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The first wave of the Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity DLC added tons of new features to the game, including new weapons for Link and Zelda, new challenges, a new difficulty mode, and new enemy types. One of the most exciting additions, though, was the new playable character: a "Battle-Tested" Guardian. Fans had to work hard to unlock it by traversing through most of the other first-wave DLC content before it became available.RELATED: Age Of Calamity: Pro Tips For Playing As GanonAs a huge, lumbering creature, the Battle-Tested Guardian is perfect for wide-open battlefields (though its maneuverability struggles, especially in places with lots of hallways and narrow spaces). It excels at taking down a lot of enemies all at once but struggles to take down the big enemies as quickly as the other heroes. If you're playing with friends, don't be self-conscious if your outpost or mini-boss takes a little longer to finish off than others'. This guide details the essential information that you need to start mastering the Battle-Tested Guardian.

Combos

Basic (Y) Combo String

Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity - Battle-Tested Guardian using Basic Attack

Tapping the Y button once will cause the Battle-Tested Guardian to swipe in front of it with one of its legs. When hit repeatedly, it leads to a string of concentrated attacks.

Following the Y combo string is probably the best for taking on challenging enemies with big health bars that are right in front of you, like bosses, as tempting as it is to hit X and sneak a strong attack in there. The Y attacks are just more focused and close to you, rather than spreading your damage over a wide area (which is what the strong attacks will do).

If you need to take out a boss or mini-boss with the Guardian, don't waste time on strong attacks unless there are lots of other mobs in the area that you need to deal with too.

Strong Attack (X) Combos

Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity - Battle-Tested Guardian using Strong Attack

Tapping the X button once prompts the Battle-Tested Guardian to shoot a Guardian ray in front of it. This is useful for bosses - but only if there's a significant distance in-between you and them.

Executing strong attack combos (by hitting Y a certain number of times and then hitting X) leads almost exclusively to long-range attacks involving lasers or bombs. Save these for large swaths of mobs, since so many of them are spread out in a semi-circle around wherever you're aiming.

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Until you can memorize exactly which attack provides concentrated damage to one location, they're not effective against enemies with huge health bars.

Unique Action (ZR)

Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity - Battle-Tested Guardian using Stasis (1)

The Battle-Tested Guardian's unique action is designed to offset the clear flaw in this hero's combo set: their strong attacks aren't useful against the hardest enemies.

If you hold ZR for a few seconds, the Battle-Tested Guardian locks on to an enemy in your field of view. This isn't the kind of "locking on" you can do by pressing down the left stick, though. You'll be able to tell which enemy you've attached to by the big red symbol over top of them on your screen. When that's present and you're attacking, anytime you do a strong attack combo (by hitting Y a few times and then X), the strong attack at the end won't be the long-range attack that it usually is. Instead, the Battle-Guardian will generate a laser beam and focus it on the enemy you locked on to. This means that your strong attacks can still go against the enemy you want them to, rather than the damage being spread across the battlefield.

It takes a while to lock on to an enemy, at first. Thankfully, the challenges you get when you unlock this playable hero will allow you to decrease the time it takes, once you beat them.

Sheikah Runes

Stasis

Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity - Battle-Tested Guardian using Stasis

Stasis locks the enemies in place and causes the Battle-Tested Guardian to start spinning, just like Urbosa (minus the lightning). However, Urbosa is just one woman. The Guardian is a huge machine with an excellent wingspan; this attack is fantastic for dealing with opponents who are swarming right up to you.

It's convenient since the other spread-out attacks for huge groups of mobs are all otherwise long-range if you're using a combo.

Bonus: it sends those enemies flying so that they'll be susceptible to your long-range attacks!

Remote Bombs

Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity - Battle-Tested Guardian using Remote Bombs

The Remote Bomb Sheikah Rune is a lot like one of the Battle-Tested Guardian's strong attack combos, except much stronger. It prompts you to fire bombs wherever you want, a bit similar to the way that Link aims his Remote Bombs, which then cause enemies to go flying.

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It isn't revolutionary, since so many of this hero's attacks are long-range like this, but it does help to create a lot of chaos on the battlefield.

Magnesis

Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity - Battle-Tested Guardian using Magnesis (mid-use on left, explosion on right)

Magnesis, probably the least-used of all the Sheikah Runes, is used on the Battle-Tested Guardian just about the same as on any other character — against opponents with metal weapons. Using Magnesis will drag any enemy with a metal weapon into a rotating circle in front of you, picking up more metal as it goes. When the rune wears off, the circle of metal explodes, sending your opponents flying.

Cryonis

Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity - Battle-Tested Guardian using Cryonis

The Battle-Tested Guardian's Cryonis rune works much like the Great Fairies'. It causes a pillar to pop up right below you, pushing you to fly through the sky above your enemies. This is great for floating past huge groups if you're not interested in fighting them all — it's much easier than pushing your way through, considering how huge a hitbox this character has.

It's also perfect for the Cryonis interrupt prompts since you don't need to worry about aiming the Cryonis pillars well enough that your opponent will ram into them.

Special Attack (A)

Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity - Battle-Tested Guardian using Special Attack

The Battle-Tested Guardian's special attack causes it to light up with energy and shoot lasers out of every hole on its body. It's not the most effective on mini-bosses or bosses, since it is attacking all around you and not just one place, but it shouldn't be underestimated, as it'll help get you out of a pinch. It also charges incredibly fast, since you're able to take out so many enemies at a time, so don't be afraid to use it!

Defending (ZL)

Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity - Battle-Tested Guardian in battle with lizalfos

Using your Guard on the Battle-Tested Guardian is, simply put, probably not worth it. Unless you're up against some kind of boss with a big, telegraphed attack that you can't counter some other way, trying to block attacks just isn't worth sacrificing the damage you could be doing to them otherwise.

You'll also seldom have a chance to dodge in-between the involved combos you'll be executing — the Guardian isn't the most maneuverable character in the roster (to put it nicely).

The Best Weapon Seals

Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity - Battle-Tested Guardian in the Allies menu

If you're wanting to use the Battle-Tested Guardian often, consider applying some of these weapon modifiers:

  • Perfect-Dodge Timing Window (since the Guardian isn't as maneuverable as other heroes, this extra leg up on your dodges will be a lifesaver)
  • Attack Speed (while powerful, your basic combos can be slow to come out; attack speed helps to balance out the lack of maneuverability)
  • Damage Per 100 KOs (as the Guardian, you'll be able to take out a lot of enemies at one time, making it incredibly beneficial to get better damage as your KO score rises)
  • Special-Attack Damage (if you're hoping to make the special attack more effective against bosses)
  • Strong-Attack Damage (to do more damage to the waves of mobs, since this hero's strong attacks are so spread out)

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