Dark Knight - raid guide

Dark Knight is a different kind of raid compared to the other three in that it requires AoE damage instead of focusing entirely on single target units. As always, paying attention to the mechanics of the fight will make the difference between a high raid score or an early demise.

Below is a quick list of the mechanics in the Dark Knight raid. Required mechanics are anything that will end the fight prematurely if you don’t use them. Optional mechanics are things that will raise your damage, but aren’t strictly necessary for a successful run.

Required mechanics

• Melee units (1+)

Optional mechanics:

• AoE damage
• Shield
• Taunt

Total Darkness (Passive)

The first thing of note when building Dark Knight teams is the melee requirement. Teams will often have at least one melee character just by default, as building full ranged teams isn’t common, however it is a requirement in this raid to have at least one melee character. (Mid-range characters such as Talia do not count) Without at least one character in melee range of the boss, he will spam his “Despair” subskill, which places stacks of “Brand of Despair” on your team. At three stacks, your units will die instantly, ending the fight about 6 seconds in.

Aside from this unavoidable instant death mechanic, the amount of damage your team takes will also be defined by how many melee characters are on the team. With only 1, Dark Knight’s damage will be tripled, and with 2 it will be doubled. Running a team with 1-2 melee units is perfectly possible, however if you find yourself dying frequently, it may help to add more melee units.

Deception (Main Skill)

The most noticeable difference between DK and other raids is the addition of his entourage. At two points in the battle, DK will vanish and summon a group of enemies, and all damage dealt to them counts as accumulated damage toward DK. This of course means that bringing AoE characters will rack up the damage quite a bit faster than relying on single target units, a pretty big change from the usual raid comps.

His main skill also has a secondary function, as when he returns from hiding he will strike your entire team with a large damage attack that stuns for 6 seconds - however the stun effect can be negated by using shields. The shields also provide a cushion against the damage, which later on in the fight when DK has accumulated a large amount of Atk stacks, could save your run.

Sever (Sub Skill)

This attack will target the unit furthest away from DK, dealing a large amount of damage and stunning them for 3.5 seconds. It is unavoidable, however it is good to consider which of your units will be taking this hit. Positioning a unit that a) can survive the damage and b) won’t hinder your run by being stunned at an unfortunate time to bait this attack is important when building your team.

Tip - You can avoid having your furthest soul hit, if you have a character who can taunt in team and with right timing, you can direct the skill to that character instead!

Taunt

This isn’t tied to any of DK’s skills, however it is definitely worth taking note of. Bringing a character that has a taunt will place a debuff on Dark Knight, allowing your whole team to deal more damage!

At this point in the game, there are enough characters released that there are a significant amount of options that are viable and teambuilding is a lot easier. With that in mind, this is not an exhaustive list of all the viable options, just one that provides some of the best options. Since this raid has a melee unit requirement, melee units will be noted but a separate section won’t be provided for them, as the list would be too long.

Main DPS

• Claudia - The queen of AoE finally has a raid debut! With her amazing damage potential in AoE attacks, having a Claudia-centric team is basically a given against DK.
• Velanna (melee) - Another AoE unit that makes an appearance on this special occasion, Velanna can dish out superb damage in this raid, though she does require some help to perform optimally. Pair her in a team with Ayame and she’s good to go!
• Sigrid - The newest addition to Dark Knight is new Undead Soul - Sigrid, featuring an AoE on almost all skillset combined with a ramping up that can hit extremely hard and fast Main Skill spam due to her in-built Mana Gain, Sigrid is force be reckoned in this raid and is part of best DPS teams.
• Bryce (melee) - While she does require her twin to function as a DPS, the pair of them is amazing in almost every raid thanks to their ability to spam their ultimates. On the plus side, since they’re both melee, they also provide further teamwide benefits on top of their amazing DPS.
• Naomi - Despite not being an AoE unit, Naomi is still capable of providing a great amount of damage in the DK raid by building up her stacks then hitting with a nuke at the end of the fight. She will require some form of speed support such as Jiho or Beleth to perform optimally.
• Tasha - Another option that works decently well here, Tasha can use the melee unit requirement to her advantage, powering up with every melee unit added while DK gets powered down!

Shields

Proper shield timing can save your run - both by mitigating damage and protecting your team from a rather long stun! These characters are the best options because they provide shields on top of serving other purposes within the raid.

• Catherine (Radiance) (melee) - Also an amazing support unit, Radiant Catherine is sure to be a staple in pretty much every raid going forward. She provides way too many benefits to ignore, and her shield is just icing on the cake for this raid!
• Yuria - Not surprisingly, Yuria appears on every raid list somewhere. Her shield timing may need some specific tweaking as it is on a sub-skill, but her otherwise stellar support kit will always win her a spot on raid teams. Bonus points for pairing her with your Undead DPS for the faction bonus boost!
• Petra (melee) - A common sight on Undead teams in raids since the beginning, Petra brings both shields and taunt to the fight, and a plus one to your melee count.
• Naomi - It’s hard to say whether her shields are her secondary or primary function, since spamming her main skill is basically the whole point. DPS and shields in one!

Taunt

While not entirely necessary in this raid (as in, the mechanic won’t cause your demise if you ignore it), bringing characters that apply taunt will raise your DPS!

• Linzy (melee) - A great option as she brings decent damage on top of providing a taunt, Linzy is easy to slot into a human team if you use one. If not, slotting her in a team that is low on melee units is also a decent option.
• Petra (melee) - Mentioned previously, Petra is a great addition to most Undead teams, providing team survivability via shields and taunt for more damage.
• Lute (melee) - A great staple in any Tasha-centric team, Lute provides taunt, damage, and another melee unit to boost your Tasha and reduce DK’s damage.

Supports

The list of viable supports is getting longer and longer - in addition to these, Radiant Cath and Yuria, who were listed above, are two more of the best supports available. As noted, this list is not exhaustive.

• Larimar - No list is complete these days without mentioning Larimar, who has completely shaken and broken game's existing Meta due to her S1. Larimar again is unmatched here can be utilized with either Velanna or Sigrid or Bryce/Melfice teams making their damage jump throught the roof.
• Beleth - Provides her team with a plethora of amazing DPS buffs, great heals, and if using her on a team where she’s the one Ulting, mana too! She also has a self-shield that can potentially block the stun on herself if the timing lines up, allowing her to use her main skill to cleanse it from the rest of her team.
• Garnet - The uncontended master of debuffs, Garnet’s abilities allow her team to deal significantly more damage, and provides survivability through lifesteal as well!
• Ayame - The ideal support for a Velanna-centric team, Ayame causes enemies to bleed which helps Velanna deal a lot more damage. She also deals great damage in her own right, and debuffs the enemies for her team.
• Joanne - A great option for Undead teams, Joanne provides both debuffs for the enemies and heals for your team.
• Talia - Still a great option as a team filler due to her mana generation, she’s not as sought-after a teammate as she once was. But if you need a filler unit, she’s a great option!
• Vivi - Similar to Talia, Vivi’s usefulness has diminished slightly over time, however her teamwide speed buff still keeps her in the running as a team filling option.
• Jiho - Since the addition of Beleth, Jiho has been demoted to secondary speed-boost healer, though she is still a great option for the Naomi-centric team if Beleth isn’t available.
• Dominique - The Queen of Troyca is very strong support in Dark Knight raid when paired with Claudia, as her INT damage boosts take Claudia Team damage to the next level by itself and she has lot more to offer.