Guardian Palm is one of the earliest Mystic Skills that turns Where Winds Meet’s air combat into something that looks straight out of a wuxia movie. On the surface, it is a simple ground-smashing palm, but its height-based variants — Lamp Light and Rite of Transcendence — add powerful crowd control and spectacle if you can trigger them on demand.
Guardian Palm basics: cost, cooldown, and core effect
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Offensive Mystic Skill (Area damage) |
| Vitality cost | 30 |
| Base cooldown | 8 seconds |
| Base effect | Two palm strikes forward, then leap and slam the ground, dealing AoE damage and knocking back nearby enemies |
| Height 3–5m | Upgrades into Lamp Light, a plunging palm that hits an area below and knocks targets back |
| Height ≥5m (Tier 3) | Evolves into Rite of Transcendence with higher damage, a delayed explosion, and stronger crowd control |
Used from the ground, Guardian Palm behaves like a three-part combo: two horizontal palms that sweep in front of you, followed by a jump and a ground-smite that hits around your landing point. It is designed as a short-range crowd tool more than a single-target nuke, useful for clearing weak mobs and pushing enemies away.
How to unlock Guardian Palm (Where a Thousand Buddhas Wept)
Guardian Palm is tied to a specific side story in Qinghe rather than to random drops or vendors. You only need to see that story through once.
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Quest name | Where a Thousand Buddhas Wept (Lost Chapter / Side Story) |
| Region | Sundara Land, Qinghe (northern shoreline) |
| Quest giver | Nightdream Monk |
| Difficulty | Short, linear story segment with no puzzles |
| Reward | Guardian Palm Mystic Art tome (plus other story rewards) |
Travel to the northern part of Qinghe, along the top shoreline in Sundara Land. There, talk to the Nightdream Monk to start the Where a Thousand Buddhas Wept side story. The objective flow is straightforward: follow the procession, stay in formation, and wait out cutscenes and short interactions such as the praying sequence.
Once the story segment ends, you receive the tome that unlocks Guardian Palm. After learning it, assign it to one of your Mystic Skill slots through the skills menu so it can be used in combat.
Guardian Palm’s upgrade path: Lamp Light and Rite of Transcendence
Guardian Palm changes behavior depending on both height and breakthrough tier. The result is three distinct modes:
| Form | Trigger | Cooldown | Main effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Guardian Palm | Cast on or near the ground | 8 seconds | Two forward palm strikes, then leap and ground-slam, knocking back enemies in a small area |
| Lamp Light | Cast at roughly 3–5 meters height | 12 seconds | Plunging palm aimed at the ground, knocking back enemies in an area around the impact |
| Rite of Transcendence (Tier 3) | Cast at 5 meters or higher with Tier 3 unlocked | 16 seconds | Summons a Demon-subduing Vajra Mark that slams down, then detonates after a delay, dealing high damage and knocking enemies airborne |
These forms are not separate skills. They are context-sensitive variants triggered by elevation and, for Rite of Transcendence, by upgrading the art.
How to upgrade Guardian Palm (materials and tier bonuses)
Like other Mystic Skills, Guardian Palm has four tiers broken into multiple ranks. Ranks mostly raise damage, while tier promotions add new behaviors.
| Tier | Key bonus | Core materials |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Base Guardian Palm behavior, can rank up damage | Lv. 1 Ebon Iron for each rank |
| Tier 2 | Landing the first two palm hits boosts the final strike’s damage by 20% and knocks targets down in an area | Buddha's Tear Root (for promotion), Lv. 1–2 Ebon Iron |
| Tier 3 | Enables Rite of Transcendence when cast at ≥5m, adds Vajra Mark slam plus delayed explosion | More Buddha's Tear Root, Lv. 2–3 Ebon Iron |
| Tier 4 | Increases the AoE radius of the standard palm strikes by 60% | Additional Buddha's Tear Root, Lv. 3–4 Ebon Iron |
Upgrading demands a growing amount of Ebon Iron by level and Buddha's Tear Root at each tier break. If you care about the “Buddhist palm” fantasy — the massive aerial slam and later the Vajra Mark — Tier 3 is the key breakpoint: it unlocks the full-height Rite of Transcendence version.
How Guardian Palm works in combat
Guardian Palm fills three tactical roles:
- Short-range AoE clear. On the ground, it damages and pushes back clusters of weaker enemies in front of you and around your landing spot.
- Emergency crowd control. The height-triggered forms add stronger knockback and, at Tier 3, a delayed explosion that can juggle enemies, buying breathing room.
- Combo ender. The art slots naturally at the end of weapon strings, converting your positioning and stagger into a knockdown or launch to reset the fight’s tempo.
It is not the highest single-target damage Mystic Skill in the game. Instead, it trades raw numbers for easy access, low cost, and reliable area control, especially once you start using the air variants consistently.
How to trigger Lamp Light (3–5 meter aerial Guardian Palm)
The main friction with Guardian Palm is that Mystic Skills cannot be activated during a normal jump or while casually falling from a ledge. The game expects you to be in a “combat airborne” state rather than a basic jump. Several actions reliably put you into that state at roughly 3–5 meters, so you can trigger Lamp Light.
Method 1: Cloud Steps into Guardian Palm
Cloud Steps is the most consistent way to proc Lamp Light without relying on specific weapons.
- Equip the Cloud Steps Mystic Skill.
- Use Cloud Steps to dash upward and strike a target.
- Immediately press your Guardian Palm button as soon as Cloud Steps connects.
If timed correctly, your character is still suspended in the air at the right height, and Guardian Palm converts into its Lamp Light plunge. This works well even in tight arenas and is repeatable once the cooldowns line up.
Method 2: Umbrella charged light attack cancel
If you are using the umbrella, its charged light attack naturally carries you into the air and leaves you hovering briefly.
- Start a charged light attack with the umbrella so your character floats above enemies.
- Before the animation completes, activate Guardian Palm.
Guardian Palm cancels out of the hover, boosts you slightly, and then transitions straight into the aerial version. This not only procs Lamp Light but can also dodge incoming hits that would have caught you had you stayed in the charge.
Method 3: Downward kick slam into Guardian Palm (controller trick)
By default, in PlayStation controls, there is a way to convert a normal jump into an eligible airborne state:
- Jump as usual.
- While in the air, press the left stick (L3) to perform the downward kick slam.
- Immediately press Guardian Palm just after the kick slam starts.
The downward slam animation counts as a combat move in mid-air. Chaining Guardian Palm during this window lets you fire off the plunging variant even though Guardian Palm itself does not trigger from a plain jump.
Method 4: Mighty Drop into Guardian Palm
Mighty Drop is another Mystic Skill that throws you upward before a slam. Used correctly, it can double as a launch pad for Guardian Palm.
- Start Mighty Drop (for example,
Qon default keyboard layouts). - As soon as your character is airborne and before the slam finishes, activate Guardian Palm.
Interrupting Mighty Drop this way converts the height you gained into Lamp Light or, with enough height and Tier 3 unlocked, into Rite of Transcendence.
How to reach Rite of Transcendence height (Tier 3 form)
Rite of Transcendence replaces Lamp Light when you cast Guardian Palm at roughly 5 meters or more after promoting the skill to Tier 3. The triggering logic is the same — you still need to be in a combat airborne state — but you must reach a slightly greater height.
Reliable ways to hit that threshold include:
- Fully leveraged Cloud Steps. Use Cloud Steps on distant or elevated targets to gain more vertical height before you chain into Guardian Palm.
- Stacked launchers. Starting with a lift (such as Mighty Drop or certain weapon launchers) and then immediately firing Guardian Palm tends to push you into the higher height bracket.
Rite of Transcendence changes the move’s flow: instead of a single slam, you adopt the guardian form, drop a Vajra Mark on the ground that deals heavy damage and knocks back enemies, then detonate it after a short delay to deal another burst and launch enemies into the air. The price is a longer cooldown — 16 seconds —, so it becomes more of a set-piece button than a quick panic option.
Best situations to use Guardian Palm and its aerial variants
Guardian Palm is most effective when you build around what each form does well.
| Scenario | Recommended form | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Surrounded by weak mobs | Base Guardian Palm or Lamp Light | Short cooldown, wide knockback to thin groups and reset your positioning |
| Setting up breathing room in PvE | Lamp Light | Vertical plunge and pushback create a safe ring around you after landing |
| Maximizing spectacle and burst | Rite of Transcendence | Initial slam plus delayed explosion can nearly wipe weaker packs and heavily damage elites |
| Synergy with wide weapons (e.g., Thundercry Blade, Heavenquaker Spear) | Any form | Weapon swings group and soften enemies, Guardian Palm finishes with an AoE knockdown or launch |
Guardian Palm also plays well with utility-focused Mystic Skills. Cloud Steps, for instance, is valuable not just for its own damage, but for how it positions you for Lamp Light and Rite of Transcendence while doubling as a gap closer.
Once you stop treating Guardian Palm as a simple ground slam and start thinking of it as a height-sensitive tool, it becomes a flexible centerpiece for both style and control. With Cloud Steps, Mighty Drop, or weapon-specific launchers wired into your muscle memory, triggering the different aerial versions stops being accidental and starts feeling like a deliberate part of every fight.
