style="width: 558px; text-align: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"
border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0">
colspan="3" rowspan="1"> alt="Dread Knight Guide"
src="http://media.tentonhammer.com/vanguard/gallery/albums/album35/Dread_Knight_banner.jpg">
style="font-style: italic;">

by Zinn
rowspan="1">

The Dread Knight is a warrior that uses dark magic. As a defensive
fighter, his primary role is to absorb
damage. Although he is normally lacking in hit points compared to
Warriors and Paladins, the Dread Knight
can dish out damage at a faster rate, making him arguably the
best solo class of the protective fighter classes.



The Dread Knight is a
versatile class with many options and requires a good degree of skill
to play well. A Dread Knight will need to properly use her
stances, lifetaps,
fear spells, special attacks and tactical maneuvers to fulfill her
various group roles.



class="pn-content-page-body"> style="font-weight: bold;">Sigil's Official
Description



The Dread Knight is a terrifying opponent who surrounds himself in
battle with a tangible pall of fear and despair. These grim warriors
use dark magic to empower and augment their already potent martial
abilities. The aura of fear the Dread Knight radiates in combat
demoralizes and weakens any opponent who dares draw near.

alt="Dread Knight paperdoll"
src="http://media.tentonhammer.com/vanguard/gallery/albums/album35/Dread_Knight_paperdoll.jpg"> 

  class="pn-content-page-body"> style="font-weight: bold;"> style="font-weight: bold;"> class="pn-content-page-body"> class="pn-content-page-body"> style="font-weight: bold;"> style="font-weight: bold;">

Dread Knight at a Glance class="pn-content-page-body"> 

class="pn-content-page-body"> style="font-weight: bold;">Races:  class="pn-content-page-body">Dwarf, Lesser Giant, Thestran,
Vulmane, Dark Elf, Kurashasa, Qaliathari, Kojani, Orc. style="font-weight: bold;">



Armor:
Plate and heavy armor

style="font-weight: bold;">Weapons: Dead
Knights
can use most weapons.
class="pn-content-page-body"> style="font-weight: bold;">



style="font-weight: bold;">Quick Links

class="pn-content-page-body">

  • href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=518">Creation
    Guide
  • href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=487">Spells/Abilities
    Level 1-25
  • href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=488">Spells/Abilities
    Level 26-50



Class News
& Information:
class="pn-content-page-body">

  • href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=181">Protective
    Fighters Archetype Overview
  • href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=index&catid=19&topic=">Protective
    Fighter News

 

 

 

style="width: 558px; text-align: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"
border="1" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0">
colspan="1" rowspan="1">

 STANCES



Choosing a Stance allows the Dread
Knight to adjust his role to the particular combat situation, gaining
offensive and defensive bonuses.
  • Armor
    of Darkness
    – Lowers damage by 10%,
    adds 10% mitigation, adds 30% hate per attack. All percentages are
    increased by one as your Dreadful Countenance increases.
  • Shadow
    Meld
    – Modifies your to hit ratio by
    5%, adds 10% evasion, adds 5% chance to dodge, adds 5% chance to parry.
    All percentages are increased by one as your Dreadful Countenance
    increases.
  • Ebon
    Blade
    – Adds 10% damage and increases
    endurance costs by 5%. All percentages are increased by one as Dreadful
    Countenance rises.

DREADFUL
COUNTENANCE



Dreadful Countenance is a debuff that attaches itself to all
enemies you are fighting. This debuff grows in power the longer you are
fighting an enemy. The level of effectiveness is shown as a number in
your maintained effects window.



The debuff is primarily
on your current target, however those enemies around you also feel the
effects at a reduced rate. There are many Dread Knight
abilities that increase your Dreadful Countenance and there are a few
abilities that can become stronger depending on the level of Dreadful
Countenance that has built up.



Stages of Dreadful
Countenance
:



Dreadful
Countenance I
– Your opponent begins to feel a
sense of
dread within them. Incoming critical +5% and all resistances reduced.



Dreadful
Countenance II
– Your opponent’s fear
of you
mounts as does the debilitation caused by it. Incoming critical +7%,
all resistances reduced and incoming spiritual damage +5%.


colspan="1" rowspan="1">

RESCUES



In Vanguard Saga of Heroes, players
can choose offensive and defensive targets. By rescuing a defensive
target the Dread Knight forces their defensive target’s
attacker
to attack the Dread Knight for a short period of time.



Dread
Knights can use Scourge to rescue an ally being attacked by one enemy
or Enthralling Nexus to force all of your ally’s attackers to
focus on you.  Dread Knights also have an ability called
Seething
Hatred, which is not exactly a rescue but forces the Dread
Knight’s offensive target to direct attacks at the Dread
Knight.



class="pn-content-page-body"> colspan="1" rowspan="1">

SPECIAL ATTACKS

class="pn-content-page-body">

The Dread Knight has many special
attacks. Dread Knights
can chain together some of their special attacks to create added
benefits. Often chains are triggered only by critical hits.



colspan="1" rowspan="1">

Weaknesses

A weakness is a player created
vulnerability in your enemy that remains for a short period of time.
Some weaknesses can be exploited by using certain skills. When one
exploits a weakness the attack used becomes more powerful and may add
more than additional damage but may debuff the enemy or buff you or
your party. For more information on weaknesses please take a look at
Ten Ton Hammer’s  href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=568">Weakness
FAQ and chart.

COUNTER
ATTACKS



Dread Knights have one counter attack, Vengeance, which does melee
damage and stuns the Dread Knight’s opponent.


HATE
GENERATION



Dread Knights can gain enemy hate from a number of different
sources. They have a single target taunt called Provoke, a
damage
and hate over time spell called Torture, and a melee attack called
Incite, which also forces the enemy to direct attacks at the Dread
Knight for a short period of time.

SYMBOLS



Dread Knights have 3 symbols: Symbol of Wrath; Symbol
of Suffering; and Symbol of Despair. Symbols can be a damage shield,
absorb damage, increase chance of stuns, increase damage, or increase
the rate of gaining Dreadful Countenance. A Dread Knight can choose to
keep one symbol active at any time. 

BUFFS AND DEBUFFS



The Dread Knight has two powerful debuffs; they debuff the
enemy’s strength, dexterity, intelligence and wisdom and in
turn
buff these same attributes for the Dread Knight for five minutes. The
Dread Knight can also increase his damage and add a damage shield.
Dread Knights can solo strip buffs from their enemy using the Despoil
skill.

IMPORTANCE OF GOOD TANK PLAY



Vanguard promised to bring back the challenge to the
MMORPG genre. They have attempted to do this by lowering the
margin of error in group encounters and place a premium on good
play. Smart tank play is a must for group survival and
advancement. Tanks must learn and pay
attention.  A solid  tank is often what separates a
good group
from a bad group. 


CROWD CONTROL



The Dread Knight gets one limited crowd control effect,
Phantasmal Blade. This ability will stun the Dread Knight’s
enemy
for a short period of time and can only be used out of combat.
Attacking the enemy will break this stun. The Dread Knight also has two
stun abilities and the ability to snare his opponent. This
spell is
best used with the Shadow Step skill. Many people use the
following macro when using this skill:



/use “Shadow
Step”

/use “Phantasmal Blade”

LIFETAPS



The Dread Knight can lifetap and drain health from his
enemies with melee and spell abilities. He also has the ability to
drain endurance.

DAMAGE SPELLS



Besides the lifetap spell, Cull (a learned spell), the Dread
Knight has an Area of Effect (AoE) spell, an individual direct damage
spell, and a powerful
Damage Over Time (DOT) spell.

UTILITY



The Dread Knight gets many interesting utility spells: a
60 second invisibility and run speed buff,  fear spells,
roots, health and endurance drains, and a limited crowd control
ability. But her most
interesting ability may be that of Shadow Step. Shadow Step allows the
Dread Knight to teleport behind her enemy and then immediately inflict
her next preset attack. Shadow Step is often used with the
Dread
Knight Lifetap skill, Harrow.  Many people use the following
macro
when using this skill:



 /use “Shadow Step”

 /use
“Harrow”

RELATED LINKS


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Vanguard: Saga of Heroes Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Karen is H.D.i.C. (Head Druid in Charge) at EQHammer. She likes chocolate chip pancakes, warm hugs, gaming so late that it's early, and rooting things and covering them with bees. Don't read her Ten Ton Hammer column every Tuesday. Or the EQHammer one every Thursday, either.

Comments