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The Dark Knight 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 Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE, the Dark Knight class is one of the promotion classes for Cain. Enemy Mirages of this class are called Violet Dark Knights, and they can be found in Illusory Dolhr. They are the final form of the Ironclad Cavalier Mirages.

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 for the second half of said Special. 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, making them a hybrid of the Warlock, Dark Bishop, and Paladin classes. In addition, the Dark Knight class has a mirror class in the form of the Holy Knight.

In Warriors: Three Hopes, Dark Knight is once again featured as a Master-tier class. To access it, a unit must master the Paladin class, as well as unlock the ability to undergo Master Class Certification Exams. Unlike previous incarnations of the Dark Knight, it is locked to lances (rather than tomes or swords) for its regular attacks, though it is capable of using magic.

Overview[]

Combat[]

Dark Knights are similar to Mage Knights, in the sense that their Magic is often higher than their Strength without either stat being lackluster. 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.

In Three Houses, Dark Knights gain extra firepower and flexibility in the form of Black/Dark Tomefaire and Canto, at the cost of being much more difficult to promote into compared to previous entries in the series. This is due to the requisite A-Rank in the skill of Riding, which potential mages can earn by promoting into a riding class (such as Cavaliers, Paladins, etc.) or by tutoring. However, this is less than optimal, as there is only one lower-level magic-using cavalry class to efficiently build a unit's riding and reason rank, the Valkyrie, which on top of requiring the paid DLC and having a high requisite B-Rank in riding and Reason, is also female-exclusive. This makes it difficult for potential male Dark Knight candidates, such as Hubert especially, Sylvain, and Lorenz, to promote into the class.

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 is generally designed after the cavalier class with an ominous twist on the cavalier's typical noble appearance, closely intertwined with the overarching theme of death and replete with jet-black armor and headwear with fearsome miens while their horses often have dark if not black coats, further cementing Dark Knights as an "opposite" of paladins; in Fates, their armor is even built on top of the most inner layers of cavalier armor recolored to be dark in appearance, although this is lost in Three Houses where the newly introduced Holy Knight class bears the most similarity to the cavalier and paladin classes. The headwear donned by all incarnations of the class encapsulate the theme of fear and/or death particularly well; in Awakening, the helmets donned by Dark Knights carry designs inspired by Grima's face, in Fates, the helmets resemble human skulls, and Three Houses give them helmets modeled after a multi-horned beast of sorts, perhaps evoking the image of demonic beasts (the Death Knight armor in particular is nearly identical to the Dark Knight armor save for the helmet).

In-Game[]

Base Stats[]

HPStrMagSklSpdLckDefResMovConWtWlvCha
FE132545650958--SwordIconFE13 E TomeIconFE13 E-
FE141986653868--FE14 Sword E FE14 Tome E-
FE1632101714161213157--FE16 lance icon C FE16 reason icon B+FE16 riding icon A0

Maximum Stats[]

HPStrMagSklSpdLckDefResMovConWtWlvCha
FE1380384140404542388--SwordIconFE13 A TomeIconFE13 A-
FE1455323128273134308--FE14 Sword B FE14 Tome A-

Growth Rates[]

HPStrMagSklSpdLckDefResMovConWtWlvCha
FE1350%15%15%15%15%0%10%5%-----
FE1415%20%10%5%5%5%15%5%-----
FE1610/40%5/15%10%0%-5/0%0%5/20%10/45%---FE16 lance icon +3 FE16 reason icon +3 FE16 riding icon +35%
FEW3H25%20%20%0%0%0%10%10%----10%

Class Modifiers[]

HPStrMagSklSpdLckDefResMovConWtWlvCha
FE161122-1/102/133/2---0
FEW3H200233-1/204/257/0---2

Class Skills[]

SkillRequirements
FE13Slow Start IconSlow Burn
LifeabsorbLifetaker
Learnt at Level 5.
Learnt at Level 15.
FE14Magic SealSeal Magic
Lifetaker (FE14)Lifetaker
Learnt at Level 5 and above.
Learnt at Level 15 and above.
FE16Canto FE16Canto
Black Tomefaire FE16Black Tomefaire
Dark Tomefaire FE16Dark Tomefaire
Seal Resistance FE16Seal Resistance
Class Ability of Dark Knights.
Class Ability of Dark Knights.
Class Ability of Dark Knights.
Mastery Ability of Dark Knights.
FEW3HBlack Tomefaire FE16 Black Magic+
Dark Tomefaire FE16 Dark Magic+
Sword Buster Lv 4 Sword Buster Lv 4
Swordbreaker FE16 Swordbreaker
Icon Combat Art FE16 Lance Dark Lance
Mortal Coil Cyclical Specials
HP+5 FE16 Max HP +1500
Paragon FE16 Vanguard's Benefit
Icon Combat Art FE16 Lance Vengeance
Icon Combat Art FE16 Lance Titanic Might
Mortal Coil Driven Spirit
Name Drop Panache
Defiant Crit FE16 Specials Master
Confidence skill Range Master
Confidence skill Nullify Magic
Class ability.
Class ability.
Class ability.
1-star Class Mastery for Lorenz.
1-star Class Mastery for all units.
2-star Class Mastery for certain units.
2-star Class Mastery for certain units.
2-star Class Mastery for certain units.
2-star Class Mastery for certain units.
2-star Class Mastery for certain units.
3-star Class Mastery for certain units.
3-star Class Mastery for certain units.
3-star Class Mastery for certain units.
Innate Ability for certain units.
Innate Ability for certain units.

Promotions[]

Base ClassPromotion MethodPromoted Class
FE13FE13 Generic Dark Mage (M) Map SpriteDark MageUse a Master Seal FE13 IconMaster Seal on a Level 10+ Dark Mage.FE13 Generic Dark Knight Map SpriteDark Knight
FE13 FE13 Generic Mage (M) Map SpriteMageUse a Master Seal FE13 IconMaster Seal on a Level 10+ Mage.FE13 Generic Dark Knight Map SpriteDark Knight
FE14FE14 Generic Dark Mage Map SpriteDark MageUse a Master Seal FE13 IconMaster Seal on a Level 10+ Dark Mage.FE14 Generic Dark Knight Map SpriteDark Knight
FE16Any classUse a FE16 Seal IconMaster Seal on a Level 30+ unit and pass the Dark Knight Certification Exam.FE16 Dark Knight IconDark Knight
FEWWarriors Leo Sprite
Dark Knight
Use a Master Seal FE13 IconMaster Seal on Leo.Warriors Leo Sprite
Dark Crusader
FEW3HFE16 Paladin Icon PaladinUse a FE16 Seal Icon Master Seal on a unit that has mastered the Paladin class.FE16 Dark Knight Icon Dark Knight

Notable Dark Knights[]

Awakening[]

Fates[]

Three Houses[]

Warriors: Three Hopes[]

Trivia[]

  • In the opening cutscene in Fates, Dark Knights can be seen using lances despite being incapable of using them in-game.
  • If Lucina is reclassed as a Dark Knight, her haircut will be the same one as the one she had while under the disguise as Marth before the Chapter 6.

Gallery[]

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