MapleStory 2 Knight Build, Guide and Introduction

Knight is one of the classes available in MapleStory2, if you are a beginner looking for in-depth guides, tips on how to play or successfully create a MapleStory 2 Knight build you are in the right place! Keep in mind that in this Knight guide I will not be covering PvP or leveling aspect of the game, however, I will try to explain in details gameplay mechanics, strategies and items to help people playing as a Knight.

For other classes such as Wizard, Heavy Gunner, Priest, Thief, Soul Binder, Runeblade and Berserker visit our main article about classes where they are linked.

MapleStory 2 Classes Guide >>>

Let’s begin with an overview of the Knight class.

Knight

Class role: Tank, Support, DPS
Weapon Used: One-handed Sword and Shield
Bonus Attribute: Holy
Main Statistics: Strength, Health and Defense
Difficulty to play: 3/5

Want to save your teammates from monsters and other abominations willing to hurt them during raids or dungeons? Knights are durable and well-armored warriors excelling at soaking up damage and protecting the team from danger.

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Picking a tank class is generally not a bad idea if you prefer to be the one taking damage instead of worrying about your damage output. Just remember unlike in some of the other MMORPG games, there is no aggro or threat system in MapleStory 2, so you won’t be the exclusive target of bosses attacks.

Pros and Cons
 

Knight’s Skills

• The percentages in the brackets are the upgrade range of the skill, usually from rank 1 to 10.

• Active and Passive besides skill names designate whether they have to be activated manually in case of active skills or are always in effect in the case of passive skills.

• “Available at lvl” informs at which level skill first becomes available to use.

Defensive Skills

• Bulwark (active) (required: shield) (available at lvl 34) - Conjure a protective field lasting 3 seconds, it makes everyone inside it immune to enemy attacks. Not every type of attack can be blocked.

(130 - 50) seconds of cooldown.

Good skill for keeping your party alive in dire situations. Get either this one or Defender of the Faith.
 

• Defender of the Faith (active) (required: shield) (available at lvl 40) - Moves you to the nearest allied player within 8 meters, upon arrival creates shield lasting 3 seconds. The shield protects everyone inside it from enemy attacks. Not every type of attack can be blocked.

(130 - 50) seconds of cooldown.

Works similar to Bulwark, with the main difference being Defender of the Faith also gives you a dash. Putting points in either of them increase the number of allies that can be shielded at the same time and significantly reduces the cooldown.

• Iron Defense (active) (required: shield) - Changes your stance to a defensive one, regenerating 4 Spirit every 0.3 seconds until it’s turned off, reduces damage taken by 10%, however, it also reduces your physical and magical attack by 25%. Pressing the skill button again will disable defensive stance.

5 seconds of cooldown.

Can be used to replenish Spirit, not very useful otherwise.

• Iron Shield (active) (required: shield) - Switches to a special stance, which considerably lowers amount of damage you take by (25% - 70%). You sustain the skill by holding down the key assigned to it. In PvP areas reduces damage by only (12% - 35%).

Iron Shield is useful when you are about to take a lot of damage you can’t avoid, 70% reduction is significant and helps Priest in your group by allowing him to focus on other party members instead of healing your wounds.

• Shield Mastery (passive) (available at lvl 31) - Passive skill boosting your defensive stats, increases critical evasion by (9 - 36) and perfect guard chance by (5% - 14%) if you have a shield equipped while using Iron Shield. By blocking an attack you get a (40% - 76%) chance to boost your damage by (3% - 12%) for 10 seconds.

Not really a crucial skill. Boosts your damage output a bit when you are blocking attacks.

• Shield Wall (active) (required: shield) (available at lvl 16) - Summons a 3-meter holy aura around your character that lasts 10 seconds, it increases physical and magical resistance of everyone inside it by (90 - 360).

45 seconds of cooldown.

AoE aura increase team defensive statistics, best used when you can reach most of your team with its effects and during AoE attacks of Bosses.

Support Skills

• Warhorn (active) (available at lvl 22) - Short buff that raises stats, boosts the physical and magical attack of everyone within 3-meter radius by (4 - 13) while increasing your own by (3% - 12%). Lasts 10 seconds.Consumes 40 Spirit.

30 seconds of cooldown.

Decent albeit short in duration damage buff, similar to Shield Wall best used when grouped with the rest of your teammates so everyone can benefit from its effects.

• Longsword Mastery (passive) (available at lvl 43) - Passive skill improving your offensive attributes, improves your weapon attack by (1% - 6.4%) while equipped with a longsword.

Not much to write about, simply increases your damage output.

Offensive Skills

• Cross Cut (active) (required: longsword) - Melee attack dealing (79% - 133%) damage twice to 5 enemies, 3 meters of range.

Mandatory skill, it’s used as a basic skill when you are waiting for other cooldowns or regenerating Spirit points.

• Divine Strike (active) (required: longsword) (available at lvl 13) - A close-range hard-hitting attack that sends a shockwave dealing (501% - 816%) Holy damage to 8 enemies, moving them back 2 meters. Immune to pushback while skill is active.

8 seconds of cooldown.

Divine Strike is high damage melee attack and should be used as soon as it’s off cooldown, and when you don’t have enough Spirit points for Typhoon Slash. It’s a must have and a good source of your DPS.

• Drill Thrust (active) (required: longsword) (available at lvl 37) - Melee attack sending you 4.5 meters forward and then creating a whirlwind, up to 8 enemies on your path take (412% - 673%) damage.

8 seconds of cooldown.

Strong melee attack dealing a lot of damage with no Spirit cost and fairly low cooldown, also boosts your mobility as it has a built-in dash.

• Shield Booster (active) (required: shield) (available at lvl 46) - Close-range melee attack that deals (190% - 316%) damage to 5 enemies in front of you. 2-meter range. Boosts your physical and magical resistance by 450. For 10 seconds after the attack gives you a chance to counterattack and increases its damage by (3% - 12%).

16 seconds of cooldown.

Used mainly for its defensive stats boost, not really good as a damage source due to small damage.

• Shield Charge (active) (required: shield) - Run forward 4.5 meters, dealing 70% damage up to 5 opponents it hits and pushing them 3 meters back on contact. This skill is able to cancel other skills.

Consumes 40 Stamina.

Helps you move around quickly, another use is as a measure to cancel other skills.

• Shield Toss (active) (required: shield) (available at lvl 25) - A long-range attack, causing you to throw your shield 7.5 meters in front of you, the shield is dealing (60% - 96%) damage twice up to 8 enemies in its path, it also reduces defense of targets hit by (1% - 6.4%) for 12 seconds.

Consumes 12 Spirit.

Crucial skill because of its defense reduction aspect, should be always kept up on enemies to maximize DPS potential of other players in your group.

• Stinging Flurry (active) (required: longsword) (available at lvl 28) - Close range physical attack that deals (83% - 137%) damage thrice up to 3 opponents in front of your character. Has 3-meter range. Button assigned to skill has to be held down for the skill to continue.

Consumes 13 Spirit.

A cheaper alternative for Typhoon Slash, consumes less Spirit but has a lower damage output, recommended if you are having a problem with managing your Spirit points while using Typhoon Slash.

• Tornado Slash (active) (required: longsword) - Executes a spinning melee attack that deals (81% - 126%) damage thrice up to 8 opponents in 3 meters radius, pulls them 1 meter toward your character.

Consumes 12 Spirit.

Used mainly for its crowd control capabilities, if you need to pull enemies but don’t have enough Spirit points for Typhoon Slash.

• Typhoon Slash (active) (required: longsword) (available at lvl 19) - Similar to Tornado Slash, a melee spinning attack that deals (147% - 246%) physical damage 5 times up to 8 enemies in 3-meter radius. Each of the attacks draws enemies 1 meter towards your character. You can move during this attack.

Consumes 50 Spirit.

Knight’s ability with the highest damage, a must have skill, hitting enemies multiple times and the main drain of your Spirit points, use always when you’re approaching maximum Spirit Point threshold.

Priority of statistics on gear

• Physical piercing damage - you should get it on either your weapon or a shield, not both. The second piece of gear with Piercing damage should be your gloves, with a setup such as this you should approach 10% Piercing damage which is enough, since the Physical piercing damage cap is 10% for most encounters with a few exceptions (Chaos Devorak, Chaos Captain Morc, and Chaos Papulatus).

• Accuracy - Keep in mind that you don’t need 100% accuracy as a Knight, getting to 95% - 98% is close enough.

• Attack Speed - Not a crucial statistic, but a decent one to have, it increases the speed at which you perform your skills. It becomes a highly important stat after Awakening.

• Critical Rate - focusing on Critical rate is not really advised unless you want to follow the path of pure Critical rate Knight build.

Knight Builds

Knight DPS Build

Knight Tank/Support Build