Garden Guardian

Garden Guardian =

Blood Fount =

Stone Shield =

"The very grounds themselves are animated by a deep-rooted evil, a cosmic hatred for all that thrive beyond its tainted grasp. Narration_cc_statue_start.wav"

- The Ancestor.

Such is the strength of the Curse, and the Evil in the land, that the very ground itself is tainted and hateful. So much so, that a once innocent statue of a warrior has gained unnatural life, striking down any and all trespassers into the Old Gardens, and feeding their blood to the cursed soil. This hateful guardian is less of a creature, and more of a simple manifestation of the corruption that's tainted the Estate as a whole, and the Courtyard in particular. A deep-rooted evil, a cosmic hatred beyond time for all that thrive beyond its tainted grasp.

Behavior
The Garden Guardian is a Boss found within the Courtyard. It is a giant statue made up of three enemies; The Garden Guardian, The Blood Fount, and the Stone Shield.

It can only be accessible after having defeated the Countess, he will then become the objective of a renewable quest named, "Defeat the Fallen Guardian". This quest allow the player to earn one's trinket from a Trinket Sets. Moreover, the boss himself will loot one of them (and also a Blueprint), which guarantess two unique trinkets for the player. However the Shieldbreaker Trinket Set won't be dropped nor will be given as a reward for the quest, only being obtainable through the later Nightmares of the Shieldbreaker.

Strategy
The Garden Guardian, his shield, and his spear, are all separate with their own actions and life bars, but the Guardian himself will not take any actions unless his shield is destroyed (if this occurs, he will use Hatred Beyond Time and Annihilating Gaze). For this reason, it is strongly recommended to not destroy it.

The shield will guard the Guardian every other turn. It will alternate between guarding him and charging its attack. Once the Shield uses "Skyward Shield", you may attack the Guardian. The Shield will come back down with another attack that strikes one or two heroes with heavy damage, stun, and move.

The Spear will also attack. It will strike with a move that induces bleed and high damage on two of your heroes (Feed the Soil). It does not have much HP, so when the shield is down, focus it, it's easy to quickly collapse it, and this would depreciate the damage suffered during the rest of the fight.

If the shield is destroyed, the Guardian will use two moves every turn: Hatred Beyond Time, a permanent damage buff that gets higher and higher every turn, and Annihilating Gaze, an AoE damage nuke that hits every party member. This will continue for the rest of the fight, and is extremely hard to counter. Once again, it is recommended you do not destroy his shield.

To sum up: When his shield is raised, focus on DPS. When it is lowered, focus on heals and buffs (or strike down the spear).

A marking party made up of an Arbalest, Houndmaster and Bounty Hunter equipped with Sculptor's Tools, along with an Occultist or Vestal in the back for additional healing should do well. While you won't benefit from marking debuffs, you'll still get the damage bonuses which are important to counter his high PROT.

On another note, the Shieldbreaker is an amazing class to bring to this fight for a multitude of reasons. Not only does she have an attack that pierces the Guardian's high PROT completely, she can also grant her team armor piercing with her camping skill. Probably her greatest ability for this encounter is Puncture, which will get rid of the Guarded status on the Guardian and allow heavier hitters to freely attack the Guardian without waiting for the shield to raise. Her Serpent Sway also lets her block the shield slam, allowing her to sit safely in the front.

He is immune to any debuffs and DoTs, so they are not recommended.

He can't dodge, so it is useless to bring trinkets which buff accuracy. Besides, the Shield has a very high accuracy (130%~), therefore it is not a good idea to buff up your dodge. Instead it is better to focus on protection, stress protection, critical hit chance, pure damage, or Bleed resist.

Abilities
Garden Guardian =

Blood Fount =

Stone Shield =

* Uses this ability at the end of the round

** Use this ability at the start of the round

Trivia

 * The Garden Guardian is the only enemy that has a dual type where one of the types is unique. Stonework is also the only unique enemy type against which that the player can receive bonus damage, namely through the trinket Sculptor's Tools.
 * Unlike other Courtyard bosses, Garden Guardian's room placement is randomized rather than fixed. He also shares the shortest randomly generated Courtyard mission from all other.