Revision 1

Stamina in The Relic: First Guardian works the opposite way round from most action RPGs. It is never spent on attacking. The gauge exists strictly for high-stakes defence, which the developers summarise as freedom in attack, intensity in survival.

What Stamina Is For

The practical consequence is that you can strike continuously with relentless creativity and consistency, and the only real resource decision is defensive. Emptying the gauge on a mistimed dodge leaves nothing for the attack that follows, which is where the tension in a fight comes from.

Dodging and Parrying

Dodging is the primary evasive option, and parrying sits alongside it as a timed defensive answer. Encounters are designed around dodge, parry, and weapon mastery rather than around statistics, so learning a brutal's timing matters more than raising a number. Since no two brutals fight alike, the defensive rhythm has to be relearned per encounter.

Changes Since Launch

Two adjustments made defence more forgiving than at release. The player character's parry timing window was extended for smoother combat, and base defence was increased by 30. Player targeting was also fixed, having previously caused in-place movement glitches that could interfere with evasive movement. Details are on the Updates and Patches page.

Exact stamina values, recovery rates, and invulnerability windows have not been published, so this page covers the confirmed design rules. The wider ruleset is on the Combat System page.