Dark Knights

This article is about the tower in Kingdom Rush: Vengeance. For the enemy in Kingdom Rush and the Companion/enemy in Legends of Kingdom Rush, see Dark Knight.

Dark Knights
Type	Melee Tower
Introduced	Bolgur's Throne
Attack Rate	1.0s (1.6sIV)
Respawn	8 seconds

“

Come on, make my day!

”

The Dark Knights is the second Melee Tower to be introduced in Kingdom Rush: Vengeance, and is unlocked at the start of Bolgur's Throne. These knights, though limited in number (only two are trained per barracks), are fairly resilient and deal a respectable amount of damage.

Description

These elite knights took on the taint of corruption in exchange for great power. Fighting in pairs, their full plates make them almost impervious to physical damage.

Stats

	Level	HP (With Upgrades)	Heal Rate (per 2s)	Damage (With Upgrades)	Armor	Build Cost
	1	100 (130)	10	2-3 (1.0s) (2-3)	Medium (40%)	110
	2	140 (182)	13	4-10 (1.0s) (4-11)	Medium (50%)	160
	3	200 (260)	18	7-20 (1.0s) (7-22)	Medium (60%)	220
	4	260 (338)	24	12-36 (1.6s) (13-39)	High (75%)	260

Abilities

Brutal Strike

"I am your executioner!"

Dark Knights have a chance of executing their enemy every time they hit.

Level	Cost	Instant-kill Chance
1	280 (238)	2%
2	280 (238)	4%
3	280 (238)	6%

Armor of Thorns

"What you give is what you get!"

Dark Knights reflect damage for each melee attack they receive.

Level	Cost	Damage
1	150 (127)	15
2	150 (127)	30
3	150 (127)	45

Impervious

"Immovable as a mountain."

Dark Knights shield themselves, resisting hits* without receiving damage. (Cooldown: 15 seconds)

*: Excludes bosses' attacks.

Cost	Duration
200 (170)	6 seconds

Strategy

Dark Knights are made for tanking, not general stalling. The kit they have is made for holding strong enemies in place and trading back the damage they were dealt. 

1. Dark Knights have a generous health pool and high armor, allow them to tank many hits from powerful enemies like Nanoq Warbears, Svell Druids and Gryphon Bombardiers for just tier 2 and 3. Even MechaDwarf MK.9s, Frost Giants, High Sorcerers and bosses can be held in a place while your towers going ham as your tier 4 Dark Knights aren't even flinching. Unless you have Armor of Thorns, don't use Dark Knights for stalling little grouped enemies, as the 2 of them cannot stall all the enemies at once. Leave that to Orc Warriors Dens.
2. Armor of Thorns is the main reason why Dark Knights are good. It trades back damage as they receive melee hits from enemies. It does consistent amount of damage, making weak, fast attacking opponents like Glacial Wolves, Northern Berserkers, Apex Stalkers, Paladins, and Ice Reapers get completely wiped out. They also slowly chip away at bulky foes, making defeating them easy. However, the ability deals physical damage, losing much of its effectiveness against well armored and/or slow-hitting foes such as Frost Giants, Troop Captains and High Sorcerers.
3. Impervious is a powerful skill unique to the Dark Knight, making them invincible while tanking. This grants them 6 seconds of complete immunity to damage (and doing damage with Armor of Thorns), except bosses. Ranged damage like Elven Rangers, Musketeers and Sulfur Alchemists also stay in place trying to attack them, making them super easy to handle. However, they will not try to intercept enemies with their shields up, and melee enemies will also ignore the knights who are standing completely still unless they happen to run into them directly, which may cause a few enemies that can be stopped if this skill is not purchased to slip by.
4. Brutal Strike is Dark Knights' main killing power. By giving them an instant kill, it's easier for them to finish off a strong enemy that they are stalling. However, unlike most other instant kill attacks, which work on a timer, Brutal Strike has a chance of occurring with each and every attack, similar to Smash!. This means bulkier enemies have a higher chance of dying, and the skill isn't wasted as often when Dark Knights are attacking a smaller foe. On the other hand, the slow attack speed, redundant wind-up delay and low percentage chance can make purchasing this somewhat expensive skill hard to justify.
5. Dark Knights are different from Orc Warriors Den, Grim Cemetery and Elite Harassers where they are created with a main goal: tanking and making sure stronger foes die. They themselves don't do much damage and require other towers to support them, plus they are expensive and not reliable against ranged units. If you think Golem Houses, Frost Giants and High Sorcerers are not a big problem for your defense, it's maybe better to get the other 3 mentioned above

Related Upgrades

• WAR RATIONS (1 soul)
  • With a full belly, Barracks units have improved health. (30% additional HP)
• GUILD OF MERCHANTS (2 souls)
  • Costs of towers' special skills is now reduced. (15% cost reduction)
• MASTER ARCHITECTS (2 souls)
  • All towers gain extra bonus damage. (10% additional basic attack damage)

Related Achievements

FEAST ON THIS! (30 gems) Execute 81 enemies with the chainsaw sword.

Quotes

• "Here comes the pain"
• "For the dark lord!"
• "We're the bad guys!"

Tier 4:

• "Come on, make my day!" (building)
• "Witness true strength!" (Brutal Strike)
• "Watch out for the thorns!" (Armor of Thorns)
• "We're unbreakable!" (Impervious)

Trivia

• The Brutal Strike skill and the Dark Knight's weapon is based on the Chainsword from the Warhammer 40k franchise, most commonly used by Space Marines.
• The Dark Knights strangely have extremely different appearances as they are upgraded. The first of their appearances looks eerily similar to Brigands and Marauders, perhaps pointing to the idea that many of the Dark Knights are not originally knights at all, but rather were chosen and consumed by evil. Tier 2 doesn't contrast tier 1 much, rather suggests the idea of them going from Brigands to Marauders. In Tier 3, however, they look very similar to the Dark Knights from the first Kingdom Rush. However, The Dark Knights at Tier 4 are based on the Dark Slayer from the first Kingdom Rush, but interestingly enough, their armor looks very similar to the Fallen Knights that were loyal to Lord Blackburn.
• The upgrade Armor of Thorns is based on the armor set of the same name and similar function in the game Dark Souls, worn by Knight Kirk who shares a similar appearance to the tier 4 barracks.

• "Here comes the pain!"
  • The subtitle of the 2003 video game, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain, named after a catchphrase of wrestler Brock Lesnar.
• "For the Dark Lord!"
  • A witty play of words that reverses the role of the quote "For the King!" said by the Knights Barracks in the first Kingdom Rush.
• "We're the bad guys!"
  • A line said by the character Deadshot in the 2016 film Suicide Squad. Harley Quinn has a similar line in the film: "We're bad-guys," which it may also be derived from.
• "Come on, make my day!"
  • Likely to be adapted from the line "Go ahead, make my day" said by the character Harry Callahan in the 1983 film Sudden Impact (part of the Dirty Harry series).
• "Witness true strength!"
  • A line said by the character Darius in the 2009 video game League of Legends, who's ultimate ability shares the same function as Brutal Strike; an execute.
  • A line by the character Drago Bludvist in the 2014 film How to Train Your Dragon 2, the full line being "Witness true strength, power over the minds of others."
• Regardless of the fact that they are evil and/or corrupted, the Dark Knights are still Knights, so all their names are prefixed by the title Sir. Strangely, as a little inside joke from the developers, the unit names are all inspired by actors who have played Batman; aka the Dark Knight; on screen,
  • Sir Wilson - Lewis Wilson, first seen in a 1943 serial Batman. Wilson was the first ever screen Batman.
  • Sir Lowery - Robert Lowery, starred in the follow up to Wilson's series, Batman and Robin in 1949
  • Sir West - Adam West, logged the most hours as Batman in the iconic 1960's series
  • Sir Keaton - Michael Keaton, first seen in Tim Burton's 1989 big-screen film
  • Sir Kilmer - Val Kilmer, seen only in Joel Schumacher's 1995 Batman Forever
  • Sir Clooney - George Clooney, seen in the follow up to Kilmer's film Batman & Robin in 1997
  • Sir Bale - Christian Bale, first seen in 2005's Batman Begins
  • Sir Affleck - Ben Affleck, first seen in Zack Snyder's 2016 film Batman v Superman
  • Sir Conroy - Kevin Conroy, the only name listed that was not seen on screen, Conroy voiced Batman in Batman: The Animated Series and many other DC animated series featuring the character.

Gallery

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