Ronan: Abyss Knight

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GC Eternity: Abyss Knight

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GC Season V: Abyss Knight Revamped

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Videos playable in 720px HD.

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The Abyss Knights, a class of warriors whom dare to wield cursed weapons to put their malevolent powers under their grasp. Ronan is one who achieved such status and thus stands proud as an Abyss Knight. Having greater magical prowess than his predecessors, the Abyss Knight achieves a higher damage potential through well-executed spell attacks. One will also find they out-perform his own sword skills.

The Abyss Knight is his most powerful form and the most complex in terms of usage and abundant techniques available. Fancy as they are, use them with discretion as they have long recovery times and not to mention the new aggressive AI that makes it difficult for Ronan to sustain such lengthy combos.

Dodge:

• Type: Aerial Maneuver
• A welcome addition to Ronan's repertoire; the Dodge skill allows Ronan to engage in his fast attack combos without worrying about counterattack threats.
• Since the Abyss Knight solely relies on ground combat, the Dodge skill is really his lifesaver, allowing him to execute his lightning fast blade attacks and get away when needed. Works really well when he is countering with his Abyss Storm skill after the dodge.

Inherent Techniques:

• Force Gather (Z↑ when idle)
• Stores one (only one) magic charge on Ronan, he is then able to perform 2 different attacks with it.

• Dust Chips (Z↓) After having Force Gather*
• Drops in a line 3 crystal charges that explode on enemy contact. They self-detonate after 3 seconds

• Mono-Bolt (Z→) After having Force Gather*
• Sprays a triple-salvo of magic bolts across the ground in front of him.

• Soul Blaze (Z↑) After having Force Gather*
• Projects a magical blast that warps in nearby enemies to its location and allows Abyss Knight to attack his enemies at a focal point.

• Raising Thrust (→→← + Z/ZZ)
  
• A defensive counter with a short dash, raising a magic sword from the ground to impale his enemies. The following attack launches a magic bolt from Ronan's glove.

• Magic Bolts (↓Z during a jump) 
• Discharges a series of magic blasts doing light damage, can be done multiple times in a jump as long as there is enough air time.

• Rising Slash (↑Z/ZZ during main or dash combo) 
• Slashes the enemy into the air and discharges magic blasts. Works on the dash attack as well.

• Magic Crash (↓Z/ZZ during main combo) 
• Blasts the enemy with a sphere of magic and discharges onto the ground another wave of magic.

Notes:

• The main attack combo of the Abyss Knight is its own weakness, due to the lengthy attack patterns, loopholes for enemy counters and inability to break out of attack quickly. However, the game has changed since the introduction of Dodging. The lack of hitstun and position displacing skills however, still make the Abyss Knight a very easy target for counterattacks.
• For classes from Dragon Knight onwards, the Rune Gauge fills automatically and cannot be influenced by Ronan's attacks. It can however be sped up by switching back to Magic Knight for manual input via attacks.
• The speed of its recharge also changes depending on which weapon you are currently handling (slowest as Dragon Knight, fastest as Abyss Knight)

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Skill Tree Setup:

Special Skill: Rune Shield
Rune Shield now has 2 levels with different usage. Both shields have similar defensive properties, that allows Ronan to absorb one hit from most attacks. They are however, useless against multi-hit  or any beam-type attack and neither can they block their enemies from moving through them.

• Lv1: An instance-based shield which momentarily absorbs one hit that would be dealt to Ronan. Works against melee attacks as well but has to be timed right. The cooldown begins the moment the shield is cast.
• Lv2: A deployed shield which can last 4 seconds (as long as its cooldown) and then expires. The shield is stationary once cast, and like Lv1, will absorb only one hit from melee or projectile attacks.
• There is a slight delay between command input and the shield being cast. If Ronan gets attacked before he brings out the shield, it will fail and the cooldown gets effected nonetheless.

Enchant:
All Enchants are available for 15 seconds and have a 10 second cooldown then after. Lightning and Curse enchants only last for one hit and cooldown begins once a blow is dealt.

• Fiery Enchant: Embers fall on the ground where the enemy is struck. They deal very rapid damage but is sometimes not safe for use against bosses, as it triggers continuous counterattacks. Also works excellently with Abyss Knight due to high hit count.
• Lightning Enchant: Deals extra damage on one hit only and adds the Status Inflict: Shock to enemies.
• Curse Enchant: Deals additional damage of a non-substantial amount.
• Vampiric Enchant: Recovers ~1% of HP on every hit dealt. Does not work with pet attacks or skills. Hitting a larger group of enemies guarantees a faster rate of recovery.

Activating an Enchant will render Ronan immobile until he completes the animation. If you face danger, use Dodge to immediately move out of the way (The enchant is granted the moment you press "CC", so you can dodge almost immediately)



Special Skill: Erudon's Tyrfing
The Tyrfing creates a visible sphere which indicates an area of influence. Enemies within the sphere will be randomly struck at intervals with Hellspear-like blades for additional damage, while Ronan is still capable of attacking manually. Again while in this mode, there are some liberties and restrictions to take note of-

• Ronan can still use his 4th skill, Tempest Blade
• The gauge freezes when skills are in effect, until they end.
• During the conjuration phase of the Tyrfing, his skills are momentarily sealed off until he resumes his idle stance.
• At the same time, he is impervious to attack when he is conjuring the Tyrfing.
• Unlike Magic Knight's version, attacking enemies does not partially restore the gauge.
• Re-entering the "C↑" command while the Tyrfing is active will immediately remove the Tyrfing.
• Weapon Change will wipe your Rune gauge clean and remove your Tyrfing if it is active!
• Trivia: Ronan's eyes glow a shade of light blue when the Tyrfing is in use. The blade also flashes green when Dodge is used.
• A recently noted tactical move is to combine 3 elements - Erudon's Tyrfing, Fire Enchant and Tempest Blade in this order and all at once. The Hellspear-like projectiles from the Tyrfing act as normal hits and can effect themselves with the current enchant (This makes Lightning and Curse not viable because they exhaust after one hit)
• The tactic results in a shell of invulnerability while dishing out possibly enormous amounts of damage in one sitting (depends on your critical stats because the fire is really doing all that work)

Rune Gauge:
Ronan's Rune Gauge is an additional bar just below his Dodge meter which controls his ability to use Erudon's Tryfing as Abyss Knight; It must be completely filled for him to do so. As Abyss Knight, the gauge increases automatically on its own without influence from Ronan's attacks.

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Skill Setup:

Weapon Skills
Tier 1:

Hell Stinger

• Type: Close-In, Melee Combo
• Range: Short
• Damage: Multi
• Animation: Short
• Engages in a flurry of high speed thrusts, ending with a knock down blow.

Tier 2:

Rock Blaster

• Type: Linear
• Range: Short
• Damage: Multi
• Animation: Short
• Throws two magical blasts ahead and leaps into the air, continuing the onslaught with another 5 magical blasts.
• The delay for the 2nd phase is removed and attacks at a much quicker pace.

Tier 3:

Tornado Stinger

• Type: Linear
• Range: Mid
• Damage: Multi
• Animation: Short
• Launches a spinning circle of blades forwards and back to him, causing drag and damage to enemies in its path.
• Most of the damage is dealt at its hover point before returning to Ronan. If your target is an unmovable monster and is slender-bodied (Like Sethek is), it would be best to position yourself at a distance where the blades would be projected to hover instead of slicing pass the enemy.

Knight Magic
Tier 1:

Soul Weave

• Type: Linear
• Range: Short
• Damage: Multi
• Animation: Short
• Casts a series of small magic blasts, which damage and toss the enemy about when they hit.

Tier 2:

Abyss Storm

• Type: AoE: Small
• Range: Short
• Damage: Burst
• Animation: Short
• Casts a vortex of wind which shreds into the enemy for a few hits. Grants a decent hit zone and hits up to 2 platforms high.
• The storm is now centered on Ronan's position instead of in front of him.

Tier 3:

Heaven's Guardian

• Type: Linear, Splash
• Range: Medium
• Damage: Multi
• Animation: Long
• Summons a valkyrie guardian to attack with magic arrows while Abyss Knight draws them in with a Soul Blaze.
• While the skill has a new utility, the damage dealt is subpar for a 3rd skill, thus is it under investigation at the moment.

Tier 4:

Tempest Blade

• Type: Self, Splash, AoE: Small
• Range: Short
• Damage: Multi
• Animation: Short
• Ronan materializes his blades into corporeal form, which swirl around him in orbit and strikes enemies in contact with the sphere.
• Unlike Sieghart's Mocking Blade, Ronan retains all mobility while Tempest Blade is in effect. He is unable to attack though.
• The blades lasts for 15 seconds and the sphere explodes upon expiration.
• Ronan is no longer impervious to damage, instead he is granted Hyper Armor status and only takes 1 damage from any and all attacks.

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