What is the best Elden Ring Nightreign Guardian build? If a humanoid bird wearing a suit of armor wasn't already peak design, FromSoft has fully committed to the bit by giving Nightreign's avian avatar a halberd. However, the Guardian won't fly high if you clip his wings with a suboptimal setup.
The Guardian is one of the easiest Elden Ring Nightreign's Guardian.
Elden Ring Nightreign Guardian best build
The Guardian is anything but feather-light, serving as the soulslike game's main tank class. Armed with a greatshield and halberd by default, the Guardian's base damage is more than sufficient to push through the first night, but is quickly outstripped by dedicated classes. That's not to say he can't hold his own against Night Lords, though, thanks to his ability to fish for powerful guard counters. The Guardian thrives when loaded up on Vigor, Stamina, bonus Poise, and anything that improves his ability to block.
Here are Guardian's base attributes:
- HP: S
- FP: C
- Stamina: A
- Strength: B
- Dexterity: C
- Intelligence: D
- Faith: C
- Arcane: C
As you can see, the Guardian is anything but a jack-of-all-trades. Though he best scales with Strength, he won't be dishing out damage through his weapon alone. The Guardian relies on juicy guard counters to really pack a punch, so ensuring your block isn't instantly broken by a stiff breeze is crucial to mastering this playstyle. We'd recommend investing Smithing Stones into your default greatshield, should you fail to find a suitable upgrade by the second night of a run.
On the pointier end of things, Strength-based weapons are your go-tos, with great hammers, hammers, and flails serving as particularly excellent picks due to their guard counter potency. Colossal great hammers are a solid alternative to the shield as they provide a decent amount of block when two-handed, so you can opt for this route if you're confident in your survival. If you're tackling a Night Lord who is particularly difficult to stick to, then you may want to keep a crossbow handy.
Guardian best Relics
The best Guardian Relics augment his natural tankiness, bolster his Strength, and provide boons to his teammates. It's crucial to prioritize Improved Guard Block, Vigor, Stamina, and Poise wherever possible – this is also the case with in-run upgrades. Class-specific Relics that augment the Guardian's abilities are also worth locking in, especially ones that provide bonus value to your team.
A more offensive stat worth investing in is Critical Hits, which are triggered by landing cinematic strikes on poise-broken enemies, as well as backstabbing them. While the latter is more of the Duchess's forte, you will be breaking plenty of enemies with guard counters, setting them up to take major damage.
While it's mostly potluck as to which stats you roll on an Elden Ring Nightreign Relic, there are some great pieces with set values that you can purchase from the Small Jar Bazaar, or earn via Remembrances or by defeating Night Lords. Keep an eye out for the following:
- Polished Drizzly Scene (Blue): Draw enemy attention while guarding, Vigor +3 (Purchased from the Small Jar Bazaar for 700 Murk)
- Polished Tranquil Scene (Green): Flask also heals allies, Defeating enemies restores HP for allies but not for self (Purchased from the Small Jar Bazaar for 700 Murk)
- Grand Drizzly Scene (Blue): [Guardian] Reflect a portion of damage received when ability is activated, Vigor +2, Endurance +2 (Purchased from the Small Jar Bazaar for 1,000 Murk after defeating four Night Lords)
- Night of the Beast (Green): Stamina recovers with each successful attack +1, Starting armament deals fire damage (Defeat Tricephalos)
- Night of the Fathom (Red): Increased Maximum HP, Flask also heals allies, Items confer effect to all nearby allies (Defeat Augur)
Elden Ring Nightreign Guardian abilities
The Guardian is a ive stalwart, blending a steely defense with area-of-effect crowd control and team-wide buffs. Steel Guard may slowly soak up your stamina, but it's more than worth it when fighting aggressive enemies and bigger bosses who'd otherwise make light work of your guard.
Whirlwind isn't particularly useful for bosses, but it's an excellent tool for gathering and either launching or staggering smaller targets, as well as deflecting projectiles. Guardian's Ultimate Art, Wings of Salvation, can be a total run-saver if used on a downed ally, and provides valuable boons that your teammates will thank you for.
Here are Guardian's abilities:
- ive Ability – Steel Guard: Guardian plants his feet, greatly improving his Guard Boost at the cost of continuous Stamina drain and decreased movement speed.
- Character Skill – Whirlwind: Guardian beats his wings, whipping up a whirlwind that draws in enemies, launching lighter enemies into the air while staggering some larger ones. Deflects physical projectiles. Hold to increase range.
- Ultimate Art – Wings of Salvation: Guardian leaps into the air before diving back down, dealing damage and raising a protective field. Hold to grant allies in the area of effect invulnerability and hardness.
Guardian Steel Guard
Steel Guard is an enhanced version of the standard block, turning the Pinionfolk Guardian into a turtling fortress. This ability drastically increases his Guard Boost, making it considerably easier to trigger guard counters. This stance additionally reduces the amount of Stamina required to block attacks and prevents the Guardian's guard from being demolished by meatier hits.
Of course, FromSoft wouldn't just give you this ultra-powerful defensive tool without any drawbacks. Your Stamina will steadily deplete while using Steel Guard, and you won't be able to run around freely. As such, its use is limited in fights where you have to remain on the move. To activate Steel Guard, hold down the guard button, then move in any direction while pressing the dodge button.
Guardian Whirlwind
Whirlwind is a chargeable attack that creates a blustery cyclone which damages enemies in an area, and comes with a few handy bonus effects. Smaller enemies will get dragged towards the center of the ability before being knocked airborne. Meanwhile, some larger opponents will be staggered. What's more, physical projectiles that strike Whirlwind are deflected.
Generally, Whirlwind is limited to these use cases and has little impact against bosses. Some Relics can give Whirlwind a boost, but it's not worth investing in.
Guardian Wings of Salvation
Wings of Salvation, like Whirlwind, is a chargeable ability that creates an AoE upon use. Being the Guardian's Ultimate Art, Wings of Salvation is easily the coolest part of its kit, as the Pinionfolk takes flight before slamming down, dealing big damage to any enemy caught in its radius. Though it can be controlled mid-flight, it's awkward to navigate, and so we'd recommend locking onto a target before activating it.
Charging Wings of Salvation elevates the ability, granting teammates invulnerability and hardness (this rebounds certain weaker attacks) as long as they stay within the AoE. As with Whirlwind, Guardian-specific Relics can add extra effects to this field, upping the character's ive prowess.
While it can be tempting to spam Wings of Salvation on cooldown, the Guardian's Ultimate Art can save an otherwise doomed run if timed correctly. In the screenshot above, we target a downed ally with a full revive gauge, before slamming down and instantly reviving them.
And that's everything you need to know about crafting the best Elden Ring Nightreign Guardian build. Now you have the means to conquer the night, make sure you're dressed to impress your friends in the Elden Ring Nightreign skins you can scoop.