How to Defeat a Ruin Guard in Genshin Impact

Last Updated: July 4, 2022

A ruin guard is an enemy in Genshin Impact that can potentially cause severe damage to your character's health and/or block your path for a good while. Defeating a ruin guard is not impossible, though; with the right strategy, you will be able to avoid serious health damage, while at the same time progressing towards defeating the enemy.

Steps

1
Know which characters you will need. You will need a character that can shoot arrows (ranged combat) and you will need a character that can participate in melee combat. Amber is a free character that can do the first, and your Traveler character can do the second, but other character combinations like Fischl and Kaeya or Venti and Jean may also work.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Avoiding Damage

1
Keep a distance. Ruin guards can deal serious damage if you are too close. It is best to keep at least 50 to 100 meters from a ruin guard to avoid losing a lot of health.
- Note that if you go too far, the ruin guard's HP bar will reset.
2
Avoid missiles. The ruin guard will fire targeted Pyro missiles at you. If you see a crosshair on your character, that means the ruin guard's missiles are following you. Run in a zig-zag pattern to confuse the missiles. After the crosshair disappears, move out of the way of the missiles and explosions.
3
Keep clear when the ruin guard spins. This spinning has the potential to knock you down. If you are too close, you can lose serious health. If this is happening, then you should back away from the ruin guard.
4
Avoid the ruin guard's other forms of attack. Other things the ruin guard might do if you are too close include trying to clap your character, which can deal serious HP damage. They may also punch and jump. It is important to keep your distance to avoid these two attacks.

Tip: If an enemy or other object is about to fall on you, you will see an orange circle with a shaded border moving outward. When the inner border touches the edge of the circle, then the object will have touched down in that area.
5
Revive/heal your archer. If they die, you will need to revive them. It is always a good idea to keep food in your inventory in case any of your characters die during combat. Teyvat Fried Eggs and Steak are easy to make and can revive characters.

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Dealing Damage

1
Fire arrows at the ruin guard's eye. This will stun the ruin guard and stop any form of attack the ruin guard is using at the moment. Repeatedly dealing damage here, while it will not cause serious damage to the ruin guard, will eventually disable the ruin guard temporarily, where then you can use other forms of attack to cause even more considerable damage.
- Use elementally charged attacks. To use an elementally charged arrow attack, hold the bow button down until you see Pyro/Electro/Anemo coming from the end of the arrow. Release when the crosshair is pointed at the ruin guard's eye.
- If the ruin guard is firing missiles, you can stop the missiles from firing by hitting the yellow crosshair for the brief three seconds before the missile launches.
- If you do this a second time before a shield forms around its core, then you will effectively disable the ruin guard.
2
Use elemental burst. This can deal a lot of damage when combined with other attacks. One easy way to do so is by combining Pyro with Electro, resulting in Overloaded, which deals large amounts of damage.
- You may want to use certain elemental burst attacks after the ruin guard is disabled. For example, Amber's Fiery Rain attack and Lisa's Lightning Rose attack are not super effective if the ruin guard is not disabled, as they may move out of the attack's range.
3
Use melee weapons only after the ruin guard is disabled. After the ruin guard is disabled, you will want to use melee weapons to deal more damage. The ruin guard will remain disabled for 15-30 seconds and then reactivate. Use this window to deal additional damage.
- Run away when you see the ruin guard reactivating. The guard can deal massive physical damage if you are in close range.
4
Repeat to defeat the ruin guard. If done correctly, the ruin guard will effectively be defeated. The guard drops a chaos device. You may also get a chest unlocked that can drop valuable materials and/or result in you leveling up.

Community Q&A

Question

Is it possible to defeat a ruin guard without having to shoot them in the eye?

Aasim

Top Answerer

Yes, but you will need a character with a claymore. Beidou and Xiangling seem to be a good combo for defeating a ruin guard. Noelle and Barbara can help regenerate HP.
Question

I've followed these instructions and I still die. What should I do?

Luke

Top Answerer

You may be underleveled. Level up your characters before you continue to fight. If this is not the case, consider switching or equipping artifacts or better weapons. You can also use certain food items to aid you, and some characters (such as Bennett) have special abilities that can enhance your characters' stats even further.
Question

What happens if my archer (Amber) loses HP easily and I have no other archer?

Luke

Top Answerer

Equip (better) artifacts, specifically a Flower of Life. These increase your HP by a certain amount. You can also level her up.

Warnings

If it is obvious that your characters are losing a lot of health, teleport to a Statue of the Seven to regenerate health and consider fighting when your party and/or adventure level is higher.

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