Knight Strategy Guide

=THE KNIGHT=

The Knight is one of the first 3 classes you start out with in Vagante, and is notable for being the "tank" character. Knights start out with higher HP and their affinities have to do largely with defense and melee combat, so they generally used for soaking up damage. That being said, this is still Vagante; this game will kick your butt, even if you do have more HP. Moreover, the Knight doesn't have some of the ranged advantages of the Rogue and the Mage, so he can be difficult to be effective. Here are some VERY basic tips for surviving with the Knight.

Advantages
The Knight has access to three affinity perk trees: Swordsmanship, Holy, and Defense. Swordsmanship points generally give you new sword techniques and improve damage dealt. Holy covers a variety of things, such as avoiding fall damage, resurrecting (for a price), or shooting beams out of your sword. Defense allows you to block with a shield, allows you to counter, and increases defense buffs.

Knights also start out with more hitpoints (100) than other classes.

Disadvantages
The largest single issue with the Knight is that you don't really have any ranged capability, so you have to let enemies get uncomfortably close to you. Another potential flaw is that swords (the weapon he/she starts with) are somewhat slower than other weapons, such as daggers or clubs.

Strategies
First and foremost, it is important to realize where Knights are capable of doing damage when you first start, and where they are not.

-Knights can only strike in a stabbing motion directly in front of them.

-Thus, enemies are a very real danger if they are above, below, or behind you:

-This means that getting sneaked up on or teamed up on can be deadly for a knight.

-There is one single rule for survival in Vagante, which though simple sounding basically sets the stage for getting far in the game: DON'T GET HIT, DON'T LOSE HEALTH. Regeneration potions are almost always in short supply, so getting back any health lost is usually unlikely. So DO NOT GET HIT. What this means is tackling the game in a careful, calculating way; don't rush into new areas, even if you are a knight. Now, your sword is a valuable asset; not only is it your weapon, but when attacking enemies that are coming towards you, it pushes them back, acting as a buffer for you. However, as a knight the difficulty comes in that the buffer only works in one direction. Therefore:

-Never leave your back open to enemies

-Funnel enemies so that they are easier to manage, ex.,

-Funnelling is helpful particularly for dealing with Bats and Slimes, which have a tendency of coming at you from above.

Now, part of the reason that there are affinity trees is to make up for the weaknesses of each class, and the Knight is no different. So what are some strategies for picking affinities well?

I can really only tell you what my experience is, but I find that it is usually quite helpful to put at least one affinity point towards swordsmanship. This allows you to sword dance, or shift back and forth as you attack, which though subtle can actually be quite helpful for managing hordes and avoiding damage. It also allows the Knight to down-thrust, which is incredibly helpful for dealing damage with little risk to self. Down-thrusting allows you to continuously do damage by pogo-ing with your sword out on top of enemies' heads, where many cannot hit you. Moreover, it can be an incredibly helpful strategy for dealing with certain bosses that have similar weaknesses (I'm looking at you, Goblin Commander Guy).

The defensive perk can be really helpful for avoiding small bits of damage from enemies, and the buff earned later on in the tree is really nice. That being said, it is worth noting that as far as I can tell, it is not possible to block attacks from Bosses, which are going to be the ones you are often most worried about (note; I could be wrong about it not blocking attacks from all bosses, I haven't tested it extensively enough on each boss to find out, but as far as I can tell that does appear to be the case).

As a melee character, is never hurts the Knight to have a point thrown here or there at Strength.

Though the other skill tree may be helpful, I personally have not tested its' mechanics enough to say how to use it well.