Space is a place your team can stand
“Create space” is the phrase every Vanguard guide uses and almost none define. The working definition: space is the area your team can occupy without dying.
That definition has a consequence most players never accept. A Vanguard that charges in and dies has created no space, because the area collapsed when they did. A Vanguard holding a corner at half health with a barrier up has created more space than one at full health in the enemy spawn.
So the metric is not how far forward you are. It is how much of the map your team can use because of where you are.
The health numbers, and what they buy
| Role | Health | Time at 200 damage per second |
|---|---|---|
| Duelist, fragile | 250 | 1.25 s |
| Duelist or Strategist, standard | 300 | 1.50 s |
| Vanguard, low | 500 | 2.50 s |
| Vanguard, high | 850 | 4.25 s |
Two facts sit on top of that table.
Every Vanguard has at least one way to block or mitigate damage. Some use barriers, some generate bonus health. That tool is the role definition — a Vanguard that never uses it is just a large target.
Bonus health works as a shield. Damage hits the blue bar first, so mitigation is effectively extra pool. A Vanguard with a barrier is not a 850-health hero, it is an 850-health hero plus whatever the barrier absorbs.
The line you cannot cross
The frontline has one hard constraint and it is not about the enemy: your healer has to be able to see you.
A Strategist cannot heal through geometry. So the practical test before every step forward is whether a Strategist standing behind you would still have a line. If the answer is no, you have crossed from “holding space” into “dying in a corridor”.
That produces the two failure modes worth naming:
Walking past the corner. You can see the enemy, the enemy can see you, and nobody behind you can see either of you. You have 500 to 850 health and 2.5 to 4.25 seconds.
Holding a barrier in the wrong direction. A barrier between you and the enemy is worth nothing if the flank is on your left. Barriers are geometry, and geometry has an arc.
Mitigation is a rhythm, not a panic button
The mistake is treating the mitigation tool as an emergency response. By the time you need it as an emergency, you have already spent the health it was there to protect.
Use it as a rhythm:
- Step forward behind the barrier, not in front of it.
- Spend the pool while the barrier is up, so healing has something to refill.
- Step back and let the pool reset before the barrier comes off cooldown.
- Repeat.
That cycle is why the role is playable at 500 health against three attackers. Without it, 850 health is 4.25 seconds and then a respawn.
Charge your ultimate by fighting, not by hiding
Vanguards convert 55% of damage or healing dealt into ultimate energy, plus 11 per second passively. That is the joint-highest conversion in the game alongside Duelists, which means a Vanguard that stands still is charging at the passive rate only — 3:47 for a 2,500-cost ultimate, and most Vanguards are more expensive than that.
So trading is not optional. Every point of damage you deal is more than half a point of ultimate, and a Vanguard that only absorbs is charging slower than one that fights.
For the specific heroes, the heroes tier list sorts Vanguards by what they actually do, the roles guide explains the space argument against the rest of the roster, and the healing guide covers what your Strategist needs from you.