Unstoppable even in death, the reaper of renown is ready to pursue new prey.

Specter Knight

Specter Knight combines direct, but contextual, offense and mobility. Fast movement speed allows you to pursue your target and keep them under pressure. Keep your scythe at the ready to cut in at every opportunity.

Scythe Slash

Specter Knight’s standard slash covers a good amount of space in front, and has a quick recovery. It’s a good way to catch your opponent while they’re performing an attack.

Hover Plume

From Red’s own private curio collection, the Hover Plume is a great way to gain some height above the battlefield and stagger your next strike. Just press jump while you’re in the air, and you will levitate in a menacing pose…

You’ll perform a short rise just by tapping the jump button, but you can really get some hangtime by holding the jump button down.

While ascending, you can also move horizontally without breaking your stride! Just remember, the Hover Plume is limited to one use before needing to land on solid ground.

Wall Climb and Wall Jump

Specter Knight is surprisingly spry…He must have been quite agile in his past life! Hold down your directional pad toward a wall while making contact in the air and Specter Knight will immediately begin scaling it!

You might have noticed that he scales faster and higher than he does in Specter of Torment. This allows him to navigate the larger arenas in Showdown while evading enemy attacks. He’ll climb a set height before dismounting, but you can hop off the wall at any time with a jump.

New to Showdown are soft platforms, which allow all characters to pass through from below (but not from above). Specter Knight can climb up the sides of these platforms, too!

Here’s a tip, Specty! If you ever want to avoid clinging to a wall, just hold the down direction. This will allow you to weave through collision while falling without any unwanted clinging and climbing!

Dash Slash

Specter Knight’s signature slash attack! While in the air near a target, just press attack to launch yourself scythe-first!

If you’re a Specter pro, you’ll notice the slash is a bit slower to start than in Specter of Torment. If a target is just on the fringes, you might just miss them!  While it does account for a target’s location, this move is not a true “homing” attack. It will cut either up or down, depending on where you are relative to the target. When you’re in range for a dash slash, a targeting reticule will automatically appear over the target, and its angle lets you know your direction. Whenever you see this effect, know that you can cancel your current state and move into the perfect cut!

If your Dash Slash defeats an enemy (or breaks an item) you will pass clean through. If not, you will bounce off of them in a spin attack. Make sure to plan your follow-up accordingly!

Throwing Sickle

Another of Red’s curios, bartered with red skulls. A steady throw sends this projectile spinning mid-range before it boomerangs back.

Specter Knight doesn’t have to worry about running out of Darkness in Showdown, but he can only have one Throwing Sickle active at a time. You can recollect the sickle early by coming into contact with it or you can let it continue on its way to hit an unsuspecting foe behind you. Pretty sneaky!

Bringing It All Together

As you can see, all of the tools in Specter Knight’s moveset can be activated with the press of a button! No complicated charges required. However, you’ll have to make the most of your ever-shifting surroundings to expertly engage with your toolset.

Find opportunities to navigate using your wall climb and Dash Slash for extra height. This way, you can hold onto your Hover Plume lift for when you need it most!

Never say die! If you are knocked into a pit, then grab hold of the walls to climb back out.

Your Dash Slash can be effective for scaring opponents! Haunt just nearby and paint a target of dread right over their head. Toss out the Throwing Sickle to lock down an enemy and complicate their counterattack. Use the Hover Plume to stagger your next hit, and then rush in for the perfect attack.

If you want more wall climbing and dash slashing fun, but in a fully realized, standalone single-player adventure, well, then we urge you to play Specter of Torment! It’s even on sale right now! If you want to find out how Specter Knight’s original mobility came to be, then be sure to read our Specter Knight Mobility Design article.

That concludes the reaper review! Be sure to check out our other character highlights:

Plague Knight, Shovel Knight, Mona

 

Oh, and from all of us here at Yacht Club Games…