Editing Guardians

Every [[Biomes|biome]] is held by a '''Guardian''' — a milestone [[Expeditions|expedition]] boss. Beating a biome's Guardian is what '''unlocks the next biome''', so the Guardian chain is the backbone of progression. This page covers each Guardian's stats, exactly how the fight is decided, roughly how much gear it takes to win, and everything you can stack to tip the odds.

== The Guardians ==

A Guardian unlocks once you've cleared its biome's patrols and reached the listed [[Expeditions]] level. '''Difficulty''' is the single number the fight is rolled against (see below). Since v0.36.12 every Guardian unlocks strictly '''below''' the next biome's patrol, so the ladder always reads forward.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! # !! Biome !! Guardian !! [[Expeditions]] level !! Difficulty
|-
| 1 || {{Icon|grasslands}} [[Grasslands]] || Thunderfoot Matriarch || 5 || 60
|-
| 2 || {{Icon|redwood-wilds}} [[Redwood Wilds]] || Old Growth Tyrant || 20 || 150
|-
| 3 || {{Icon|murkwater-swamp}} [[Murkwater Swamp]] || Murk Sovereign || 27 || 200
|-
| 4 || {{Icon|cavern-depths}} [[Cavern Depths]] || Hollow King || 35 || 240
|-
| 5 || {{Icon|scorched-badlands}} [[Scorched Badlands]] || Scorched King || 41 || 260
|-
| 6 || {{Icon|coral-shallows}} [[Coral Shallows]] || Tide Leviathan || 44 || 290
|-
| 7 || {{Icon|frozen-wastes}} [[Frozen Wastes]] || Frostmaw || 50 || 320
|-
| 8 || {{Icon|ashen-peaks}} [[Ashen Peaks]] || Ash Tyrant || 55 || 380
|-
| 9 || {{Icon|skyreach-plateau}} [[Skyreach Plateau]] || Sky Sovereign || 58 || 420
|-
| 10 || the [[Sundered Vale]] || The Sundered One || 65 || 500
|}

Beat '''The Sundered One''' and the [[Rifts]] tear open — three endgame zones with their own repeatable bosses (see [[Rifts]] and the [[Endgame Guide]]).

== How the fight is decided ==

A Guardian fight (like any [[Expeditions|expedition]]) is a single automatic roll of your '''expedition score''' against the Guardian's '''difficulty'''. It plays out on the [[Trail]] as a four-stage encounter, but the outcome is decided by one clean formula:

: '''Win chance = score ÷ (score + difficulty)'''

So your win chance depends only on the '''ratio''' of your score to the difficulty:

{| class="wikitable"
! Score ÷ difficulty !! Win chance
|-
| ×1 (score = difficulty) || 50%
|-
| ×1.5 || 60%
|-
| ×2 || ~67%
|-
| ×3 || 75%
|-
| ×4 || 80%
|-
| ×6 || ~86%
|-
| ×9 || 90%
|}

There's no hard gate — you '''can''' attempt a Guardian at 30% and get lucky — but each attempt costs health (below), so it pays to build score first.

== What "score" is made of ==

Your '''expedition score''' is one pile, assembled from:

: '''score = (attack × 1.5) + defense + party + bonuses'''

* '''Attack''' — your equipped weapon and trinket attack, any [[Blueprints|forged]] attack, and attack [[Tonics|potions]]. Attack is worth '''1.5×''' in the formula, so a stronger weapon is the single most efficient upgrade.
* '''Defense''' — your armour, shield and trinket defense, forged defense, and defense potions.
* '''Party''' — each uninjured [[Companions|companion]] in your expedition party adds '''power + (guard + swiftness) ÷ 2'''. A strong, [[Breeding|bred]] and [[Imprinting|imprinted]] party is a huge share of your score.
* '''Bonuses''' — a flat pile added on top: the full-set bonus of a worn [[Sets|expedition set]], the [[Homestead|Watchtower]], [[Museum]] wing perks, [[Mastery]] expedition perks (these '''scale with the Guardian's difficulty'''), [[Rivals|War Banners]] (+1 each), the [[Rifts|Rift Standard]] (+10), [[Weather]], [[Pets]], and dino '''trinkets''' (a Vale Charm adds +5 each).

The game shows your exact win chance on the Guardian's card before you commit — and because the displayed number uses this identical pile, the card never lies.

== How much gear it takes ==

Turn the formula around: to reach a target win chance against a Guardian, you need '''score = difficulty × (target ÷ (1 − target))'''. In practice:

* '''Coin-flip (50%)''' — score equal to the difficulty.
* '''Comfortable (~67%)''' — score '''double''' the difficulty.
* '''Safe (80%)''' — score '''four times''' the difficulty.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Guardian !! Difficulty !! Score for ~67% !! Score for 80%
|-
| {{Icon|boss-grasslands}} Thunderfoot Matriarch || 60 || 120 || 240
|-
| {{Icon|boss-redwood}} Old Growth Tyrant || 150 || 300 || 600
|-
| {{Icon|boss-murkwater}} Murk Sovereign || 200 || 400 || 800
|-
| {{Icon|boss-cavern}} Hollow King || 240 || 480 || 960
|-
| {{Icon|boss-scorched}} Scorched King || 260 || 520 || 1,040
|-
| {{Icon|boss-coral}} Tide Leviathan || 290 || 580 || 1,160
|-
| {{Icon|boss-frozen}} Frostmaw || 320 || 640 || 1,280
|-
| {{Icon|boss-ashen}} Ash Tyrant || 380 || 760 || 1,520
|-
| {{Icon|boss-skyreach}} Sky Sovereign || 420 || 840 || 1,680
|-
| {{Icon|boss-vale}} The Sundered One || 500 || 1,000 || 2,000
|}

'''Gear rule of thumb:''' each biome's own [[Sets|expedition set]] is tuned to roughly match its Guardian — so equipping the '''set for the biome you're clearing''' (worn for its full-set bonus, backed by a decent party) lands you in the comfortable band. A full Sundered set plus a strong party, for instance, clears The Sundered One. When you're short, the fastest gains are a better '''weapon''' (×1.5 in the formula) and a few '''set pieces''' farmed off the Guardian's own patrol.

== Taking damage and staying alive ==

'''Every run costs health — even a win.''' Damage is drawn from the difficulty:

* '''On a win''': about '''40%''' of the difficulty in HP (a spread of roughly 24–56%).
* '''On a loss''': about '''80%''' of the difficulty (roughly 48–112%).

So a win against The Sundered One (difficulty 500) costs ~200 HP; a loss can cost ~400+. That makes '''max HP''' and a stock of '''[[Cooking|cooked food]]''' as important as score for the late Guardians. Ways to soften it:

* '''[[Homestead|House chain]]''' (Thatch Hut → Iron Keep) raises your max HP.
* '''Guard''' party role — each Guard cuts damage taken by '''15%''', down to a '''−30%''' floor with two or more (v0.36.64). Guards now also protect you on [[Hunting|hunts]] and [[Rivals|rival duels]], not just expeditions.
* Keep '''food''' in the [[Bank]]; auto-eat heals you mid-fight.

'''Death:''' if a blow would drop you to 0 HP while you are '''actively playing''' and auto-eat has no food left, you die — losing that run's spoils and one equipped item where you fell (reclaimable; see [[Expeditions#Death and reclaiming gear|Death and reclaiming gear]]). '''Offline''', a run always stops safely before a knockout, so you can never die away from the keyboard.

== Guardian Heat ==

Re-fighting a Guardian '''heats its biome''': each Guardian win adds a heat stack worth '''+8% difficulty''', up to 10 stacks — so a farmed Guardian gets steadily harder (this raises the '''effective''' difficulty the formula uses). Heat cools one stack every 2 hours, and '''each patrol win in that biome vents a stack'''. For a first clear this rarely matters; when farming a Guardian for its [[Sets|set]], interleave patrols to keep the difficulty down. See [[Expeditions#Guardian Heat|Guardian Heat]].

== Fleeing ==

If a run is going badly you can '''flee''' rather than fight to the end. Flee chance rises with your party's total '''swiftness''', and each '''Scout''' adds '''+10%''' flee chance (and +4% Trail Cache finds). Fleeing avoids the worst of a loss's damage.

== Beating the next Guardian — checklist ==

# '''Equip your best gear''' — the strongest weapon (×1.5 in the formula), armour, shield, and trinket you can craft, [[Blueprints|forge]], or find.
# '''Wear the biome's [[Sets|expedition set]]''' — farm a few pieces off the Guardian's patrol for the per-piece stats and the full-set bonus.
# '''Bring your best party''' — [[Breeding|bred]]/[[Imprinting|imprinted]] high-power companions, with roles: '''Attack''' for score (×1.2 power each), '''Guard''' to survive (−15% damage each, −30% floor), '''Scout''' to flee (+10% flee chance each).
# '''Stack the flat bonuses''' — [[Homestead|Watchtower]], [[Museum]] wings, [[Mastery]] expedition perks, [[Rivals|War Banners]], the [[Rifts|Rift Standard]], and a favourable [[Weather|sky]].
# '''Bring HP and food''' — build the [[Homestead|house chain]] and stock [[Cooking|cooked food]]; even a win hurts.
# '''Check the card''' — it shows your exact win chance. Aim for the comfortable band (score ≈ 2× difficulty) before committing.

== See also ==

* [[Expeditions]] — the skill and the full combat loop
* [[Biome Progression]] — the biome/Guardian chain as a checklist
* [[Sets]] — the expedition sets tuned to each Guardian
* [[Arenas]] — refight a beaten Guardian at higher tiers for the Primal set
* [[Companions]] · [[Blueprints]] · [[Mastery]] — the biggest score sources

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[[Category:Expeditions]]
[[Category:Progression]]
[[Category:Game Mechanics]]
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