The Guardian

The Guardian
HP	240 250 9+
In Party With	None
Debut Act	Act 1
Powers	Mode Shift 30 Mode Shift 35 9+ Mode Shift 40 19+

The Guardian is one of the three bosses encountered at the end of Act 1.

Pattern

Offensive Mode

Will always perform the pattern Charging Up, Fierce Bash, Vent Steam, and then Whirlwind. When returning from Defensive Mode, the next attack will be Whirlwind, and then continues the pattern as normal.

Its Mode Shift status reduces in number equal to health it has lost. Once it reaches 0, it will shift into Defensive Mode, interrupting any previous intentions and instantly changing its intent to Defensive Mode.

In addition, shifting back to Offensive Mode will add 10 to Mode Shift.

Name	Intent	Effect
Charging Up		Gains 9 Block.
Fierce Bash		Deals 32 damage.
		Deals 36 4+ damage.
Vent Steam		Inflicts 2 Weak and 2 Vulnerable (in that order).
Whirlwind		Deals 5 x 4 damage.

Defensive Mode

Immediately gains 20 Block when shifting to Defensive Mode. Will perform the pattern Defensive Mode, Roll Attack, and Twin Slam. Will lose Sharp Hide when switching to Offensive Mode. Also note that the damage done by Sharp Hide can be blocked, so don't be too afraid to attack.

Sharp Hide works similarly to Thorns, except it activates when you play attack cards, not when you hit the enemy. For example, using a Twin Strike will activate it only once, and using a Skewer at 0 energy will also activate it once.

Name	Intent	Effect
Defensive Mode		Gain 3 Sharp Hide.
		Gain 4 19+ Sharp Hide.
Roll Attack		Deals 9 damage.
		Deals 10 4+ damage.
Twin Slam		Deals 8 x 2 damage, removes Sharp Hide and shifts back to Offensive mode.

Tips

Compared to the other Act 1 bosses, The Guardian is often considered the easiest of them, due to its mechanic that it will always interrupt its intent and change into gaining block upon receiving enough damage. Most decks will have an easy time simply focusing on doing as much direct damage as possible, so it will be interrupted just before it would release a Fierce Bash or Whirlwind. Manage your cards so you will have lots of damage during Offensive Mode and some Block during Defensive Mode so you don't get damaged as much if you want to attack while it has Thorns.

Poison will proc mode shift and avoid thorns, and as such is very effective against this boss.

Gallery

The Guardian as seen in the Spot Weakness card art.

Update History

• Weekly Patch 42: Reboot
  • Adding SFX for Whirlwind card + Guardian enemy.
  • Updating SFX for Guardian Destroy dialog.
  • Updating SFX for Whirlwind (card AND Guardian enemy).
• Weekly Patch 40: Forethought
  • Added SFX when the Guardian says Destroy Destroy Destroy.
• Weekly Patch 38: Bane
  • The Guardian boss' Phase Shift is now 35 starting Ascension 9.
• Weekly Patch 13: Thinking Ahead
  • If damage type is thorns, then the damage is dealt even if the owner is dead (Spiker/Guardian).
• Weekly Patch 12: Lunar New Year
  • The Guardian boss gets +20 HP.
• Weekly Patch 10: Quality of Life
  • Fixed issue where thorns would secretly affect ModeShift for TheGuardian.
• Weekly Patch 5: Happy Holidays!
  • Guardian boss buff. When it rolls into defensive mode, gains more initial block (20).
  • Mode Shift Power gets a new icon.
  • Sharp Hide Power gets a new icon.