Death Knight

*"I'M A DEATH KNIGHT, DAMMIT! NOT A SKELETON! A DEATH KNIGHT! DON'T COMPARE ME TO THOSE LITTLE BONY IDIOTS EVER AGAIN!!!!"*

## Death Knight

a death knight amidst some city rubble, ready to hop out and strike.

## Stats

### Strength

45

**Death Knights** are a unit in the Death faction.

## Overview

Fearsome warriors from beyond the grave, Death Knights take full advantage of their undead state as well as their former combat prowess. With melee power that rivals that of a Knight, a ranged option similar to that of an Armsman, the ability to cheat death like a Zombie, a cheap cost, and an impressive speed stat to boot, they’re incredible generalist units in any Death army. However, be careful around true damage and watch your energy; unlike the more fragile Skeleton, these guys can’t move for free.

## Abilities

### Undead

The first time this unit is reduced to zero HP it is instead brought up to half HP. True damage negates this ability.

## Gear

### Weapon

SWORD

GREATSWORD

Ability: Whenever an attack with this weapon hits an enemy unit, there is a 50% chance for a wide sweep. Wide sweeps cause another bonus attack to an enemy unit in melee range of both the attacking unit and the initial target unit.

RIFLE

## Strategy

The first thing to consider with Death Knights is their weapon, and here there are really two categories: melee or ranged. While both are definitely effective and have their individual pros and cons, the melee option is typically better. There are a couple reasons for this; survivability, damage, and speed. When it comes to damage, not only does the sword do more damage and break through defense more easily than the rifle, but it also has twice as many attacks which makes it much more reliable. The high speed of the Death Knight also makes closing down on enemies in order to put out that melee damage easier than with other melee units such as Knights, and their undead ability means that they can remain in that melee range without dying fairly effectively. With the rifle, on the other hand, you gain something different: ranged support. It’ll be less consistent and deal less damage than in melee, and the range of the rifle itself isn’t anything particularly special, but the Death Knight’s high health makes it very resilient to counterattacks and it’s also the only ranged option really available to Death in general, so if you’re thirsting for some ranged firepower it’s definitely there as an option.

When running Death Knights with melee weapons, though, there are a couple of things you can do to maximize their impact. The main thing is to take advantage of their speed. One of the major strengths of the Death Knight is how it retains good melee power with an impressive Speed stat. Use this to your benefit; keep your Death Knights protected with horde units like Zombies before closing the distance from behind them for the kill. Don’t be afraid to be the one to engage first with these guys. They have the speed to close the distance and attack, and they also have the durability to stay in that melee range and survive. This is the second important thing to take advantage of with Death Knights; health. Thanks to the Undead ability, these guys can pretty consistently survive the first melee attack of most melee units, letting them waste your opponent’s energy and, should they survive, remain a threat. So again, don’t be afraid to be the first to engage in battle if you’re using their melee weapons.

If you’re using the rifle, though, this obviously isn’t as effective. That being said, their health and speed means that they can still grapple ranged units in a pinch, which can be surprisingly strong. However, generally speaking, it’s best to not run into melee range and instead use that ranged option. With the rifle, you should typically play Death Knights essentially as you’d play a Lizimorr Armsman, though there is one important way that they can differ: blocking. With Armsmen, their low health makes them very poor meat shields for your more important units. Death Knights have no such issue thanks to their Undead ability, and their ranged option can be more effective in this circumstance as it allows you to fire at enemies while still acting as a shield for your allies.

All this being said, Death Knights do have two main main weaknesses: true damage, especially from sources like Blast, which can instantly kill the Death Knight at any amount of health, and energy, as the Death Knight can’t move or attack for free. The only real way to combat the first issue much of the time is to take advantage of your own magic. Using the Lich’s Magic Barrier, you can half all damage sources for one turn which means that spells like Blast or even Nova won’t be able to instantly take a Death Knight down. However, when it comes to energy, all you can really do is play carefully. Don’t push with too many at once or you won’t be able to attack, be considerate as to which of your units should attack to maximize damage and use the free movement of your normal Skeletons and Zombies to put your Death Knights in the best situation to attack.

## Lore

We ain't got much, but here it is:

*"Death knights are undead warriors resurrected by forces of darkness to march eternally to Mt. Ora. The prowess of their previous lives gives them will such that they retain some semblance of their warrior spirit even in undeath."*

Wowie! If a death knight were ever able to regain their sense of identity somehow... that could make for an interesting legend unit... just saying....