a shield. The Guardian's basic fighting style tends to focus on individual enemies, while the character's abilities excel in dealing with groups.
The Guardian's passive ability is Steel Guard, which can be activated by trying to dodge in a specific direction while guarding. This greatly enhances his ability to block, and getting hit reduces much less stamina, while breaking the guard of an enemy is much easier. This alone makes having a good shield a necessity for a Guardian especially when playing alone, as you're otherwise not even using your passive.
Character Skill & Ultimate Art For Guardian In Elden Ring Nightreign
The Character Skill for the Guardian is Whirlwind, and it has a pretty great cooldown speed. This ability whips up wind around the player, knocking small enemies up into the air and damaging anything nearby. This ability will also throw aside incoming projectiles if you time it right. This skill can be less effective against large bosses, but is incredible when trying to quickly clear out smaller enemies during the day.
The Guardian's Ultimate Art is Wings of Salvation, which sees the Guardian leap into the air before smashing down on the ground, dealing a high area of effect damage. This skill is great against anything, and being up close in melee with enemies will make sure it regenerates fast. This skill can also heal any downed ally it hits, and is an incredible option when trying to revive two downed allies, both with three bars.
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Ideal Relic Buffs For Guardian In Elden Ring Nightreign
Relics are completely random, and there's no way to find the perfect one you want. Ideally, you'll look for relics that further boost the things the Guardian already does very well. Look for and use Relics with any of the following buffs:
- Increased Strength
- Increased Vigor
- Increased Stamina
- Boosted Thrusting Damage
- Reduced Stamina when Blocking
- Boost Physical Damage Negation
Best Weapon Type & Cache Rewards For Guardian In Elden Ring Nightreign
The most ideal loadout for a Guardian is a halberd and shield. A shield is necessary for the class's passive, and a thrusting spear can be used when hiding behind a shield, letting you attack and defend at the same time. You'll then want to focus on any cache reward that gives you better spears or shields, along with those that boost your health or stamina. A unique cache reward for Guardian is the ability to recover health when healing, which makes the core focus of the class even better.
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Advanced Tips For Guardian In Elden Ring Nightreign
Guardian is played best with a party of damage dealers, as this class excels in keeping a boss's focus while your allies deal huge amounts of damage. While you can build this class to deal damage, it's best to focus on being the best tank you can be.
Your Ultimate Art does deal a lot of damage, but sometimes having a one-hit heal even at three bars is worth holding onto in the middle of a fight. Whirlwind should be used as often as possible during the day, as the overall cooldown is very fast and the damage output and crowd control ability are incredible. This character needs a huge amount of stamina to survive, so prioritize that whenever possible to make sure you still have some juice left to counter after blocking all an enemy's attacks.
Elden Ring Nightreign
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 80 /100 Critics Rec: 78%
- Released
- May 30, 2025
- Developer(s)
- From Software
- Publisher(s)
- Bandai Namco Entertainment, From Software
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Soulslike, Roguelite
