Guardian
Tier List
Hero, Global, Tech, Brawler, Alpha Flight
| Arena | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
| Alliance War Offense | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
| Alliance War Defense | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
| Blitz/Real-Time Arena | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
| Raid | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
| Dark Dimension | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
| Cosmic Crucible | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
Iso-8
If you end up using Guardian exclusively in Raids and on War Defense with his team, he will benefit most from having Striker Iso-8, because that will help him maintain Regeneration on himself for as long as possible, which is very important for his Passive.
As a plug-and-play in other game modes, he can be of good use as a Raider, because all of his attacks affect multiple targets.
T4 Priority
P – Passive ability
U – Ultimate ability
S – Special ability
B – Basic ability
Passive – will increase the Barrier Guardian applies to 20% (up from 10%). In Raids and War Defense, if Guardian is not Exhausted and has Regeneration, all Alpha Flight characters will gain +50% Armor. The second half of this Passive is powerful, as increasing the Armor to that extent will make the Alpha Flight team very durable.
All of his other Maxed abilities simply increase the damage of his attacks, and Special also will apply Defense Down for 2 turns (instead of 1). These can be ignored in the interim, but getting the Ultimate and Special can be good if you end up having spare T4s at some point.
Infographics
Theory Craft
Founder of the Alpha Flight, James Hudson uses his Battle-suit to dish out punishing attacks to anyone who threatens Canada.
As a Brawler, Guardian’s main function is to suppress enemies with heavy attacks, all of his abilities can apply Defense Down to his enemies, while his Ultimate can also flip Immunity and apply Stun to the primary target, while also flipping Taunt on each target. On top of that, he supports his team by increasing their Max Health and Armor and supplying them with Barrier on Spawn.
Basic – Bulwark Strike
Guardian will gain Regeneration.
Then, he will attack the primary target, and apply +1 Defense Down (up to 3 max). After, he will chain to 1 adjacent target and apply +1 Defense Down (up to 3 max)
Iso-8/Counterattack/Assist
The safety attack will only hit the primary target for slightly less damage, but it will still apply Defense Down to the enemy and Regeneration to Guardian.
Special – Confident Flurry
Energy Cost: 3/3
This will apply Offense Up to self and all allies, then Guardian will attack the primary and adjacent targets, dealing damage and applying Defense Down and Slow for 2 Turns.
This attack cannot miss and cannot be blocked.
This ability has a very short cooldown, which is good because it will ensure that his allies will often have Offense Up.
Ultimate – Overwhelming Conviction
Energy Cost: 7/7
This will flip Immunity on the primary target and then will apply Stun to them.
After that, it will hit the primary and adjacent targets twice, dealing Piercing damage, flipping Taunt on each target, and applying Defense Down for 2 turns to each target.
This attack is Unavoidable and gains +500% Extra Focus.
The great thing about this ability is the guaranteed Stun it can apply, because of the increased focus and since the attack is Unavoidable there’s not much enemies can do. The only salvation for them will be having Immunity and Safeguard, which isn’t something a lot of characters have. Unfortunately, this ability has a long cooldown, but in Raids and on War Defense his teammates can generate energy for him (Sunfire)
Passive – Canada’s Guardian
On Spawn, Guardian will apply Barrier for 20% of his Health to all allies, he will also apply Offense Up for 2 turns and Regeneration for 1 turn to all allies. This is a great On Spawn mechanic because it’s not limited to his own team and since Guardian has a superb Health stat, his Barrier will provide good protection, as long as you have him leveled up.
On Turn, he will apply Assist Now to 1 random Alpha Flight ally, which is always good and will improve the damage output.
On enemy death, Guardian will apply Defense Down to all enemies. While on War Defense it might not make such a big difference, in Raids this will trigger fairly often and will be a great way to keep up your advantage.
He provides +50% Health and +50% Damage to himself and his Alpha Flight allies, in Raids, he gives an additional +50% Health, meaning that Alpha Flight will have their total Health doubled.
In Raids and on War Defense, as long as Guardian is not Exhausted, he will:
- On enemy Death, Barrier self, and all Alpha Flight characters for 5% of Guardian’s Max Health
- While Guardian has Regeneration, he and all Alpha Flight characters gain +50% Armor
More Barrier is always appreciated, but it’ll be more impactful in Raids, while bonus Armor will be great everywhere, especially on War Defense, where they will be harder to beat because of that.
Conclusion
Overall, Guardian’s kit may seem a little lackluster, especially when compared to his newly introduced teammates. As a leader of the Alpha Flight team, one might expect him to do more. But if we set all of that aside, he is still a great character.
He provides a lot of Passive support to his team, while can also deal a decent amount of damage and can even control the flow of the battle a little with his Stun.
Search new character
Type the name of the character in the search box. The character’s name will appear below the search box. Click on the title.
