Elder Guardian

The Elder Guardian is a hostile mob which only spawns underwater in Ocean Monuments. It is a stronger variant of the Guardian.

The Elder Guardian spawns 3 times in set sections of the ocean monument. Elder Guardians inflict Mining Fatigue III on nearby players, the purpose of this being to protect the treasures (gold blocks and wet sponges) of the monument from being mined until after the monument has been fully conquered, as well as to prevent players from simply mining through the monument walls.

The Elder Guardian attacks by sending out a large laser beam which harms the player. In addition, Elder Guardians can target and damage players who are riding in boats; however once the player is out of range, the Guardian's laser will disengage from the player, and deal no damage.

Behavior
Elder Guardians do not swim around as much as normal Guardians, however they act the same as regular guardians on land. Their eyes will follow and stare at any nearby players, and will always look directly at who they're attacking. This makes them the first mob with dynamic eyes. (The eyes are actually the head part of the model and almost all mob's heads will look toward the player making it look as if the mob's eye was looking at you.)

Once each minute, the Elder Guardian will search for players in a 50-block radius who are not afflicted with Mining Fatigue, who are afflicted with a level of fatigue lower than III, or whose affliction will wear off in less than one minute. The players found will be inflicted with Mining Fatigue III for 5 minutes, and a ghostly image of the Elder appears to the player.

Attacking
The Elder Guardian has two methods of attack, firing its laser and a thorn-like attack. The laser takes several seconds to charge, doing no damage in the meantime, and changing from purple to bright yellow. Once charged, the beam abruptly ends and deals damage. The Elder Guardian will swim around for a few seconds before firing again. If the target comes near the Elder Guardian while it is firing its beam, it will stop firing and swim away until it is at a comfortable range, at which point it will continue attacking. The beam cannot be dodged, but can be obstructed by solid blocks, and has a maximum range of approximately 14 blocks.

Combat
Elder Guardians are very resistant to melee attacks when under water, as the player will not be able to quickly approach the Guardian due to the water's slowing effect. Guardians will swim away when approached by a player it is targeting, and the Elder Guardian will deal 2 hearts of damage every time it is hit when its spikes are extended. If cornered, the Elder Guardian will usually extend its spikes and fire at the player, even at point blank range.

The Elder Guardians are resistant to fire damage, but if somehow are brought on land, they sometimes take fall damage from their swift movement.

If the player must fight an Elder Guardian in melee, they should try to corner it and hope for the best; or else try to trick it into swimming within melee range repeatedly.

The Elder Guardian cannot shoot as fast as a player with a bow can, so a skilled player will be able to shoot the Guardian, and then hide to break the beam's lock, repeating until the Guardian is dead. Note that the new arrow mechanics introduced in 14w25a will cause arrows to slow down and eventually fall when in water, so the player may be forced to shoot at very close range. If the Guardian is in shallow water the player can use a fishing rod to pull it out of the water where the players can then kill it with melee without being shot at or hurt by the spikes. (The guardian can still shoot while out of water, but unless it's held still, it flops around too much to keep the target in range.)

The Elder Guardian has a very large amount of HP (80), making melee attacks even harder. Elder Guardians do more damage than regular Guardians. Diamond equipment enchanted with Respiration and Depth Strider, swords and bows are recommended. Fighting Elder Guardians is incredibly dangerous without armor, if not impossible. Armor is essential to combating Elder Guardians. Entering their territory without armor will almost always lead to a swift death, even if armed with a sword or bow and arrow.

Trivia

 * After Giants and Iron Golems, Elder Guardians have the most health points out of any non-boss mob.
 * To spawn the Elder Guardian, use
 * Elder Guardians spawned with the /summon command start with only 30 HP, the same as a normal Guardian.
 * Elder Guardians' eyes will still follow a completely unarmored player under the effects of a Potion of Invisibility, but won't attack them. Elder Guardians will still attack squids under that same potion effect though.
 * Strangely enough, even though Elder Guardians are water creatures, they do not take damage in fire.