Ok let's clear this up. First of all Auto Guard requires a shield and parrying requires a two handed sword. I haven't tested clock card without a shield on to see if it still proc'ed. But I know that if you use clock card to proc auto guard you will HAVE to keep clock carded armors on. Which means your either always using a slotted elemental armor of some kind, or your losing out on elemental/armor carding bonuses.