My Favorite Underrated Champions: Dark Knight

The Dark Knight is one of my favorite underrated champions. This is an exotic rune, as you may know. Once upon a time, early in the game, he was a well-regarded powerhouse, but he is a rare sight.

Unfortunately, he starts off with similar weak stats to a Crossbone with 30hp, but costs almost twice as much nora. Pretty lousy for an exotic armored knight, eh? And he is too easy to kill. Much too easy. His saving grace is that he resurrects into a Lich Knight, so you are getting two good units (the latter being great) at about 40 nora each, un-upgraded.

Let me also say, as a caveat, that I cannot seem to effectively use or enjoy this guy at anything under a 120 fully-upgraded nora cost (11spd, 13dmg, 40hp, Resist Physical 2). This guy needs a large initial upgrade to survive. I have tried him at 99 Nora, which is about his absolute minimum cost in a playable state, because he absolutely needs more HP and Physical Resist 2 to survive. But at 99 nora, which necessitates no more than 9 spd, he just doesn't do enough on the battlefield to justify his cost.

Why do I like this guy so much?

- Surprising unit you don't see much, and I like surprises.

- Great rune card artwork, rune dock art, sprite animation in game.

- Physical Resist 2 or better - practically impenetrable to standard melee attacks.

- Two units for the cost of one, with the second being many times more powerful.

- In his second form he is one of the best units in the game, bar none. Hmm, Boon of the Undead, Physical Resist 2, Flying, Immunity: Magic, Life Siphon, +3 damage, and more.

- Life Siphon and Physical Resist both make two of the best sound effects in the game, which adds a lot to my enjoyment, and opponent's misery when I am playing this rune.

- He's a knight, and Lich-born at that, how cool!

Build Considerations: The absolute best build I have found for using this rune is as follows: 11spd, 40hp, 13 damage (crucial - dmg in second form must add up to an even number to best use Life Siphon, so at 13 dmg initially, at +3 dmg in second form he does 16 dmg and heals 8 dmg with every hit! He is still a bit frail, because any fire, frost, sonic, or psychic damage - so common in the game now - does full damage and he still only has 40hp.

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Equipment Recommended: Ultimately I recommend running him with a complementary piece of equipment, like the Lichbone Staff (Lightning AOE), Fleshsewn Helm (+2 ranks of Physical Resist, Disease Aura), or Shield of Darkness. Or if you are using a 10/10 cross-faction deck, try something like a Snaptooth Helm or maybe the best of the best, the Idol of the Elements (giving Fire and Frost immunity + standard champion poison, disease, magic in second form immunities).

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Note: Keep in mind that the FW spell Reanimate does not work on this champion, since the Lich-Born ability is already like a resurrection-type ability which won't stack with another.

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Conclusion: Altogether, this champion is quite amazing and fun to play, but does require some equipment backup to fully shine. With it, he is nigh unstoppable.