Dark Knight (Awakening)

Dark Knight
Sylvain as a Dark Knight in Three Houses.
First Seen	Fire Emblem Awakening
Promotes From	Dark Mage Mage (FE13 only)
Promotes To	Dark Crusader (FEW)
Usable Weapon Types	Sword Tome Lance(FE16 only)
Class Skills	Lifetaker Slow Burn (FE13 only) Seal Magic (FE14 only)
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The Dark Knight (ダークナイト Dāku naito) is a horse-mounted combat magical class that is introduced in Fire Emblem Awakening. One of the promoted forms of the Dark Mage class, Dark Knights wield Tomes as their primary weapon of choice, and are also able to arm Swords as their secondary weapon.

History in the Series

In its original inception in Awakening, the Dark Knight class is introduced as the successor to the Mage Knight class of old. One of the promoted forms of the Dark Mage and Mage classes, the Dark Knight class is armed with Swords and Tomes as its weapons of choice.

In Fates, Dark Knights are treated as a Nohrian class, and again as one of the promoted forms of the Dark Mage class.

In Warriors, Dark Knight is the base class of Leo and is unable to use Swords, though their ability to do so is referenced in Leo's Dual Special, with him using his Iceblade. It promotes into Dark Crusader and is a clone of the Troubadour class.

In Three Houses, Dark Knight is a class featured in the Master Rank curriculum. To pass the Dark Knight class, a unit must be at Lv. 30 and have an A in Riding, a B+ in Reason, and a C in Lances. In addition, the Dark Knight class has a mirror class in the form of the Holy Knight.

Overview

Combat

Dark Knights are similar to Mage Knights, in the sense that their Magic is slightly higher than their Strength. When compared to their un-promoted forms, Dark Knights clearly have superior Movement, making them great for performing rescue missions. They do, however, suffer from the usual litany of weaknesses that are associated with mounted units, including limited range on sand-based skirmishes and sustaining bonus damage from Beast Killers. Compared to Sorcerers, Dark Knights are much more all-rounded but have poor Skill and Speed.

In Awakening, the first skill that Dark Knights are able to learn is Slow Burn. This skill improves their Hit Rate and Avoid by 1 point for each passing turn for fifteen turns. Given the subpar Skill of Dark Knights, Slow Burn can benefit them in the long run, but it has its limitations due to its potency taking time to build up. The skill is thus generally not very useful on lower difficulties. Lifetaker, conversely, is a regenerative skill that allows Dark Knights to recover half of their maximum HP upon successfully killing a foe. This skill is particularly useful when Dark Knights are low on HP; other units could weaken foes sufficiently for them to kill off, allowing them to replenish their HP without the aid of recovery items or Staves.

In Fates, the first skill learnt by Dark Knights has been replaced with Seal Magic. After battling (provided that both units survived), the target will lose 6 points of magic after battle. This makes the Dark Knight as an effective magic crippler, as it can chip off a decent amount of magic when stacked with other debuffs.

Their Hoshidan counterpart is the Basara class, as both are promotions of the Tome-wielding classes that allows them to use another weapon other than Tomes. Dark Knights have a bit more flexibility with tomes due to their A-rank proficiency and can cover more ground due to being a mounted unit. However, Basaras have more flexibility with lances and their stats are much more balanced.

Overall, Dark Knights form a rather useful class as a whole, performing well as a flexible offensive unit. Although they are not as magically proficient and somewhat slower compared to Sages and Sorcerers, their use of swords allows them to counter high resistance units. In Fates, this also keeps the Dark Knight from being a completely helpless unit when suffering from the effects of Snake Spirits, Dragon Spirits and Ginnungagap tomes.

Uniform

The Dark Knight class generally takes on an ominous appearance that is closely intertwined with the overarching theme of death, replete with jet-black armour, headpieces with fearsome miens and horses with black coats. The masks donned by both incarnations of the class encapsulate the theme particularly well; in Awakening, the masks donned by Dark Knights carry designs inspired by Grima's face, while in Fates, the masks resemble actual human skulls.

In-Game

Base Stats

	HP	Str	Mag	Skl	Spd	Lck	Def	Res	Mov	Con	Wt	Wlv	Cha
FE13	25	4	5	6	5	0	9	5	8	-	-	E E
FE14	19	8	6	6	5	3	8	6	8	-	-	E E

Maximum Stats

	HP	Str	Mag	Skl	Spd	Lck	Def	Res	Mov	Con	Wt	Wlv	Cha
FE13	80	38	41	40	40	45	42	38	8	-	-	A A
FE14	55	32	31	28	27	31	34	30	8	-	-	B A

Growth Rates

	HP	Str	Mag	Skl	Spd	Lck	Def	Res	Mov	Con	Wt	Wlv	Cha
FE13	50%	15%	15%	15%	15%	0%	10%	5%	-	-	-	-
FE14	15%	20%	10%	5%	5%	5%	15%	5%	-	-	-	-

Class Skills

	Skill	Requirements
FE13	Slow Burn Lifetaker	Learnt at Level 5. Learnt at Level 15.
FE14	Seal Magic Lifetaker	Learnt at Level 5 and above. Learnt at Level 15 and above.

Promotions

	Base Class	Promotion Method	Promoted Class
FE13	Dark Mage	Use a Master Seal on a Level 10+ Dark Mage.	Dark Knight
FE13	Mage	Use a Master Seal on a Level 10+ Mage.	Dark Knight
FE14	Dark Mage	Use a Master Seal on a Level 10+ Dark Mage.	Dark Knight
FEW	Dark Knight	Use a Master Seal on Leo.	Dark Crusader

Notable Dark Knights

Awakening

• Farber - A Valmese commander who fetishizes Walhart.
• Anguilla - One of the twelve Deadlords. (Originally a Mage Fighter)
• Ares (SpotPass)
• Olwen (SpotPass)
• Selena (SpotPass)
• Possible promotion for: Miriel, Ricken, Tharja, Henry and Laurent.

Fates

• Leo - Prince of Nohr and the younger brother of Corrin.
• Possible promotion for: Odin, Nyx and Ophelia.

Three Houses

• Volkhard - Noble of the Adrestian Empire and Edelgard's uncle. There's more of himself than what he actually shows.

Trivia

• In the opening cutscene in Fates, Dark Knights can be seen using swords. A few can also be seen using lances, though they are incapable of using them in-game.

Gallery

Concept artwork of the male variant of the Dark Knight class.

Concept artwork of the female variant of the Dark Knight class.

Concept artwork of the Dark Knight mount.

Concept art of a female Dark Knight from Fates

Concept art of a male Dark Knight from Fates

Portrait of the generic male Dark Knight from Awakening.

Portrait of the generic female Dark Knight from Awakening.

Battle model of Ricken, a male Dark Knight from Awakening.

Battle model of Tharja, a female Dark Knight from Awakening.

Generic class portrait of a Dark Knight from Fates.

Battle model of Leo, a male Dark Knight from Fates.

In game model of Cain, a Dark Knight from Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE.

Map sprite of the Dark Knight class from Awakening.

Map sprite of the Dark Knight class from Fates.