Guard

Guard

Guard is the Knight’s signature defensive ability, and the single most important cooldown in any tanking build. It reduces incoming damage by 70% for 4 seconds and can be cancelled early via the cancel window for a 50% cooldown refund — turning it into a 6s effective cooldown in practice.

How it works

While Guard is active, all damage taken is reduced by a flat 70%. The skill has a cancel window during the last 0.5s of its duration — releasing the button during that window refunds 50% of the cooldown, letting skilled Knights cycle Guard on a 6-second effective cooldown.

Rotation

The standard Knight opener is Guard → Taunt → Shield Bash. Once engaged:

1. Taunt to lock enemy attention onto you.
2. Guard immediately for the burst window.
3. Shield Bash during Guard to apply Staggered (enemies take 8% more damage for 6s).
4. Spear Sweep to gather adds before the next Guard window.

The full priority order is on the Knight wiki page.

When to invest

Max Guard first — every Knight build wants rank 5 by Lv 20. The rank 5 bonus extends the duration to 4.5s and adds the cancel-window refund that defines high-level play.

Stacking

Guard does not stack with itself — re-casting during the active window simply refreshes the duration. It does stack with Bulwark and Shield Bash passives, however, which is what makes the Knight’s effective HP ceiling so high.

FAQ

Q: Can you cancel Guard immediately on cast? A: No — you must wait for the cancel window (last 0.5s of the 4s duration). Cancelling early puts the skill on full cooldown.

Q: Does Guard work while stunned? A: No — stuns interrupt Guard and put it on full cooldown. Save your Last Stand for stuns you can’t avoid.

Q: Is Guard worth using in PvP? A: Yes, but only with the cancel-window refund. Bare-12s Guard is too long for PvP duels.