Animate Guardian

Template:Gem Infobox Animate Guardian is a spell, animating weapons and armour on the ground to form an allied guardian.

Skill Functions and Interactions

Using this skill on an identified item on the ground creates an Animated Guardian that moves and attacks similar to a zombie. Unlike other minions, a Guardian stays with you even after logging off and on. If you unequip the skill gem, the Guardian disappears until you equip the gem again, at which point the same Guardian (retaining all its equipment) reappears after casting the spell again. Socketing the gem in a weapon or shield slot allows you to recall the Guardian at will by switching weapon sets (default hotkey: X).

You can only have one Guardian at a time. It can be equipped with a helmet, body armour, pair of gloves, pair of boots, a shield, and melee weapons. Ranged weapons cannot be animated, similar to Animate Weapon. Items can be of any rarity, but must be identified and on the ground to be used. Animated items are consumed by the spell and cannot be recovered. Items containing skill gems cannot be animated, so the Guardian cannot use trigger gems.

Items that have modifiers like +x to Maximum life or +x% increased Attack Speed, and even corrupted implicits, apply to the Guardian the same way they apply to player characters; so animating magic or rare equipment can potentially give you a very powerful minion. Unique items can also be used, but they are usually too valuable to sacrifice.

The Guardian uses weapons and shields in the same way as player characters, and can dual wield if two one-handed weapons are animated. If you animate an item type that the Guardian is already using (such as a helmet), the new item will overwrite the old one. Equipping an armour piece restores 25% of its life; equipping one-handed weapons or shields will alternate between left and right hand. You cannot equip two shields.

The Guardian does not share your max amount of curses you can apply to enemies, and therefore functions as a player with the default curse limit when applying curses (through corrupted gloves, for example).

Items deleted on Death: When a Guardian dies, all its equipment is deleted and cannot be recovered. This makes very risky to use powerful or valuable items on an Animated Guardian. When the player dies, the Guardian will remain alive and will continue to fight, so it is advised to immediately resurrect (if in softcore) in order to pull the Guardian from the instance. It is possible to prevent a body armour worn by a Guardian from being deleted upon Guardian death by crafting Equipped Animated Guardian drops item on death on the Armourer's Workbench.

Necromantic Aegis: While using Necromantic Aegis your Guardian benefits from its own shield as well as the one you have equipped, allowing it to gain the benefit of two shields at once. Some unique shields can be quite powerful when doubled up this way.

Player versus Player: Animated Guardians killed in PvP areas will not lose their items.

Gem level progression

Template:GemLevelTable |- ! 1 | 28 | 42 | 29 | 19 | 33 | 0% | 0% | 22–34 | 3 | 28 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 823 | 0 | 0 |- ! 2 | 31 | 46 | 32 | 20 | 36 | 4% | 4% | 25–37 | 3 | 31 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 999 | 199,345 | 199,345 |- ! 3 | 34 | 50 | 35 | 21 | 39 | 8% | 8% | 27–41 | 3 | 34 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 1,197 | 285,815 | 485,160 |- ! 4 | 37 | 54 | 37 | 23 | 43 | 12% | 12% | 30–44 | 3 | 37 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 1,431 | 401,344 | 886,504 |- ! 5 | 40 | 58 | 40 | 24 | 46 | 16% | 16% | 32–48 | 3 | 40 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 1,705 | 554,379 | 1,440,883 |- ! 6 | 42 | 60 | 42 | 25 | 48 | 20% | 20% | 34–50 | 3 | 42 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 1,908 | 477,437 | 1,918,320 |- ! 7 | 44 | 63 | 44 | 25 | 51 | 24% | 24% | 35–53 | 3 | 44 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 2,133 | 583,786 | 2,502,106 |- ! 8 | 46 | 66 | 46 | 26 | 53 | 28% | 28% | 37–55 | 3 | 46 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 2,380 | 710,359 | 3,212,465 |- ! 9 | 48 | 68 | 48 | 27 | 56 | 32% | 32% | 38–58 | 3 | 48 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 2,655 | 1,355,511 | 4,567,976 |- ! 10 | 50 | 71 | 49 | 28 | 58 | 36% | 36% | 40–60 | 3 | 50 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 2,952 | 1,138,877 | 5,706,853 |- ! 11 | 52 | 74 | 51 | 29 | 61 | 40% | 40% | 42–62 | 3 | 52 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 3,285 | 1,368,233 | 7,075,086 |- ! 12 | 54 | 76 | 53 | 30 | 63 | 44% | 44% | 43–65 | 3 | 54 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 3,645 | 1,638,338 | 8,713,424 |- ! 13 | 56 | 79 | 55 | 31 | 66 | 48% | 48% | 45–67 | 3 | 56 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 4,045 | 1,956,648 | 10,670,072 |- ! 14 | 58 | 82 | 57 | 31 | 68 | 52% | 52% | 46–70 | 3 | 58 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 4,482 | 3,655,184 | 14,325,256 |- ! 15 | 60 | 84 | 59 | 32 | 71 | 56% | 56% | 48–72 | 3 | 60 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 4,959 | 3,017,327 | 17,342,583 |- ! 16 | 62 | 87 | 60 | 33 | 73 | 60% | 60% | 50–74 | 3 | 62 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 5,485 | 7,759,995 | 25,102,578 |- ! 17 | 64 | 90 | 62 | 34 | 76 | 64% | 64% | 51–77 | 3 | 64 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 6,057 | 15,138,193 | 40,240,771 |- ! 18 | 66 | 92 | 64 | 35 | 79 | 68% | 68% | 53–79 | 3 | 66 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 6,687 | 26,083,825 | 66,324,596 |- ! 19 | 68 | 95 | 66 | 36 | 82 | 72% | 72% | 54–82 | 3 | 68 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 7,380 | 62,620,247 | 128,944,843 |- ! 20 | 70 | 98 | 68 | 36 | 100 | 76% | 76% | 56–84 | 3 | 70 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 8,131 | 211,708,088 | 340,652,931 |- ! 21 | 72 | 100 | 70 | 37 | 100 | 80% | 80% | 58–86 | 3 | 72 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 8,959 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |- ! 22 | 74 | | | 38 | 100 | 84% | 84% | 59–89 | 3 | 74 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 9,864 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |- ! 23 | 76 | | | 39 | 100 | 88% | 88% | 61–91 | 3 | 76 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 10,849 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |- ! 24 | 78 | | | 40 | 100 | 92% | 92% | 62–94 | 3 | 78 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 11,929 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |- ! 25 | 80 | | | 41 | 100 | 96% | 96% | 64–96 | 3 | 80 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 13,108 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |- ! 26 | 82 | | | 41 | 100 | 100% | 100% | 66–98 | 3 | 82 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 14,395 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |- ! 27 | 84 | | | 42 | 100 | 104% | 104% | 67–101 | 3 | 84 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 15,799 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |- ! 28 | 86 | | | 43 | 100 | 108% | 108% | 69–103 | 3 | 86 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 17,338 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |- ! 29 | 88 | | | 44 | 100 | 112% | 112% | 70–106 | 3 | 88 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 19,012 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |- ! 30 | 90 | | | 45 | 100 | 116% | 116% | 72–108 | 3 | 90 | 0–0 | 1.00 | 20,839 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |}

Version history

Version	Changes
2.0.0	The Guardian's base survivability has been increased by 50%. It now deals additional physical damage.
1.2.1	Fixed a bug where Animate Guardian would not work in PVP.
1.2.0	If an Animated Guardian is unsummoned and resummoned when not on full life, it will now return with the same amount of life it had before.
1.1.4b	Animated Guardians now benefit from the dual wielding bonus that other dual wielders received in 1.1.4.
1.1.0d	Fixed a bug where your Animated Guardian could return from the dead during a PvP match.
1.0.1	The Guardian now recovers 25% of its life whenever a new armour piece is added to it. Fixed an issue with key pickup and the Animate (Weapon and Guardian) skills.
1.0.0e	When an Animated Guardian is dispelled due to its gem being unavailable, its life value is now temporarily saved so that it applies if the Guardian is restored in that area.
1.0.0	Animate Guardian has been added to the game.