Guardian

For the skill also known as "Guardian", see Heavenly Shield. For other big robots guarding their position, see List of Guarding Foes.

Guardian
Roles	Boss
Appearances	Epic Battle Fantasy 2

"You shall not pass."

―Guardian, Epic Battle Fantasy 2

The Guardian is the second boss encountered in Epic Battle Fantasy 2. It is fought during the eighth stage of the game, which takes place in one of Lance's facilities; based on its name and sole line of dialogue, it protects the base from intruders. After defeating it, the player gains access to the first checkpoint and the Ion Cannon summon.

In battle, the Guardian's main arms are considered separate enemies from the boss itself, being dubbed the Guardian's Sword and the Guardian's Shield.

Appearance

The Guardian appears as a large, vaguely humanoid robot. It has a small, domed head with a Y-shaped visor on the front, giving it a resemblance to a medieval knight's helmet. Its right shoulder carries a large pod armed with three red rockets. It has a second, smaller pair of arms protruding from its chest, although they appear to act as giant tasers instead of proper grasping limbs. It has four thin, spider-like legs that end in wheels, with a large gatling gun mounted on their base. It is mostly black and dark grey in color, with black and yellow hazard stripes along its legs and the sides of its rocket launcher.

The Guardian's Sword is a long silver sword with a hazard stripe along the back edge, a chainsaw blade on the cutting edge, and a large, hooked point near its red and grey hilt. According to its Bestiary entry, it is classified as a Chainsaw Blade EAH 4850 in-universe.

The Guardian's Shield is a rectangular, slightly curved shield resembling a riot shield; however, its size compared to the Guardian makes it more like a buckler. It is made of dark grey metal with hazard stripes near its top and bottom edges, a small square cross in the center, and two small hooked protrusions on the bottom; it also contains a hidden blade that the Guardian can use to attack. Based on the seams and square-shaped irregularities on its surface, it may be made of multiple smaller plates welded together. According to the Bestiary, it is classified as a Defence Master M61 PME in-universe.

Overview

The Guardian is a much more dangerous opponent than the Kitten Kart, not least of which because it technically counts as three foes instead of one. Its main arms are treated as independent foes with their own attacks and turns, allowing the boss to easily overwhelm the party by effectively acting three times per turn; the arms can be destroyed, but the Guardian can easily repair them to full HP. However, this trait can be used against the boss as well; any status effects and debuffs inflicted on the main body will automatically affect the arms as well.

The Guardian's Sword and Shield attack with blades to inflict non-elemental physical damage; the Sword's attacks are much stronger (particularly its Hyper Slash), but the Shield passively doubles the defenses of the other two components as long as it's alive (and has high defenses itself, as you would expect for a shield).

Aside from repairing its arms, the Guardian itself mainly uses magic attacks - including a single-target Thunder strike and a multi-target rocket salvo that hits three times - but its strongest move fires its bottom-mounted minigun for massive physical damage. This attack hits nine times, randomly targeting either Matt or Natalie with each shot; fortunately, its Accuracy is a bit lower than average.

In Epic difficulty, the Guardian gains the ability to buff its Attack and Defence when it uses Repair, although the buffs only take effect if the associated stats aren't already buffed to at least 30%. Additionally, it gets an Attack buff whenever it loses a limb, which takes effect as long as its active Attack buff is lower than 50%. Its Sword also gains the ability to hit both players at once with Hyper Slash, drastically amplifying its damage output.

The Guardian resists Fire, Wind, Earth, and Bio while being weak to Thunder and Bomb. It's also immune to Poison and strongly resistant to all other status effects; additionally, it can only be debuffed to -20% of any stat. Its limbs have the same elemental weaknesses and resistances, but they're completely immune to status effects and debuffs; however, this can be circumvented by afflicting the Guardian itself.

Statistics

It should be noted that HP, Attack, and Magic Attack also will be multiplied by the wave modifier. Check Epic Battle Fantasy 2 Foe Waves to see the value of the modifier for a specified wave.

	Guardian's Sword	Chainsaw Blade EAH 4850	EBF2
	Destroy the sword to prevent Guardian's slashy attacks.

Statistics
Base Statistics						Eva	S. Hit
	20000	1	1*	0.7	1*	1x	N/A
Elemental Resistance
	50%	-50%	-	-	50%	50%	50%	-	-	-50%
Status Resistance
	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
(De)buff Cap	Buffs	Debuffs
	-	N/A

Stealable Item
Icon
Name	Bomb

It should be noted that HP, Attack, and Magic Attack also will be multiplied by the wave modifier. Check Epic Battle Fantasy 2 Foe Waves to see the value of the modifier for a specified wave.

	Guardian's Shield	Defence Master M61 PME	EBF2
	Destroy the shield to half Guardian's defence.

Statistics
Base Statistics						Eva	S. Hit
	20000	1	2	0.7	2	1x	N/A
Elemental Resistance
	50%	-50%	-	-	50%	50%	50%	-	-	-50%
Status Resistance
	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
(De)buff Cap	Buffs	Debuffs
	-	N/A

Stealable Item
Icon
Name	Bomb

It should be noted that HP, Attack, and Magic Attack also will be multiplied by the wave modifier. Check Epic Battle Fantasy 2 Foe Waves to see the value of the modifier for a specified wave.

	Guardian	Elite Sentinel	EBF2
	Each of his arms gives him new attacks and an extra turn. He can also repair them when they are destroyed.

Statistics
Base Statistics						Eva	S. Hit
	170000	1	1*	0.7	1*	1x	9000
Elemental Resistance
	50%	-50%	-	-	50%	50%	50%	-	-	-50%
Status Resistance
	100%	66.6%	66.6%	66.6%	66.6%	66.6%	66.6%	66.6%	66.6%
(De)buff Cap	Buffs	Debuffs
	70%	20%

Stealable Item
Icon
Name	Max Ether

Guardian's Sword and Shield are completely immune to statuses and debuffs, but instead will be affected by any statuses or (de)buffs on the Guardian itself (e.g. an Attack debuff on the Guardian reduces their Attack too, and Stun on the Guardian negates their turn); though before the EBF Collection update, this didn't apply to Blind. Pre-update, they also weren't affected by the Easy difficulty HP penalty.

Attacks and Abilities

Guardian's Sword

Attack List
Attack	Target	Power	Type	Element	Status Effect			Acc	RdF
Slash	Single	3000		----	--	--	--	100%	10%
Hyper Slash	Single*	5200		----	--	--	--	100%	10%
Notes: *On Epic or higher difficulties, hits all players.

Guardian's Shield

Attack List
Attack	Target	Power	Type	Element	Status Effect			Acc	RdF
Stab	Single	2200		----	--	--	--	100%	10%

Guardian

Attack List
Attack	Target	Power	Type	Element	Status Effect			Acc	RdF
Shock	Single	2200		100%	--	--	--	100%	10%
Minigun	Random	7200/9		----	--	--	--	90%	10%
Rockets	All	4200/3		----	--	--	--	100%	10%
Repair	Arms	--	--	----	--	--	--	--	--
Notes: Revives and fully heals Sword and Shield. On Epic or higher difficulties buffs Guardian's Attack and/or Defence by 25% (only if said stats currently have <30% buffs).

Battle Logic

The following describes general logic of the enemy and attack patterns, with chances of each attack to be used. Conditions are listed from highest to lowest priority unless specified otherwise.

Guardian's Sword

• If playing on Hard or higher difficulties → Slash (1/2), Hyper Slash (1/2);
• Otherwise → Slash.

Guardian's Shield

• Anything → Stab.

Guardian

• Sealed → Minigun;
• Otherwise → Shock (2/6), Rockets (2/6), Minigun (1/6), Repair (1/6).

Additionally, on Hard or higher difficulties AND if current Attack buff is <50%, Guardian buffs its own Attack by 25% upon losing an arm.

Strategy

The Guardian is the point in EBF2 where the game requires more nuanced strategies than merely attacking elemental weaknesses. Its arms give it two extra turns to hammer the players; the shield also gives its allies doubled defenses. Destroying the arms alone will be minimally useful; the Guardian can easily restore them to full HP in a single turn and buff itself in the process on Epic.

Fortunately, the Guardian is greatly hampered by debuffs and status effects; remember to aim them at its body, not its limbs. In particular, Stun prevents any of its parts from acting, and Seal stops it from repairing its arms or using most of its own attacks. Since the latter will not hamper the arms, it's best to stick with Stun until the arms are destroyed; Seal also forces the Guardian to spam its powerful Minigun attack, so keep your Defence buffed (especially on Epic, when it can buff its Attack when losing or repairing an arm).

On the offensive side of things, try to focus on magic attacks; not only are most of the party's options for hitting the Guardian's weaknesses magic-based, they'll bypass its ability to buff its Defence on Epic. If a player runs low on MP, they can throw some Bombs to maintain the offensive, toss a Stunner to immobilize the Guardian, use an Ether, or just smack the boss with a weapon-elemental skill if they have the Mana Leech Skill Bonus.

Matt

Air Strike is probably Matt's best option for offense, especially with the Air Support and/or Secret Weapon Skill Bonuses. Protect will reduce the damage of most of the Guardian's attacks, while Screamer lowers its Magic Defence, making it more vulnerable to Air Strike and Thunderbolt. Cat Warrior adds some damage, but not enough to be relied upon.

In terms of swords, the Blizzard or the Rune Blade can be used for their Stunning and Sealing Unleash effects, respectively. The former has a lower infliction chance, but its status is even more debilitating and it has a bit more offensive punch. The Heaven's Gate can Blind the Guardian with its Unleash, but this is less reliable (particularly before the EBF Collection update, where the limbs weren't affected by the Accuracy drop). The Razorback gives Matt the most powerful Air Strike, which is useful for wearing the Guardian down; conversely, the Stone Edge is notable for the best Defence against the Guardian's physical attacks, which is particularly important if you're using Seal instead of Stun.

Natalie

Thunderbolt will be the offensive spell of choice, especially if Natalie has the Thunderclap Skill Bonus to amplify its Stun chance. For healing purposes,HealMore works best initially, but Slime Bunny will be more effective when the Guardian's arms are destroyed. Syphon is probably Natalie's most reliable option for crippling the Guardian, particularly if she lacks Thunderclap. Flare is also an option to reduce the Guardian's Accuracy with Blind; though prior to the EBF Collection update, it didn't affect the arms. Barrier is comparatively unimportant as long as the party can maintain Stun and/or Seal on the boss.

In the EBF Collection version of EBF2, Natalie gains some new Skill Bonuses that can be put to great use against the Guardian. Curses enhances the duration of her status effects to debilitate the Guardian for longer periods of time; this has nice synergy with Thunderclap or the new Pain Magic bonus. Regenerate lets Heal and HealMore apply Regen to the recipients, further improving their survival chances after recovering from a painful attack or two; however, Slime Bunny is slightly more cost-efficient if the party doesn't need an immediate heal.

Trivia

The Guardian recreated in the Mecha Dress Up Game

• The Guardian's design is taken from one of the many combinations in the Mecha Dress Up Game. Replicating its design earns the player a Medal on Newgrounds.
• The Guardian is the very first boss in the Epic Battle Fantasy series whose "helpers" are actually parts of its own body being treated as independent foes. This concept would be repeated for several other bosses and high-tier enemies in the series, including most of the subsequent bosses in EBF2 itself.
• The Guardian's pre-battle quote may be a reference to Gandalf's famous line from the 2001 film version of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
• The design of the Guardian's Sword would be used for the Chainsaw Blade in Epic Battle Fantasy 4.