Hello,

I play as Ilda Thistledancer, lvl 50 Champion on Morgan le Fay. I have written some months ago a guide for Guard, Protect, Intercept and Engage, since many people do not always understand the uses of these skills.


GUARD
You get this skill as a shield user and speccing in shields. You cannot make use of it if you are not using a shield.

What does it do? It gives you a chance to block an attack for the person you are guarding. You have to be close to the person.

Who do I use it on? Someone who is actively close to the battle and who regularly takes hits. If you are not the main tank, then the best person to have Guard on is the main tank. Why? While he keeps on building the taunt on himself (aggro control) you can actually lessen the damage he is taking by blocking on his behalf.

How often do I block? Base block percentage is 5% chance, and for every point in Shield you get 0.5%. So at 22 skill in Shield, I have 16% chance of blocking, be it on myself or for someone else. Don't waste guard on a healer or a caster. Use it on your melees (Champ, Blademaster, Hero and maybe Warden) and on your serious in-battle damage dealers (Nightshade and even a ranger firing his bow at close range). Just decide in the group who will attempt to keep all the aggro (called the main tank) and one person with Guard and good skill can dump it on him. For a small group, Guard will obviously be useful on a nuker or healer if you are the only close-range melee-damage dealer.

Why not use it on a healer or a caster? Healers and casters are passive in battle. Healers heal only when needed, and casters (hopefully!) don't chain-nuke. Besides, in a battle having Guard on someone who gets hit multiple times is much more effective than having it on someone who may get hit once or twice. They also tend to stand a bit away from the battle.

How do I see it work? You will see the following line: 
You block the [insert mob]'s attack against [insert guarded player name]!
If you have any weapon skills that has an opening move of you blocking, you can use them after you blocked for someone else.


PROTECT
Tank-starting classes get this skill, i.e. Vikings, Guardians and Fighters. This is gained through normal levelling and may differ from class to class as to which level you obtain the skill.

What does it do? Protect diverts aggro from the person you are protecting. Whatever that person just did to get aggro, you will distract the mob and it will stay on its current target, which will most likely be you.

Who do I use it on? Your casters, specifically the nukers, and your healers. They stand mostly at a distance. The nuker nukes for a big load of damage, immediately getting on the aggro list of the mob. The healer heals someone for a big load of Hotpoint's, also getting on the aggro list immediately. By protecting, you distract that listing, letting the mob ignore it.

This works even better if you happen to be the main tank, because then you are already high on the aggro list. Let me try to explain:

We have three characters - a healer, a main tank, and a damage dealer. Let's say the main tank has Protect on the healer.

The main tank keeps himself high on the aggro list by using taunting skills and the likes. Second on the list is the damage dealer. Now the healer heals the main tank - he heals a BIG load of hitpoints, so he generates BIG aggro. So big in fact, that he bypasses the damage dealer AND the tank.

If the tank has enough aggro, he will see this message TWICE:
You are protecting [healer] and distract the [mob].

In a group with 8 people, if the healer already did some heals and say is fourth on the aggro list, you will see the message THREE times (need to bypass three people to get to the top).

If the healer has done no healing yet and throws in a BIG heal, he has to bypass 7 people to get to the top of the list. If your protect happens to be good enough, you will see the message 7 times. If you see it less, chances are that the mob will still get to the healer.

So what is the use of the main tank protecting the healer? The main tank should always be on top of the aggro list. The healer only has to bypass the main tank then in aggro. If you are building good enough aggro, the healer is nearly guaranteed to be safe from aggro by being protected by the main tank.

If you are not building good aggro, you can see it as the mob thinking, "Bah, I don't give a damn about this person. I just shove him down the aggro list and go eat the healer". However, this does not mean that the healer will always get aggro if someone other than the main tank protects, it just gives it a slightly better chance.

In general, I find Protect VERY useful on healers/nukers. My suggestion is let the main tank have it on a nuker (they nuke more than the healer heals) and the secondary tank on the healer. It just showed to be a nearly 100% successful aggro controller that way.


INTERCEPT
Intercept is much like guard, available again to tank-starting classes, same as Protect.

What does it do? You literally intercept an attack for someone by jumping in front of the mob, taking the damage.

How do I use it? The best place I can think of using it is on the puller, if the puller is not also the main tank. You have to be close to the person for a success. I guess if you have two really good tanks (2 heroes) one hero can occasionally throw an intercept on the other hero during battle if the other hero is the main tank, just to spread the damage. Another fun place to use it is on the point-blank area nukers, since they are with you in the battle anyway. Intercept you can basically use on anyone that you can't spare a Guard or a Protect on. You can even put it on someone you are already Guarding or Protecting.

That is all there is to Intercept really.


ENGAGE
Engage raises your block percentage to 85% chance to block. However, when you engage, you cannot do normal attacks. And once a mob has been under attack, you can't engage it. So when do you use it? Well, it is highly effective against archers. You block the arrows shot at you.

How do I know it is working?
You get the message "You concentrate on blocking the blow"

Uses of engage: Suppose you pull some mobs, and you don't have someone to mez or stun the mob that is just that one too many to handle right now. Person with Engage skill takes up the add, hits it once or twice UNTIL HE HAS AGGRO, then switches over to Engage. The rest of the group kills the rest of the mobs, and finishes the engaged one later. For a tank, either solo or in a group, Engage is a nice way to start your fight. You block the first hit, and can immediately follow it up then with styles that require block as an opening. It just gives you that extra edge.

THESE SKILLS IN RVR
Guard: It mainly depends on how you play your character. I, for example, make it a point to keep the healer in my group as safe as I possibly can. I dump Guard on the healer then. I don't always join up in the front lines, and I carefully watch my healer's health. If you end up in the front lines, I suggest you put Guard on someone in the group who is with you in the front. But then it is YOUR responsibility to stay close to that person. In RvR things can get messy, and Guard can be very useful if you watch your movements in comparison to those in your group.

Protect: Does not work. People do not generate aggro against people :)

Intercept: Same as with Guard. It depends on your playing style and how well you can stay close to your group members.

Engage: Fun to use, but not always useful in a big battle. Because Engage does not work on someone who is under attack, chances are very good that you will not be able to Engage your enemy, because someone from another group has already nuked him or shot him or something. However, it is good to use in small fights, like single groups and one-on-ones. It is also good to use against that annoying Scout/Ranger/Hunter that keeps on shooting you!

SOME FUN INCIDENTS
I was but a young one and exploring Cruachon Gorge when this kobold hunter decided to take me out. I smacked my Engage button and blocked the next 6 arrows while getting my group together. We kicked his ass, and I received my second realpoints in the game :p

Many seasons later we were at the usual and regular stand-off between Albion and Hibernia in Emain Macha. One Scout kept shooting our Eldritch (void spec). So I dumped my Guard on him, blocked the arrows, and he bolted the Scout to death :p

A similar incident happened with about 3 Hunters shooting at our Ranger. I dumped Guard and an Intercept on the ranger, and he could happily shoot the Hunters to bits :p

And then of course, there is me Guarding my husband, the Bard. We made some Albs ... unhappy ... and we managed to lure one (a Minstrel in this case) away from the group. After all, we were just two Hibbies stuck between AMG and APK ... The Minstrel charged my hubby, casting a Mezmerize on me ... which I resisted. She obviously thought she would deal with me later, and started killing the Bard, or at least tried too. I sort of blocked a bit too much to her liking, and after debuffing her (I play a champion) she had no chance :p


-Ilda Thistledancer, Champion on Morgan le Fay