All Highguard characters, abilities, and the best Wardens to play as

Each of the Highguard characters has a unique selection of magical abilities that can help you kill fellow Wardens, support your allies, crumble enemy defenses, or protect your own. Every character has a Tactical, Passive, and Ultimate Power that you'll need to master if you're to successfully raid or defend in a match. But the variety of characters and their abilities mean some clearly outshine others and are definitely worth having on your team in Highguard. With Episode 2 introducing Ekon, the Warden roster now stands nine strong, so here's an up-to-date tier list of the best characters in Highguard, as well as some details about how all their abilities work.

Highguard characters tier list

Based on my time playing Highguard, Atticus and Scarlet are proving to be very strong Highguard characters already, on both attack and defense, with Slade, Kai, Mara, and Ekon not far behind – master any of these characters, as well as some of the best Highguard weapons, and you can be an asset to your team. But here's how the full Character roster stacks up in tier list form:

• S-tier: Versatile and powerful Wardens that are lethal in practically any situation.
  • Atticus, Scarlet
• A-tier: Characters that are highly effective but aren't quite as versatile or deadly as those in S-tier.
  • Kai, Mara, Slade, Ekon
• B-tier: Good Wardens with flawed abilities that can sometimes be valuable in the heat of battle.
  • Condor
• C-tier: Average Wardens whose powers are nothing special or are a mixed bag.
  • Una
• D-tier: Wardens that are rarely worth picking due to their niche or underpowered abilities.
  • Redmane

Make sure you also take a look at our Highguard tips for beginner Wardens to give you the best possible advantage.

Atticus

• Tactical Power – Shockspear: Throw out a spear that shocks nearby enemies where it lands, dealing damage which also charged his Supercharged Axe. Has three charges. Spears can be shot and destroyed by the enemy.
• Passive Power – Supercharged Axe: Charged axe hits release an explosion that damages nearby resource nodes.
• Ultimate Power – Powerstorm: Hover in the air and throw up to five lightning spears that deal heavy damage to both enemy Wardens and structures.

Rating: S

Atticus is an excellent all-rounder Assault Warden, able to use his Shockspears to zap enemies and deny space from very far away, regardless of if you're playing defensively or going on the offensive. His Powerstorm Ultimate is also very strong, perfect for wiping a clustered team or breaking defenses during a raid.

Condor

• Tactical Power – Eyes in the Sky: Send out Condor's bird, which scans to detect moving enemies. The scan activates after a few seconds and reveals enemies that aren't standing still during a short window. Enemies stay highlights for several seconds. However, all enemies get a three-second warning when the scan is about to happen and when to stand still.
• Passive Power – Hunter's Instinct: Condor's bird warns her when enemies are nearby. Condor will call out to her teammates that enemies are nearby too.
• Ultimate Power – Soaring Guardian: Take control of Condor's bird and launch up to three smoke clouds at the ground. Enemies within the clouds' wake are highlighted. Condor herself is entirely vulnerable on the ground while using Soaring Guardian, so make sure you're hidden.

Rating: B

Condor is currently the only Recon Warden in Highguard and she's adequate but far from essential. Her Eyes in the Sky scan power can be helpful but also easily negated if enemy players simply stand still. The passive warning from Hunter's Instinct is also a bit pointless as enemy footsteps are so loud that you don’t really need the warning, but her Soaring Guardian Ultimate can be good for shrouding and disorienting the enemy at key moments.

Ekon

• Tactical Power – Wolf Spirit: Release a spirit wolf that seeks out the nearest enemy and applies Dread if it hits them. Spirit wolves can be shot and destroyed by the enemy.
• Passive Power – Dread: Briefly highlight wounded enemies. Enemies that are missing health will be notified that their position has been revealed. Allies can also see highlighted enemies.
• Ultimate Power – Fearsome Howl: Apply Dread to all enemies across the map and temporarily increase your movement speed.

Rating: A

Ekon is Highguard's first Intercept Warden, with his role being to hunt down the enemy and ensure they have nowhere to hide. His Wolf Spirit and Fearsome Howl abilities aren't especially powerful in isolation but all help with his Dread passive and revealing the enemy. That means Ekon is often better than Condor in most scenarios. Ekon also has the added benefit of transforming into his mount rather than summoning one, which means he can't be killed before being shot out of his mount form.

Kai

• Tactical Power – Ice Wall: Create a wall of ice directly in front of you that blocks damage. When standing near your ice wall, you can slowly push it to move it forward.
• Passive Power – Frozen Repair: Repair destroyed walls with ice rather than a wall repair item.
• Ultimate Power – Frost Giant: Temporarily transform into Kai's Inner Ice Demon with a unique moveset. The demon has lots of health, an ice shockwave melee attack, an ice shield that blocks damage.

Rating: A

Kai's ability to conjure a massive Ice Wall and transform into a robust Frost Giant with a shield makes him the best Defensive character in Highguard for now. He's capable of blocking a lot of damage and providing cover for allies in almost any scenario. His ability to fix walls with Frozen Repair also makes him great to have on your team in case you need to defend your base.

Mara

• Tactical Power – Soul Armor: Throw out an orb that an ally can collect to gain a small overshield that blocks a little extra damage. You can also collect the orb yourself or hold the input to bring up button options to either consume the orb directly or throw it out. Has three charges.
• Passive Power – Sacrifice: Purging an enemy player's soul grant ability charge for your Soul Armor power.
• Ultimate Power – Immortal Coil: Create a spawn point for your team wherever you use Immortal Coil. The spawn point can be used three times across your whole team and when a player spawns using it, they briefly get to travel through the ground before emerging properly.

Rating: A

Mara is Highguard's only Support character so far, but she's effective in any team composition and situation, provided you're willing to get stuck into combat. Dishing out Soul Armor as often as possible and using her Sacrifice passive on dead enemies are both crucial to being able to help your team. Immortal Coil also needs to be used at just the right time and in the right place to help teammates get back into the fight quickly.

Redmane

• Tactical Power – Pounce: Smash through breakable walls with a claw attack. Hold button to charge up a powerful leap that ends with the claw swipe. Has three charges.
• Passive Power – Enraged: Gain a movement speed and reload speed increase after killing enemies.
• Ultimate Power – Beast's Roar: Let out a roar that destroys breakable walls and objects in front of your and damages enemy players that It hits.

Rating: D

Redmane is the sole Destruction Warden in Highguard right now and he's very underwhelming. With powers like Pounce and Beast's Roar geared almost entirely towards destroying walls, he only shines when you're attacking an enemy base. Pounce does have some use as a movement ability, but it's so slow that enemies can quite easily gun you down as you leap.

Scarlet

• Tactical Power – Sandstorm: Become invisible for several seconds, but only to those that are not inside the surrounding ring that forms.
• Passive Power – Shifting Sands: Temporarily turn a destructible wall into a sand doorway, letting you and your teammates walk through it. Has a cooldown
• Ultimate Power – Whirling Blades: Temporarily equip six daggers that Scarlet can throw at enemies, dealing high damage with each hit. Killing a player with a dagger resets all her power cooldowns and fully replenishes her daggers.

Rating: S

Scarlet is a superb assassin-type Assault character with a very synergistic kit that lets her outmanoeuvre enemies in any battle situation. Sandstorm's invisibility help you flank undetected, while Shifting Sands lets you make holes in enemy defenses to help your entire team rush in. Combine both abilities with her Whirling Blades Ultimate and you can devastate an entire team in seconds.

Slade

• Tactical Power – Heatwave: Send out a rippling wave of fire which can travel through objects and damage destructible walls.
• Passive Power – Firebomb: Slade's grenade spreads magma after exploding.
• Ultimate Power – Firestorm: Cause fire projectiles to rain down in a large circular area for a short time, dealing damage to any enemies that get hit.

Rating: A

While perhaps a bit less lethal than Atticus, Slade is a solid Assault Warden who packs incendiary abilities that are all great for flushing out enemies and chipping away at them with damage over time. Firebomb is great for arcing over cover or bouncing around corners, while Heatwave and Firestorm can make large areas hazardously hot, making Slade a great attacker and defender.

Una

• Tactical Power – Forest Wisps: Conjure a spirit that lobs concussion grenades at nearby enemies. Has three charges. Wisps can be shot and destroyed by the enemy.
• Passive Power – Helping Hand: Spirits will occasionally appear to give Una loot.
• Ultimate Power – Tree Walker: Summon a large forest spirit that throws smaller explosive spirits at nearby enemies.

Rating: C

Una is a versatile Defensive Highguard character, but her kit is definitely not as protective as Kai's, instead focusing on summoning distracting Wildwood spirits that can pelt enemies with concussing and damaging projectiles. However, her Forest Wisps can be destroyed very easily with a few bullets, and I've not personally noticed the Tree Walker do very much.

If you're trying to play with friends on different platforms, our Highguard crossplay guide will help you team up.

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