Introduction
Does hearing the word ‘Knight’ ring a bell? As many may have already guessed, a Knight in Trove is very much similar to being a Warrior in most MMORPGs. The Knight class is available to all Trove players for free and it is the default class used for the tutorial. The Knight is a melee class, adept in his use of sword and close-range abilities to devastate his opponents. When compared to his melee counterpart Neon Ninja, Knight’s tanking capabilities truly shine.
Advantages:
- Low skill cap
- High survivability
- Decent stat growth
- Absolutely free to play
Disadvantages:
- Hard to keep aggro
- Out-grows the use of potions
- Boring combat mechanics
Role of a Knight
As mentioned earlier, Knight is undoubtedly ranked first in his ability to absorb damage. However, the Knight is also capable of filling the role of a damage dealer, though much less effectively so. In this section, I would like to breakdown the various play-styles one can adopt for both solo and group play.
As a solo player, you generally want to build damage on Knight unless you intend to only solo the lower confines of uber worlds (Refer to section 4 for damage gearing). Totem dungeons are the easiest for you because it is only dealing with a group of monsters and you should seek them out when opportune. For biomes, stick to Cursed Vale, Fae Wilds, Dragonfire Peaks since bosses in these biomes are easily accessible without having to participate in any crazy jumping maneuvers. Desert Frontier is alright but you must absolutely avoid Cyberian Tundra and Medieval Highlands if you intend to grind efficiently. Neon City, while notorious for its many floating structures, is an exception due to the importance of Robotic Salvage and how you absolutely cannot skip acquiring those.
In a team however, you don’t have the liberty of choosing what dungeons to do. If your team is well-geared and strong, you can choose to sit out climbing dungeons as the battle would’ve ended before you even reached the top. When clearing dungeons as a team, always try to aggro as many monsters as possible and lure them onto traps (you take a bit of damage but it is worth it for efficiency sake). If lone monsters are straying away from you and onto teammates, use Charge! To catch up to them and hopefully capture their attention. Most importantly, always be prepared to use your ultimate in the event that you get pushed over a trap and suffers significant damage.
Breakdown of skills
Knight skills
[Passive] Retribution: Upon taking damage charges the next attack with extra power.
This is one of the most important skills for the Knight and also the skill that is going to provide you with the highest damage increment. Based on trialed estimates, it actually amplifies your damage by 2 times to 2.5 times.
[Active RMB] Smash: Cone attack for moderate damage and heavy knockback.
This skill is considered one of the most useless skills for the Knight. Aside from the fact that it has a long charge-up animation and does insignificant damage, it knocks the enemy away from yourself, making it actually harder for you to get to the enemy. The only use for this skill at the moment would be to break walls and ores.
[Active 1] Charge!: Charge forward and deal moderate damage.
This skill is essentially what makes Knight a class with little disadvantages. On top of the AoE damage provided which parallels that of the Knight’s passive, it also transports the Knight across the battlefield, covering long distances horizontally and getting closer to the opponent
[Active 2] Iron Will: Restores all health and reduce incoming damage.
Pretty much the Knight’s ‘god-mode’ key for a few seconds. It reduces incoming damage by a proportion so large that it is close to being invulnerable to most of the monsters in the game. This, coupled with an instant full heal on a potentially HP stacked Knight minimizes the probability of dying beyond any other classes can achieve.
Gearing up
In order for a better portrayal of the Knight’s end game, we assume items to be forged to the maximum and possess 4 lines of stat. As we look to gear a Knight, we have to make a decisive choice between going for absolute HP or substantial damage (Knights that sit in the middle are weak due to item synergy and not worth mentioning). With the introduction of rings, it is now much easier to specialize into either of the builds. There also exist divergent views regarding having JUMP stat on Knight and personally, I don’t think that is important so it will not be considered as a main stat, but rather something as a personal preference.
Damage Set
For this set, the synergy lies with having high amounts of Health Regeneration while substituting some of the Health out for damage. This allows the Knight to absorb several hits from the bosses and not rely entirely on potions. Having near maximum attack speed amplifies the effects of having lots of Physical Damage. In fact, having more damage for less Health is perfect in this situation since more Health reduces the theoretical effectiveness of Health Regeneration.
Weapon – Physical Damage
– Max Health
– Health Regeneration
– Attack Speed / Energy Regeneration
Face – Max Health
– Health Regeneration
– Physical Damage
– Attack Speed
Hat – Max Health
– Health Regeneration
– Maximum Health % (Jump)
– Attack Speed
Ring – Physical Damage
– Energy Regeneration / Health Regeneration
My personal full stats as a level 20 Knight
*Note that my damage and maximum health may be slightly higher due to mastery level
Vitality Set
This build capitalizes on the fact that the Knight ultimate heals him to full and thus sacrifices Physical Damage for more Max Health. Building this way allows the Knight an easier time running grouped dungeons and Shadow Arenas but render solo gameplay almost impossible. However, it could be fun boasting your usually above 18,000HP value.
*I do not have a gear set as such and am thus unable to provide screenshots.
Weapon – Physical Damage
– Max Health
– Health Regeneration
– Energy Regeneration
Face – Max Health
– Health Regeneration
– Maximum Health %
– Health Regeneration
Hat – Max Health
– Health Regeneration
– Maximum Health %
– Attack Speed
Ring – Maximum HP
– Energy Regeneration / Health Regeneration
Combat guidelines
Fighting as a Knight is pretty straightforward. Against clusters of monsters, you always want to aggro all the mobs first and gather them at one spot, preferably in front of you. If you have trouble gathering the monsters together, make use of Charge! to gain some grounds and also do instant damage. Once all the monsters have gathered in one spot, hold down LMB for auto attacks and use Charge! through the monsters whenever you have the energy to do so. Use your ultimate as conservatively as possible to deal with painful enemy skills such as ‘Whirlwind.’ Alternatively, if you have JUMP stat on your gear, you can keep yourself in the air while the enemy uses ‘Whirlwind.’
Against single bosses, the above-mentioned process becomes easier as you are no longer required to gather monsters together. Here, what you want to do is to do as much damage as possible to keep up the aggro and keep your ranged damage dealers safe. Aim for the first strike onto the boss and the boss will instantly strike back, triggering your passive and allowing you to deal more damage, keeping up the aggro. Also in boss battles, your Charge! becomes more of an utility spell as you would use it to catch up with teleporting bosses and get away from spinning ones. A tricky play would be to force boss monsters onto natural traps such as lava and activate your ultimate so you can keep the boss there without dying.
Conclusion
All in all, Knight is an easy yet exceptional class which everyone can pick up and excel in. The Knight can be built to suit both damage and tank demands, even to the extent they sometimes overshadow the other classes. While ineffective performing any role out of combat such as resource gathering, the Knight’s unparalleled worth in combat situations more than makes up for it. Personally, Knight was my first class to reach the level cap of 20 and it has been an enjoyable experience leveling and running end-game content with it. If you are one of those who have forsaken the Knight to play Gunslinger, I urge you to give Knight a try and who knows, you might end up losing some sleep playing him.
Let me know what you think in the comments.