DK is a class that excels in consistent damage and survivability. This class does not have a big burst combo but it makes up for it with shorter cooldown small bursts. Great class to main or have as a boss mule.
| Best in Slot | Main | Bossing Mule |
| BiS Weapon |  Genesis Spear |  /  AbsoLab Piercing Spear / Arcane Umbra Spear |
| BiS Secondary |  Princess No’s Flower Chain | Princess No’s Flower Chain |
| Class | Warrior | |
| Shared Cash Shop | All Explorers | |
| Legion Effect | Increases Max HP % (+2/3/4/5/6%) | |
| Max Link Skill |  Invincible Belief – Automatically activates when your health falls to 15% of your Max HP or below Restores 35% of Max HP every 1 sec for 3 sec | |
| Primary Stat | STR | |
| Secondary Stat | DEX | |
| Inner Ability Top Line | Attack Speed +1 | Boss Damage +15-20% |
| Does it benefit from max Attack speed | Yes | |
| 2 min or 3 min burst type? | 3 min | |
| Gauge Class? | No | |
| Cooldown Reduction Hat? | Yes | Not Necessary But Helpful |
Spear or Polearm for Dark Knight? For Dark Knight you’ll want to always go for Spear. You’ll have higher Attack and get extra +1 Attack Speed and +5% bonus damage using a spear.
Dark Knight is a decent boss mule and main. It has high consistent damage but low ish burst.
Cooldown Reduction (CDR) is really good for DK since it affects a lot of DK’s skills. The biggest benefits being your Spear and Evil Eye skills. Getting CDR on your hat is better than STR% in almost all cases. Getting CDR from Mercedes legion block and Wings of Fate CDR cape (training mainly) is also recommended for mains.
Dark Knight Beginner Tab
The important active skill in the beginner tab for DK is Hero’s Echo. Explorers have a specific way to get Echo. Go to Orbis Tower 8th floor and talk to the statue. The statue will give you the skill in the end.
Hero’s Echo is a +4% ATT/MATT buff for 40 mins. This has a long cooldown and is generally used for bossing scenarios.
Warrior 1st Job Skill Build
- Slash Blast (+1), War Leap (+1), Upward Charge (+1)
- War Leap (MAX)
- Warrior Mastery (MAX)
- Slash Blast (MAX)
- Upward Charge (MAX)
- Iron Body (MAX)
Warrior 1st Job Skill Explanation
DK starts off the same as all Explorer Warriors. Important skills are, Upward Charge and Leap Attack.
Upward Charge is your main way for vertical mobility. It also does damage but it isn’t used for that.
Leap Attack isn’t that useful and you can go without this skill. It does help you get to the ground quickly if you are in the air which can sometimes save your life.
| Skill Name | Max Lvl Description | Purpose |
 Slash Blast | MP Cost: 6, Damage: 335%, Max Enemies Hit: 6 | 1st Job Mobbing Skill |
 War Leap | MP Cost: 11, allows you to jump a greater distance | Flash Jump Skill |
Upward Charge | MP Cost: 20, Max Enemies Hit: 5, Damage: 304% | Upward Mobility Skill |
Leap Attack | MP Cost: 5, Damage: 90%, Number of Attacks: 2, Max Enemies Hit: 4 | Downward Mobility Skill (quick drop to the ground while in the air) |
 Iron Body | DEF: +200, Max HP: +20%, Damage Taken: -10% | Passive Buff |
 Warrior Mastery | Speed: 10, Jump: 10, Max Speed: 10, Max HP Per Level: 20, Knockback Resistance: +40% | Passive Buff |
Spearman 2nd Job Skill Build
- Spear Sweep (+1), Evil Eye Shock (+1)
- Weapon Mastery (+5), Agile Arms (+1)
- Spear Sweep (MAX)
- Weapon Mastery (MAX)
- Agile Arms (MAX)
- Final Attack (MAX)
- Evil Eye Shock (MAX)
- Iron Wall (MAX)
- Hyper Body (MAX)
Spearman 2nd Job Skill Explanation
DK 2nd job notable skills are, Spear Sweep, Evil Eye, Evil Eye Shock, and Hyper Body.
Spear Sweep is your 2nd job mobbing skill.
Evil Eye is a toggle skill that you should alway have on. This skill gets upgraded with added effects in 3rd and 4th job.
Evil Eye Shock is a short cooldown mini burst skill that you should cast everytime off cooldown for mobbing and bossing.
Hyper Body is a buff to you and your party for increased MAX HP and MP.
| Skill Name | Max Lvl Description | Purpose |
Spear Sweep | MP Cost: 20, Damage: 105%, Max Enemies Hit: 8, Number of Attacks: 4 Hit enemies are pulled and stunned | 2nd Job Mobbing Skill |
Evil Eye | Casts heal that restores 20 HP every 24 sec | Toggle On Skill |
Evil Eye Shock | The Evil Eye appears in front of you, attacking up to 10 enemies 6 times, dealing 150% damage with a 45% chance of stunning targets for 5 sec Cooldown: 12 sec | Short Cooldown Mobbing and Bossing Skill |
Hyper Body | MP Cost: 40, Max HP and Max MP: +60%, Duration: 200 sec | Active Buff |
 Iron Wall | Defense: +270 | Passive Buff |
 Weapon Mastery | Spear and Polearm Mastery: +50% Attack Speed +1, Damage +5% when equipped with a Spear | Passive Buff |
 Agile Arms | Attack Speed: +2, STR: +20 | Passive Buff |
 Final Attack | [Final Attack Skills] Has a 40% chance to deal a final attack that deals 80% damage 2 time(s) | Passive Skill |
 Physical Training | Increases STR by 30 and DEX by 30 | Passive Buff |
Beyond Berserk 3rd Job Skill Build
- La Mancha Spear (+1), Cross Surge (+1), Rush (+1)
- Evil Eye Shock II (+1), Evil Eye of Domination (+1), Hex Of the Evil Eye (+1)
- Lord Of Darkness (MAX)
- Hex Of The Evil Eye (MAX)
- Cross Surge (MAX)
- La Mancha Spear (MAX)
- Evil Eye Shock II (MAX)
- Evil Eye Of Domination (MAX)
- Rush (MAX)
- Endure (MAX)
Beyond Berserk 3rd Job Skill Build Explanation
DK notable 3rd job skills are La Mancha Spear, Rush, and Cross Surge.
La Mancha Spear is your 3rd job mobbing skill.
Rush is a quick dash skill mainly used for its mobility and not damage. Can only be used while on the ground.
Cross Surge is an active buff that gives you FD and has no cooldown. Always have this buff active which should be easy since it has no CD and can be used anytime. Giving this skill to a pet with Auto Buff also works.
| Skill Name | Max Lvl Description | Purpose |
La Mancha Spear | MP Cost: 29, Damage: 185%, Number of Attacks: 4, Max Enemies Hit: 10 | 3rd Job Mobbing Skill |
Rush | MP Cost: 20, Damage: 305%, Max Enemies Pushed: 12 | Grounded Dash Skill |
Cross Surge | MP Cost: 20 Increase Final Damage by up to 20% for 200 sec This number decreases in proportion to your HP when your current HP is less than 50% of your Max HP Your Damage Taken is reduced by 8% of your missing HP, up to a maximum of 4000 [Passive Effects: Final Damage +50%] | Active Buff for FD (Keep your HP above 50% at all times for max FD) |
 Evil Eye of Domination | An Evil Eye roams around freely, attacking nearby enemies with 210% damage | Passive Effect |
 Evil Eye Shock II | The Evil Eye appears in front of you, attacking up to 10 enemies 6 times, dealing 215% damage with a 90% chance of stunning targets for 5 sec Cooldown: 12 sec | Passive Upgrade to Skill |
 Hex of the Evil Eye | Frequency: every 4 sec, Attack Power and Magic ATT: +40, DEF: +500, Critical Rate: +10% Buff Duration: 100 sec Buff effects are halved for party members | Passive Effect (evil eye will buff you and your party) |
 Lord of Darkness | Critical Rate: +30%, Critical Damage: +8% 100% chance to recover 2% of Max HP during the attack | Passive Buff |
 Endure | Abnormal Status Resistance: +20, Elemental Resistance: +20% | Passive Buff |
Dark Knight of Darkness 4th Job Skill Build
- Dark Impale (+1), Final Pact (+1), Barricade Mastery (+1)
- Dark Impale (MAX)
- Barricade Mastery (MAX)
- Final Pact (MAX)
- Revenge Of The Evil Eye (MAX)
- Dark Resonance (MAX)
- Maple Warrior (MAX)
- Gungnir’s Descent (MAX)
- Power Stance (MAX)
- Heros Will (MAX)
- Magic Crash (MAX)
Dark Knight of Darkness 4th Job Skill Explanation
DK notable 4th job skills are, Gungnir’s Descent, Dark Impale, Final Pact, Accept Final Pact, Dark Resonance, and Magic Crash.
Gungnir’s Descent is your main spammable bossing skill. You’ll rotate a lot through your other low cooldown skills but this is the one you’ll use most of the time in between cooldowns.
Dark Impale is your main spammable mobbing skill. DK has a lot of rotations where you just rely on your short cooldown burst skills and summons to clear maps (esp with CD hat) but this is what you’ll use in between those skills.
Final Pact is a skill that triggers when your HP reaches 0. The skill will keep you alive, Fully heal you and then grant you invincibility based on the skill Accept Final Pact. This skill makes DK’s survivability one of the best in the game. Some CD gets refunded if you hit the boss a certain amount of times in 10 seconds.
Generally, you’ll want to choose the option that has the shortest cooldown (Quarter Pact) so you can be invincible more often but for some boss fights you can really benefit from a full 40 seconds of invincibility which is the Full Pact.
Accept Final Pact is a skill that lets you choose which Pact is going to happen when your HP reaches 0. Left arrow is Quarter, Up Arrow is Half, and Right Arrow is Full Pact.
Dark Resonance is a big buff skill that should be used as a part of your burst setup. Short cooldown so try to use this skill as much as you can.
Magic Crash is a skill that removes and then prevents enemy buffs for a short duration. Useful for taking off stuff like damage reflect.
| Skill Name | Max Lvl Description | Purpose |
Gungnir’s Descent | MP Cost: 49, Damage: 225%, Max Enemies Hit: 3, Number of Attacks: 12 When Attacking: Damage increases by 110% of Max HP for every attack, Enemy Defense Ignored: 30% | Main Spammable Bossing Skill |
Dark Impale | MP Cost: 50, Damage: 280%, Number of Attacks: 6, Max Enemies Hit: 8 | Main Spammable Mobbing Skill |
   Accept Final Pact | Use the arrows key within 5 sec of using this skill to select the type of pact you want to accept Cooldown: 1 sec | Skill that lets you choose which Pact you want |
   Final Pact | Fully restores your HP and MP when the effect activates Invincibility effect activates based on the type selected in Final Pact Accept Final Pact Quarter: Invincibility Duration: 2 sec. Cooldown will shorten by 70 sec if you defeat 24 enemies or attack a boss during the 10 sec. after invincibility activates Cooldown: 180 sec Final Pact Half: Invincibility Duration: 8 sec. Cooldown will shorten by 80 sec. if you defeat 44 enemies or attack a boss during the 20 sec. after invincibility activates Cooldown: 260 sec Final Pact Full: Invincibility Duration: 40 sec. Cooldown will shorten by 300 sec. if you defeat 52 enemies or attack a boss during the 40 sec. after invincibility activates Cooldown: 900 sec [Passive Effects: When HP is 20% or above, Final Damage: +30%, Speed: +20, Critical Rate: +10%, Critical Damage: +15%] | Passive Full Heal and Invincibility Skill (triggers when your HP reaches 0) (depending on what you selected for Accept Final Pact it will trigger Invincibility for that duration) |
Dark Resonance | MP Cost: 85, Duration: 30 sec., restores 100% of Max HP immediately upon casting, Final Damage: +8%, Ignore Defense: +10%, Boss Damage: +15% Cooldown: 70 sec., direct skill attacks reduce cooldown by 0.35 sec [Passive Effect: Ignore Defense +30% ] | Active Bossing Buff |
Magic Crash | MP Cost: 15, Success Rate: 100%, Buff Block Duration: 22 sec Cooldown: 60 sec | Active Skill to remove and prevent buffs from enemies hit by this skill |
 Maple Warrior | MP Cost: 70, Increases all stats assigned APs by 15% | Passive Buff for stats |
 Hero’s Will | MP Cost: 30, Cooldown: 300 sec | Active Skill that clears status effects |
 Revenge of the Evil Eye | When the Dark Knight personally attacks, Damage: 255%, Max Enemies Hit: 10, Number of Attacks: 5 Cooldown: 5 sec Evil Eye Shock III: Damage: 370%, Max Enemies Hit: 10, Number of Attacks: 6 After the attacks, unleash 4 condensed auras of darkness, which deal 350% damage up to 3 enemies 3 times Cooldown: 10 sec | Passive Effect |
 Barricade Mastery | Spear and Polearm Mastery: +70%, Attack Power: +30, Critical Damage: +15% | Passive Buff |
 Power Stance | Knockback Resistance: +60% | Passive Buff |
Dark Knight Hyper Skill Build
DK has a straightforward hyper skill build which is used whether it is for your main or your boss mule. The only thing that could be changed is Final Pact – Critical Chance. If you have Crit Chance in you IA because you swap to Hero or Paladin you can get Gungnir’s Descent – Boss Rush instead.
Passives
Evil Eye – Damage- Evil Eye – Hex Reinforce
- Final Pact – Damage
- Final Pact – Critical Chance
- Gungnir’s Descent – Reinforce
Evil Eye – Damage
Evil Eye – Hex Reinforce
Final Pact – Damage
Gungnir’s Descent – ReinforceActives
- Nightshade Explosion
- Epic Adventure
- Dark Thirst
Nightshade Explosion is a short cooldown mini burst skill. Useful for mobbing and bossing. When bossing just try to use every time it’s off cooldown.
Epic Adventure is an active buff that is most useful in bossing setup scenarios.
Dark Thirst is an active buff skill for your burst setups. Gives you Attack and helps you recover HP while attacking.
Dark Knight 5th Job Skills
When you reach level 200 you’ll get access to your V Matrix and new 5th job skills. The best way to level them up is through Nodestones and Experience nodes. Dark Knight V Skills are in order of importance are, Spear of Darkness, Radiant Evil, Calamitous Cyclone, Darkness Aura.
Dark Knight 5th Job Skill Explanation
Spear of Darkness is a short cooldown attack that is great for mobbing and bossing. Use this whenever it’s off cooldown while bossing.
Radiant Evil is a short cooldown attack that is great for mobbing and bossing. Use this whenever it’s off cooldown while bossing.
Calamitous Cyclone is your big burst skill. It is a keydown skill which deals a ton of damage quickly and also recovers your HP.
Darkness Aura is a 2 part skill where the 1st part will deal damage on its own and grant you Life Force (Max 15). Then upon 2nd activation it will do a big hit while also dealing extra damage for all the Life Force you gained while this skill was active.
| Skill Name | Max Lvl Description | Purpose |
Spear of Darkness | MP Cost: 350 A summoned spear deals 715% damage 7 times on up to 12 enemies For attacks that inflict damage at a certain ratio of the target’s Max HP, Damage -10% (while you’re preparing to throw the spear) Critical Rate +100%. Ignores 50% Enemy DEF Cooldown: 10 sec | Short Cooldown Burst Skill |
Radiant Evil | MP Cost: 1000 An Evil Eye appears in front of you, attacking up to 10 enemies 6 times, dealing 260% damage for 3 sec, and ignoring 20% additional enemy Defense Cooldown: 20 sec | Short Cooldown Burst Skill |
Calamitous Cyclone | MP Cost: 100 Deals 1040% damage 12 times consecutively, on up to 12 enemies, for up to 4.5 sec Recover 1% of max HP for every attack that lands When key is released, activates a shockwave 5 times that deals 15 final attack(s) with 780% damage to a max of 12 enemies Recover 10% of max HP for every final attack that lands All Calamitous Cyclone hits receive Additional Critical Rate: +100%, and Additional Monster Def Ignored: +50% Cooldown: 180 sec | Big Burst Bossing Skill |
Darkness Aura | MP Cost: 1000 Periodically attack up to 3 enemies for 880% damage 5 times over 40 sec Recover 3% Max HP per attack and obtain 1 Life Force If HP Recovery exceeds Max HP, gain an HP shield amounting to 75% of the recovery amount Max Life Force: 15, Max Shield: 30% of Max HP Periodically generates a maximum-strength shield Damage Taken -10% (includes damage proportional to Max HP) Reusing this skill while it is active will cancel its effect and trigger a dark slash that strikes 8 enemies for 1455% damage 13 times, plus an additional 1 slashes for each 3 Life Force possessed Cooldown: 180 sec | Big Burst Bossing Skill |
Dark Knight Perfect Trio Nodes
In the V Matrix you’ll also have Boost Nodes. They are there to level up your 1st – 4th job skills past their initial cap. You’ll want to level up the most useful skills for your class and those will form your perfect trios.
For Dark Knight these are the perfect nodes you’ll want to look for,
| Primary Node | Secondary Node |
 Dark Impale |  Nightshade Explosion |
 Gungnir’s Descent |  Rush |
 Evil Eye Boost |  Final Attack |
If you are making a main you’ll want both the Primary and Secondary Node for maximum damage.
If you’re making a boss mule you can get away with a Hybrid node of Gungnir’s Descent, Nightshade Explosion, Evil Eye Boost. But since nodes are pretty accessible I’d go for both Primary and Secondary on a boss mule as well.
An explanation of perfect trios and full list of all classes and their perfect trio nodes here.
All Useful 5th Job Skills for Dark Knight
These are all the skills you’ll need to get the most out of Dark Knight. Any other skills are not useful and can be disassembled.
Do not level up your Decent skills past level 1 unless you’re at the end game and min/maxing to get an extra 5 stat at max level. At level 1 all your decent skills have 100% uptime since the duration will be longer than the cooldown. Holy Symbol is the only exception since you’ll get more exp and drop rate as you level it.
 Decent Sharp Eyes |
 Decent Combat Orders |
 Decent Speed Infusion |
 Weapon Aura |
 Maple World Goddess’s Blessing |
 Erda Nova |
 Decent Holy Symbol |
 Blink |
 Decent Advanced Blessing |
 Will Of Erda |
 Erda Shower |
 Blitz Shield |
 Impenetrable Skin |
 Rope Lift |
 True Arachnid Reflection (Obtained from Will boss) |
 Solar Crest (Obtained from Seren boss) |
 Decent Holy Fountain |
The ones that are underlined and bolded are not necessary if making a boss mule.
Dark Knight 5th Job V Matrix Node Slot Priority
This is the order of what skills you should equip first,
- Boost Nodes, Spear of Darkness, Radiant Evil
- Calamitous Cyclone, Darkness Aura, Weapon Aura (Decent Holy Symbol + Erda Fountain for Training)
- Decent Sharp Eyes, Decent Speed Infusion
- Maple World Goddess’s Blessing, Blitz Shield, Impenetrable Skin
- Decent Combat Orders, Decent Advanced Blessing
Maxing the skills in this order (except decents) is also ideal for bossing but if you want to get better training rates I would suggest putting more focus on Boost Nodes, Decent Holy Symbol, Spear of Darkness, Radiant Evil, and Erda Shower.
Dark Knight Bossing Combo
DK’s bossing combo is pretty simple; you just need to buff up then spam your skills off cooldown. The only thing you have to watch for is triggering Darkness Aura at the right time when you have 15 stacks.
Buffs
Your active buffs that should be up 100% of the time like, Sharp Eyes, Decent Combat Orders, Decent Advanced Blessing, Decent Speed Infusion, Maple Warrior, Cross Surge, Hyper Body, and Evil Eye Toggle.
Burst Order
- Weapon Aura, Epic Adventure, Maple World Goddess’s Blessing, Darkness Aura, (True Arachnid, Solar Crest if you have), Impenetrable Skin
- Spear of Darkness, Evil Eye Shock, Radiant Evil, Nightshade Explosion,
- Dark Resonance, Dark Thirst, Terms and Conditions (AB link), OZ Ring (if party Ror4 if solo Cont4), Bind
- Spear of Darkness, Evil Eye Shock, Nightshade Explosion, Hold Calamitous Cyclone, Darkness Aura 2nd part, Dead Space
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Off Burst
You spam Gungnir’s Descent and your short cooldown skills like Spear of Darkness, Evil Eye Shock, Radiant Evil all at once. Then you just repeat that while keeping your buffs up until your big burst.
A little tip for setting up your burst on any character is that you set up your buff keybinds in an easy to reach descending order. I usually go down the number line (5-1) and when I reach 1 I know I used every buff I need for bursting. For example, you put your 1st buff on 5 then 2nd buff on 4, 3rd buff on 3, etc, till you’re done.
Dark Knight 6th Job HEXA Skills
The HEXA matrix is split up into Skill Node (6th job Origin skill), Mastery Node (enhances 4th job skills), Boost Node (5th job enhancement), and Common Node (Job specific skills)
You’ll get your 1st Origin skill for free once you finish the quest line and the rest you’ll have to unlock yourself. Link to a Guide for HEXA Matrix so that you’ll have the best start possible.
| Node Type | Skill Name | Max Lvl Description | Purpose |
| Skill Node |  Dead Space | MP Cost: 1200, invincible during casting Chase Cuts occur 6 times which attack up to 15 enemies with 1200% damage 6 times, after that 58 Gate(s) of Darkness are released to attack up to 15 enemies with 1035% damage 14 times Cooldown: 360 seconds | Big Bind and Burst Skill (This is your Origin skill which binds the boss and gives a big buff to your skills for a duration) (This bind is different than a regular bind (erda nova) which means you can use your regular bind right after your Origin bind |
| Mastery Node |  HEXA Gungnir’s Descent | MP Cost: 70, Damage: 390%, Max Enemies Hit: 4, Number of Attacks: 12 When Attacking: Damage increases by 120% of Max HP for every attack, Enemy Defense Ignored: 40% | Passive Boost to Skill |
| Mastery Node |  HEXA Dark Impale | MP Cost: 55, Damage: 568%, Number of Attacks: 6, Max Enemies Hit: 8 Dark Bident is available every 6 sec | Passive Boost to Skill |
 HEXA Nightshade Explosion | MP Cost: 220, Max Enemies Hit: 12, Damage: 580%, Attack: 12Ignore Defense: 60%, Boss Damage: +30% Cooldown: 10 sec [Passive Effect: HEXA Gungnir’s Descent Damage: +145%] | Passive Boost to Skill | |
| Boost Node |  Spear of Darkness | Spear of Darkness Final Damage: +60% | Passive Damage Boost to Skill |
| Boost Node |  Radiant Evil | Radiant Evil Final Damage: +60% | Passive Damage Boost to Skill |
| Boost Node |  Calamitous Cyclone | Calamitous Cyclone Final Damage: +60% | Passive Damage Boost to Skill |
| Boost Node |  Darkness Aura | Darkness Aura Final Damage: +60% | Passive Damage Boost to Skill |
| Common Node |  Sol Janus | HP Cost: 500, Select a form of Sol Janus Cooldown: 3 sec [Passive Effect: EXP Obtained: +100%] | Only For Mobbing and Training (has 2 forms one is a summon and the other is a passive. Both kill mobs and the choice is dependant on what class you play) |
6th Job Dark Knight HEXA Skill Priority
When starting your HEXA Matrix you’ll want to unlock everything then start putting focus on depending on if you’re a solo progression player or a party player.
If you’re a party player you’ll want to focus on your burst and getting that as high as possible. Especially important in late/end game bosses. For Dark Knight you’ll want to prio Dead Space, Calamitous Cyclone, Darkness Aura.
If you’re a solo progression player there are infographics online and in the Dark Knight discord that you can follow.
6th Job Dark Knight HEXA Stat Priority
For Dark Knight, your 1st HEXA stat node, you’ll want
- Main Stat: Attack
- Additional Stat: STAT
- Additional Stat: Critical Damage
HEXA stat is an RNG type system and it doesn’t matter what you get in the beginning since it is not worth it to reroll until your entire 6th job is maxed. Once it gets to level 20 leave it there and no matter what you got it would still be at least a 2-3% FD gain.
Ideally, you want 10/10/0 but that is very costly and you shouldn’t try to go for unless you have an excess of fragments or everything is done.