Blue Protocol: Star ResonanceHeavy Guardian Earthfort Spec GuideBest build and how to play the class.

Basic ATK

Halberd’s Edge

Skill

Shield Bash

Ultimate

Cracking Echo

Slot 1 - Mandatory

Star Shatter

Slot 2 - Mandatory

Rage Burst

Slot 3 - Flex

Sandshroud

/

Sandgrip

Slot 4 - Flex

Stoneform

/

Sandward

Rage - Our main resource we use to fuel Shield Bash, our Special Attack, and some of our Expertise skills. We generate rage through taking damage, basic attacking, and the use of Star Shatter and/or Sandshroud.

Sand Crystal - Sand Crystals are our secondary resource that is needed to cast some of our Expertise skills. We primarily generate them through Star Shatter and/or Sandshroud.

Fixed Skills

• 

  Halberd’s Edge
  - Our four-string basic combo that provides 5 Rage for each hit. We use this during downtime while waiting for our Sand Crystal generators to come off cooldown.
• Situations that require us to use basics should be avoided at all costs.
• 

  Shield Bash
  - Consumes 40 rage to deal damage, and when 1-2 Sand Crystals are available, they are consumed to generate a shield. This skill is mainly used to apply a shield to us when we get a free cast of it and/or when we are waiting for the cooldown of our larger shield application skill, Rage Burst.
• 

  Cracking Echo
  - Our ultimate does a lot of things: Instantly generates 5 Sand Crystals, taunts enemies in range, stuns targets for 3s, and deals damage. On top of all of that, it grants the Earth Guard buff, which grants super armor, increases Armor by 100%, increases Max HP by 50% and generates 40 Rage. It is a great offensive or defensive tool for us, depending on the situation.

Mandatory Skills

• 

  Star Shatter
  - Charges forward and stuns the enemy, granting 25 Rage and 1 Sand Crystal on hit. This skill is used to stun enemies and provide us with our main buff, Enraged. This skill has two charges and a 12s charge time. This is one of our main resource generators.
• This ability can be enhanced, evolving into Starfall after 20 Sand Crystals have been spent.
• 

  Sandshroud
  - We gather sand around ourselves and deal DoT to nearby enemies while also generating a total of 33 Rage and 6 Sand Crystals over 6 seconds. This is a great option for gaining resources, and with our talent tree, it also provides shield potency. We typically use this skill early on in the rotation to make sure our shields receive the buffs.
• This ability can be optionally swapped out for
  

  Sandgrip
  trading resource generation for increased utility; however, the lost resources are significant.
• 

  Stoneform
  - taunts nearby enemies, increases Armor, and reduces incoming damage by 20%. We also receive a talent node later that allows it to grant us enhanced versions of our basic attack and Rage Burst, making it a core ability for Earthfort in most cases. Additionally, for 10 seconds after casting this skill, we will automatically parry a boss's red glowing attacks.
• In some circumstances where damage mitigation isn’t enough and straight-up immunities are needed, this can be replaced with
  

  Sandward
  at the loss of the enhancements it grants our kit.
• 

  Rage Burst
  - Consumes 50 Rage and 5 Sand Crystals to disrupt nearby enemies and provide us with a large shield. We also receive 10% less physical damage from targets hit by this ability. This is our best shield generator and our go-to spender for Rage and Sand Crystals when not on cooldown.
• This ability can be enhanced, evolving into Terra Sunder after
  

  Stoneform
  or Starfall has been cast

Flex Skills (Choose 1)

• 

  Sandgrip
  - Pull enemies to you from a good distance away when used, while also interrupting them and slowing them by 70% making for a great skill for gathering enemies in dungeons. However, to use this, we must sacrifice one of our recommended skills to take it. Of the options available to replace
  

  Sandshroud
  is the least devastating but will still be felt.
• Without
  

  Sandshroud
  , our Sand Crystal generation and access to enhanced skills take a massive hit. Only use
  

  Sandgrip
  when you’re sure you need the utility.
• 

  Sandward
  - Allows us to become damage immune for 5 seconds and taunts nearby enemies. When damage mitigation isn’t enough and we need immunity, replace
  

  Stoneform
  with this skill to survive. Doing so will cut off our ability to utilize
  

  Stoneform
  -specific talents, though. In this case, it’s best to re-allocate these points elsewhere.

Skill Priority

Rage Burst

=

Shield Bash

>

Stoneform

>

Star Shatter

=

Halberd’s Edge

=

Cracking Echo

>

Sandshroud

=

Sandward

=

Sandgrip

Ensure all abilities you’re using are levelled to 30 - only advancement requires consideration.

Advance

Rage Burst

Shield Bash

Stoneform

Star Shatter

Halberd’s Edge

Cracking Echo

Sandshroud

Sandgrip

Sandward

Important!

Embedded are two different max-level Earthfort talent trees with one difference. One takes the high-risk, high-damage talent Last Breath, which allows you to detonate your shields, sacrificing the majority of your defense temporarily, while the other ignores this mechanic and picks up a minor increase to Sand Crystal generation.

Note: If you’re worried about dying, avoid detonating your shields. When you know survivability is definitely not an issue, you can focus on maximizing damage.

Core Talents Explained:

Below is an outline of all the gameplay-altering effects you need to be aware of in the Earthfort spec.

Base Heavy Guardian Tree

• Rage Awakening - Enables one of our core mechanics, the Enraged buff, which has a chance of being applied when spending Rage and lasts for 5s. Enraged synergizes with many of our talents but increases our damage by 20%, Move Speed by 10% and grants us super armor baseline.
• Suppress - If our HP is higher than the target's, we take 10% less damage and deal 10% more damage. Due to our shielding, in most cases, this will be active, making it a potent defensive tool.
• Enrage Delay, Valiant Fury, Fury Shelter, Enraged Suppress - All of these nodes enhance the Enrage state in the following ways:
• Extending its duration by 1 second.
• Adding a 30% armor increase that decays over Enraged duration.
• Increases HP by 20% while active.
• Amplifies the mitigation of Suppress from 10% to 15%.

Earthfort Tree

• Starfall - This node effect isn’t what is stated in the game; what it actually does is this. Every Sand Crystal spent will progress a new counter added after allocating this talent. When the counter hits 20,
  

  Star Shatter
  is enhanced temporarily into Starfall, which generates a lot of Rage and interacts with our other talents.

• Star Fury - This node guarantees Star Fall and
  

  Star Shatter
  will grant the enraged status whenever used, allowing us to close to permanently maintain the buff.
• Lord of the Great Rock and Lord of Rocks - Using
  

  Stoneform
  now evolves our Basic Attack into Rupture and Rage Burst into Terra Sunder for one use each. Rupture is a powerful Rage generator, and Terra Sunder is a direct upgrade over
  

  Rage Burst
  that doesn’t require Sand Crystals to use. With the Lord of Rocks talent allocated, Starfall will also evolve these abilities.
• Shield Echo - While
  

  Sandshroud
  is active, when we apply shields to ourselves, we also now trigger shield echo, which deals damage and grants us an additional Rage generation buff.
• Shield Combo - Grants our basic attacks a chance to grant us free uses of
  

  Shield Bash
  , raising Shield generation and lowering resource reliance.
• Stone Domain - During
  

  Sandshroud
  , enemies that hit us now suffer 30% Reduced attack speed, lowering their damage output. Also, while
  

  Sandshroud
  is active, allies nearby will gain +10% armor.
• Rage Burst Improvement -
  

  Rage Burst
  gains 1 additional charge (for a total of 2), and both it and Terra Sunder become instant cast, accelerating the speed at which they can be used considerably. This talent makes the class feel a lot smoother.
• Group Suppress - Each enemy close to us enhances the effectiveness of Suppress by 3% (max 15%). This means that in combination with the talent from the base tree, we will have 30% Damage Reduction when surrounded by enemies, with an opportunity to double the effect around elites.
• Bravery in Battle - Converts all overhealing into shield at a rate of 50% allowing our healer to help keep us shielded. This talent caps out at 50% of max life compared to the 100% of our own shielding, meaning at high shield levels, it won't be in effect much until you either detonate them or take a big hit. Very helpful getting us to a baseline shield level where our skills can push us the remaining way.

Talent Differences

The one talent difference between both trees is Resolute Breath and Enraged Rupture. If you’re running content you’re comfortable surviving in with less consistent shields, run Resolute Breath. If you’re running incredibly lethal content, use Enraged Rupture and ignore detonating shields.

• Resolute Breath - While shielded, you may jump and use your basic attack to perform a plunge attack, detonating any shield you have to deal damage equal to 30% of max HP to all enemies around you. With the amount of HP and HP% buffs we gain, this ability deals considerable damage, but the trade-off of losing your shield each time you use it is immense when against challenging content. The damage from this cannot Lucky Strike or Crit.
• We only recommend taking this talent if you’re certain it won't lead to deaths. Your shield is your main survival mechanic, and constantly removing it lowers survivability considerably
• Weak Point Strike - When opting out of Resolute Breath to maximize survivability, you can instead take Weak Point Strike for some additional Sand Crystal generation.

Noteworthy Leftovers

• Fang of the Alpha - This talent offers 8% damage reduction but only against boss-type enemies, which is limited to only the end boss of dungeons and raids. You can swap out Enrage Expansion, the 8% ATK SPD talent, or Elemental Harmony, the Magic Resistance talent, for this if you so desire.

• Sustained Shield Tree
• Shield Detonation Tree

Sustained Shield Tree

Shield Detonation Tree

If you want to create your own Talent tree, check our tool:

Talent Planner

Important!

All gear & talent related info is based on extensive in-game testing, parsing, theory crafting and simulations. If you want to learn more about how damage works to understand our decisions, check out our Damage Formula Guide.

Stat Priority

Crit Rate

 

Haste

   

Luck

 

Mastery

     

Versatility

     

Main Stats

1. Mastery - For Earthfort, this stat provides 2.5% Shield Strength per 1% Mastery. As much of our survivability and kit is tied to our shields, maxing out our ability to generate them is definitely a priority.
2. Versatility - This provides us with a multiplier to our damage dealt, additional shielding, healing, and damage reduction, making it a great stat for us in every way. Thankfully, this is one of our recommended stats in-game, so we will get plenty of it from gear and our fixed gear.
3. Haste - Considering we only obtain the base conversion rate of 1% haste to 0.6% Attack Speed and have no talents that synergize with it, this stat isn’t a must-have. However, it is still a decent option to speed up our attacks in order to fit in more basics to generate Rage and trigger more talent activations of Shield Combo.
4. Crit Rate - Due to the fact that our shields are unable to crit, our self-healing is very low, and the fact that none of our talents synergize with the stat Crit doesn’t really provide anything for us defensively. Because of this, Crit isn’t recommended unless you’re aiming to boost your damage and don’t mind giving up survivability for it.
5. Luck - The Luck stat, similar to Crit, doesn’t scale with any of our talents or sustain and merely adds to our damage. There are better options to gain more damage and more survivability. Avoid this stat where you can.

Bonus Stats

In gear slots you’re not using Set Gear in and which aren’t taken up by your class's signature Class weapon (if you have it), prioritize the following Purple Stats:

Helmet, Armour, Gloves, Boots

HP > Strength % > Ele Resist > Armor

Weapons & Accessories

Resilience Break % > Attack Speed > ATK % > Shield Strength > Melee DMG% = DMG% vs. Bosses

Set Gear

Earthfort Heavy Guardian’s 2P and 4P set bonuses are both definitely worth equipping as soon as you’re able to complete Raids and are better than Purple Bonuses. Here is what they do:

2-piece SET

Shield Bash

DMG +20% and creates an additional shield equal to 10% of your ATK.

4-Piece SET

When

Shield Bash

grants you a shield, it deals damage equal to 3% of Max HP to enemies within 3 meters.

Class weapon

Our Class weapon is also definitely worth using over purple stats. Instead of a purple stat it grants

• 8% Shield Strength.
• Increased stats.

Here are the best modules for Heavy Guardian - Earthfort - listed in priority order:

1. 

   Resistance
   - Provides increased Max HP% and a ton of Endurance, boosting our maximum shield potential and life. Also provides magic damage reduction for further defensive benefit.
2. 

   Armor
   - Provides some flat armor, which is always welcome, but also 6% attack damage reduction, further boosting our tankiness.
3. 

   Attack SPD
   - Grants us up to 6% ATK SPD, a stat we don’t have great access to, and which helps accelerate our rotation boosting Rage generation. Also provides a solid amount of ATK boosting shielding.
4. 

   Strength Boost
   - The combination of strength and ATK boost overall shielding output while granting us some bonus armor. These stats, in combination with some Armor penetration, also boost our damage.

Attention!

The best Earthfort Imagines are incredibly flexible with what’s best depending on the content you’re running and the Imagines your other support party members are using. Below is a guideline of what we recommend for different content types. Also, tank-based Imagines have some of the most unique effects in the game, often meaning they don’t have direct equivalents. Because of this, there is no exact F2P substitution; check out our purple Imagine listing for more info.

ATTENTION!

The list of Imagines below is not a ranking; each listing can be equally useful if the right situation arises. Read the descriptions to understand when to use each.

Trash Clearing

Frost Ogre

/

Golden Juggernaut

+

Tempest Ogre

Bosses

Golden Juggernaut

/

Frost Ogre

+

Airona

Top Gold Imagines

• 

  Airona
  - When cast, summons Airona who performs a short prayer before reviving up to 4 downed teammates. Airona is powerful in standard play to resurrect teammates, but also has another use. By equipping our invulnerability, we can survive guaranteed raid wipe mechanics; therefore, the group can forgo completing these, we can invuln them, then use Airona to bring the team back. Incredibly highly valued to have on tanks for raids.
• 

  Tempest Ogre
  - Upon activation, Tempest Ogre generates a vortex that draws enemies in from a large distance away. Its passive also makes the user take 5% less damage, making this a great option for tanking in dungeons. Tempest Ogres' pull radius is frankly absurd, allowing you to group entire rooms in dungeons, boosting clear times a disgusting amount.
• 

  Frost Ogre
  - Frost Ogre deals some of the highest resilience break damage in the game on use, allowing us to break enemies far more quickly. Breaking bosses before major mechanics or before they leave the arena can be a huge benefit to the party’s overall damage. Also incredibly effective at controlling large packs of enemies.
• 

  Golden Juggernaut
  - Passively increases shield strength and grants a 30% HP shield to you and your allies on use at Advancement 0. Allies shielded by this effect also deal additional damage with their hits. Golden Jug offers great offensive and defensive capabilities, serving as a good “oh shit” button while also improving the party's damage somewhat.
• The additional hit granted to allies can Crit and Lucky Hit, has a 0.5 second cooldown, and is unique, meaning only one of these buffs can be held at a time.
• 

  Tina
  - Tina buffs the party with a 50% cooldown reduction for 20 seconds, and once a party member is affected by this effect, they can’t be affected again for 60 seconds (Advancement 0). Tina is considered the best Imagine for support roles due to her buff, allowing classes to go back into their burst window more quickly.
• While powerful, Tina is usually best run on sustains. You should only prioritize running it over tank choices if they don’t have it or you’re confident in coordinating up and downtimes.

Top Purple Imagines

• 

  Brigand Guard Captain [A5]
  - Grants a passive 12.5% Endurance and an additional 20% on use, massively boosting our HP. Plus, the next 9 times we’re attacked, we instantly recover 20% of our missing HP. This is an incredibly good option when handling groups of enemies to recover HP quickly. Not as uniquely powerful as most of our gold imagine choices, but an outstanding F2P accessible choice to fill in blanks in your build.
• 

  Void Arachnocrab [A5]
  - After receiving 10 hits, increases Armor by 1125 for 15s. Upon use, it transforms you into Void Arachnocrab and grants invincibility for 5s. This is a great option to gain additional armor and also an invulnerability without changing out one of your skill slots.
• 

  Mighty Colossus [A5]
  - Transform into Mighty Colossus and charge at the enemy, dealing more resilience damage the longer you charge. Mighty Colossus also passively increases Resilience Break Efficiency and is a good alternative to Frost Ogre if you’re aiming to break enemies often and don’t have him yet.

1. Emerald - Strength (Mastery) - We cannot Embed Versatility, so Mastery, another of our best stats, is the only option.

The aim of our rotation is to stack as many shields as we possibly can, with the option to detonate them when taking Last Breath, assuming survivability is guaranteed not to be an issue. Playing Earthfort is fairly simple, but it doesn’t really have a set rotation. Instead, here is an effective way to initiate combat:

• 

  Sandshroud
  to start gaining Sand Crystals and Rage
• 

  Star Shatter
  to enter enraged state
• 

  Stoneform
  to aggro all nearby enemies, give yourself damage reduction, and trigger your enhanced abilities.
• Enhanced
  

  Rage Burst
  to generate a large shield
• Enhanced basic attack to gain Sand Crystals
• 

  Rage Burst
  to stack onto your shield further while still under the Enraged buff
• Ultimate (
  

  Cracking Echo
  ) to gain 5 Sand Crystals
• Reapply Enraged via Starfall or
  

  Star Shatter
• 

  Rage Burst
  again with the additional HP buff from the ultimate
• Use
  

  Shield Bash
  to spend Sand Crystals and gain shields while
  

  Rage Burst
  is on CD

After a few

Shield Bash

Tip

If it is your first pull of a dungeon, it may be worth doing steps 1-4 as you approach a large group of enemies to have a shield and damage reduction already on you. Also, it may be worth saving your Ultimate for an emergency since it provides a large defensive buff.

In summary, keep your generators on cooldown, don’t waste resources, use

Rage Burst

Shield Bash

Important

With the Last Breath talent allocated, you can weave in plunge attacks when opportune and not risky to maximize damage. When it is optimal to do this varies based on your survivability, your healer, and the encounter. With a strong healer supporting you and in non-lethal scenarios, thanks to the Bravery In Battle talent, it is possible to spam far more plunges.

Can Earthfort be played on auto?

Heavy Guardian can be played on auto, but has many inefficiencies. Auto will not always maintain the Enrage buff effectively. It also spends Sand Crystals on Shield Bash repeatedly instead of letting it stack up to 5, even when Rage Burst is off cooldown. This results in only casting Terra Sunder and rarely Rage Burst. The auto will also use your Ultimate without spending all Sand Crystals first, resulting in some wasted Sand Crystals. Finally, it will make no effort to utilize Resolute Breath even when allocated.