Hackers Wikia

"When an intrusion is detected the Guardian starts installing protective subroutines on neighbour nodes."

Level 1 Level 2-3 Level 4-5 Level 6-7 Level 8-9
Level 10-12 Level 13-15 Level 16-18 Level 19-20 Level 21

Summary

The Guardian is a defensive Security NodeDuring the Brute Force phase in a hack, Guardians provide connected nodes with a shield one at a time every five seconds. The Guardian will finally provide itself with a shield once all connecting nodes are shielded. Guardian shields will prevent damage equal to the Protection statistic. Once depleted, the shield will be removed. Guardians will replenish shield to connected nodes that have the shield depleted.

Statistics

Node Connections Program Slots
5 4
Core Level 1 - 5 6 - 7 8 - 10 11 - 12
Max # of
Guardians
0 1 2 3
Level Firewall Protection Cost Completion
Time
Required
Core Level
Appearance
1 250 80 $125,000 12 Hours 6
2 280 90 $250,000 18 Hours 6
3 310 102 $500,000 24 Hours 7
4 340 115 $750,000 36 Hours 7
5 380 130 $1,000,000 48 Hours 7
6 420 147 $1,250,000 60 Hours 8
7 470 167 $1,500,000 72 Hours 8
8 520 188 $2,000,000 92 Hours 9
9 580 213 $3,000,000 96 Hours 9
10 640 240 $4,000,000 9
11 710 272 $5,000,000 10
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21

Tips

  • Guardian shields are not passed on to nodes that are upgrading.
  • Because of its five node connections and low firewall, using a Guardian as a choke point with four security nodes (Turret or Black ICE) works well to defend a network.
  • Guardian shields can be depleted by a Battering Ram.
  • The order in which it installs protection on neighboring nodes is mirroring the order in which it's neighbors are attacked. Besides that, it always installes the protection on itself last.
  • There is currently a bug where, when a Guardian shield is broken by a Blaster, the excess damage goes directly towards the firewall, bypassing any other shields the node has.
Hackers Wikia - Nodes List
Nodes Programs Gameplay
Business Nodes

B-coin Mine  B-coin Mixer  netConnection  Core  Database  Server Farm 

Security Nodes

Black ICE  Code Gate  Guardian  Scanner  Sentry  Turret 

Hacking Nodes

Compiler  Evolver  Program Library 

A.I. Nodes

 A.I. Beetle   A.I. Hawk   A.I. Squid