Get An Early Look At Info From Guild of Guardian’s Testnet Build
In This Post:
- Introduction
- eSports Guardians Round Up
- How I Approached The ESports Collection
- Things to Consider Before You Commit
- Conclusion
Introduction
Hi folks! Welcome to another Guild of Guardians post on The Nexus.
I was as surprised as you when rumors started circulating about a private, invite-only playtest that featured eSports Guardians as playable characters.
That type of intel is crucial to our squad building efforts this close to launch.
Well, it took me some time, but I finally managed to get my hands on some screenshots from that test build for all 8 eSports Guardians.
What’s the difference between those and the skill list the team released yesterday you ask? The screenshots show each Guardian’s class and include the upgraded stats for each skill.
Since the list dropped, it seems like everyone is reviewing their squads to see how eSports Guardians might help them out.
In this article, we’ll go over what each eSports Guardian brings to the game, how I approached them for my own squad building, and what I considered before buying them.
Let’s get started!
Before I move on, I want to give a big shout out to YourDaddyGamer for hooking me up with the screenshots in this article.
He’s a long time GoG community member and founder of the first verified meme coin on Immutable I-zkEVM, $Big Black Cock. If you’re a fan of meme coins and the Immutable ecosystem, check out their community on Discord or the website.
ESports Guardians Round-Up
I say that because this won’t be a full write-up of each one like I normally do.
Stats don’t tell the whole story. I didn’t participate in this closed playtest, so I can’t really say with full certainty how good any of these will be.
ESports Guardians are still being tested as we speak, and the team could totally rebalance or change their kits before launch. Keep that in mind as you go through this section.
My first impression of the eSports collection is that it’s on equal footing with the Founder and Gen One collections — maybe even better in some ways.
People who were privy to intel from the private playtest converged on Bronwyn, Juno and Aurora early on, but don’t let market prices guide your decision.
As you’ll see, there aren’t any clear “winners” in this class.
Let’s have a closer look!
Bronwyn
Brownyn has been the heavy favorite based on market activity since information about the closed playtest started making its way into the community.
I suspect it has something to do with the fact that she shoots a…
… at her enemies.
She’s a mage who can stack a status called fatigue that reduces your opponent’s attack speed. Each stack increases her laser’s damage by 2% of their HP.
Her passive redistributes damage among your whole team after applying a huge damage reduction bonus.
Pair that with Aquiris’ defense bonus, Takati’s shield and a level 3 Hydris rune, and you could have a near impenetrable front row.
Aurant
Aurant is a versatile tank who can disable enemies, boost your party’s attack, and increase their damage resistance.
But more importantly, she’s the only Guardian who can outright break shields — a move that’s sure to be a hit in PVP.
It makes her a perfect choice for a Terra formation to counter what’s almost guaranteed to be a Hydris meta when the game launches. She’s also a great option to deal with Phoenicia’s Blood Brood — her uber shield skill.
Aurora
Aurora is a ranger who looks like a PVP monster.
She can remove an enemy from the fight temporarily, debuff enemy HP to help you deal with pesky tanks, and she can extend the duration of crowd control effects like stun, charm, taunt, and fear.
It’s not clear what “cleansing does”, but I assume it involves removing status ailments like burn, poison, freeze and so on.
The trade off to her kit is that her damage output seems lower than your typical ranger, so she may not be able to carry DPS duties on her own like others can.
Unfortunately, I’m missing the screenshot for Aurora’s ultimate. Cleansing Flames shoots a fireball that does AoE damage and “cleanses” your party.
Juno
Aurora’s cleansing flame will definitely come in handy against Juno.
This assassin stacks a poison effect that deals 50% of her attack five times over 10 seconds per stack (yes, per stack)!
Her ultimate applies 3 stacks, her primary active skill applies 4 stacks, and her passive makes her basic attacks recover energy faster so she can apply — you guessed it — more stacks.
She could be the damage dealer Terra needs to be relevant! Her only downside (if you can call it that) is that she’s an assassin, and those are always harder to build around.
Stratos
Stratos’ ultimate sounds incredible!
He unleashes what I assume is an AoE attack that does 500% damage plus another 200% over 3 seconds. It’s even more impressive when you realize that he’s a tank.
In fact, all of his active skills deal a decent amount of damage for his class. He can also re-raise himself to full life once per battle, and he can taunt.
If you read my stuff regularly, you know how much of a fan I am of Ikam and Telva for their taunt abilities. Mental Storm will give Stratos utility in all game modes.
Abbas
I dismissed Abbas at first because his kit is somewhat one dimensional. He’s purely about damage dealing, and as another Hydris ranger, he’s basically an upgraded version of Derisda.
Then I started doing the math.
His ultimate hits 8 times for 180% damage per hit at level 5. That adds up to 1440% of his attack in damage to a group of enemies!
With a crit build and Griselle in tow (she can replenish his ultimate bar instantly), he can really hurt the opposition.
I think he’ll excel in Boss Rush alongside Mierra — an epic Founder Guardian with a 1000%+ damage multiplier.
Yutsa
The secondary market seems to favor Yutsa, but I actually think his kit is fairly ordinary for an assassin.
What makes him special, however, is his passive which gives him a big boost to evade. In fact, Yutsa is one of only two Guardians who have innate evade — and his outdoes Varik’s (a rare Founder) by a long shot.
Evade builds can be deadly in PVP. Most players don’t think to equip accuracy gear until after they get wrecked by a few evade teams, and Yutsa can certainly help you get the jump on them.
Albert
Remember that ability the wind elementals in Deadlands use to send your party flying in the air? Well, Albert seems to have a similar ability with a smaller AoE and minus the stun.
Cannonball can disrupt enemy ultimates with careful timing, and if you pair him with Gwynn, who can group enemies together, that smaller AoE doesn’t matter so much.
As a warrior, his durability in the front row is automatically an issue.
The nice thing about Albert is that his two active skills are ranged attacks. If his basic attack is ranged too, he might keep out of trouble in the back row. He also comes with a fairly strong shield for extra protection.
How I Approached The ESports Collection
Unfortunately, I can’t possibly cover all possible squad combinations with eSports Guardians in one article. I’ll focus instead on which ones I targeted and why.
The Starting Meta
Hydris is unfairly stacked in the Core One collection. It has great damage dealers, tanks and healers, so anyone can build a well balanced Hydris squad.
Everyone I speak to about squad building seems to have a 3-of-5 or mono Hydris build in the mix.
Meanwhile Terra — the element that could keep Hydris in check — is sorely lacking.
For some reason, it’s packed with tanks and warriors, and it lacks any legit damage dealer who can carry the squad…until now!
Why I Picked Juno and Aurant
That’s why I picked up these two Terra eSports.
Aurant is a cheaper alternative to Freia with way more utility in PVP and Juno can bring the pain with her poison effects.
I got a taste for assassins while I was testing Salve. Check out my review if you want to find out more about him.
If Juno can take out two back row supports or damage dealers before she gets neutralized in PVP, then she’s well worth the investment.
I don’t think she’ll have an issue disposing of Aquiris, Elohatt and Derisda - the backbone for most semi-competitive Hydris builds.
Why I Picked Abbas
Ironically, my next purchase was Abbas, a Hydris unit. His damage output is just too good at his price point.
I think he’ll make a better option against raid bosses than any Core One or Gen One.
Boss Rush bosses never die. Once you get their pawns out of the way, Abbas can go full auto on it for big time damage…
…Or so I hope!
To sum up, I got these three eSports Guardians because they fit in my budget and will give me a boost in GoG’s two new game modes.
The team did a great job balancing them with other playable collections, and like I said at the start of this section, there are a lot of viable combinations.
Things to Consider Before You Commit
This article started as a therapeutic exercise to keep me from scooping up the whole collection when the skill list dropped.
I missed the opportunity to buy legendary Founders at a bargain price. So this felt like a second chance to get in at a decent price point.
Here are some of the things I considered outside of just gameplay potential before making a decision on whether I should even pick any of them up.
- Could I even upgrade them if I wanted to?
- There will be plenty more guardians
- I don’t need a powerful squad to start the game
Could I Even Upgrade Them If I Wanted To?
The cracked heart mechanic the team introduced to upgrade Web3 Guardians is expensive right now because their main ingredient — Core One Guardians — is way up in price.
Minting a legendary cracked heart can cost upwards of 160 USD when you factor in all the inputs, and some are selling on Token Trove for 200 USD.
Times that by the 8 hearts required to max an eSports Guardian, and I’m completely priced out.
I plan to grind the game or wait until prices come down after launch to upgrade any Web 3 Guardians. That being the case, there’s no use in me grabbing a whole bunch of them now.
There Will Be Plenty More Guardians
I find the fun in mobile RPG games is in pulling for new characters. It’s exciting to discover their strengths and try them out.
Game developers tend to release increasingly powerful characters over time — a phenomenon known as the “power creep”.
Try as they might, it’s hard to balance large collections of assets. Chris himself warned us his founding collections wouldn’t always be in the meta.
In fact, the team just annouced today that its first Web3 Guardian sale will happen in June and will feature Tamamo, the Fox Goddess. She’s the character described in the description for Oxellus’ ultimate.
Even if I were to pass on eSports Guardians now, I can pull on future banners and build around those Guardians instead. I can always revisit them later as I earn from the game and the market adjusts over time.
I Don’t Need A Powerful Squad to Start The Game
Let me say this first, I can definitely see there being two tiers in the game. A highly competitive one for people who can afford to max a full legendary squad, and a semi-competitive one for the rest of us.
That’s not a GoG thing. The mobile RPG genre caters to whales, big-spenders, and professional guilds/eSports teams by incentivizing them with big leaderboard prizes.
I feel that a lot of community members have been realizing how hard and expensive it will be to compete in that top tier, and are revising their squads to include a mix of epics and legendary.
I myself plan to start with a Hydris-heavy Core One and Founder epic squad.
Do I expect to earn top prizes? Of course not. My earning strategy is more diversified across active staking, guild ownership and content creation.
I plan to grow into my eSports Guardians by grinding the game, so I made sure to pick ones I thought would help me out in the long run.
Conclusion
And there it is! Hopefully, this quick overview of eSports Guardians helps you with your squad building. To recap:
- Bronwyn is a high DPS mage who can slow down your opponent and protect your formation.
- Aurant is a tank that can mitigate damage for your team, disable the enemy and break through their shields
- Aurora is an all purpose ranger that can debuff the enemy, increase the duration of your buffs and dispel enemy status effects
- Juno is a DoT assassin and Terra’s savior
- Stratos is a high-DPS tank who can re-raise himself and taunt enemies
- Abbas is a crit-oriented DPS with an insanely high damage ceiling
- Yutsa is the first real evade unit who can target back row enemies
- Albert is a damage resistant warrior with ranged attacks who can interrupt enemy ultimates
At first glance, Chris Clay and the Guild of Guardians team did a great job of adding a well-balanced collection of playable characters to the game who hold up to the powerful Founder collection.
They clearly meant for this collection to excel at PVP. All eSports Guardians have skillsets that favor single battle fights.
I had to restrain myself when their skill list first dropped because it felt like a second chance at owning legit Web3 legendary Guardians. In the end, I proudly resisted the FOMO, and got the ones that suited my strategy and my budget.
Just remember:
- There is no best Guardian in this collection. Each one brings something different to the table
- eSports and Founder Guardians are expensive to upgrade quickly at the moment because of market conditions.
- Don’t feel left out if you can’t buy from this collection. There will be other opportunities down the road as you build up your account.
- You don’t need a high powered squad to have a successful start. Adding Core One epics to the mix can help you keep costs down and progress quickly early on.
All that to say, don’t feel pressured to buy into this collection unless they fit in your squad and in your budget. But if you can, there’s a lot of potential here.
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