Fiona

Overview

Fiona is a Bruiser-class character who wields a longsword and shield. She is the most balanced of the four playable characters, capable of dealing steady damage with her sword while absorbing and countering incoming attacks with her shield. The combination of offense and defense makes her the most forgiving character to learn. During the alpha test, she was the most popular follower choice: the first companion players receive in the story.

She appeared in the original 2010 Vindictus and returns with a combat style redesigned around the Precision Action System.

Combo list

Fiona has eight named combo chains, the most complex branching tree of the four initial characters. Her combos tend to be shorter and punchier than Lann's, reflecting her methodical fighting style.

Shield Deflection

Shield Deflection (TAB/RB, triggered when under attack) is Fiona's context-sensitive defensive action. When an enemy is mid-attack and Fiona activates Shield Deflection at the right moment, she deflects the incoming blow and creates an opening for a counterattack. This works in tandem with her standard Guard.

Guard and Heavy Stander

Fiona's core defensive mechanic is her Guard (Q/LB), raising her shield to block incoming attacks. A basic guard absorbs damage and reduces knockback. A Perfect Guard (timed at the exact moment of impact) negates all damage and breaks the enemy's stance, opening a counter window. After a successful guard, releasing guard and pressing RMB triggers a counterattack that can be chained up to two times.

Heavy Stander is an advanced guard technique that blocks all incoming damage from all sources for a limited time, including attacks that normal Guard cannot stop. Activating Heavy Stander right before an enemy attack lands triggers a Perfect Guard with reduced shield durability loss. Skilled Fiona players also use a technique called Heavy Cancel. Briefly activating Heavy Stander to interrupt lengthy attack animations, speeding up transitions between moves.

Active Skills

Playstyle

Fiona rewards patience and good timing. The ideal loop is: guard through an enemy's attack string, counter on the last hit, follow up with a combo, use Shield Bash to build stagger, and repeat. Her shield means she can afford to play more conservatively than Lann. If you misread an attack, you still block it for reduced damage instead of eating the full hit.

Against bosses with predictable attack patterns, a skilled Fiona player barely takes damage. The Heavy Cancel technique adds a mechanical layer for advanced players, letting them shorten combo recovery times and maintain pressure more aggressively than Fiona's defensive identity might suggest.

Weaknesses

Yellow-flashing Guard Break attacks cannot be blocked. When a boss telegraphs one, Fiona needs to dodge like everyone else, and her dodge is less responsive than Lann's Double Dodge. She also lacks Karok's raw stagger output, so fights where positioning matters more than blocking can expose her limitations. Shield durability depletes with sustained blocking and needs time to recover.