Guard

Guard is a status effect that a character or monster can inflict upon an ally. It is signalled by a small light blue shield icon under the target.

Effects and interactions
A guarded target will automatically redirect any direct attack to the guarding entity, avoiding all damage and effects from it. Any subsequent effect to a guarded attack, such as debuffs, stuns or any other effect will be redirected to the guarding character which will count as effectively targeted by the attack, triggering effects like Riposte or dodge, and reducing the damage by any Protection value, if any. However, any pre-existent damage over time in the form of blight or bleed will continue to run its course as usual. The guard effect generally lasts three turns, during which an additional use of the guarding ability will override the previous.

Area of effect attacks will hit the target regardless of it being guarded, rendering these attacks effective against guarding characters or enemies.

Guarding and countering a guard
The Man-at-Arms can guard an ally in order to redirect all damage from it to himself, while also fortifying himself to better receive the damage; a similar ability is available to the Hound Master, who can improve his own Dodge value for the duration of the guard. This is an effective technique to prevent damage to weakened or fragile allies and allows a team with a healer such as Occultist or Vestal to focus their healing abilities on one target.

Some enemies, such as the Pelagic Guardian, are able to guard another enemy, preventing direct damage dealt to them and potentially rendering dangerous but frail monsters much harder to bring down. In addition to area of effect attacks ignoring guard, stunning the guarding unit will end the guard, making the guarded target vulnerable once again.