View source for Fight Guardians of the Rift/Strategies

Although the [[Guardians of the Rift]] minigame can be completed with varying levels and equipment, the general strategy remains consistent. Those without access to the larger essence pouches may have to convert more guardian essence and make more frequent trips through the runic altars.

==General tips==
* If a barrier '''breaks''', the Great Guardian's power will rapidly drop, especially at later stages. '''Repair''' them as soon as possible, requiring 10 guardian essence per barrier. Prioritize using essence to repair the tile over crafting runes.
* '''If a round ends (enters its grace period) more than 95 seconds after the last portal spawned, an additional portal will spawn during the grace period.''' This 'grace portal' allows mining essence as soon as the next round begins, increasing efficiency significantly.
** To maximize the likelihood of this, ''wait'' to redeem your final set of guardian stones until 95 seconds. Without a timer, simply redeem during the grace period.
* '''2-4''' guardians are recommended at the start of each round. Having an inadequate number of guardians will allow the abyssal creatures to quickly overwhelm and destroy the barriers.
* Avoid contributing weaker cells to the guardian cap after the first phase, as this will ''severely'' limit the damage output of the guardians on the battlefield. Weaker cells are generally best spent healing barriers as barrier contributions ''stack'', whereas guardian constructions ''do not''.
* When building a barrier at the start of a game, stand on the barrier side of the cell tile. This will knock your character through the barrier after it's built, giving you a head start at running to a mining spot.
* Points and experience are based on the ''amount of essence crafted'' - not the tier of the altar. It's not efficient to wait for desired altars to become active.
* Lower level players can spend the time between rounds crafting guardians for additional experience.

==Combination Rune Tips==
Crafting combination runes produces polyelemental guardian stones, giving an additional elemental point per essence. With Magic Imbue and binding necklaces this can result in up to 50% more elemental points, at the cost of some inventory space, more attention, and the preceding requirements.

For optimal points, one should bring a stack of air runes, and cast Magic Imbue before using them on another elemental altar, while crafting catalytic runes when the air portal is active, as air produces the weakest cell. Use care when depositing runes to retain this stack. If using a rune pouch, filling it with cosmic, astral, and steam runes allows for casting both Magic Imbue and NPC Contact without requiring additional inventory space, and can store crafted steam runes. Each binding necklace should last 2 rounds, and some may wish to bring a spare in the event it breaks mid-round, or simply craft runes normally until obtaining a fresh one.

Crafting combination runes from water runes alternatively produces significantly more valuable runes on average, at the cost of marginal cell points. By replacing steam runes inside a rune pouch with smoke runes, no additional inventory space is required. When crafting only at the earth and fire altars, and crafting catalytic when water or air are active, the average cells are no weaker, and it is easier to achieve an even point distribution per round.

==Equipment==
==Inventory==

==Rune Types==
==General Strategy==
===Step-by-step===
==Solo Run==
==Mass Run==
This strategy assumes the usage of a colossal pouch and should guarantee 8+ points, catalytic and elemental combined, every round depending how fast you are.

Before rift opens:

# Grab 10 uncharged cells
# Grab 1 weak cell
# Wait by empty cell tiles or by a guardian if you have a chisel. 

Rift opens (game starts):

# Build a barrier or create a guardian with the weak cell
#Run to the Large Guardian Remains on the eastern side of the arena
# Mine 165-170 essence fragments<ref name="fragOptimized" group="n">Go for 165 essence fragments when you have to build a west side barrier.</ref>
# Craft 30 essence and go to altar and craft runes -> Exit altar
# Power-up and heal barrier<ref name="overchargedGuard" group="n">Crafting an overcharged guardian is also an option if there are less than 10 guardians in play.</ref> + Deposit Runes ''if needed''
# Go to portal -> Mine full inventory + fill colossal pouch
# Go to altar and craft runes -> Exit altar
# Craft full inventory of essence fragments + fill colossal pouch
# Power-up and heal barrier + Deposit Runes ''if needed''
# Go to altar and craft runes -> Exit altar
# Power-up and heal barrier + Deposit Runes ''if needed''
# Go to portal -> Mine full inventory + fill colossal pouch
# Go to altar and craft runes -> Exit altar
# Power-up and heal barrier + Deposit Runes ''if needed''
# Craft remaining essence fragments until portal pops
# Go to portal -> Mine full inventory + fill colossal pouch
# Go to altar and craft runes -> Exit altar
# Power-up and heal barrier
# Done

If you find yourself in a portal beyond 95% power, you may choose to start the next round inside the portal. The start should follow these steps:
# Start mining the guardian remains. Fill your inventory and pouch.
# Exit the portal and run to the mine on the east side. Make sure to have 1 empty inventory slot for the fragments.
# Mine until the timer reaches 0 or you have more than 125-130 fragments.
# Go to altar and craft runes -> Exit altar
# Continue with step 5 above