Choi's Devo Imperial Guard Guide

Introduction

The main purpose of this guide is to provide information on the build for Devotion focused Support Imperial Guard Builds. Honestly, I haven't been playing Imperial Guard for long, but I hope that you find this information informative and accurate. Please feel free to reach out to me (IGN: Choi or EL CRYSTAL RAY) for any questions or feedback!

Notes

Devo Imperial Guard is a popular support build that focuses on building tanky and absorbing damage with Devotion while also providing some useful buffs. This build is particularly popular in late game instances like Constellation Tower and Hall of Life but doesn't find too many uses outside of big party instances. As such, I don't recommend this as your main build and instead only recommend it as a build for specific instances. For a DPS focused guide, please check out Lxna's Here Comes the (Cross) Rain Again Guide!

Devotion

As you might guess, this build focuses around the Crusader skill Devotion. Devotion allows the Imperial Guard to link yourself to other party members and take the damage that they would take for them. As such, a heavy focus on the build focuses around getting a large amount of HP, so you can absorb the damage for your devoted members.

• Devotion has a 1.5s Fixed Cast Time but no after cast delay or cooldown.
• Devotion has 11 max range and can link up to 5 other plays. If either players move out of the range, the link will break.
• The damage taken from devotion is based on the devoted player's incoming damage. Damage mitigation on the IG won't impact the damage you absorb other than the reduction from Rebound Shield.

Due to it being full support, Imperial Guards focuses more heavily on stats and bonuses that other classes might not focus as much on. Here is how I would prioritize my sub stats:

1. Cast Time Reduction: Your goal will be to reach instant cast in the end game, so you will want to make sure you have enough FCT Reduction and VCT Reduction for Devotion. Due to the +30 to all stats provided by Inspiration and the stats you can afford not indexing into damage, I recommend opting for VCT reduction through Stats rather than gear. This means you will want reduction by getting your ((Dex x 2) + INT) = 530.
2. Tankiness: Overall, HP and resists, are super effective on Imperial Guards. Since your goal is to absorb as much damage from as many people as possible, having a high HP pool is incredibly important.
3. Magic Nullification: Prestige provides magic nullification based on the formula .25 x (Int+Luk) x (Base Level / 200) + 5. As such, you will want to have enough stats to obtain the magic nullification.
4. Attack Speed: Attack Speed decreases the animation delay of your skills which will allow you to spam Devotion. This isn't as important, but with the bonus from Inspiration and Spear Quicken, high attack speed should be easy to obtain.
5. After Cast Delay Reduction: Not a high priority as Devotion does not have any after cast delay. However, as some of your buffs do, it can be useful in edge cases.

Relevant Skills

• Devotion: Your main ability. Allows you to absorb damage taken by other players
• Rebound Shield: Reduces the amount of damage taken from Devotion. You should always try to have this up.
• Inspiration: A self-buff that provides +30 All stats, and 20% HP
• Prestige: A self-buff that provides magic nullification and increases your Defense.
• Vanguard Force: A self-buff that increases your HP by 15% and DEF by 10%
• Guardian Shield: A team buff that provides a shield to your team.
• Piety: A team buff that endows your team's armor with Level 1 Holy Property.
• Ultimate Sacrifice: A team buff that will immediately resurrect players with the status.

There are other useful abilities, but these are the ones that I use the most often.

Stats and Traits

Generally, Stats should be based on what best suits you. As such, I won't provide my exact Stat distribution, as you should update yours accordingly. Instead, I'll provide my priority and the benefits of each Stat:

1. Vit: Provides a lot of tankiness through HP, SoftDEF, and SoftMDEF.
2. Int: Provides the the second-highest reduction in Variable Cast Time. You will want enough Int to reach full VCT reduction and magic nullification.
3. Dex: Provides the highest reduction in Variable Cast Time from stats. You will want enough Dex to reach full VCT reduction.
4. Luk: You will want enough Luk for magic nullification
5. Agi: Provides some additional tankiness by providing FLEE, and the ATKSPD improves cast speed by reducing Cast animation.
6. Str: Provides additional weight capacity.

Note: If you opt to go for VCT Reduction through gear rather than stats, you can reduce your DEX significantly.

Traits are additional stats that provide bonuses for fourth classes. Traits are bit more straightforward:

1. WIS (110): Provides Magical Resistance.
2. STA (110): Provides Physical Resistance.

Gear Progression

Madame Celery's Guide to MuhRO has a very useful section for Gear Progression and Useful Cards, so please check that out! The information I will provide for Gear Progression will be more specific to Devo Imperial Guard. As I mentioned before, I recommend this build specifically for Late game party play. As such, this guide will only have two phases.

Phase One

Phase Two is a very serviceable and budget-friendly build. Your main priority is to reduce your fixed cast time, and your second priority will be increasing your tankiness.
Abilities will have a specific Fixed Cast Time and Variable Cast Time. For Imperial Guard, 1.5s Fixed Cast Reduction should be enough for the majority of your skills. Fixed Cast Time can be reduced by equipment (Most often through Shoes, Costume Enchant Stones, Accessories, and Higher Level Headgear).
Variable Cast Time should be reduced by cast time. However, due to the strength of Inspiration, you will want to go for VCT through stats. The formula to calculate your Variable Cast Time Reduction is 1 -((1-((Int + (Dex*2))/530)) * (1 - Bonus VCT from gear)).

At Level 160, you will have access to Illusion of Luanda's Goibne Gear. The Full Goibne combo is a powerful combo that provides a lot of HP and .7s FCT reduction. For FCT reduction, you can also use Royal Guard Stone (Top) (1000616) for .5s FCT reduction and the sinful combo for .3s FCT reduction.

For all of the Illusion Goibne gear, you will want to enchant them with double Rune of Vitality Lv2 (29010) Rune of Vitality Lv2 (29010) and upgrade them to +11 for a big boost in HP.

Phase 1 Gear

Type	Item	Notes
Upper	+11 Illusion Goibne's Helm [1] (19366)	Rune of Vitality Lv2 (29010) , Rune of Vitality Lv2 (29010)
Middle	Deep Blue Sunglasses [1] (410080) or Victory Wing Ears [1] (400002)	HP Enchants
Lower	Young Leaf of World Tree (Vitality) (420021)	STA Lv2 (311083) , MaxHP Lv.2 (310991) , and VIT+3 (4742) . Any Young Leaf will work.
Armor	+11 Illusion Goibne's Armor [1] (15348)	Rune of Vitality Lv2 (29010) , Rune of Vitality Lv2 (29010)
Weapon	+9 to +12 Illusion Gelerdria [2] (530015)	Gelerdria: Flat HP enchant (Max is 5000 HP)
Shield	+11 Illusion Guard [1] (460017) or +11 Illusion Sacred Mission [1] (28922)	Rune of Vitality Lv2 (29010) , Rune of Vitality Lv2 (29010)
Garment	+11 Illusion Goibne's Spaulders [1] (20923)	Rune of Vitality Lv2 (29010) , Rune of Vitality Lv2 (29010)
Shoe	+11 Illusion Goibne's Greaves [1] (22192)	Rune of Vitality Lv2 (29010) , Rune of Vitality Lv2 (29010)
Accessory (Right)	Sinful Sapphire Ring [1] (490052)	Regret Lv5 (310216) . Any sinful accessory combo will work.
Accessory (Left)	Sinful Sapphire Necklace [1] (490053)	Regret Lv5 (310216) . Any sinful accessory combo will work.

Phase Two

This is the more expensive, end-game option for Devo IG. This is a big jump from the previous phase. In this phase, you should feel comfortable Devoing in the most difficult instances.

Phase 2 Gear

Type	Item	Notes
Upper	+10 to +12 Old Crown of Guardian [1] (18983) +10 to +12 Temporal Circlet (Royal Guard) [1] (19475) +11 to +12 [C] Time Dimensions Rune Crown(Imperial Guard) [1] (400530)	Crown of Guardian: Adamantine Lv1 (29101) , VIT+5 (4744) Temporal: Adamantine Lv1 (29101) , Temporal Jewel (VIT) Lv 3 (29680) , VIT+4 (4743) TD: Adamantine Jewel Lv1 (312779) , Time Dimension Jewel (Vitality) Lv3 (312706) , VIT+5 (4744)
Middle	Gambler's Seal [1] (410233) Deep Blue Sunglasses [1] (410080)	HP enchants
Lower	Ace of Clovers in Mouth (Defense) (420269) Young Leaf of World Tree (Vitality) (420021)	Resistances (DEF, MDEF, RES, MRES) or attack speed enchants STA Lv2 (311083) , MaxHP Lv.2 (310991) , and VIT+3 (4742) . Any Young Leaf will work.
Armor	+12 [A] Nebula Armor of Stamina [1] (450170)	Star Cluster of Stamina Lv.3 (310679) , Nebula of Health Lv.3 (310744) , VIT+5 (4744)
Weapon	+9 to +12 Illusion Gelerdria [2] (530015) +10 Glorious Holy Avenger (13418)	Gelerdria: Flat HP enchant (Max is 5000 HP) Holy Avenger: Obtained through PvP. Interesting item that casts Lex Aeterna when you use Pressure. You will want a lot of ACDR to use it.
Shield	+11 Illusion Guard [1] (460017) or +11 Illusion Sacred Mission [1] (28922) +10 [C] Glacier Guard [1] (460040)	Illusion: Rune of Vitality Lv2 (29010) , Rune of Vitality Lv2 (29010) Glacier: Your choice for Slot 2 and 3. Glacier Flower Meow Power(Guardian) (312094) for Slot 1
Garment	+7 [C] to [A] Glade Rune Manteau [1] (480231)	Stamina of Varmundt Lv3 (310938) , VIT+5 (4744)
Shoe	+11 [A] Glade Rune Boots [1] (470174) +11 to +13 [A] Hero Boots-LT [1] (470094)	Glade: Stamina of Varmundt Lv3 (310938) , DEX+4 (4723) or VIT+5 (4744) Hero: Vigor of Warlord (310912) , Spell Lv4 (4812) , VIT+5 (4744) or INT+5 (4714)
Accessory (Right)	Stellar Stamina Seal [1] (490133)	Star of Vital Lv.5 (310721) , Star of Vital Lv.5 (310721) , Star Cluster of Resistance Lv5 (313043)
Accessory (Left)	Signet of Circulation: Autumn [1] (490485) Hero's Badge [1] (490163)	SoC: Obtained as part of Hall of Life. Token of Life (312981) , Signet of Stamina Lv5 (313001) . Can use any Signet of Circulation Hero: To be paired with Hero Boots-LT [1] (470094) . Vitality (310918) , Spell Lv4 (4812) , VIT+5 (4744)

Misc

Shadow Gear

Some great options for mixed Blue Shadow Gear are:

• Armor: Maximum Mammoth Shadow Armor (24679) or Lord Bearer's Shadow Armor (24764)
• Weapon: Master Shadow Weapon (24792) , Absorb Shadow Weapon (24686) , or Mega Blitz Shadow Weapon (24768)
• Shield: Master Shadow Shield (24793) , Absorb Shadow Shield (24685) , or Mega Blitz Shadow Shield (24767)
• Shoes: Maximum Mammoth Shadow Shoes (24680) or Lord Bearer's Shadow Shoes (24763)
• Earring: Almighty Shadow Earring (24339)
• Pendant: Almighty Shadow Pendant (24340)

Costume Stones and Pets

Costume Stones:

• Upper: Royal Guard Stone (Top) (310887) or Defense Stone (Top) (1001168)
• Middle: VIT Convert Stone (25006) or Defense Stone (1001169)
• Lower: Super Novice Stone (Low) (1001329) , Stamina Stone (Low) (25063) , Stamina Stone (Low) (25063) , or Defense Stone (Low) (1001170)
• Garment: Super Novice Stone (Garment) (1001326) , Minor Casting Stone (Garment) (25170) , Cast Stone (Garment) (25067) , ASPD Stone (Garment) (6908) , or Resist Defense Stone (Garment) (1001171)
• Dual: Minor Casting Stone (Dual) (1000521) , ASPD Stone (Dual) (1000520) , or Stamina Wisdom Stone (Dual) (1001172)

Cute Pets: Blue Moon Loli Ruri Egg (9140)

Cards

You can find a great list of cards to use in Celery's Guide.

Cards

Type	Item	Notes
Upper	Melted Poring Card (300174)
Middle	Melted Poring Card (300174)
Armor	Two Eyes Dollocaris Card (300376) or Ominous Solider Card (27114)	Two Eyes Dollocaris Card (300376) should be used on a +12 armor
Weapon	Demon's Essence VIT 3 (4919) or Dancing Marionette Card (31021)
Shield	Elite Rgan Guardian Card (300465) , Modified Senior Rgan Card (300379) , or Mushy Ant Egg Card (300235)	Modified Senior Rgan Card (300379) should be used on a +12 shield
Garment	Ancient Stalactic Golem Card (27292)
Shoe	Green Ferus Card (4381) or Papila Ruba Card (300093) / Assistant Bot Card (300081)
Accessory (Right)	Broken Beta Guards Card (300076)
Accessory (Left)	Broken Beta Guards Card (300076)