Dark Knight of Darkness of Darkness of Darkness

Guide in 'Warrior' published by Enbon, Feb 8, 2018.

This guide will show you the ways to improve your Dark Knight experience. This guide contains information about: Inner Ability, Evil Eye, Bossing, Skills, Attack Speed, Hyper Stats, Legion, Nodes. Note that some parts may be more relevant to Reboot players.

1. Rate This Guide
  
  5/5
  2 votes
  Introduction
  (2/8/2018) Oh boy its been a while hasn't it? Well I guess a guide doesn't need much updating anyways.
  Thought I come back to fix my dumb anchor links...
  
  By no means is this something you should follow until the bitter end. This is just a collection of my experiences as a Dark Knight tossed into a bucket and poured onto a forum. Enjoy.
  
  This guide isn't the most newb friendly, though there are some useful tips for all to know when playing a Dark Knight.
  
  Overview
  
  Inner Ability
  
  Evil Eye
  
  Skills
  
  Bossing
  
  Attack Speed
  
  Spear vs Pole Arm
  
  Hyper Stats
  
  Legion
  
  Nodes
  
  Overview
  Top
  
  The Dark Knight is one of the three explorer warrior sub-classes after achieving the second advancement. They boast a large sum of health that can be maintained with life leech and are able to provide buffs to the party that increases survivability. However mobility is underwhelming compared to other classes.
  
  Pros
  
  Large health pool
  
  Life leech
  
  Prevent bosses from casting damage reflect and cancels
  
  100% Knockback resistance
  
  Easy node setup
  
  Not mechanically taxing (could be a con too)
  
  Invincibility after death
  
  Main bossing skill has no physical contact with monsters
  
  Controls a summon to attack
  
  Cons
  
  Bossing skill requires a buff to be active in order to attack
  
  A very weak flash jump compared to other classes
  
  Vertical reach is terrible until 4th job and 5th job
  
  Cannot have a one handed animation with a spear
  
  Annoying animation by simply existing (unless you like it)
  
  Ugh...
  
  Inner Ability
  Top
  
  +1 Attack Speed
  
  38% Buff Duration
  
  Item drop rate, Attack, or Critical Rate
  
  This setup is somewhat unrealistic at first (unless you're crazy lucky) so I recommend settling for an epic rank buff duration (19% - 25%) on the second line.
  
  This setup seems to oppose the whole point of maximizing buff duration. However the +1 attack speed is required in order to hit the attack speed cap.
  
  Unfortunately with around 6k levels in Legion, a SS rank mechanic card (200), and 100 empathy won't completely give enough buff duration for 100% up time on Sacrifice. However this is where the Evil Eye comes in...
  
  Evil Eye
  Top
  
  This will be your best friend until the day you retire as a Dark Knight. This is like having a second character... but with 2 attacks only.
  
  Because having 100% up time on Sacrifice is impossible with just passives alone. We need the assistance of your summon: The Evil Eye
  
  Each hit from an Evil Eye skill reduces the cooldown of Sacrifice by 0.3 seconds. Including
  
  Evil Eye Shock
  
  Evil Eye of Domination
  
  Revenge of the Evil Eye
  
  Radiant Evil
  
  Radiant Evil is the major factor in why Sacrifice can be used 100% of the time. The skill covers a large area while consistently hitting for 3 seconds.
  
  In order to maximize damage, micromanaging Evil Eye is essential to Dark Knights.
  
  Skills
  Top
  
  Note: The range of the skills listed below are estimates, not 100% accurate.
  
  Spear of Darkness
  
  When using Spear of Darkness, try to get close to the monster before activating it. There will be a significant damage difference attacking from a distance and being up close.
  
  From a distance:
  
  Up close:
  
  The range on this skill is simply INSANE.
  
  Radiant Evil
  
  But wait, there's more! If you thought Spear of Darkness was crazy, check out Radiant Evil's range
  
  Note that other Evil Eye related skills cannot be used while Radiant Evil is active. (Sacrifice, Evil Eye Shock, Evil Eye)
  
  Gungnir's Descent
  
  The main bossing skill is quite interesting. This is the horizontal range
  
  And this is the vertical range
  
  Not bad eh? Gungnir's Descent is kind of finicky because it may hit something different than what you may expect (From personal experience). It seems that it will target the "oldest" monster spawned (From a quick test), thats why it works so well on bosses that may spawn extra monsters. Fortunately you will not be using this for mobbing.
  
  Dark Impale
  
  Over several patches, Dark Impale has been buffed over and over. Not necessarily damage wise, but with its reach
  
  Horizontal reach is pretty good. But the real deal is with its vertical reach.
  
  Thats amazing!
  
  Bossing
  Top
  
  Pretty straightforward: Bossing skill, use other skills when off cooldown
  
  Evil Eye/Sacrifice
  
  Spear of Darkness
  
  Radiant Evil
  
  Gungnir's Descent
  
  Evil Eye Shock
  
  Use Spear of Darkness/Radiant Evil whenever off cooldown, Evil Eye Shock while Radiant Evil is on cooldown. Gungnir's Descent in between everything else. Rinse and repeat.
  
  Attack Speed
  Top
  
  Spear (6)
  - Booster (2)
  - Weapon Mastery (1)
  - Inner Ability (1)
  - Extreme Green Potion (1)
  - Decent Speed Infusion (1)
  = 0
  
  Most spears have a speed of NORMAL (6). It is important to notice that there is a soft attack speed cap at (2). Only certain buffs can break that barrier, like the Extreme Green Potion. More can be learned about attack speed here and here
  
  But doesn't pole arms have a faster attack speed? Yes, however...
  
  Spear vs Pole Arm
  Top
  
  Although the FAST(5) attack speed on the pole arm seems tempting, there is really no benefit damage wise. Using a spear is better straight out.
  
  Attack speed is compensated by Weapon Mastery
  
  5% Damage from Weapon Mastery
  
  Higher base attack
  
  Hyper Stats
  Top
  
  When first leveling your character, never just focus on one stat. For each point into a hyper stat, the requirement to increment will increase.
  
  Critical Rate
  You will need to figure out how many points to put into Critical Rate in order to just touch 100% critical rate, although hyper stats should be the last place you optimize your critical rate. A general order would be: Link Skills, Legion Member Bonus, Decent Sharp Eyes, Hyper Stats
  
  This is the priority list from highest to lowest.
  
  Damage
  
  Critical Damage
  
  Boss Damage
  
  Ignore Defence
  
  Critical Rate
  
  STR
  
  Of course if you really need a certain stat then by all means, go for it.
  
  Legion
  Top
  
  Since Dark Knights run on Sacrifice (a buff), we will need LOTS of buff duration. Again you will need to find the correct balance so you can recast Sacrifice as the buff ends. Buff duration aside. Critical Damage is the most beneficial, assuming 100% critical rate.
  
  Character cards are also important in achieving the balance of critical rate. Notable characters like
  
  Marksman (Crit Rate)
  
  Night Lord (Crit Rate)
  
  Jett (Crit Damage)
  
  Shade (Crit Damage)
  
  Hayato (Crit Damage)
  
  Mercedes (Reduce Skill Cooldown)
  
  Mechanic (Buff Duration) - For Sacrifice
  
  Other bonuses to go for:
  
  STR
  
  Boss Damage
  
  Ignore Enemy Defence
  
  Max HP
  
  DEX
  
  Nodes
  Top
  
  With the release of Radiant Evil, Evil Eye has become much more important than it was in the past.
  
  Boost Nodes
  
  Essential skills
  
  Gungnir's Descent
  
  Dark Impale
  
  Evil Eye
  
  Not so essential skills
  
  Nightshade Explosion
  
  Rush
  
  Final Attack
  
  These 2 sets of tri-nodes can be configured in any order. Though having tri-nodes in the way it is split would be optimal.
  
  If you aren't patient with leveling two tri-nodes, having three tri-nodes is another option so that you can have maxed boost nodes earlier at the cost of another node slot.
  
  Skill Nodes
  
  Must get skills
  
  Radiant Evil
  
  Spear of Darkness
  
  Should get skills
  
  Decent Holy Symbol
  
  Rope Lift
  
  Erda Nova
  
  Decent Sharp Eyes (Unless on glove)
  
  Decent Speed Infusion (Unless on glove)
  
  Nice to have skills
  
  Decent Combat Orders
  
  Weapon Aura
  
  If you have extra space
  
  Decent Advanced Blessing
  
  Blitz Shield
  
  Decent Sharp Eyes and Speed Infusion are nice to have on a glove to save node slots. But as you level up, more slots will open up. Allowing you to open up your glove for better potentials.
  
  Radiant Evil is highest priority because of the fact that it is a Evil Eye type skill. Meaning for each hit Radiant Evil does, the cooldown of Sacrifice decreases.
  
  Swap Rope Lift with Erda Nova when bossing
  
  Can swap a boost node with Decent Speed Infusion and/or Decent Sharp Eyes
  
  Is more of a multipurpose setup. There isn't Decent Speed Infusion or Decent Sharp Eyes because I have both potentials on my gloves. Though that's to be changed in the future.
  
  Remarks
  This has been a fun experience for me. Learning how to use BBCode to format, revisiting my skills that have been ingrained into my mind. I would definitely like to continue improving this guide so that aspiring Dark Knights can experience the most of their class.
  Skill Build Reference - AyumiLove
  Skill Icons - Maple Wiki
  Attack Speed 101 - hyperfire7 on BasilMarket
  lodwyvern - Bossing optimization and extra tips (thanks)
  People who comment on my guide giving ideas and reasoning (thanks)
  Enbon, Feb 8, 2018
2. Guide Author Enbon, Find all guides by Enbon
Build

The skill build for warriors are generally straight forward. But its here in case you need it.
It is widely accepted that one point should be invested to each skill before maxing passives followed by actives. But do whatever you'd like.

First Job - Warrior Basics

Slash Blast (1)

War Leap (MAX)

Warrior Mastery (MAX)

Slash Blast (MAX)

Iron Body (MAX)

Second Job - Spearman Techniques
Max all but Piercing Drive

Piercing Drive (1) Spear Sweep (1) Weapon Mastery (5)

Weapon Booster (MAX)

Warrior Mastery (MAX)

Physical Training (MAX)

Piercing Drive (19)

Final Attack (MAX)

Iron Will (MAX)

Hyper Body (MAX)

Spear Sweep (MAX)

Third Job - Beyond Berserk
Max all but La Mancha Spear

La Mancha Spear (1) Rush (1)

Lord of Darkness (MAX)

Cross Surge (MAX)

Hex of the Evil Eye (MAX)

La Mancha Spear (14)

Rush (MAX)

Evil Eye Shock (MAX)

Endure (MAX)

Evil Eye of Domination (MAX)

Fourth Job - Dark Knight of Darkness

Barricade Mastery (1)

Dark Impale (MAX)

Final Pact (MAX)

Barricade Mastery (MAX)

Stance (MAX)

Gungnir's Descent (1)

Sacrifice (MAX)

Gungnir's Descent (MAX)

Maple Warrior (MAX)

Magic Crash (MAX)

Revenge of the Evil Eye (MAX)

Hero's Will (MAX)

Hyper Skills

Gungnir's Descent - Boss Rush

Evil Eye - Buff Reinforce

Final Pact - Damage

Gungnir's Descent - Reinforce

Evil Eye - Reinforce

Gungnir's Descent - Boss Rush may be replaced with Gungnir's Descent - Guardbreak if more IED is needed

Skill Info

Some extra info about the skills offered

First Job - Warrior Basics

Icon	Name	Notes
	Slash Blast	Your only attack. Use it.
	War Leap	Mediocre flash jump, changes to a dark purple colour when advancing to spearman
	Iron Body	Extra HP is nice. Reduced damage taken doesn't mean squat for %HP attacks
	Warrior Mastery	All explorer warriors get 100% stance by 4th job.

Second Job - Spearman Techniques

Icon	Name	Notes
	Piercing Drive	New mobbing skill has zero vertical reach
	Evil Eye	A summon that defines a Dark Knight later on
	Spear Sweep	Useful for monsters out of reach
	Weapon Booster	Who doesn't want faster attacks?
	Iron Will	Alright for early game, however falls off quickly late game
	Hyper Body	Excellent buff to have when in need of HP. Careful using it around bosses that do %HP attacks
	Weapon Mastery	USE A SPEAR NOT A POLEARM
	Final Attack	Extra damage
	Physical Training	Extra stats

Third Job - Beyond Berserk

Name	Notes
La Mancha Spear	SPIN2WIN. The finishing blow deals a lot of damage
Rush	Will save your life. Distance is shorter compared to the Hero subclass
Evil Eye Shock	Useful to reduce cooldown of Sacrifice
Cross Surge	Every Dark Knight's favourite buff
Evil Eye of Domination	Reduces cooldown of Sacrifice
Lord of Darkness	Life leech. Dark Knights are fueled by BLOOD
Endure	Free resistances
Hex of the Evil Eye	Hyper passive boosts the skill even more later on

Fourth Job - Dark Knight of Darkness

Icon	Name	Notes
	Gungnir's Descent	Bossing attack. Requires sacrifice to attack without cooldown.
	Magic Crash	DOES NOT REMOVE WEAPON AND MAGIC CANCEL. But can prevent it from happening
	Dark Impale	Mobbing attack. This attack actually has decent vertical range
	Power Stance	FINALLY 100% KNOCKBACK RESISTANCE
	Sacrifice	Full heal can be useful when potion is limited. Eve Eye related attacks will reduce the cooldown of Sacrifice (Command attacks only).
	Maple Warrior	Stat boost
	Hero's Will	Great for when seduced (cannot control character)
	Final Pact	Gungnir's Descent is spammable. Remember to remove your counters before the duration ends (Bosses count per hit).
	Barricade Mastery	More damage
	Revenge of the Evil Eye	Reduces cooldown of Sacrifice

Hyper Skills

Icon	Name	Notes
	Evil Eye - Reinforce	Will affect a future 5th job skill Radiant Evil and the damage gain is amazing.
	Evil Eye - Hex Reinforce	Boost Hex of the Evil Eye
	Final Pact - Damage	-
	Gungnir's Descent - Reinforce	-
	Gungnir's Descent - Boss Rush	-
	Nightshade Explosion	Your only high reaching attack until 5th job
	Epic Adventure	Affects ALL explorer classes only.
	Dark Thirst	Great stat boost, Awesome life leech boost when low on HP

Fifth Job - V

Icon	Name	Notes
	Spear of Darkness	Skill will hit MULTIPLE times when initial animation clips a monster. ABUSE THIS.
	Radiant Evil	Amazing vertical reaching attack (FINALLY). Reduces cooldown of Sacrifice too. Note: Cannot use Evil Eye related skills while active
	Weapon Aura	Mirrors the attack used with reduced damage. CAN reach further than your attack normally does
	Blitz Shield	If you're able to one shot with this skill, it can be useful to wipe a large area at once. Great for training in Arcane River.

Gameplay

A general guide I use as an outline on where I should train.

An old boss run to give you a feel what a Dark Knight might be like. I don't use evil eye shock because I have enough buff duration to sustain myself (and I'm lazy). Note that I have auto HP/MP on.
FAQ

Q: Should I use a polearm?
A: No.
Why: Spears get +1 attack speed to be on par with most end game pole arms. 5% Damage when equipping a spear. Higher base attack on spears.

Q: Can I hold my spear one-handed?
A: At the moment, No.
Recommended for cosmetics only: Get a surfboard and fusion anvil that to a stronger polearm. Then slap on a cash cover on it. Boom. One hand.

Q: How can I achieve 100% crit rate?
A: A balance (in the order) of: Link Skills, Legion Member Bonus, Decent Sharp Eyes, Hyper Stats

Q: What are the optimal tri-nodes for fifth job?
A: Important: Dark Impale, Nightshade Explosion, Gungnir's Descent, Evil Eye
Not as Important: Final Attack, Rush

Q: What should my Inner Ability look like?
A: +1 Attack speed, 38% Buff Duration

Q: How can I hit the attack speed cap?
A: Spear (6) - Booster (2) - Weapon Mastery (1) - Extreme Green Potion (1) - Inner Ability (1) - Decent Speed Infusion (1) = 0

Q: How can I achieve 100% uptime for Gungnir's Descent?
A: Inner ability + Legion + Empathy + Mechanic Card + Evil Eye

Q: What should my legion board look like?
A: Aim for Buff Duration as well as Critical Damage since you'll be at 100% crit rate... Right???

Guide Version

1.2

Game Version

192

Changelog

Version	Changes	Date
1.2	Removed some spoilers to reduce clicking Fixed anchor links Added boss run video Added general training guide	2/8/2018
1.1	Fixed some grammar Fixed attack speed soft cap Moved legion board from FAQ to main body Added screenshots of node setups Changed Gungnir's Decent - Guardbreak to Gungnir's Decent - Boss Rush Changed maxing La Mancha Spear to Evil Eye of Domination Changed note on Blitz Shield Added recommended buff duration for inner ability Added reasoning for Gungnir's Descent's odd behaviour Added "If you have extra space" in Nodes and shifted some skills Removed spoilers for skill build due to requests Added Spear vs Pole Arm Added a general order for Critical Rate Changed Transparency for Spear of Darkness due to requests Changed the order of headings Did not add a training guide	11/10/2017
1.0	Initial Revision	11/6/2017