History

Introduced in [Build 65](/wiki/release-history-2010#build-65), the Knight was implemented in the game to be the most resilient class, with incredibly high Defense and low Speed. Like the [Warrior](/wiki/warrior), he was equipped with a [sword](/wiki/swords), a [shield](/wiki/shields), and [heavy armor](/wiki/heavy-armors). The shield originally did nothing but provide a DEF boost. In Build 96, the Knight was given access to the MP and Wisdom stats with which to use the newly implemented shield bash ability. Build 97 gave Warrior his own unique ability, making the shield exclusive to the Knight. In Build 113, his base DEF stat cap was nerfed slightly, to the cap it stands today. In that same build, the Knight's graphics were altered slightly to reflect his use of the shield. Today, the Knight is commonly thought of as one of the strongest classes in the game, owed to the fact he can possess the highest natural defense stat of all classes. Knight is a short range attacker, relying on his high defense stat and his equipment to make it easier to get close to enemies. To unlock Knight, reach level 20 with Warrior. You can find his stat gains, caps, and averages here.

Equipment

The Knight uses swords and wears heavy armor. Swords provide high damage output, but have a short range. The Knight's high defense and stunning ability makes sword range much less problematic. You may want to refer to this sword comparison guide for additional help.

The Skysplitter Sword (Sky) and Sword of Acclaim (Acclaim) are the best tradable tiered weapons for the Knight, with high damage output up to a range of 3.5 tiles.

The Crystal Sword (CSword) has its nice uses for the Knight. The extra range of 4.5 tiles gives the Knight a higher chance to hit an enemy without getting too close to it, useful when the Knight is unable to use his shield. The Crystal Sword is great against dungeon bosses in certain phases, and can be used for mob control. This should be considered for the Knight's arsenal as well, as it has several practical uses. This sword can be dropped by the [Crystal Prisoner](/wiki/crystal-prisoner).

The Demon Blade (DBlade) is an awesome sword on the Knight. This should be your main weapon if you're concerned about damage per second. Although each individual shot is weaker than the CSword, it fires two shots. This sword can outdamage the Acclaim if you can get both shots to hit. But its dual shot nature means that it will be more affected by enemy defense than other swords. While its "true" range is only 1.37 tiles, Knight is the most ideally equipped class for getting close to enemies and is thus the ideal class to use this sword. This sword can be found in the [Abyss of Demons](/wiki/abyss-of-demons).

The Ancient Stone Sword (A.S.S.) is an in-between of tiered swords and the CSword. It does the second most damage of any sword, has a lower rate of fire, and has a range of 4 tiles, longer than tiered swords but lower than CSword. The Stone Sword does not do more DPS than the Acclaim does in most situations. However, it still has a great utility by quickly dealing damage to a boss, with a few high-power shots, and rushing back. It is therefore best to use this sword when a boss has several enemies surrounding them dealing high damage, or if it is almost impossible to stay near a boss without taking a lot of damage. While this sword works very well for a Warrior, the same can not be said for the Knight; Knights usually have a high enough defense and have the ability to stun enemies, making the extra half-tile range afforded by the A.S.S. less advantageous. On the other hand, the sword is powerful enough to sometimes kill certain smaller enemies in a single hit that would otherwise survive a hit from a tiered sword. This sword is dropped by the [Stone Guardians](/wiki/stone-guardians).

The Pixie-Enchanted Sword (Pixie) is very similar to the DBlade. It fires a narrow spread of four pink bolts with a true range of 1.87 tiles, slightly longer than the DBlade. In addition, with a maximum range of 4.55 tiles, the Pixie has the longest range of all swords. This sword is extremely effective at killing crowded enemies and the range helps it to clear a lot of enemies at a certain distance; it is also a great weapon for killing gods in the godlands. It is also more powerful than the Demon Blade against enemies up to 5 defense. However, because this sword fires four shots, it is more affected by enemy DEF than other swords; the Demon Blade will quickly become more powerful as DEF adds up. A tiered Sword would be more preferable for DPS against enemies with above 40 DEF.

Oryx's Greatsword is a unique sword that is dropped by [Oryx 2](/wiki/oryx-the-mad-god-2). The Greatsword is part of a new ST set for Knight - the [Oryx's Battle Attires](/wiki/oryx-s-battle-attires-set) set. This is currently the only sword with the ability to armor pierce enemies, meaning it will do the same amount of damage regardless of enemy defense. However, it has a range of only 2.8 tiles, making it risky to use on any class except for the Knight. On a Knight, this sword will outdamage all other swords at ~109 DEF.

Armor

The heavy armor the Knight wears helps him greatly by boosting his already high DEF even higher. With this highly boosted DEF, the Knight is able to shrug off damage from most swarm attacks and proceed to attack a boss directly. Many other armors available lack in defense but provide other benefits to compensate for the lack of defense. Unlike Warrior and [Paladin](/wiki/paladin), Knight can afford to wear armor that lacks in defense, should they desire more DPS or HP capacity. Wearing armor that provides *more* defense than a tiered armor is unnecessary on a Knight, and you would likely be sacrificing the opportunity to better your survivability and/or DPS. However high your DEF stat is, **you will only block up to 85% of damage from any one shot,** so a high DEF stat does not equal invincibility! That is why you should consider equipment that boosts your HP if your DEF stat is already very high, especially on a Knight.

The Abyssal Armor (Abyssal) and Acropolis Armor (Acrop) are the best tradable tiered heavy armors available. These armors provide a hefty boost (+23 and +24 respectively) to your DEF stat, but they provide no additional bonuses nor penalties.

The Resurrected Warrior's Armor is a rare armor that is most effective on knights. The Resurrected Warrior's Armor, often referred to as Resu, gives a paltry 17 Defense as opposed to 24 from the Acrop, but the Knight's high DEF cap makes this loss less of an issue. Instead, Resu gives 150MP, meaning you will be able to use at least one extra stun. This means the Knight can deal damage safer and quicker than before. The +5 wis stat contributes to this, allowing for quicker MP regeneration.

The [Breastplate of New Life](/wiki/breastplate-of-new-life) is a very rare but useful heavy armor that is dropped by the [Marble Colossus](/wiki/marble-colossus). It provides a DEF bonus of only +12, but it provides a massive +160 to HP. Knight's already high DEF cap makes him arguably the best class to use this armor, as he will be able to benefit from the HP boost without much downside.

[Mercy's Bane](/wiki/mercy-s-bane) is an ST armor that is part of the aforementioned Oryx's Battle Attires set. This armor provides a very low defense boost of +10, but it makes up for this by providing the wearer with bonuses of +7 to Attack and Dexterity, giving the wearer a very large DPS boost. This armor is best worn by a Knight, since his higher DEF cap compensates for the lack of DEF from this armor.

Ability

When you use the Knight's special ability, a wide shield slash bursts in the direction you aim. Anything hit by this will take damage and be stunned. The shield goes through obstacles and hits multiple enemies, and greatly boosts your Defense when worn. Tiered shields have a range of 3.2 tiles, so you need to be well within the range of a tiered sword in order for the shield bash to reach. The shield can be used in two different ways. One way is using the damage to take out weaker enemies, and another is using the stun against stronger enemies. Higher tier shields do more damage than lower tiers. If a group of highland god minions come at you, one swipe of a Mithril Shield should be able to take them out. When a group of gods come at you from 2 directions, the shield can help you deal with them easily. By stunning one group of enemies, you can deal with a much smaller group of offensive gods. Stunning bosses is never a bad idea. However, stronger enemies may require multiple stuns to kill. Having magic potions in your inventory is recommended, and so is having a decent magic healing pet. Take note that not all enemies are stunnable. For the list of enemies with stun immunity, see [this page](/wiki/stun-immunity). Please take this into caution and don't stay too close to these enemies when using the Knight's ability. As a shield's tier increases, the stun damage increases and the DEF bonus is also increased. However, the magic cost is also higher. Stunning is the most important aspect of the shield; remember that the stun from the shield can go through trees, rocks, and even other enemies. Time your use of the shield carefully so you can keep an enemy stunned!

The Mithril Shield (Mith) and Colossus Shield (Colo) are the highest tiered shields. They deal the third and second most damage, respectively, and give a high Defense boost of 12. They have a reasonable mana cost of 100 so you can use the shield twice without having to flee. This is all the time you and your group will need to do heavy damage to Cube Gods and Skull Shrines.

The Snakeskin Shield costs 100 MP, but deals lower damage than the Mithril Shield, and has a slightly narrower width of attack. What is unique is that it only gives a Defense boost of 7, but adds a Speed boost of 3, which is useful for knights who want a little extra SPD, or whose high DEF stats already pass the 85% damage cap. This shield can be found in the [Snake Pit](/wiki/snake-pit).

The Shield of Ogmur (Ogmur) is perhaps the most peculiar shield of all. It is dropped rarely by the [Lord of the Lost Lands](/wiki/lord-of-the-lost-lands). It deals the most damage of any shield, gives the biggest Defense boost of 14, and an HP boost of 60. The attack costs 100 MP, the same as the Mith/Colo shields. The catch is that the shield doesn't stun enemies, but rather gives an Armor Broken status for 4 seconds instead. While the stun is the main aspect of the shield, this is particularly useful to Knights who use the Defense and HP boost, and/or want their group to deal extra damage to the enemy instead of stunning them. This shield is very useful if there is another Knight that can already reliably chainstun an enemy or boss. It is recommended to carry a shield that can stun, in addition to the Ogmur; a shot from Ogmur followed by a shot from Colo can deal tons of damage to any enemy, and it is useful to be able to stun *and* armor break enemies. The Shield of Ogmur is recommended on immune to stun enemies or extremely high def ones such as Lord Ruthven, Oryx or the Stone Guardians. It also goes well with the Pixie Enchanted Sword to deal the full catastrophic damage without suffering extreme DPS loss due to enemy def. Remember to be even more careful when using this shield than any other, since it lacks the stun.

The Spiteful Scutum is a relatively new shield. It is a rare drop from Janus the Doorwarden. This shield offers an extra second of stun, a slightly longer range that matches tiered swords, and armor piercing shots that do the same damage to enemies regardless of their defense. However, its actual damage is weaker than that of the Golden Shield, and it only fires two shots compared to the Mith Shield's 5 shots, requiring the user to aim the stun more precisely. This shield also gives a DEF boost of 10 as well as smaller stat boosts of +2 to ATT and SPD. This shield is ideal for Knights who prioritize stunning above damage, but beware: it has a cooldown of 1.5 seconds between uses.

Ring

Knight is a class that has a high amount of defense, but he lacks statistically in his offensive stats compared to other classes. You should wear a ring that either boosts your offensive capabilities or your health capacity.

The Ring of Exalted Health (ExaHP) and Ring of Unbound Health (UBHP) are the best rings to use if you want to maximize your survivability as a Knight. These rings will boost your HP by 140 and 180, respectively. If you happen to have a Ring of Decades (Deca), the boost of +190 HP will let you fare even better than the UBHP; combine the Decades ring with the aforementioned Breastplate of New Life and Shield of Ogmur, and you will have a massive HP capacity of 1180, the highest HP capacity achievable without temporary boosts!

Strengths and Weaknesses

Unlike other characters, whose Defense maxes out at 25, the Knight is the only character that has a max of 40, allowing him to take heavy damage more easily. This makes him stand out by being able to take high-damage shots more safely. For this reason, the Knight is thought as the most resilient class, and should be at the front lines of the battlefield to take the big damage first. Vitality and HP are also the highest, 75 and 770 respectively, which maximizes his chances of taking even less damage indirectly. His other stats, however, are nothing to write home about, with a max of 50 in Attack, Speed, Dexterity, and Wisdom. Knight is capable of possessing the highest natural defense of all classes; with a [Shield of Flowing Clarity (+17)](/wiki/shield-of-flowing-clarity), [Candy-Coated Armor (+30)](/wiki/candy-coated-armor), and a [Ring of Unbound Defense (+9)](/wiki/ring-of-unbound-defense), Knight can possess 96 DEF without any temporary boosts. However, equipping your Knight for this high a DEF stat is very gimmicky; as said before, you should consider boosting your health capacity instead, as this will give you better odds at survival than simply having high DEF, in most circumstances. The Knight's primary weakness is his short attack range, although his ability to stun enemies makes range less of an issue than for Warrior or Paladin. A fresh Knight has identical average stats to a fresh Warrior, and is relatively resilient and strong due to his equipment. However, other classes like [Archer](/wiki/archer) and [Necromancer](/wiki/necromancer) might fare better at farming stat potions because they have a long enough attack range to keep their distance from enemies, despite lacking in damage compared to a Knight. Like Warrior, a Knight should only be used to farm stat potions if the user is skilled and comfortable with the attack range. On the other hand, Knight's stuns will ease a lot of the trouble in farming potions. Knights are the bulkiest class of all, and wield powerful swords that can deal high damage. While his DPS lags behind many other classes against low defense enemies, he recovers his advantage against high defense enemies. Unfortunately, along with the Warrior, they share the lowest Speed and 2nd lowest Dexterity stats in the game. Also, the Knight lacks a healing ability. Bringing HP pots and MP pots with you is a good idea for a makeshift trip to the Nexus, and if you happen to have a healing pet, it will make things a lot easier.

Group Role

Because they have such high Defense and HP, Knights should always be at the front of the fight to tank hits for the more fragile classes. While one shot from a blue skull won't hurt a maxed Defense Knight, mid-range fighters like the [Huntress](/wiki/huntress) or the [Assassin](/wiki/assassin) will suffer more greatly from the same attacks. When at full health, always consider the option of rushing to the boss and stunning it for damage. Make sure to watch out for the amount of minions protecting the boss, the terrain you are on, and of course if the boss itself is about to fire upon you. Knights appreciate boosts from Warriors and Paladins. Attack and Dexterity boosts help maximize the damage that he can do. Usually, experienced players will follow Knights when they rush. When in a large group, one stun will buy enough time to do heavy damage to bosses. If the group is good enough or if there is another Knight around, using the Shield of Ogmur will increase the damage output on the target, making it faster to kill, thus increasing your group survival rate. However good you may be at strafing and dodging, you are not invincible. Remember to dodge shots when you can, and be especially careful in dungeons where enemies can inflict armor-break. Never try to go in to stun a boss without full health and full magic points.

Event and Dungeon Bosses

Knights are known for being able to rush through a crowd of minions without taking much damage. However, when going to attack a boss, always keep an eye on your health. While you are destroying the Cube God or Skull Shrine, their minions are still free to attack you, and their damage will add up quickly. The most effective way to take out Cube Gods or Skull Shrines is to stun them and launch a barrage of sword hits. Unfortunately, getting close enough to stun can be tricky. The best time to charge at a boss is right after they use their attack. This is because they must wait a certain amount of time to recharge before they can attack again. When you stun the boss, never think that you are safe from damage. Once you use your shield, make sure you keep track of time. Each stun only lasts for 3 or 4 seconds depending on the shield you use. If you can't land another stun before the last one expires, try to escape a half second before the stun expires, because that way, you can get away without being hit by the boss's counterattack. If you don't leave before the stun ends, because you are so close to the boss, you'll take a shotgun to the face. Also remember when rushing into a Cube God or Skull Shrine to watch your HP and strafe left to right. If done correctly, the Cube or Skull will try to predict your movement but actually fire behind itself. One thing to do is never get over confident and never *ever* stop moving.

Summary

The Knight is a simple and straightforward character to use, who has plenty of Defense to back himself up, and can deal truckloads of damage at a safe position after using his shield. For players who want a bulky character who leads the offensive, the Knight is a perfect choice for you.

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