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Style is everything inLies of P: Overture, and while many of the DLC bosses have that, the Anguished Guardian of the Ruins leaves most players drooling from the excitement of facing such an epic foe. Giant, balanced, and owner of perhaps the coolest cutscenes in the added content, Anguished Guardian is going to have you racing back for a rematch in Boss Rush.
Of course, to get to Boss Rush, you need to defeat Anguished Guardian first. And while he is epic, he is certainly no push-over. His attacks are devastating if you’re struck, and his healthpool is abundantly large. You’ll need to bring everything to the table to best this giant.
Anguished Guardian Of The Ruin’s Attacks
Here’s what you can expect from the Anguished Guardian across itstwo different phases.
Wind-Up Tells And Attack Description
Suggested Counters
Fury Fall
Standing up on his hind legs, the Anguished Guardian roars and waddles toward the player while cloaked in red. As a Fury Attack, he descends on the player for a slam.
Parrythis attack just as he lands on top of you.
Sweeping Combo
Using his right hand, the guardian sweeps in an arc in front of him and then sweeps backward once the arc is complete for two attacks. After a slight delay, he then raises that hand and slams his trident on the ground.
Dodge leftinto the sweep,dodgea second timeforward and into his side, and then prepare tododge forward againtoward his head with the slam attack.
Sweeping Combo Variation
If the player is distant, this combo starts the same but the secondary swipe and slam is replaced by a single trident swipe following the direction of its arm.
Dodgeforward or backwardtwice. If confident, parry both.
Passover Swipe
Raising his body over the player, he walks forward. As he reaches the other side of the player, he descends with a spinning attack.
Stand stillas he passes. Then,dodge backwardand use a thrown item.
Trident Combo
Swiping right, he tries to hit the player. After, he lunges forward to turn this attack into a two-strike stabbing combo.
Dodge forwardinto the swipe, thensidestepthrough the stabs if close enough to hit.
Trident Crush
Roaring, the guardian raises his trident above his head before quickly slamming it on the ground in front of him. He then drags it in an arc to his right.
Dodge forwardand then again through the sweep if necessary.
Phase Two
Sweeping Beam
Gathering white light into his mouth and turning his head to the side, Anguished Guardian unleashes a beam of light forward that travels slowly across the arena.
Dodgethrough the beam (usually to the left).
Forward Beam
Looks like above, but instead of having his head tilted, the Anguished Guardian faces straight ahead. The beam is unleashed, traveling only in a straight line.
Dodgeleft or right.
Beam Combo
Leaping back and away from the player a great distance, he begins firing a Sweeping Beam from his left side. This sweeping beam travels once across the arena but then travels backward along its original path. He then takes a moment, raising his head to the ceiling, before unleashing a powerful Forward Beam. There is a cooldown after.
Dodge rightthrough the first beam,dodge leftthrough the second beam, and thendodge in either directionwith the final beam.Attack!
Punishing Sword
Anguished Guardian slams his sword into the ground with a golden light. He then drags it in an arc in front of him. The debris where the arc was made has a delayed explosion.
Dodge forwardand stay close to the guardian’s head to avoid the explosion. If needed, dodge twice.
Excalibur
Pushing his sword into the earth with an earth-shattering roar, he creates a circle of golden energy and runes. After a delay, the circle explodes. There is a significant cooldown after.
Dodgethe initial attack beforesprinting awayand out of the circle.
Trident Combo: Phase Two Variation
Swiping from his left (your right), the guardian performs four back-and-forth swipe attacks with his trident. During the fourth attack, he slams his sword into the ground on his right and then drags it in an arc in front of him. Like above, the arc’s pathing has a delayed explosion. Often chains into Punishing Sword.
Parry three times, thendodge twicethrough the fourth.Stay closeor dodge forward to avoid the explosion.
Mashing Sword
Holding the sword above him with two hands, Anguished Guardian pounds his left hand onto the ground before repeatedly plunging his sword down. He does this three times in quick succession and then, with a delayed fourth strike, performs another dragging arc with delayed explosion.
Dodge forwardandrun underthe guardian to avoid his front.Attackfrom the side or behind as he finishes this move.
Mashing Sword: Variation Two
When distant from Anguished Guardian, the fourth strike instead becomes a forward arm sweep from his right, followed by a back arm sweep and a right-handed palm slam.
Keep your distance, dodging back through the arm sweeps but thenforward with the palm slam.
Stagger
After being staggered, Anguished Guardian pounds his head into the ground two times for potential extra damage.
Attack from mid-rangebefore he collapses and makes the Critical hit available.
Fury Fall (Phase Two Variation)
Sometimes, when successfully parrying the Fury Fall in Phase Two, there is a chance that the Anguished Guardian will be knocked back up. He will then crash to the ground a second time.
Parrythe second crash.
Unlike Markiona, Anguished Guardian really likes tokeep things simple. His combos are not typically long, andmost of them are only in the forward direction.
Some of his attacks in Phase One do carry overto Phase Two with minor variations, butmost remain unchanged. This makes learning his moveset through practice much easier than other late-game bosses.
Anguished Guardian’s Fury Fall Attack isthe best attack to get in good damageand poise breakdown. It is extremely slow, meaning thatyou’ll be able to parry itrelatively easily.
In Phase Two, you get todo a double parryat the exact same speed. So, once you’ve mastered one parry, you’ll likely be able to do it twice in one go. Mastering this means your chances of success will be astronomically raised. Sopractice!
In Phase Two, one of the best attacks to punish in Guardian’s movesetishis beam attack.Both variations of this attack have windows for you to attackduring the animation after you’ve dodged the initial threat.
Although the Beam Combo can be devastating if you are hit,the huge cooldown after is a massive boonto you.You’ll have three solid secondsof damage output at the end.
Finally, the most dangerous attack in Anguished Guardian’s toolkit isExcalibur. Getting struck by this attack can easily lead to the end of your run;you cannot afford to be hit by this.
Once you see the flashing golden light above your head and the roar, make a break for it.Prepare to sprintout of the circleas soon as possible, dodge rolling at the end if you can’t quite make it.
92,000 (NG+2; Legendary Stalker)
Fire, Attacks against hand and head (guardian’s left-side only)
Recommended Amulets
Carcass Butcher’s Amulet, Patience Amulet, Conquering Amulet, Arm of God Amulet
Recommended Weapons
Icarus (Legion Arm), Salamander Dagger, Black Steel Cutter, Two Dragons Sword, Uroboros’s Eye, Arche’s Guardian
When facing the Anguished Guardian, there arethree very important things to keep in mind:
Because of these three things, we can start tobuild a solid counterattackto the Anguished Guardian.
We used theArche’s Guardianhere for a different purpose altogether. Although a Shock-based weapon and not useful on paper,the Thunderbolt Fable Art grants a larger dodge window, allowing greater mobility for avoiding sweep attacks and other dangerous hazards.
How To Beat Anguished Guardian Of The Ruins: Phase One
Getting the best of Phase One is all about learning how toparry his Fury Attackanddodge his sweeps. If you cannot do both, the second phase will be near impossible.
BecauseAnguished Guardian’s second phase triggers at 65 percentinstead of the normal 50 percent, every bit of health you preserve in the first phase matters.
If you want to preserve your health for this phase as much as possible, you might considerusing a Recovery Wishstonein tandemwith the Recharging Amulet. Because of the slow speed of attacks, the recovery amount you can make using this method is not negligible and may give you a helpful edge.
To make the most of the first phase and put you in the best position for a victory,follow these tips closely
If you really struggle with Perfect Parry, you canmake your grindstone ability Perfect Guard.
How To Beat Anguished Guardian Of The Ruins: Phase Two
Once the Anguished Guardian begins Phase Two, the real fight has officially begun. Training wheels off, Anguished Guardian will begin toattack with dangerous, long combos.
Most of the guardian’sattack combos can destroy even those with the highest Vigor.Apply everything you learned from Phase One andalways assume there’s something newto the old pattern.
Your best strategy here is toplay aggressivelywith the Anguished Guardian’sweakpoints. You want to speed things up toreach that Critical Hit stagger.
Along the way, however, there are some moves flagged in the section above to keep your eyes on forthe best openings to deal damage:
Likewise,keep your eye out for sweeping attacks. Whenever Anguished Guardian retreats, there will be anopportunity for thrown items.
Once a Critical Hit has been performed, the weak spots (the protrusions) on the guardian’s head and hands will be destroyed.
Armed with all this information, the only thing left for you to do is tokeep practicinguntil this boss’s beefy healthbar is finally depleted.
For your efforts, you will be rewarded with his rare Ergo:Tortured Guardian’s Ergo. Bringing this toAlidoro in the present or Klaus in the pastwill give you the option between:
Greatsword weapon scaling Motivity (B) and Technique (C).
Nightmare’s Amulet
An equipable talisman that increases your attribute damage when you attack an enemy afflicted with that attribute’s status ailment (e.g. your Lightning attacks deal more damage to Shocked foes and your Fire attacks deal more damage to Overheated foes).
