Guard Skill

Guards are active skills that provide short term survivability to characters. Guards are all instant spells.

All guard skills share a cooldown - no guard skill can be cast or triggered while any others are on cooldown. Additionally, guard skill cooldowns do not begin until the guard skill has finished.

Skills

Skill gems

There are 5 skill gems with the Guard gem tag:

Gem
Arcane CloakArcane CloakSpell, Duration, Guard, Lightning, Arcane Level: (1-20) Cooldown Time: 4.00 sec Can Store 1 Use(s) Cast Time: InstantRequires Level 16Spends a portion of your mana to grant a buff that takes some of the damage from hits for you until depleted. The buff grants added lightning damage based on the amount of mana spent by this skill. Shares a cooldown with other Guard skills.Base duration is 3.00 seconds Spends (45-64)% of current Mana 75% of Damage from Hits is taken from Buff before your Life or Energy Shield Buff can take Damage equal to Mana Spent by this Skill's effect Buff grants Added Lightning Damage equal to (10-14)% of Mana Spent by this Skill's effect This Skill's Cooldown does not recover during its effect Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality: (1-20)% increased Buff EffectPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.	16	N/A	N/A
Immortal CallImmortal CallSpell, Duration, Guard Level: (1-20) Cost: (21-36) Mana Cooldown Time: 3.00 sec Can Store 1 Use(s) Cast Time: InstantRequires Level 34Take less Physical and Elemental Damage for a short time. Consumes up to 5 Endurance Charges to lengthen the buff and further lessen Physical Damage taken. Shares a cooldown with other Guard skills.Base duration is 1.00 seconds 20% increased Buff Duration per Endurance Charge removed This Skill's Cooldown does not recover during its effect (25-34)% less Elemental Damage taken (25-35)% less Physical Damage taken 15% less Physical Damage taken per Endurance Charge removed Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality: (1-20)% increased Cooldown Recovery RatePlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.	34		N/A	N/A
Molten ShellMolten ShellSpell, AoE, Duration, Fire, Physical, Guard Level: (1-20) Cost: (8-12) Mana Cooldown Time: 4.00 sec Can Store 1 Use(s) Cast Time: Instant AoE Radius: 15Requires Level 4Applies a buff that adds to your armour, and can take some of the damage from hits for you before being depleted. When the buff expires or is depleted, the skill deals reflected damage to enemies around you based on the total damage that was taken from the buff. Shares a cooldown with other Guard skills.Base duration is 3.00 seconds This Skill's Cooldown does not recover during its effect Buff grants +(50-858) to Armour 75% of Damage from Hits is taken from the Buff before your Life or Energy Shield Buff can take Damage equal to 10% of your Armour, up to a maximum of 5000 Reflects (100-3000)% of Damage taken from Buff as Fire Damage when Buff expires or is depleted Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality: (1-20)% increased Skill Effect DurationPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.	4		N/A	N/A
SteelskinSteelskinSpell, Duration, Guard Level: (1-20) Cost: (4-16) Mana Cooldown Time: 3.00 sec Can Store 1 Use(s) Cast Time: InstantRequires Level 4Applies a buff which can take some of the damage from hits for you before being depleted. Shares a cooldown with other Guard skills.Base duration is 1.50 seconds This Skill's Cooldown does not recover during its effect Buff grants Immunity to Bleeding 70% of Damage from Hits is taken from the Buff before Life or Energy Shield Buff can take (54-2209) Damage Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality: (0.5-10)% increased Cooldown Recovery RatePlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.	4		N/A	N/A
Vaal Molten ShellVaal Molten ShellSpell, AoE, Duration, Fire, Physical, Vaal, Guard Level: (1-20) Cooldown Time: 0.50 sec Can Store 1 Use(s) Souls Per Use: 50 Can Store 1 Use(s) Soul Gain Prevention: 14 sec Cast Time: InstantRequires Level 4Applies a buff that raises your armour, and takes some of the damage from hits for you before being depleted. Each second, the skill deals reflected damage to surrounding enemies based on the damage taken by the buff in that second. When the buff is removed, the skill deals reflected damage to enemies around you based on the total damage that was taken by the buff. You cannot have the buff at the same time as any other Guard skill.Base duration is 9.00 seconds Modifiers to Skill Effect Duration also apply to this Skill's Soul Gain Prevention Buff grants +(50-858) to Armour (35-39)% of Damage from Hits is taken from the Buff before your Life or Energy Shield Buff can take Damage equal to 20% of your Armour, up to a maximum of 10000 Reflects (300-9000)% of Damage taken from Buff as Fire Damage each second, or when Buff expires or is depleted Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality: (1-20)% increased Skill Effect DurationCorruptedPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.	4		N/A	N/A

Other skills

• Bone Armour
• Vaal Immortal CallVaal Immortal CallSpell, Duration, Vaal, Guard
  Level: (1-20)
  Cooldown Time: 60.00 sec
  Can Store 1 Use(s)
  Souls Per Use: 100
  Can Store 1 Use(s)
  Soul Gain Prevention: 8 sec
  Cast Time: InstantRequires Level 34Discharges Endurance Charges, making the character unable to die or gain Vaal souls for a short time, proportional to how many endurance charges were expended.Base duration is 0.40 seconds
  Modifiers to Skill Effect Duration also apply to this Skill's Soul Gain Prevention
  (100-157)% increased Buff Duration per Endurance Charge removed
  Buff expiry rate cannot be modified
  
  Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
  (1-20)% increased Skill Effect DurationCorruptedPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. (drop disabled)

Note that Frost ShieldFrost ShieldCritical, Spell, AoE, Duration, Cold
Level: (1-20)
Cost: (30-54) Mana
Cooldown Time: 5.00 sec
Can Store 1 Use(s)
Cast Time: 0.50 secRequires Level 34Place a Frost Shield that drains your energy shield for one second or until you run out, gaining stages while this drain occurs. The Frost Shield takes some damage from hits in place of you and allies while in its area. Enemies in the area are Chilled. You can only have one Frost Shield active at once.Base duration is 10.00 seconds
20% of Damage dealt to you or Allies in Area with Hits by Enemies in Area is taken from Frost Shield's Life before your Life or Energy Shield
60% of Damage dealt to you or Allies in Area with Hits by Enemies outside Area is taken from Frost Shield's Life before your Life or Energy Shield
You gain +(0.1-0.38)% to Spell Critical Strike Chance per Stage while in Area
Frost Shield has (190-910) maximum Life per Stage
Maximum 4 Stages
Gains 1 Stage every 0.3 seconds while you are losing Energy Shield
You lose (150-730) Energy Shield per second

Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
(1-20)% increased Effect of Cold AilmentsPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. is not a guard skill, but has similar mechanics.

Related passive skills

Passive skills

The following passive skills are related to Guard skills:

Name	Stats
Armour and Guard Skill Cooldown Recovery	12% increased Armour Guard Skills have 20% increased Cooldown Recovery Rate [1] [2]
Mana and Guard Skill Cooldown Recovery	10% increased maximum Mana Guard Skills have 20% increased Cooldown Recovery Rate [1]
Adamant	25% increased Armour Remove Bleeding when you use a Guard Skill Remove Corrupted Blood when you use a Guard Skill Guard Skills have 25% increased Duration [1]
Dynamo	18% increased maximum Mana Guard Skills have 40% increased Duration [1]

Keystone passive skills

The following keystone passive skills are related to Guard skills:

Name	Stats
Veteran's Awareness	+10% to all Elemental Resistances and maximum Elemental Resistances while affected by a Non-Vaal Guard Skill 20% additional Physical Damage Reduction while affected by a Non-Vaal Guard Skill 20% more Damage taken if a Non-Vaal Guard Buff was lost Recently [1]

Tattoos

Item	Effect(s)
Tattoo of the Rongokurai GuardTattoo of the Rongokurai GuardStack Size: 10 Replaces a Small Strength Passive SkillGuard Skills have 6% increased DurationRight click this item then left click a valid Passive Skill. Maximum 50 Tattoos.	Guard Skills have 6% increased Duration

Version history

Version	Changes
3.7.0	Introduced to the game.