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UNDER CONSTRUCTION DUE TO REWORK
What is this?
Just a place for me to dump whatever Guardian related knowledge I have since people always ask me, so I'll be slowly filling these posts with information.
Also, you can ask questions about the class and have them answered by me or other Guard mains that want to chime in.
Keep in mind that this is a reference and not a guide - you will find everything you need to know about the class itself but there won't be much of any gameplay information due to the wide variety of styles and needs that Guardian has. Play what you feel comfortable doing and to what your raid teams require. I believe that every Guardian should have their own style that they create tailored to their needs and wants instead of a One True Way to play the class.
Who are you?
In-game I go by Vahrdian (my main Guardian) and Vahr (my kinda-sorta-other-main LK).
I've played DN since around 50 cap on and off but only really starting playing seriously at the end of 70 cap. I've played paladin since I started, maining my Crusader (Vahrheit) until early 80 cap when I started playing DPS Guardian (which I've found to be my calling and have mained ever since. Not going to say what Vahrdian's original name was cuz it was some nonsense name).
Also, join the DN Class Discussion Discord's #paladin channel! So if you have questions, want to help people out, want to chat with fellow players of your class, learn about other classes, or just lurk around and absorb info in one central location, you should join!
My Skill Build
Skill Build (Lv 95 Reworked) [LINK]
Glossary and related terms
- Guardian's Grace is the class bubble stacking system for Guardians, capping out at 10 Graces. Generally when speaking in context of Guardian, these are referred to as Graces or Stacks. Somewhat confusingly, these can also be referred to as Bubbles (see Bubble)
- Bubble - Another term for Divine Barrier. Can also refer to Guardian's Graces when used in the plural, confusingly enough. Use context to figure out which is being referred to. In this thread, I will always refer to Bubble to mean Divine Barrier and Graces to mean Guardian's Graces.
- Justice Crash - The SEA/translated name for Falling Angel. Almost nobody uses the NA name, and as such this skill will always be referred to as Justice Crash.
- Stance Parrying - The short (~2s) version of Stance of Faith. Usually shortened to just "Stancing" or "Parrying."
- Just-in-time (JIT) Stance/Parry - A successful "accurate timing" usage of Stance of Faith which grants extra Graces as well as healing you (with the awakening). See the skill descriptions.
- 'voke - Short for Provoke. The verb form 'voking is the act of using Provoke to get the target's aggro.
- Bubble Tanking - Facetanking hits with Bubble active. This can be both for the damage absorption or for the SA tanking.
- Punishment - Short for Divine Punishment
- HoGing/Hogging - The act of using Heart of Glory. VIT buff (and subsequent HP boost) removed with rework. Also an indication that the Guardian is intending to ignore raid mechanics/hazards, as the skill renders you invincible to all but a certain few mechanics.
- God Bubble/HoG Bubble/Super Bubble - A clean Bubble given after using Heart of Glory and triggering Class Mastery I, which has absurdly high HP and can let normally squishy characters tank an immense amount of damage. See the section about Bubble for more info.
- Double Blocking - The act of using Block combined with Stance of Faith to earn an extra Grace with each successful parry.
Common acronyms
- OW - Overwhelm
- TF - Thrust Force
- JC - Justice Crash
- DA - Divine Ascension
- DAEX - Divine Ascension EX (used to refer to the bolt itself)
- DV - Divine Vengeance
- DP - Divine Punishment
- DPEX - Divine Punishment EX (more common than DP)
- DJ - Divine Judgement
- AB - Armor Break
- SC - Shield Charge
- IW - Iron Will
- HoG - Heart of Glory
Calculating damage for Grace-using skills (DA, AB, OW, Bubble)
Removed with rework (graces no longer grant damage).
Bubble mechanics
- The HP of Bubble is 25% of the target's max HP.
- The HP of Bubble is not refreshed when the duration is refreshed. The shield needs to be broken or expired and then reapplied to have the full HP. This also includes Bubbles of different HP than the original as well, meaning that if you want to drop a God Bubble on the team, you MUST allow the previous shield to expire or break first before applying the God Bubble.
- Bubble gains any defensive stats and buffs the player has (it is equivalent to HP)
- Bubble does not protect against status effect inflicted damage (burns, poison, etc)
- Some skills (mostly percent HP based skills) ignore Bubble and apply the damage directly to your underlying HP. Most of them also buff wipe too anyways.
- There are 10 shards per cast of [Awakened] Bubble. Casting bubble at point blank will get off all 11 hits (1 from the AoE, 10 from the shards).
Divine Punishment/Class Mastery I HP Boost
Removed with rework.
Graces
The below information assumes a full skill tree (as linked above) and takes into account skill EXs and Class Masteries.
The following skills generate Guardian Graces:
- Stance of Faith: Upon casting, +1
- Stance of Faith Block: Upon successful block with Stance of Faith, +2?; upon successful accurate block with Stance of Faith, additional +2? (for a total of +4?)
- Divine Vengeance: Upon striking an enemy, +1
- Divine Ascension: Upon striking an enemy, +1
- Shield Blow: Upon striking an enemy, +1
- Armor Break: Upon striking an enemy, +1
- Block: Upon successfully blocking with Block or Autoblock, +1. Stacks with Stance of Faith.
- Heart of Glory: Upon casting, +10
The following skills consume Guardian Graces
- Bubble: Upon casting, -3
- Overwhelm: Upon using the left click second hit, -3
- Thrust Force: Upon casting, -1
Class Scalings
VIT to HP: 30
STR to PDMG: 0.75
AGI to PDMG: 0.25
INT to MDMG: 0.25
VIT to PDEF: 0.60
INT to MDEF: 0.30
AGI to CRIT: 6.00
STR/INT to CRITDMG: 3.00
AGI to CRITRESIST: 10.5
Guardian has the same STR to PDMG scaling as all the other STR classes and the third highest AGI to CRIT scaling (after Priest (#1) and Dragoon (#2) tied with LK).
Incorrect or unclear skill tooltips
- Stance of Faith EX adds 2 additional graces to the accurately timed block, for a total of 5 graces possible.
- Justice Crash reduces the damage dealt by the target, assuming the target doesn't resist the effect.
- [Awakened] Armor Break lists a 300% bonus and a 100% extra hit. The total damage is actually 9.3x the board damage. See coefficient table below.
- Overwhelm lists the extra hit as 100% damage. That's 100% of the first burst, effectively doubling the board damage. See coefficient table below.
- [Awakened] Guardian Force is the awakening passive for Divine Barrier/Bubble. It also states "When [Divine Avatar] is used" which is the SEA name for Heart of Glory.
- Armor Break when unawakened says it reduces enemies defenses by some percentage (774% at rank 10). That's the damage it deals - the debuff amount is 20% (which is listed right below). Also confusingly enough, it seems to imply that it increases your own damage, which is not the case (its a debuff on the enemy, just like the Swordmaster skill Luring Slice). The Awakening enhanced tooltip is more clear but also retains the weird implication.
Bugs
- Thrust Force and Stance of Faith can occasionally launch your character out of the map/arena. Just unstuck when trapped when that happens.
- Justice Crash can occasionally cause your Guardian to be able to walk in the air if interrupted.
- Getting your Super Armor broken during Justice Crash can cause you to hang in midair in the falling animation indefinitely. Aerial Evade or unstuck when trapped to escape.
Resisted Effects
The following 8 man raid bosses ignore Provoke:
- Red Dragon Nest
- Barbados
- Jasmine
- Black Dragon Pether's Ghost
- Ice Dragon Nest
- Killing Machine Balapa
- Ice Dragon Phase 1 Punishers
- Rune Dragon Nest
- Evil Knight Hlongnir (after unleashing power)
- Rune Dragon Mamon Phase 1 (not that it matters)
I find challenges interesting seeing as how I mained and solo'd lvl as a Saint from the ground up lmao so I might go a guardian i suppose. I love my Saint but my new Cleric has the kewl costumes so idk ;'c
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