Vanguard of Undeath

*Become the eye of the storm. The storm of the abyssal legions.*

## Summary

Vanguard of Undeath is a peak-quality capstone skill that Zac gained as one of his two level 75 skill quests for his Undying Bulwark class. It is a transformative skill that causes him to grow to three meters in size, gain a 10% base attribute buff, gain armor, and a massive weapon. The transformation essentially grants him a short-range wide-area attack that is greatly enhanced by the taunting effect the skill also provides. Later stages of the skill increased his size to five meters, increased the buff to 15%, and increased the power of the taunt. The skill does not have a cooldown but does require a shield to activate and breaks if the armor is destroyed.

Vanguard of Undeath was manually evolved to **[Arbiter of the Abyss]** while in a temple in the Dimensional Seed in the Void Star using the last energies of the alter in the temple where he found the second seal for his Flamebearer quest.

## Skill Quest

* Vanguard of Undeath (Class): Obtain a defensive Dao Fragment. Reward: Vanguard of Undeath skill. (0/1) **Book 4, Page 421**
* But gaining the Fragment of the Coffin was definitely a step in the right direction, making Zac more hopeful for the future. **Book 4, Page 492**
* It was also a decent indicator that Fragment of the Coffin was a defensive Dao as well, meaning his final skill quest was also most likely completed. **Book 4, Page 501**

## Skill Window

[F] Vanguard of Undeath - Proficiency: Peak. Become the eye of the storm. The storm of the abyssal legions. Upgradeable. Discord

## Early Proficiency

* His vantage rapidly changed as he felt himself grow, and the bones in his body creaked and groaned until he was standing well over three meters tall. **Book 5, Page 2**
* His frame had received a huge upgrade in not only height but also bulk, and he stood his ground like a massive tank. **Book 5, Page 2**
* His whole body was covered in thick medieval armor that ran in black and turquoise, created by extremely dense layers of Miasma. **Book 5, Page 2**
* Even his equipment had been transformed by the skill. His shield **[Everlasting]** had grown to match his increased size, and the circle of fractals in the middle had changed color from white to turquoise to match the details in his armor. **Book 5, Page 2**
* Even **[Verun’s Bite]** had enjoyed an upgrade, though it seemed that his axe couldn’t be infused in the same manner as his shield. A massive miasmic axe had instead formed over it, a grisly bardiche that was tailor-made for his brutal frame. The haft was almost two meters long and ended in a sharp spike. **Book 5, Page 2**
* All his attributes apart from Luck had gained a solid 10% increase, pushing his power to another level. **Book 5, Page 3**
* ... judging by the modest consumption of Miasma, he would be able to maintain his current form for the better part of an hour without a problem. **Book 5, Page 3**
* **[Vanguard of Undeath]** had a taunting function? **Book 5, Page 4**
* Zac also quickly learned that he could control the effect a bit, and reducing the area he taunted lessened the mental strain on him. Conversely, the area he could cover if he strained was pretty massive, and he realized he could easily cover the whole cage he created with **[Profane Seal]**. **Book 5, Page 4**
* He quickly realized he had some control over the spectral axe, ... Still, he was able to elongate the handle by another meter, and the edge could grow to be almost as tall as a full-grown person. **Book 5, Page 5**
* Zac also tested the offensive capabilities of the Fragment of the Coffin in conjunction with **[Vanguard of Undeath]**, and the fit was just amazing. **Book 5, Page 8**
* The skill forced him to use one of his spare shields since he wanted to keep his coffin in its offensive state, but it wasn’t much of a bother. **Book 9, Page 82**

## Middle Proficiency

* He instead activated **[Vanguard of Undeath]** and grew to a towering behemoth almost reaching four meters. The transformation added around half a meter to his height after reaching Middle proficiency, while also increasing the thickness of the plating of his Miasmic armor. More importantly, it increased the power of his taunting effect, and the cat suddenly rammed straight into him by mistake when it tried to pass him by. **Book 6, Page 182**

## Late Proficiency

* He had spent a herculean effort [*during three year time skip*] on his F-grade skills, all of which had now reached Peak mastery. **Book 7, Chapter 60**
* *No other textual information.*

## Peak Proficiency

* Zac had already taken out a spare shield, and he almost instantly grew to five meters as he activated his Peak-mastery **[Vanguard of Undeath]**. **Book 8, Page 52**
* Its taunting effect was effective even at this stage, though it only lasted a second or two before most could overcome it. **Book 8, Page 53**
* Apart from the improvement to his taunting ability, reaching Peak mastery had boosted the inherent buff, pushing it from 10% to 15% to his Base Attributes. The boost was limited by the skill’s grade though, and it couldn’t keep up with Zac’s exponential attribute growth in the E-grade. **Book 8, Page 168**

## Upgrading

* The problem was that **[Vanguard of Undeath]** didn't synergize as well with his toolkit any longer. He couldn't even activate it without taking out a spare shield, and **[Deathmark]** no longer required him to get hit to retaliate against his enemies. **Chapter 898**
* The way he defended himself had also changed. Between the support from the pygmy skeletons of **[Profane Exponents]** and Alea's chains, he didn't get much from using a shield. **Chapter 898**
* So the skill needed to be reformed, which drastically increased the difficulty level. **Chapter 898**
* Even a tricky F-grade skill like **[Vanguard of Undeath]** couldn't stump him anymore, at least not with the multilayered advantages. **Chapter 898**
* Zac nodded in satisfaction upon seeing the description of the skill that had replaced **[Vanguard of Undeath]'*. The previous flavor text said,* 'Become the eye of the storm. The storm of the abyssal legions.** The drastic change of **[Arbiter of the Abyss]** proved that some of its fundamental features had been revamped. **Chapter 898**

## **Synergy**

* ... as strikes against his new armor would activate **[Deathwish]** just like strikes at his body. **Book 5, Page 5**
* He couldn’t combine **[Blighted Cut]** with skills ... though it was fine together with **[Vanguard of Undeath]** ... **Book 6, Page 188**
* The skill [*referring to Deathmark*] still synergized very well with **[Vanguard of Undeath]** and its taunting ability. As long as he could force his enemy to focus on him through that mental manipulation or pressure alone, the wraiths would keep multiplying and increasing the danger for the enemy. **Book 8, Page 136**
* The original **[Void Zone]** had a radius of slightly over two meters around his body, which barely allowed him to inundate an enemy in a melee. However, when he activated the talent in his supersized form, the aura’s radius scaled perfectly with his increase in height. **Book 9, Page 83**

## Commentary

* The situation was a perfect opportunity to Zac, and he activated **[Vanguard of Undeath]** for the first time. A storm of Miasma exploded out from his body, which in turn attracted the attention of all the beasts. **Book 5, Page 1**
* He had spent most of the fifth floor in his Draugr form, and he had to say that he was loath to fight without activating **[Vanguard of Undeath]** now. **Book 5, Page 43**
* Just getting a Miasmic axe made Zac feel a much greater connection to the class, ... **Book 5, Page 43**
* ... and he quickly summoned the massive shield from **[Immutable Bulwark]**. It had slightly changed shape to look like the armor he wore when using **[Vanguard of Undeath]**, ... **Book 5, Page 114**
* bat. Not even the thick armor of **[Vanguard of Undeath]** had been enough to prevent him from getting hurt from the increasingly intense battles. **Book 5, Page 143**
* it appeared that the assassin quickly learned from his mistake, as he managed to move further away, somehow circumventing the taunting effect of **[Vanguard of Undeath]**. **Book 5, Page 177**
* Thankfully, his Miasmic armor from **[Vanguard of Undeath]** automatically repaired itself, and it should be impossible to see all the wounds covering his body. **Book 5, Page 187**
* The pitch-black armor from **[Vanguard of Undeath]** was already in a haggard state after climbing atop the meteor, and the blasts were quickly ripping apart the remaining layers. **Book 5, Page 429**
* It was just like how his ultimate skills, except **[Vanguard of Undeath],** couldn’t be used over and over. **Book 5, Page 468**
* At least before he was shocked to find his armor instantly ripped apart by the rampant energies inside the stream. **Book 8, Page 194**
* Now that Zac knew attaining these kinds of unique skills was possible, he might as well keep **[Vanguard of Undeath]** and **[Hatchetman’s Spirit]** unevolved until he found some way to enter another bout of inspiration. **Book 8, Page 498**
* The armor of **[Vanguard of Undeath]** had been utterly incapable of even slightly impeding Uona’s strike, ... **Book 9, Page 83**