Shovel Knight

Shovel Knight's character portrait.

**Shovel Knight** is a character owned by Yacht Club Games and is one of the 7 characters unlocked from the start. He appears in his eponymous game, *Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove*.

## Character Origin

Shovel Knight is a knight wearing a blue armor, the Stalwart Plate, and wielding his weapon of choice, the Shovel Blade. In *Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope*, his own campaign, he goes on a quest to rescue Shield Knight who was sealed in the Tower of Fate, and will encounter many enemies and challenges along the way, like the Order of No Quarter: A merciless Order of villainous knight volunteering to seize control over the land.

## Trophy Quote

> "*A practitioner of the ancient code of Shovelry. Shovel Knight can do almost anything with his signature weapon: the Shovel Blade. He uses it to mercilessly attack, dig up treasure & bounce on foes in search of his long lost partner Shield Knight, against all odds.*"
> ― Shovel Knight's Trophy Description.
>
>

> "*What better way is there to spend your treasure than on gold-plated armor? The Ornate Plate is the most expensive armor Shovel Knight can buy, even though it's functionally useless. Wearing it allows Shovel Knight to perform acrobatic flip jumps, however.*"
> ― Ornate Plate's Trophy Description.
>
>

## Summary

Shovel Knight is a slow and heavy, but hard-hitting character that can take a bit of practice to get used to. He has a special property that no other characters have: His Shovel Drop, used by holding the control stick down, is an alternative to the Pogo Attack, by which he can retain his Pogo Combo.

### Moveset

**Shovel Drop**: The Shovel Drop is Shovel Knight's unique trait. By holding Down to do a Shovel Drop, the player is able to jump off enemies to do **1 damage**. It is quicker, but weaker than a Pogo Attack. The Shovel Drop cannot be performed while in helpless state. It can be used to bounce off the floor and keep a Pogo Combo instead of landing and cashing it. Shovel Dropping on an opponent doesn't reset the air jump nor any move, but Shovel Dropping on the ground does.

**Side Melee** : Shovel Knight uses his trusty Shovel Blade to perform a Dig Slash and inflicts **5 damage.** This move can reflect projectiles such as Teslakid's Ball Lightning and Penelope's Vampire Mines. Any projectiles Shovel Knight reflects with this move fall under his ownership.

**Up Melee** : Shovel Knight thrusts his Shovel Blade up high. Deals **4 damage** with decent upward knockback.

**Down Melee** : Shovel Knight points his Shovel Blade to the ground, extending it downwards. Deals **4 damage** with decent downward knockback. This move can be used in conjunction with Shovel Drop to give it extra height.

**Neutral Special | Flare Rod** : Shovel Knight casts a slow, lingering fireball that travels in a straight line. Deals **2 damage** on impact.

**Side Special | Dust Knuckles** : Shovel Knight punches forward using the Dust Knuckles. Can be used multiple times in rapid succession. The first punch deals **5 damage**. Each consecutive punch deals **2 damage.**

**Up Special | Infinidagger** : Shovel Knight uses his Infinidagger to lift high into the air. This attack deals a **minimum** **5 damage and a maximum of 10 damage** when ascending. Holding the button will lift him even more and make him hover in the air for a few seconds. In this state, if an enemy touches the tip of the dagger, it will deal **3 damage**.

**Down Special | Fishing Rod** : Shovel Knight uses his Fishing Rod. The Anchor of the rod can deal **7 damage** when falling on the ground. The Anchor will stay on the ground until it's used again, retracting back to Shovel Knight, dealing **7 damage**. The move can be cancelled by pressing the dodge button. If the Anchor falls offstage, Shovel Knight is able to catch a Troupple and **heal 5 HP**.

**Grounded Charge | Mobile Gear** : Shovel Knight uses his Mobile Gear to move on the ground. The Gear in itself does **4 damage**. Shovel Knight can jump while riding the Mobile Gear. When jumping on the Mobile Gear, he can release the attack button to shoot the Gear downward, dealing between **4 and 9 damage**. Shovel Knight can release the attack button on the ground to jump out of it and deal **6 damage** with a Shovel Thrust. Shovel Knight has super armor when he performs the Shovel Thrust. The Shovel Thrust cancels on hit, allowing for a follow-up.

**SUPER | War Horn** : Shovel Knight uses his War Horn and blows around him, dealing **1 damage** multi-hits in rapid succession to anyone in its radius. Shovel Knight is vulnerable during his Super, however, but can move around freely while it is active.

## Competitive Play

### Attributes

* **Great Mobility Options** granted by Shovel Drop, Down Melee and Neutral Special carrying momentum, as well as his regular movement options.
* **Flare Rod:** One of the most versatile projectiles in the game, as it can apply pressure, give you follow-ups on hit, and also kill in some occasions
* **Great Combos**: High damage dealing combos that also give him lots of gems, which grant Shovel Knight a really good reversal.
* **Comboing to Heavyweights:** Heavyweights nullify most of his attacks' knockback, which can be hard when doing combos.

### Techs and Strategies

* **Shovel Boost** : Shovel Knight's Down Melee can carry momentum out of Roll Kick. To do this, Hold down while rolling and during roll leap, then press the Melee button.
* **Flare Boost**: Shovel Knight's Neutral Special can carry momentum out of Roll Kick, allowing you to keep moving while also shooting a fireball at your foes.

## Update History

**Patch 1.0.0.6**

* Coin mini-game now has Shovel Knight anchor shelf below stage.

**Patch 1.0.9.0**

* Fixed a bug that prevented Shovel Knight from dying on top of Blockman's block.

**Patch 1.0.15.0**

* Fixed a bug relating to interactions between Shovel Knight and Teslakid's Magnetism.

**Patch 1.1.0.0**

* Fixed a bug that prevented Shovel Knight's death sequence from ending on top of Blockman's block.

**Patch 1.1.2.0**

* Shovel Knight can now dodge downward.

**Patch 2.0.0.0**

* **Shovel Drop**
	+ Damage reduced from 2 to 1.
* **Parkour**
	+ Roll startup acceleration decreased.
* **Side Melee**
	+ Shovel Knight’s old Neutral Special has been moved to his Side Melee.
	+ Can now be used multiple times in midair.
	+ Damage reduced from 8 to 4.
* **Down Melee**
	+ Can be used in conjunction with Shovel Drop to give it even more height.
* **Neutral Special | Flare Rod**
	+ Shovel Knight casts a slow, lingering fireball that travels in a straight line. Deals 3 damage on impact.
* **Side Special | Dust Knuckles**
	+ Shovel Knight punches forward using the Dust Knuckles. Can be used multiple times in rapid succession. The first punch deals 5 damage. Each consecutive punch deals 2 damage.
* **Up Special | Infinidagger**
	+ Aerial hang time decreased.
	+ Minimum damage reduced from 8 to 5.
	+ Maximum damage reduced from 15 to 10.
* **Down Special | Fishing Rod**
	+ Other players can now consume Troupples as they’re being reeled in.
* **SUPER | War Horn**
	+ Shovel Knight can now move freely while this attack is active.
	+ Duration reduced.

**Patch 2.1.0.0**

* **Neutral Special | Flare Rod**
	+ Damage reduced from 3 to 1.
	+ Projectile cooldown increased.

**Patch 3.0.0.0**

* **Shovel Drop**
	+ Hitbox is no longer active when Shovel Knight travels upwards with this move.
* **Side Melee**
	+ Can now reflect Bullet Kin's RC Rocket projectiles.
* **Up Melee**
	+ Changed the hitbox shape from a rectangle to an ellipse.
* **Neutral Special | Flare Rod**
	+ Shovel Knight can now change the direction that the projectile is fired, similarly to CV's Side Special.
	+ Damage increased from 1 to 2.
	+ Now has a cooldown indicator that shows when the move is ready to be used again.
* **Down Special | Fishing Rod**
	+ Fixed a bug that caused Shovel Knight's calling reel state to setup multiple times.
	+ Fixed a bug that prevented Shovel Knight from using Parkour if he died while his lure was cast.
* **SUPER | War Horn**
	+ Shovel Knight is no longer invincible during this move's duration.
	+ Fixed a bug that prevented Shovel Knight's gravity from resetting if his SUPER was interrupted by the windbox from Diogenes' Down Special.

**Patch 3.0.1.0**

* **Hitbox**
	+ Lowered on top by 12 pixels so he's not as easy to hit.
* **Side Melee**
	+ Damage increased from 4 to 5.

## Trivia

* Shovel Knight makes a lot of references to his game of origin, *Shovel Knight*.
	+ His entrance animation is the same as when he enters a level.
	+ His palette swaps correlate to the various armor he can purchase in his original game.
	+ He uses his Shovel Blade during many of his moves.
	+ He can perform the Shovel Drop, just like in his game.
	+ He uses several Relics to attack, parkour and dodge on the battlefield, such as the Flare Wand, the Phase Locket, the Dust Knuckles, the Propeller Dagger, the Fishing Rod, the Mobile Gear and the War Horn.
		- Oddly, Shovel Knight's Up Special attack is called "Infinidagger", despite him clearly using the Propeller Dagger, curiously the same way as he uses the Rising Dagger from *Shovel of Hope*. This move can be considered as an amalgamate of every Dagger relic.
	+ He drops Gold bags when dying. Collecting these in Arcade Mode, as of Patch 1.1.3.0, rewards players with the "Treasure Hunter" bonus.
* Shovel Knight was revealed during the Kickstarter trailer, and as such is the first character to be revealed during the Kickstarter in its entirety.
* Shovel Knight, along with CommanderVideo, is one of the two characters to appear in both *Indie Pogo* and the *Super Smash Bros franchise*, with Shovel Knight appearing in the form of an Assist Trophy in the latter.
* Shovel Knight was the 13th character added to the game.
* Shovel Knight has two unused sprites in the game files. These were used for a scrapped move and can be viewed in the Gallery above. The move originally was Shovel Knight's Down Special, and it was going to be downwards drop similar to Blockman's Down Special.
* Shield Knight was planned to be alongside Shovel Knight in battle. She'd follow Shovel Knight around, but it was scrapped because it was too messy and complicated, according to the devs.
* Shovel Knight was revealed in *Rivals of Aether* on August 8th. He retains several moves from Indie Pogo like the Shovel Drop, the Fishing Rod and the Propeller Dagger, but features more attacks and original mechanics.
* Shovel Knight was implemented in the game July of 2017.
	+ As of 2019's Heavy Metal Update, he has also become a base game fighter and no longer needs to be purchased for 215 coins.

## Gallery

Shovel Knight's character box on the Kickstarter page.Official artwork of Shovel Knight by @JamesTheReggieUnlocking Shovel Knight.Shovel Knight's trophy page, as seen in Indie Pogo.Shovel Knight's hard mode trophy, showing the Ornate PlateTwo sprites from a scrapped move for Shovel Knight.The scrapped Shield Knight Sprite.Original artwork from Shovel Knight.
## References

1. ↑ http://yachtclubgames.com/shovel-knight/
2. ↑ https://shovelknight.wikia.com/wiki/Shovel\_Knight
3. ↑ https://www.ssbwiki.com/Shovel\_Knight
4. ↑ https://twitter.com/LoweBros/status/1017888345236672514