Ronan: Dragon Knight

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Videos playable in 720px HD.

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After the Eternity patch, the Dragon Knight has found his place amongst his peers, featuring vast improvements across the board. He features impressive range and a set of splash type skills to choose from, albeit lacking in the focused damage department. Dragon Knight doesn't perform excellently against most boss fights but is able to hold his own against them.

With the revamp in place, the Dragon Knight can now be considered the deadliest melee character of the entire cast (Or the MP cast, for you Dio/Zero supremacists out there :P). In the hands of a skilled player, the Dragon Knight is extremely evasive and mobile, able to also dish out a ridiculous amount of damage in his technical blows. Like the previously revamped Magic Knight, he also receives an increase in attack strength overall, reinforcing his skill power as well as major changes to 2 of his main skills - Holy Inferno and the replacement of Arc Breath.

I will also dedicate a video to exhibit Dragon Knight's supremacy that outshines even the likes of my personal favorite, the Duelist.

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.
  • Depending on your situation you will not need to use this too often. Dragon Knight combos induce a lot of hitstun and he moves fairly a lot forward while attacking, sometimes enough to outpace his attackers from behind! With the additional benefit of being already very evasive during his combos, Dodge adds to this advantage.
Inherent Techniques:
  • Dragon Dive (↓Z when in a jump)
  • Dives forward at high speed and covers a substantial distance, will also glide across the ground with equal distance even if performed at low height.
  • Deals substantial number of hits and damage if well-positioned during execution, especially effective against large enemies and most stationary bosses.
  • Dragon Flight (Z↑ when in a jump)
  • Similar to Dragon Dive but goes upwards instead. A little more difficult to aim, it performs as well the Dive, this also gives Dragon Knight a movement advantage to traverse high ground quickly, combined with his Aerial Maneuver-type Dodge that gives him extra height.
  • This move can be performed as a combo technique on the ground if Erudon's Glaive is active. So it does not work as a default combo.
  • Dragon Rush (Z→ when idle or during main combo)
  • A piercing attack that goes through his enemies and dealing damage to them. This technique can be applied anytime on the ground, most effective when used to phase past or away from counterattacks coming towards Ronan.
  • When Erudon's Glaive is active, it can strike up to a maximum of 5 hits. Dragon Dive and Flight gets 8 hits maximum instead of 6.
  • Magic Spear 1 (↓ during main combo or Z↓ while idling) *Erudon's Glaive is active*
  • Launches a piercing magic spear projectile forwards.
  • Magic Spear 2 (Z↑ while idle) *Erudon's Glaive is active*
  • Launches a piercing magic spear projectile directly upwards instead. Can only be used while stationary or idling.
  • Performing this command while attacking performs Dragon Flight instead.



Otto:
  • Has long sweeping range like the Spearman.
  • Able to hit enemies directly behind him
  • Sustainability: Moderate
Notes:
  • Attack strength and speed has dramatically increased, also allowing better stun control on his enemies.
  • Dive attack only works effectively in open spaces or at least with more than one platform height. He will slide upon landing if diving from low height.
  • Deliberate positioning and knowledge of Dragon Dive\Flight physics will allow a player to deliver immense damage with each dive.
  • 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 Glaive
Unlike Magic Knight's version, it simply adds additional techniques that can be used in conjunction with the main combo as well as increasing its damage output by a small %. Again while in this mode, there are some liberties and restrictions to take note of-
  • Ronan can still use his 4th skill, Blast Wave.
  • The gauge freezes when skills are in effect, until they end.
  • During the conjuration phase of the Glaive, 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 Glaive.
  • Unlike Magic Knight's version, attacking enemies does not partially restore the gauge.
  • Re-entering the "C↑" command while the Glaive is active will immediately remove the Glaive.
  • Weapon Change will wipe your Rune gauge clean and remove your Glaive if it is active!
  • Trivia: Ronan's eyes glow a shade of light blue when the glaive is in use. The blade also flashes green when Dodge is used.
Rune Gauge:
Ronan's Rune Gauge is an additional bar just below his Dodge meter which controls his ability to use Erudon's Glaive as Dragon Knight; It must be completely filled for him to do so. As Dragon Knight, the gauge increases automatically on its own without influence from Ronan's attacks.

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Skill Setup:


Weapon Skills
Tier 1:

Infinity Sword
  • Type: Close-In, Melee Combo
  • Range: Short
  • Damage: Multi
  • Animation: Short
  • Engages a melee combo and striking the enemy with a final launching thrust with the glaive
  • The revamp increased the basic damage of Infinity Sword, being able to inflict moderate to heavy damage.


Tier 2:

Sword Tempest
  • Type: Close-In, Splash
  • Range: Short
  • Damage: Multi
  • Animation: Short
  • Somersaults thrice into the air and smashes the ground with the glaive.
  • The revamp changed the spinning attack with larger splash range, enabling him to hit everything around his immediate spinning trajectory.


Tier 3:

Roadstar Chaser
  • Type: Splash
  • Range: Short
  • Damage: Multi
  • Animation: Short
  • Ronan jumps and drives the glaive into the ground to release a short triple burst of energy ahead.
  • The revamp has removed the delay and clustered the energy bursts, being more effective in dealing large amounts of burst damage to a single target than before.


    Knight Magic:
    Tier 1:

    Holy Inferno
    • Type: One Shot, Impact
    • Range: Short
    • Damage: Burst
    • Animation: Short
    • Casts a single spell blast in front of him, dealing high burst damage to enemies.
    • This skill is effective for aerial damage if you hotkey-cast it after the 4th hit in the Dragon Knight combo that launches enemies into the air.


    Tier 2:

    Spell the Rune
    • Type: Splash
    • Range: Short
    • Damage: Multi
    • Animation: Short
    • Activates a rune which generates a sphere of dark energy, hitting enemies rapidly for the duration of the skill.
    • Excellent for focused damage against boss or stationery enemies. No longer pushes enemies.
    • The height of the rune sphere hits 2 platforms high.
    • The revamp has fortified its attack power, making it reasonably powerful to use


    Tier 3:

    Holy Spear
    • Type: Damage-Stack, Lock-On
    • Range: Medium
    • Damage: Burst - Multi
    • Animation: Short
    • Ronan jumps into the air and drives his glaive into the ground unleashing a formation of divine spears upon his enemies. Enemies within a certain range are then bombarded by smaller spears above them.
    • The spears do not have large tracking range but will cause significant damage if allowed to stack upon other targets. Up to 5 targets will be locked onto, nearest to Ronan.
    • The tracking is believed to happen upon skill execution. Thus enemies already killed by the initial spear formation will also have the mini spears set upon them regardless.


    Tier 4:

    Blast Wave
    • Type: Splash
    • Range: Long, Vertical
    • Damage: Multi
    • Animation:Long
    • Ronan summons a vicious dragon familiar, letting off 3 huge fireballs towards the ground with each of them exploding into a violent pillar of flame.
    • This skill requires good positioning and some judgement*, as the fireballs will go as far as one entire screen across, making this skill useless at close range.
    • *Judgement is required when dealing with monsters solo, as they only have you as their target, and will constantly be moving towards you. Enemy speed and counter-reactions have to be taken into account when executing this move for maximum effect. Most of the time, this will be extremely difficult due to the long summoning animation.
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