"The Wardens: members of an ancient order...fallen into dust. Sworn to defend the weak, masters of the longsword. Their origins lost to history; still they fight for what is right. Driven by duty, devoted to their people... but only a few may join their order."
For the single player campaign character, see: The Warden
Wardens are a playable hero class in For Honor.
Overview
"The Wardens are powerful, noble warriors dedicated to the defense of their land and their people. Striking a balance between defense and offense, wardens wear partial plate armor with chainmail and leather. Wardens wield massive two-handed longswords for slashing enemies and blocking attacks. Trained to be proud, loyal, and brilliant diplomats, the Wardens are expected to embody the highest values of Knighthood. Many set out to achieve this, few do." [1]
Armor
The Warden's default armor is a set of interwoven metal plates over chainmail, topped by a visored barbuta helmet made to protect against a stray arrow or blade strike. The partial plate is segmented along the torso, arm, and leg joints to provide great dexterity while still granting plenty of protection in battle.
Weapon
Longsword - The two-handed longsword is a double-edged weapon. Its hilt is comprised of a long, jutting cross guard, a heavy pommel for counterbalance, and a grip wrapped in leather. In spite of its size and weight, it remains a versatile weapon offering a balance of offense and defense.
Trivia
- The Warden's helmet designs hail from those from the 13th to 15th centuries. Such helmets include the visored barbuta, the great helm, and the visored sugarloaf.
- The Warden's side guard stances are inspired from the Pflug stance, a staple of basic medieval swordsmanship dating back to master Liechtenauer of the 1380s.[2]
- Similarly, their top guard stance derives from the Schlüssel stance, from which the wielder can efficiently deploy classic strikes like the Krohn or Einhorn strike.
- In historical comparison, the armor design for the Warden resembles early 14th century armor.
- On June 23rd, 2020 at New Game+ Expo (NGPX) 2020, Warden was announced by SNK Corporation as the 9th DLC character for their weapon-based fighting game Samurai Shodown (2019), added the day after on June 24th. See the trailer here. Check out the Warden's dedicated page on the SNK wiki here or this wiki's dedicated page for the game.
- In the series of Samurai Shodown, Warden is the 4th guest character to be added to the game and the first guest character to originate from a non-Japanese game. Strictly in Samurai Shodown (2019), he is the first guest character to be added.
- For Honor's Game Director, Nicolas Bombray, and Associate Art Director, Andrew Im, both were featured in a director's message video for this announcement. See the video here.
- Masaki Terasoma reprises this role, as he voices male Warden in the Japanese localization of the game.
- Executions and Emotes:
- The Warden's "Blade Homage" emote is a reference to the Marvel character Blade, specifically to the live action version's portrayal by Wesley Snipes. The emote imitates Blade's pose on the official poster for Blade 2, holding the sword vertically downwards with the handguard near the face.
- The Warden execution "Hilt Strike" is a historically accurate technique known as Mordhau, or 'murder-stroke'.
- The performing attacker holds the sword from the top (using a special gripping style to avoid cutting their own hands) and swings the hilt as an improvised bludgeon.
- Similar to wielding a mace, this blunt strike allowed medieval fighters to hammer through the thick armor that was developed to glance off/block the bladed weapons of its era. Heavy armor could be impervious to cutting attacks, but it could not defend against impact trauma by the hilt.
- The Warden's execution "End Them Rightly" is a technique described in the Gladiatoria KK5013, a 15th century German fencing manual, in which it details how a combatant should unscrew the pommel of their sword and throw it at their opponent.
- One translation from the manual: "If you want to end him rightly hold your spear and sword together on your arm, unscrew the pommel of your sword and throw it at him vigorously."
- Before the release of the game, the concept had become a meme after Medieval weapons youtuber Skallagrim made a video talking about the technique, followed by other youtubers following suit.
- However, the nature of throwing the pommel as an execution is mistaken, as the full translation includes a sentence after that the action of throwing the pommel is performed as a distraction before thrusting the sword into one's opponent. Also, the correct translation of the phrase "end him rightly" is actually "end him quickly." Skallagrim has recognized this in later videos, such as this one.
- Translation by Keith Ferrel: "If you want to end him quickly, hold your spear and sword together on your arm, unscrew the pommel of your sword and throw it at him vigorously. Close in with the throw and use your sword or spear, whatever suits you best."
- The execution "Brutality of Camlann" is a reference to the Battle of Camlann, the reputed final battle of King Arthur.
Quotes
- Latin: "Miserum!" - English: "Pitiful!"
- Male Warden, Shoulder Bash
- Latin: "Te secabo!" - English: "I will cut you to pieces!" ("I will sever you!")
- Female Warden, Shoulder Bash
- Latin: "Perī!" - English: "Die!"/"Perish!"
- Female Warden, Crushing Counterstrike
- Latin: "Incumbuī!" - English: "I brought my sword down upon you!"
- Male Warden, Crushing Counterstrike
- Directly translating "incumbuī" in the context of which the Warden is speaking it in is difficult since they are saying the phrase in the perfect tense of "incumbō" which directly translates to "I attack", "I pressure/press on", or "I fall on your sword."
- Male Warden, Crushing Counterstrike