Elden Ring Nightreign currently has eight different Nightfarers to choose from before embarking on an Expedition, and one of these – who quickly became a fan favourite once revealed – is the Guardian. A huge, anthropomorphic bird-man that wields a halberd and can cast whirlwinds using his wing, the Guardian is a tanky character who provides more style points than anything.
That’s not to say the Guardian isn’t good. He’s great in the right hands with equipped Relics that are catered to his kit, and that’s where this build guide comes in. To help you with making the most of everyone’s favourite birdman, here’s our Nightreign Guardian build guide.
Nightreign Guardian build guide
Nightreign Guardian skills, passives, and art
The Guardian’s kit consists of the following Passive Ability, Skill, and Ultimate:
- Passive Ability: Steel Guard – Plant feet and brace with shield for a more powerful guard. This greatly improves guard boost, but prevents running while holding up a shield.
- Skill: Whirlwind – Beat wing to whip up a wind-churning cyclone. Enemies caught in the cyclone are drawn toward the center. Sweeps away lightweight projectiles. Hold to enlarge the range.
- Ultimate: Wings of Salvation – Leap up and dive back down to raise the protective area. Can move briefly while in the air, and the diving attack is perfect for rescuing allies. Hold to shield nearby allies from damage.
As you can see from the Guardian’s kit, he’s a surprisingly supportive character despite being a huge, halberd-wielding bird. He specialises in defense and is great for managing the aggro of bosses, primarily tanking their attacks while his teammates do the majority of the damage.
His Passive Ability, Steel Guard, allows his movement speed for a much stronger guard boost that consumes less of his stamina. It has a short warmup compared to your standard guard, however, so bear this in mind if you plan on using it to repel an upcoming attack.
The Whirlwind Skill will toss smaller foes into the air while staggering larger foes and keeping them in place as long as the ability is active, and it’s pretty similar to the whirlwind attacks used by the Battlefield Commander and Outlaw Commander. That said, without some supporting Relics for the Guardian, this ability can be quite short-lived; Guardian is ultimately a character who only really shines once he is kitted out with suitable Relics. He’s still good fun before that point, though.
The best part of the Guardian’s kit is without a doubt his Ultimate, Wings of Salvation, which sees him leap into the air before diving down and launching a powerful attack. This attack can be used to stun large enemies in a pinch but it’s best used for reviving teammates; if Guardian is the last Nightfarer standing, his Ultimate can quickly revive the whole team, and if the team happens to be sitting underneath the boss you’re fighting, you’ll be able to damage the boss while reviving your allies. Two birds and one… halberd! Well, one bird, but you get the idea.
Guardian’s best scaling is his B scaling with Strength, and he has a preference for Halberd weapons. With every other stat, he has C or D scaling, so bear this in mind when picking up weapons during an Expedition. Guardian will fare best with Strength-scaling weapons in one hand (though, Dexterity weapons aren’t all that bad for him either), and a Greatshield in the other so he can make good use of his Passive Ability.
Best Guardian team synergies in Nightreign
As a tank through and through, the Guardian can slot nicely into any Nightreign team provided his teammates are prepared to deal much of the damage while he works on managing boss aggro and stance-breaking them.
Speaking of stance-breaking, you’ll want to make sure the Guardian is successfully blocking attacks and following these up with attacks of his own to quickly stance-break a foe. On that note, having an Ironeye to hand who can mark the enemy with their Skill – which increases the stance damage dealt to an enemy – will help Guardian out with this significantly.
Alternatively, if you’re not bringing along Ironeye, I recommend at least bringing one ranged character to accompany the Guardian. With all of the tanking he will be doing, and given that the majority of Nightfarers are melee-focused, I’d argue it’s always worth bringing at least one ranged Nightfarer into most Expeditions (where you have a tank) as they can do consistent damage from afar while Guardian soaks up all of the boss’s attention. The only other alternative ranged character to Ironeye, really, is the Recluse and her spell-slinging, but you could also consider Revenant with a Sacred Seal and some Incantations. Revenant with Relics that can heal her team upon activation of her Ultimate is especially good, as Guardian – considering he’s always on the frontline – can benefit greatly from having someone on his team who can heal him in a pinch.
One character I do not recommend bringing alongside Guardian is the Executor. Given that both Nightfarers’ kits tend to revolve around guarding and blocking, both characters will be battling against one another to be the recipient of any incoming attacks. If you want to bring along other hard-hitting melee characters, the likes of Duchess and Wylder are a good shout.
Best Guardian relics and passive effects in Nightreign
When it comes to relic traits and the passive effects of equipment in Nightreign, there are a few different things to look out for when it comes to the Guardian. These are as follows:
- Draw enemy attention while guarding – Guardian’s kit revolves around blocking enemy attacks, so the more attention they give him, the better.
- Increased duration for Character Skill – anything that can increase how long Guardian’s Whirlwind lasts is good.
- Art gauge charged from successful guarding – Guardian does a lot of, you know, guarding, so he’ll benefit from this passive.
- HP Recovery from successful guarding – much like the above, Guardian does a lot of guarding and therefore can benefit from this.
- Improved Stamina Recovery / Increased Maximum Stamina – Guardian uses a lot of Stamina to block attacks and use his Passive Ability, so anything that improves this won’t go amiss.
- Improved Guard Counters
- Improved Halberd Attack Power
- Improved Physical Damage Negation
- Improved Stance-Breaking
Relic traits and passive effects granted by the Dormant Power drops left behind by bosses are all randomised, so there’s no guaranteeing what sort of build you will wind up with at the end of an Expedition.
There are, however, some fixed Relics to be earned from Nightlords and Nightfarer Remembrance quests that you could consider for the Guardian. These are as follows:
- Third Volume (Guardian’s Remembrance) – [Guardian] Creates whirlwind when charging halberd attacks, HP Restoration upon halberd attacks
- Stone Stake (Guardian’s Remembrance) – [Guardian] Increased duration for character skill, Character Skill Cooldown Reduction +3
- Witch’s Brooch / Cracked Witch’s Brooch (Guardian’s Remembrance) – [Guardian] Reflect a portion of damage received when ability is active, Vigor +3
- Night of the Baron (defeat Gaping Jaws) – Improved Critical Hits+1, Art gauge fills moderately upon Critical Hit, Critical Hit boosts Stamina Recovery Speed
- Night of the Fathom (defeat Augur) – Increased Maximum HP, Flasks Also Heal Allies, Items confer effects to nearby allies
- Night of the Champion (defeat Darkdrift Knight) – Increased Maximum Stamina, Guard counter is given a boost based on current HP, HP Restoration upon Thrusting Counterattack
Night of the Baron is a decent Relic to equip if you plan on being the one to pull off most Critical Hits, and given that the Guardian should be up close and personal with the boss most of the time, it’s highly likely that that’ll be the case. The only time I would perhaps advise against this is if you have a Duchess on your team as daggers typically do the most Critical Hit damage.
The Night of the Fathom Relic is a brilliant, supportive Relic that can be equipped to near enough any Nightfarer and not be wasted. It increases the Maximum HP of the wearer, and also allows their Crimson Flasks and items to be shared with allies if they’re nearby upon consumption. Being able to use one consumable between three of you is great, and an extra hand with healing your team will never go amiss.
The Night of the Champion Relic is also worth considering given it gives the Guardian’s guard counters a boost based on his current HP while also raising his maximum stamina from the get-go (something he cannot get enough of). The HP Restoration upon Thrusting Counterattack effect doesn’t immediately apply to Guardian and his Halberd, sadly, and only applies to swords capable of thrusting and bows.
On top of that, most Thrusting Swords – such as the Antspur Rapier or Cleanrot Knight’s Sword – scale with Dexterity rather than Strength. This means that Guardian can use them, no problem, but he will likely perform better with a Strength-scaling weapon (and even better if that weapon is something like the Gargoyle’s Halberd). That said, if you’re low on Relic options, it could be worth trying!
For more on Nightreign, take a look at our tips and tricks for successful runs, how the Rotted Woods event works, and how the Noklateo, Shrouded City event works.