Guarding Skill

This is a Combat Skill that Monks and Puppetmasters have. It decreases the amount of damage that the player takes from a melee hit when it activates, similarly to a Shield Trigger.

There is no log message for guarding an attack; the only reliable way to tell is the absence of blood after an attack on your character.

Guard only works when the player is using a Hand-to-Hand weapon (or barehand). The higher your Guarding Skill, the better the chance that it will activate. Adding AGI was thought to increase its activation rate, but has not been shown definitively to do so.

• Guard Activation and Effect
  • Opponent's attack must bypass the character's evasion, shadows (Blink/Utsusemi), and counter for this trait to trigger.
  • Guard reduces damage by reducing the pDIF of the attack by 1.0.
  • This trait can activate on enemy TP attacks, completely nullifying the damage. The log will say "(Monster) uses (TP move), but misses (Player)". It is also possible to get a guard skillup from an AoE TP move targeted at someone else in the party (as long as Hand-to-Hand weapons/bare hands are drawn and facing the enemy).
  • A guard proc on multi-hit TP moves will NOT nullify the full damage; it nullifies only 1 hit of a multi-hit TP move (though it is possible to proc on more than one hit).
  • If under Petrification, Sleep (Status Effect), Stun (Status Effect), or Terror, characters will still be able to guard attacks just like any other defensive skill. If attacked and a character guards for "0" damage, the character will not wake up.

Job Ratings

Job	Rank	Cap at Level 1	Cap at Level 37	Cap at Level 75
Monk	A−	6	114	269
Puppetmaster	B	5	109	250

• See Combat Skills Caps for the skill cap at every level.

Equipment that enhances this Skill

By Amount Added

Name	Skill Increase
Temple Hose +1	+15
Melee Gaiters +1	+14
Melee Gaiters	+13
Boxer's Mantle	+10
Temple Hose	+10
Gnole Crown	+8
Guarding Torque	+7
Feral Mask	+6
Black Adargas +1	+5
Busker's Earring	+5
Tiger Mask	+5
Black Adargas	+4
Adargas +1	+3
Guarding Earring	+3
Adargas	+2

By Equipment Slot

Weapons Level Name Jobs Bonus 47 Adargas MNK/PUP +2 47 Adargas +1 MNK/PUP +3 60 Black Adargas MNK/PUP +4 60 Black Adargas +1 MNK/PUP +5 Head Level Name Jobs Bonus 70 Tiger Mask WAR/MNK/THF/BST/NIN/DNC +5 70 Feral Mask WAR/MNK/THF/BST/NIN/DNC +6 72 Gnole Crown WAR/MNK/THF/BST/NIN/DNC +8 Neck Level Name Jobs Bonus 65 Guarding Torque All +7 Legs Level Name Jobs Bonus 60 Temple Hose MNK +10 74 Temple Hose +1 MNK +15 Feet Level Name Jobs Bonus 71 Melee Gaiters MNK +12 75 Melee Gaiters +1 MNK +14 Back Level Name Jobs Bonus 70 Boxer's Mantle All +10 Earring Level Name Jobs Bonus 35 Guarding Earring All +3 60 Busker's Earring All +5

Guard Video

This video shows high guard activation and damage reduction: File:All About Guard

References and Guides

• Things you probably didn't know about Guard
• The Quest for Guarding Skill
• Let's Level Guard Skill! Puppetmaster video guide
• Guarding with Tetsu - A Puppetmaster's Guide