To Asgard! Zibalder PvE Guardian Guide

Asgard, you ask? I’m sure you’re curious as to why the title has a Norse religion reference to it, but that is exactly related to the skill build I will be discussing with you. To start off as friendly as possible, I will first introduce you to the class itself, then we’ll proceed to the core skill build, complete with discussion and stuff, then the item build will be thoroughly discussed, as well. Let us begin our journey without further ado.

I. Introduction: Of Brawns and Shields!

Guardian is one of the two specializations of the Paladin under the Cleric class tree. Unlike their DPS counterpart, Crusader, it is the one and only pure tank class in the game. In any game, a tank class draws the aggressiveness of monsters to them, and take the hits or defend against them instead. Protecting the party is one of the key roles of the class, and with supportive buffs that provide indispensable protection, the class has become a staple in higher forms of team gameplay in the form of dragon raids.

This physical-type Paladin has the highest defense stat boost in-game. Couple it up with high magic defense and you’ll be getting high survival in nests and dungeons. HP-wise, the class has no problem at all, and it can reach a monstrous amount of points to tank as many hits as possible. Damage and mobility are one of the few weaknesses of the class, and there is no denying that Guardians indeed lag behind all the other classes in solo gameplay. Boosting damage is a different story for the class, and it’ll require you lots of time, effort, and gold to provide the best damaging stats and tanking capabilities together. Nonetheless, the class has been getting a lot of attention due to its impressive support, and the future is looking brighter ahead.

II. Skill Build

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[CLERIC]

Maxed Aerial Evasion, Side Step, Counter Blow, no questions asked. These skills will help you reserve your blocks from draining quickly, especially when a huge number of mobs are collectively attacking you at the same time or when bosses have high attack frequencies. You don’t have unlimited blocks, okay?

Maxed Heal because you are still a Cleric, and the heal provides secondary support to our Priest brothers.

Level 8 Block. Too high, no? Honestly, I could have toned this down a little bit to give way for other skills, but the nine Guardian bubbles you’ll be getting is definitely gonna help your party survive. With Stance of Faith as the only other skill that guarantees you the needed bubbles, it is good to keep the chances high.

Level 1 Charge Bolt because it is a prerequisite of a needed DPS skill in the Paladin skill tree. Plus, in soloing nests and dungeons, the light attack resistance reductions provided by the skill is no joke at all. It helps boost your damage because most of your DPS skills are dependent on light attack.

Maxed Holy Kick? This is only used when the main DPS skills are on cooldown. This skill, when teamed up with Half Turn Kick and their respective animation skill plates, is a good filler for the required DPS. The only huge downside of spamming this is the drastic depletion of your mana points, so use it wisely.

[PALADIN]

First off, the Paladin skill tree is divided into three paths, but two of these are the ones for the next specialization. The Hammer tree is for Crusaders while the Block tree is for the Guardians. However, please do take note that there is no such thing as pure Guardian builds mainly because the only damaging skills in the said tree require blocking conditions.

Level 1 Holy Relic, Sacred Hammering, Lightning Zapper to open the path to the highest damaging skill of the class. These skills also serve as filler shots for DPS, and Lightning Zapper also offers light resistance reduction to mobs, which maximizes your damage. Sacred Hammering is a spammable skill if the kicks are not viable.

Maxed Electric Smite for massive damage! I had to use an exclamation point to that.

Maxed Provoke. You’ll need to draw the attention away from your team members for as long as you can, and the cooldown also decreases with the debuff duration. You can lower it down to level 4 if you want (the cooldown and debuff duration are the same), but I’m a safe player.

 Level 1 Shin Breaker, Shield Charge. The iframe of the former, you’ll need that. Shield Charge is mainly used for mobility since we are turtles, and using it as a DPS skill is one tough thing to do. It scatters mobs everywhere, and you’ll only be getting the full hit if you’re dealing with stationary giant bosses.

Maxed Armor Break for the defense debuff. The damage is also decent, so it’s not a skill to cross out.

And now to the so-called Turtle skill three, or the main path of the Guardian:

Level 6 Autoblock for the EX, which you’ll need to open up skills in your Guardian skill tree. Don’t get this passive EX wrongly, though, as this is one of the most important gifts the devs have given us. Each successfully blocked attack will get you one Guardian bubble which boosts your STR and INT stats. These bubbles can also be used for Guardian Force, which we will be enjoying so much, both in support and in DPS.

Level 6 Stance of Faith. I am biased over this skill as it has an EX version. Seriously, this skill is one the main reasons why I chose to go for the class, and with the massive improvement from its EX, it’s just heavenly. Turtle, you say? Yes!

Maxed Divine Ascension. This skill has huge damage potential, so it could never be resisted. Especially its EX version that you’ll love to spam every time. It turns your turtling into some major DPS phases. Unfortunately, I don’t get to spam the right click a lot, so I ditched Divine Vengeance. If you want it, you can lower the level of your block by three SPs and invest them here.

Level 1 Aerial Block, Divine Punishment, Iron Will. Why not maxing Iron Will for the buff duration? The defense cap from buffs have been reduced to 75%, and Iron Will goes over that, which makes it useless. The duration comes into play, then? No, not at all. The skill stands good on its own for a short while, and you can dodge.

Maxed Elemental Aura, Conviction Aura for raid purposes. You and your party needs both. Can be easily switched too, whichever the moment needs.

ULTIMATES! Now comes the Norse religion reference, maxed Thor’s Hammer. Remember when I told you that the class lags behind in solo gameplay? This skill helps you a lot, seriously. In reference to Aspenach’s Guardian skill build, I am convinced that you’ll dish out huge DPS if you’re playing alone. Why I have level 1 Divine Avatar? The cap for stat boosting is at 400%, and having 300% from the buff is close enough. Besides, you won’t be able to use one of your DPS skills, Divine Ascension, if you have it on. You’ll only need that for defensive purposes. In terms of skill looks, hammer beats avatar.

[GUARDIAN]

EXs, of course.

Maxed Justice Crash solely for the damage.

Maxed Guardian Force for a lot of reasons. I’d also recommend a skill ring for this because of its superb supportive capabilities. First off, the skill provides a protective barrier to your party, which increases their super armor and sustains damage as well. This protects them at a completely higher level, especially if you are the sole Cleric in the party. Second, the DPS is just amazing. Third, well, it is an awesome skill, what else can I say?

III. Item Build

Cheer up, most of our equips are considerable cheaper compared to the other classes. I currently am wearing full Dangerous Desire’s set for the much needed physical attack boost. Here is my setup:

• Dangerous Desire’s Galero (Bear II) +8
• Dangerous Desire’s Armor (Bear II) +9
• Dangerous Desire’s Trousers (Bear II) +9
• Dangerous Desire’s Cuffs (HP II) +8
• Dangerous Desire’s Shoes (Bear II) +8

I am currently working at enhancing all of them to +9, but I am happy to say that my HP is now at 435,000. If I feel lucky enough, I might push my armors further to +10, but that is a story for another day. I also use A-grade Origin of Thunder (Life) for the much-needed VIT boost. It makes a huge difference, trust me.

As for my weapons, I am currently at:

• Dangerous Desire’s Mace (Destruction II) +10 Mostly for preference. I might have gotten used to mace since 50 cap. You can also consider going for flail for the higher critical boost if you are still not confident with your current critical rate.
• Dangerous Desire’s Shield (Destruction II) +10 If you are asking me as to why I went double destruction, it’s because my permanent Desert Dragon Nest party already has one to cover for my Iron Wall suffix debuff needs. I took advantage of it, but it will be way better to go for Iron Wall II if you want improved solo-ability in dungeons or nests.

Recap of my rounded down stats (I will post a screenshot once I clean up my armors’ enhancements):

• HP: 435,000
• MP: 90,000
• Physical Attack: 12,300 ~ 17,600
• Magical Attack: 4,000 ~ 7,000
• STR: 6,400
• VIT: 4,400
• INT: 900
• AGI: 1,400
• Physical Defense: 20,000 (69%)
• Magical Defense: 19,600 (68%)
• Critical: 25,600 (68%)
• Final Damage: 540 (10%)
• Elemental Defense: 0% on all
• Elemental Attack: 0% on all

Accessories would be:

• Fatal Lyrica Rings for a massive critical boost which helps your damage by a lot.
• Healthy Lyrica Earrings for the HP and defense boost.
• I am going to recommend Guardian Force +1 for its more awesome boost in damage sustained at level 4.

Enhancement Heraldry:

• Bear
• Destruction
• Wind
• Fatal
• Iron Wall
• Tent
• Health
• Life’s Vitality
• Alternative enhancement heraldry would be Ultimate for the additional Final Damage (I do not recommend this plate if you are not going FD all the way). Intellect can also be used for additional magic defense if you are still not capped, and the INT stat boost in DA will also help your Electric Smite damage. You can also go for third stat plates if you are high on budget, and you can go ahead and boost your STR or VIT, depending on your type.

Skill Heraldry:

• I currently use Holy Kick, Half Turn Kick animation plates to maximize my skill build. These two are not expandable plates at all. Never replace them with anything if you are pursuing this build.
• Divine Avatar buff duration plate
• Guardian Force buff duration plate
• And since I am going to maintain three more heraldry slots, Thor’s Hammer damage, Provoke debuff duration, and Electric Smite damage are present in there, as well. If you don’t want the three extra slots, you can choose any of the mentioned ones for the two free slots.

And that is all for my Zibalder. His skill build has been really good in all sorts of dungeon and nest runs, and I enjoyed him even more in our guild dragon raids. Honestly, it is not easy to be a tank. Your teammates will be looking at you all the time, and they are mostly dependent on your supporting skills. It takes a lot of patience and practice to fully maximize the class potential, but it’s all worth it in the end. You’ll be their shield!

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