PS2: Champions: Return to Arms
Dark Elf Shadowknight Guide

Intro:
I decided to write a FAQ for the Shadowknight because I have read
through all of the character FAQs (For CofN also) and I haven’t
found one to be very helpful.  I’ve played this game many times,
beat it on Legendary, and I usually play the Shadow Knight
because I think he is by far the coolest character in the game. I
plan to share some strategies for using the Shadowknight as well
as some general tips to help for any character you may choose to
play with.

Strengths: (some people just like to write in what the manual
says for this part)

-A tank in the melee department, second to only the Berserker and
Warrior.  He can use any weapon in the game making for a
formidable melee character.  Can get Bind Wound very early in
game.

-Has some incredibly useful spells/skills that if used wisely can
really wreak some havoc.  Most of the useful spells come early in
game.

-Can use any ranged weapon making him the best all around
character.

-Can get some cool character only weapons and armor

-Just looks badassed

Weaknesses: (not too many)

-Does not have a critical hit spell, but if your playing solo
just equip some whetstones on your weapons and if your playing
multiplayer chances are someone will have it worked up so you can
benefit from it.

-Magic costs a lot (but there are ways to work around this)

-Can’t think of any more

Where to Allocate Points:

Basically I like to have strength beefed up a lot so I can have a
mean attack and be able to carry a decent amount of weight.  I
also sink a ton in intelligence because it costs more to cast
Shadowknight spells. You need a hefty sum of mana to make the
spell casting really benefit.

Here is how I generally distribute at any given level up, but do
what you like:

I usually do all out Strength for the first few levels, maybe up
until level 12 or so, then I start doing 2 Strength 1
Intelligence for a while, then when I find I’m using more
demanding spells or more magic then I might sink all into to
magic or 1 Strength to 2 Magic Points.

Sometimes I hit him up with some Dexterity for a more all around
character, I love using the Ranger as well so I’m used to using
arrows so I always have my Shadowknight equipped with a bow and
arrow.  Sometimes my build goes 2 Strength points and 1
Intelligence, then next time 2 Strength and 1 Dexterity or just 1
of each depending on where my character is lacking.

I never do stamina because I really don’t die too often, and once
you get bind wound going it really doesn’t matter.  Plus stamina
doesn’t benefit your attack so I usually stay away, I almost
always sacrifice defense for better attack for a more powerful
character.

Skill Tree:

(Here is where I have been very disappointed in the other Faqs.
People either describe the skills as in the manual or say, oh
this skill is good, and don’t describe it well, or the skill
sucks and they say it rules)

First off I’ll describe the skills as I perceive them:

Blunt/Slashing Weapons:  I always go Slashing because there are
way more Slashing weapons in the game, and more often then not
they dish out the most damage (generally axes are the best).  But
if you like Blunt weapons then go for it, but I would highly
advise against putting points into both, unless you’ve already
filled everything you want.

Disease Bolt:  This spell rocks.  It doesn’t do much damage, but
that’s not its purpose.  It’s purpose is to disease enemies,
which can interrupt their movements.  When a character is
diseased they may “twitch”, which leaves them vulnerable to
attacks so you can get free hits.  It also gives them damage for
the time they are diseased, it’s only a few damage points per
second but every bit helps.  Fire this into a large group for
effective use, for when one enemy is diseased they all succumb to
it if they touch each other (even if dead).  Once this reaches
higher levels the bolt does more damage, maxing out in the 200’s
and it will begin to track enemies, so you don’t have to be quite
as accurate when you fire.  More points means more mana though,
so keep this low for a while until you build some intelligence.

Bind Wound:  Very crucial to your Shadowknight.  It allows him to
regenerate much faster, starting out at 120% and ending on 310%
(if i recall correctly).  This gives you insane regenerative
powers and you consume WAY less potions once this is beefed up.
Also, the Shadowknight is the only character to get it on the 2nd
branch of the skill tree (I think?)so it enables you to be a
better tank in melee early on.

Life Tap:  Very cool.  Not an amazing skill by any means but it
definitely can help.  Basically when you kill an enemy you have a
chance of getting some mana or health back from them.  All you
have to do is hit block to suck in the energy when you see the
red or blue fire leave their body.

Disease Trail:  Can be useful, but I don’t find myself running
away very often.  I have used it on bosses like Rallok Zek, and
the first time I beat the game I solely defeated Mithaniel Marr
(and Shadow Step) with this skill lol!  (I dove into the last
battle with 2 health potions but like 15 mana potions and never
saved it before I fought him...opps)  I’d sink a point into it so
you at least have it, and if you find yourself needing to run and
want to get some damage with it, use it.

Endurance:  Luckily, since your a Strength guy, you should have
plenty of weight to carry, but if you find yourself having to
gate to sell stuff rather quickly, a few points of endurance can
be helpful.  I usually sink some points into this fairly early
(Because I hate gate scrolling a lot), then top it off later when
I have spare points, I usually leave it at about 12.

Engulfing Darkness:  By far the most useful Shadowknight spell.
This sucker is your bread and butter.  Unlike most of the other
confusion and stun spells that give you a % chance to work, this
ball of black cloud sticks around, so as long as the enemy is on
the cloud he will be confused eventually because it keeps working
until the cloud is gone. This works better opposed to blinding
light/unspoken word (cleric) that only works purely on chance.
If that confuses you don’t worry about it, basically it
stuns/confuses enemies for you for free hits and it can get you
out of some tight situations. I always have this on my quick cast
spell setting.  Best used on groups for if you stun all your
enemies you can just go to town on them melee style for a few
seconds.  It’s also useful for hitting mages and elemental
archers to prevent resurrection spells or some mean elemental
damage.  I only put 1 point into it for a while so I can cast it
numerous times. When you work it up, it costs a lot more, but the
cloud is bigger.  But it’s not even close to a good trade off for
being able to cast it more times.  Doesn’t work on bosses though,
but great on the Helldemon guys, Robots, and the Yeti/Snowbeasts
and basically anyone else.

Disease Shield:  Not as great as everyone thinks it is.  It’s a
cool concept, and if you don’t care much for defense you can work
this up, use it, and start swinging.  I find it more of a bother,
because when it’s worked up so high, you can’t even see what's
going on.  Sure it hits each guy for 20-40 disease damage
frequently, but I like to be able to block and see my characters
movements.  It is useful though, if you want free hits while your
blocking.  I’d stay away from it for a while, points are better
off invested elsewhere early in the game.

Shadow Step:  A great spell! By far the best spell addition to
any character from the last game.  People may think this spell is
cool because it confuses, but the teleporting feature is so
incredibly useful, especially in multiplayer.  You can actually
move faster than any character with this spell.  Only put 1 point
into this so you can use it over and over.  If a cool item drops
and you want to beat someone too it, use this and you can warp to
it in no time!  Also, if you enter a room and there is a mage,
you can warp through the melee enemies, avoiding damage, right to
the mage and kill him!  It works so well.  Then if you warp into
a tight spot just simply warp again and you go back.  You can own
the Depth Scurry with this spell too.  Just keep warping to the
Shells and Air Bubbles to make it much faster.  I also warp
through archer arrows and enemy spells all the time.  If an
archer is shooting you from far away, wait until the arrow comes
near you, warp, then you are that much closer to the archer and
have completely dodged an arrow.  This skill takes a little
practice but you can use your Shadowknight with style when you
master it.  Not to mention the obvious perk of this spell, you
can warp behind an enemy, while confusing him for a second and
hit him from behind.  It works great on shield bearing enemies as
well.  Just experiment with this skill for you will find it to be
extremely useful.  Once you build it up you can leave some flames
behind, but they are kind of annoying if you ask me.

Riposte:  I think this skill is sadly underrated.  You get damage
on enemies for nothing.  Basically if an enemy strikes you with
any melee or ranged attack (magic doesn't count), you have a
chance for a counter hit.  Now here's the best perk, it works
even if your blocking.  So if you work this up, you can add about
100 damage to a counter hit.  I block so many attacks that this
skill does more damage to guys then any of my other spells.  It’s
especially rewarding when I notice an enemy getting killed off a
counter hit.  So if you walk into a room with 5 or more archers,
just blocking will do some good damage on them, for it works more
frequently than you would think.  Put at least one point into it
when it’s available so you can at least activate it.

Summon Skeleton:  This is overrated.  Once you get better at the
game you don’t need the skeleton, but for your first time through
he can be helpful.  Basically he’s a great distraction for
enemies, so if you encounter multiple baddies you can use the
skeleton to attract half of them or so. Eventually he can get
enchanted weapons almost all of the time, but I’d rather put my
points elsewhere, I find this more entertaining than anything.
On harder difficulties he is practically useless for he will die
with 1 or 2 hits.  Use Raise Army for aid in battle.

Shield Bash:  I never use shields unless I challenge myself and
use only 1 handed weapons.  Extremely useful when it’s built up
for it stuns enemies for longer than any spell will, but leaves
you open to attack and doesn’t always work.  I wish the shield
bash animation was like that of the Horsemen’s shield bash, short
and sweet.  Then it would be more effective because you wouldn’t
be so open to attack.  You should form your own opinion on this
one, I hardly ever use it.

Convert Undead:  This is basically useless.  It costs a decent
amount of magic, and doesn’t work that often.  Stay away from it,
it’s probably the worst skill, since it pales in comparison to
Raise Dead.

Disease Blade:  This is ok, but still, I would only throw points
into it if I was maxed out with everything I already want.  It
adds disease damage to your weapon, and you teammates if they are
close enough.  The only catch is that you need an open slot on
your weapon for it to work.  If you (or teammate) have a weapon
with an open slot, mainly if you want to save it for something
such as attack speed or a critical hit, then I suggest you use
Disease Blade to pass the time until you find one.  It’s like
having a Mummy Tongue bonus on your weapon that you can remove.

Harm Touch:  This spell is very deceptive.  It says massive
damage, and that it would be if it was added to the attack of
your weapon. Unfortunately it only deals 500+ damage, and by the
time you get that you will be hitting almost as hard as that with
your weapon.  Plus you can only use it once every four seconds or
so.  It’s not worth it, even if built up it doesn’t seem to get
as high as what you will be capable of hitting, especially if you
have a whetstone on your weapon.  The only time I could really
see this being worth it, was if you decided to go for a
ranger/mage build, where you sunk your points into dexterity for
bow attacks and intelligence for magic attacks.  Then when
enemies got close to you, hit em with the harm touch to hopefully
kill them, since you wouldn’t have much strength to hit big
anyways.

Raise Army:  This spell is pretty cool.  Not amazing by any
means.  It has more of an entertainment value, but does have it’s
uses.  This is also way better to sink points into instead of a
Skeleton or Converting Undead because it works on almost any
fallen enemy. If you raise a guy with decent health and attack he
can really help you out.  The cool thing is it always works, and
has a pretty long duration (You cannot raise mini bosses).  If
you work the ranks up a little you can have a whole legion
fighting for you, although it can get a tad confusing, especially
if they are all the same characters.  It consumes a decent amount
of magic, but by that point you will have your intelligence built
up enough to make it useful.

Which Skills to Invest In:

A common mistake, especially in new players is to sink points
into a bunch of different stats.  This ends up giving you a lot
of weak spells and a much less effective character.  Here is how
I build up my Shadowknight:

First off, I always sink most of my early points into Sharp
Weapons.  That is the first thing I max out.  Once you get to a
certain point, you will not be able to put all your points into
it because the level required is too high, so then you can build
other skills slowly.  I throw in 1 point on Disease Bolt when it
is available.  Disease bolt always diseases enemies (Except
Undead), and the only real difference when you sink points into
it, is that it hits for more damage, but takes more magic to
cast.  Well since I don’t really case about the damage to begin
with, I just keep it at 1 point for a while, so I can use it
numerous times without costing too much mana.  Next, I get Bind
Wound going a little.  Just sinking 1 point into Bind Wound gives
you an extra 20% regeneration.  Every point after that gives
another 5% so 1 point will do you for a little while.  Then I
sink another point into Life Tap just to enable the ability.

So basically I sink 1 point into Disease Bolt, Bind Wound, Life
Tap, and then Engulfing Darkness while also increasing my Sharp
Weapons (since you get 2 points @ earlier levels)  Once all of
these are activated I put a point into Bind Wound and Slashing
each level up.  Any spares picked up in Bonus Levels I usually
put into Bind Wound if Slashing weapons cannot be done.  Then
once I hit level 15 I toss one point into Riposte and Shadow
Step, again to enable the abilities.  Some skills are much better
off if you just put 1 point into them, and some are much better
when you build them up.  After all this, I finish up Bind Wound
and Slashing weapons so they are maxed out to 20.  Once these are
maxed out I try to max out Riposte and toss the occasional point
into my Disease Bolt and maybe some Endurance.  Once Riposte is
maxed, then I try to max out Disease Bolt, for your Shadowknights
magic can handle it.  I also hit up Engulfing Darkness
occasionally so it reaches about 8.  I might throw one into
Disease Trail just to enact it for some tougher boss battles.
Then I like to max out Life Tap after all this.  The only real
ability left that I like is Raise Army.

So basically the bulk of your Shadowknight kicking ass will be
Slashing/Disease Bolt/Bind Wound/Riposte and perhaps Life Tap all
maxed out, and then 1 point into Shadow Step, 8 or so in
Engulfing Darkness and 1 point into Disease Trail.  Once you
Achieve this you can consider yourself beefed up.  Now this style
of play means you need to be proficient in melee combat.  I will
explain more on this later.  After this, it’s your choice, I like
to max Raise Army, then just fill in the gaps.

Strategies to Attack With Shadowknight:

Basically, your a melee guy with some spells to weaken opponents.
I usually fire a Disease Bolt into a few guys so they are
diseased.  Fight a few of em, then once undiseased, fire another
bolt.  You don’t need to constantly fire Disease Bolts, just hit
em once, then when the effect wear off, hit em again.  You can
also sit back and pummel them with some arrows while diseased.
Use Engulfing Darkness on archers or elemental swordsmen and
mages.  You can also use it on big groups to get free hits, but
its kind of boring that way, its too easy.  Your going to want to
use confusion on quicker enemies, such as Ghouls and larger
enemies such as Yetis and Hell Demons, (I don’t know the
“technical terms” for them but you’ll know who I mean)  basically
any heavy hitters.  Shadow Step over any enemies to get to
archers or mages if you can’t get a clear confusion shot.  Also
use it on the double bladed shadow warriors that pop out of
walls, it works great on them.  You can also use it to get out of
tight situations.  That’s my basic strategy for the Shadowknight,
used like this he will be a formidable character.

Setting Up Your Spell Book:

Another key element to using the Shadowknight correctly is to
place your spells in good locations on your spell book.  The
quick casting ability added to the game (not available in last
one) was the best possible addition to Return to Arms.  Now you
can cast any spell on the fly by simply clicking it on the
spellbook menu and hitting the square button!  What an ingenious
idea, why they hell wasn’t it in the last game?!

Anyways, the 2 spells you always want equipped to your Circle and
Triangle buttons are Disease Bolt and Engulfing Darkness.  These
are the only spells you need to aim and to use multiple times in
a row.  You could argue that Shadow Step could be part of this,
but I use the quick cast for that because once you warp you have
enough time to use your left and right thumb in sync.  Make sure
these two spells are in a diagonal slot, say upper right and
lower right.  This way you can reserve your up, down, left or
right for a quicker cast.  It’s kind of hard to explain this but
you should be able to get the idea.  Then I put Shadow Step to
the right, Disease Trail to the bottom setting, Raise army on the
upper setting, and Disease Shield/Blade on the left.  (once I get
all of them of course).  This allows you to conveniently cast the
spells by just holding one of the directional buttons and hitting
square.  It takes some getting used to but once mastered your
will be far more efficient in your spell casting.

Mastering Combat/Blocking:

To be a great Champions player, you must know how to stay alive.
And staying alive involves knowing how to block.  It doesn’t
matter how good you are at attacking or killing, you need to be
great on defense.  Now, you can block almost any attack in the
game, so when in doubt...block!  It can give you a breather in a
tight situation, say being pummeled by a half dozen archers.  Now
there are very subtle melee tricks that can make you a killing
machine.  I hope to share some of these with you, and you will be
able to make it through 30+ orcs without getting hit once.

First off, you need to know that with the right timing, you can
almost always get the first hit on an enemy approaching you.
There are some exceptions, but fighting say, an orc for instance,
you have the advantage.  So take a swing when the orc is a few
feet away from you, then you can immediately block.  You don’t
have to follow through with your swing either.  The good thing
about the blocking system in Champions is that you can go to the
block immediately after you hit the R1 button.  so you can get a
half swing in to hit the enemy and then hit block. Now you are in
a blocking position with no sweat.  This allows you to get a
quick hit in, even when certain enemies are in a multiple attacks
cycle.

Now, this requires you to know your enemies attacks.  A good way
to get to know your enemies attacks is to isolate them one on
one, and just hold block.  Then you get to see your enemies
various attacks and learn them fairly quickly.  So if you get an
opportunity to get a quick swing in, and block immediately, you
will kill a lot more efficiently.  Fight the Four Horsemen battle
a couple times and practice this kind of stuff.

Now, there is a way to hit an enemy, like one of the Horsemen,
without them even hitting you, even if you are blocking.  It
takes a little practice but here’s how it goes, if you master
this you will be a powerhouse melee player in Champions.  Let the
enemy approach you.  When he gets near range, take a swing, once
you hit him immediately hold block and then press L1.  This will
have your character take a step back.  If you time it right, the
enemy will swing and not even hit you.  Then you repeat the
process over and over.  Even if he does hit you, you’re blocking
and will be protected.  Learn the enemies attacks and you will
know when you can get 2 or more free hits in.  So basically it’s
X, then hold R1 and tap L1, and repeat.

Knowing how many hits will kill an enemy is also important.  If
you are attacking an enemy, then another one is slowing closing
in behind him, you can kill your current enemy then get a free
hit on the enclosing one.  If you know 1 more hit will kill your
first enemy, hit him, then swing again, hit the 2nd enemy then
block.  You can learn to do all kinds of things like this in
melee for more efficient killing. If you are fighting a group of
enemies, keep track of how many times you’ve hit certain ones.
If you have beat up on one enemy enough in a group, but then he
gets out of range for you to hit him safely, fire a Disease Bolt
at him, and perhaps it will be just enough to kill him, plus all
the other guys will be effected as well.

The key to doing all this is to be aware of it, and do not button
mash.  The only time I ever button mash is to pick up items with
square if a ton of stuff falls.  There are also cool tricks you
can pull by swinging, stepping back, firing a ranged spell, then
swinging again to maximize your attack.  So experiment with this
through trial and error and practice on the Four Horsemen battle.

You will need to use the L1 Step Back move constantly in this
game to position yourself.  It is extremely useful and can get
you out of tight jams while consistently blocking.  You just need
to practice facing the right way.

You must also be aware of archers.  Know where the arrows are
coming, and time your blocks of the arrows along with the blocks
of the melee attacks.  Hold block if your not sure.  Just keep
calm and take it slowly until you fluidly become comfortable in
the blocking attacking transition.

What to Equip:

Basically for the Shadowknight your going to want to customize
your armor/weapons in the following ways:

Any Rings/Earrings or Chokers you use should have Strength or
Intelligence Bonus’ on them.  Occasionally I throw on a Dexterity
one if my attack and magic are already mean, and I want a little
extra ranged damage.  All the other resistance's, regenerations
etc. are basically crap.

On your weapons put Whetstones and Misty Globes on them.  I
always end up using a 2 handed Axe or Sword, since they tend to
hit the hardest.  If there's room, I toss on a Storm Shard or a
Carapace for more armor.  Poison damage is ideal though for any
additions, though harden to get.  Cold and Fire damage don’t
really do it for me for they take up 2 slots.

On Armor I tend to put anything I can get on them.  If I have a
bunch of slots I toss on some resistances, but for the most part
this is a chance to beef up any Stamina you may need, as
Bloodstones are fairly common.  Bull Runes and Star Glyphs are
great to enhance some of your Strength and Intelligence stats.
Appartently though Health and Mana bonuses are no good for this
is a glitch and they don’t seem to work. (thanks for the info
from Joshua Bell for the bonuses glitch).  I assume though
regeneration and rejuvenation bonuses work.  Hopefully more info
on this later.

Dexterity is cool if you got room, though that’s another rare
one.  I almost always choose stat enhancers over better armor,
but there is a fine line between it, it’s all preference.
Generally I’d take a helmet with 50 Strength but only 100 armor
over a helmet with 200 Armor and a cold resistance for example,
but that’s if you are good at keeping yourself alive.

Closing Thoughts:

So that about does it for the Shadowknight Guide.  If you have
any questions, or would like me to describe how I beat any bosses
or situations with him feel free to email me @
[email protected].  If I get good feedback on this guide I can
always write others if any one is interested.  I know the Cleric,
Shaman, and Ranger quite well, I also know the Warrior/Beserker,
though I never reached really high levels with them.  The Wizard
I don’t like using.  Anyone interested in a Walkthrough or
General Strategies let me know as well.  Thanks for reading.

Authorized Websites: Neoseeker/Gamefaq related sites, and if
anyone else would like to use the FAQ, once again contact me @
[email protected]

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