Shovel Knight/Promo Knight
Overview
Promo Knight is a flexible, mobile all-rounder with - wait hang on I read that wrong. Promo Knight is a defensive setplay juggernaut with the highest effective life total and among the best stat boost kits in Exceed. He wins games by trading his opponent to death while still having resources left in the tank.
Promo Knight’s character ability is effectively a lie. Drawing a card from your Move action seems like it would promote a mobile, high-tempo playstyle with a lot of action compression. You CAN play Promo Knight that way, but it hides his real strength. In reality, you want to be using his character ability (and therefore the Move action) as infrequently as possible. Likewise, Promo Knight’s Exceed ability might as well be a myth. For the line of play this guide advocates for, you have better uses for two gauge than Exceeding.
Promo Knight has two overwhelming advantages: easy, consistent access to +3 stat boosts (something Exceed’s engine just barely tolerates), and unreasonable trading ability brought on by enough Armor and life gain to weather almost any offense (something your friends and opponents just barely tolerate). He can afford to trade two-for-one, because he effectively has around double his opponent’s maximum health total. And when Promo Knight commits resources to a strike - any strike - it’s very hard to meaningfully contest him. He wins games by trading better than his opponent and blowing them up with a few key strikes. He LOSES games by deck out - not by life loss.
Promo Knight wants to draw out the game as long as humanly possible, meaning it’s in his best interest to draw as few cards as he can afford - that’s why his character ability is a downside. As the game goes on and more options drop on both sides, you’re more able to leverage your remaining tools to threaten unstoppable attacks and beat your opponent before you deck yourself out.
Range: Promo Knight can play out to R6, and has flexible options all through melee range. His ranged game is tenuous, and he’s vulnerable to being zoned without his fireballs.
Gauge and Force: Promo Knight’s gauge is a force bank - spending it on his amazing boosts allows him to double-dip on cards he’s already used, keeping the game running on fewer resources. By the same token, force is often a more valuable resource to Promo Knight than life is. His card draw is slow, but consistent - he spends so much time boosting that he tends to maintain a high hand size, and it generally doesn’t matter that he doesn’t have a card now, because the game will go on long enough that he’ll have his cards later. In the meantime, he can afford to lose a strike or two.
Be careful when taking the Move action, Change Cards when absolutely necessary, and spend a lot of force on boosts like Dig Tirelessly only if it will put you very far ahead. Every card is precious to Promo Knight, and must be worth its value - but when the value is there, spend.
Specials
Flare Wand: Usually only used as a checkmate or as a stand-in for when you REALLY need Cross, which it shares some similarities with. Doesn’t retreat as far, but it’s far enough to dodge Sweep at R2. The 0 Power is generally a lie - you have plenty of boosts to make this threatening if you absolutely need it to close a game. In the rare times you play this as an attack, remember to only spend enough force to stun. Most of the time, just boost this. Dig In is part of what enables your trading game to be so oppressive. You have two copies of this card, and you’ll see them again after the reshuffle. That’s 12 more Armor over the course of most games. You don’t even really care what the Armor is on, as long as you’re hitting back to maintain resources in gauge and chip away at your opponent’s life. | |
Alchemy Coin: The threat of a projectile keeps your opponent from zoning you out for free and making you spend resources to close in on them. This card extends your threat range to R5, meaning you can apply pressure with your boosts and your opponent can’t just Wild Swing to get rid of them. This is also true of Chaos Sphere, but that card has some other considerations. Note that Alchemy Coin is also a huge hand reload, which may or may not be an upside depending on the situation. Obviously, the +3 Power on Slash Mercilessly is amazing, and boosting it turns almost any card in your kit into a massive threat. You need SOME combination of Alchemy Coin and Chaos Sphere live to keep your opponent from moving away every time you put a boost down, so boost carefully with an eye to what your opponent can do to stop your gameplan in the long term. | |
Mobile Gear: Despite its Advance 4 effect, this is an R1-R3 attack that can only be used if the opponent isn’t cornered. In most circumstances, this is just a worse Assault … if you’re using it as an attack. In reality, you strike with this card when you need to reposition without spending force - even on your opponent’s turn. Dig Tirelessly is probably the worst boost in Promo Knight’s kit, because you don’t want to spend the force. Useful if you need to swing for the fences, but even beyond that it helps you maintain a trading lead. Even a small Power bonus on Sweep means it’s winning cleanly against other slow attacks, which is worth the force expenditure even for Promo Knight. Like all rekka boosts, you can spend AFTER you see the opponent’s attack, so spend just enough to stun. | |
War Horn: Probably your best special, and definitely among the best places to put your big scary boosts in order to cash out cards for value. Put enough Power on it to stun Focus, enough Speed on it to stuff out even DPs while pushing slows out of reach, or enough Armor on it to guarantee a favorable trade - or all three. Its native 3 guard means your opponent can’t escape with Cross if they’re cornered, or Grasp if YOU’RE cornered. Get Digging is force-efficient movement (which you love) and a small Power bonus that could synergize well with another boost to increase your payout when you strike. It being on your best attack is tough, because that movement can be a big deal. | |
Chaos Sphere: Alchemy Coin’s counterpart - both are ranged attacks, and both have incredible boosts on them. The same considerations about holding a ranged option largely apply, but remember that Chaos Sphere is much more expensive to hit with that Alchemy Coin is. Only spend for this card if you have enough bonus Power to make it worth it - one Fierce does not merit spending so many resources. Sharpen Thy Shovel, just like most of your other boosts, is incredible. +3 Speed on a midspeed generally makes them above-curve, meaning you just win the strike for free. That said, winning for free isn’t enough to win games as Promo Knight, so this boost is often followed up with a Power boost to increase the payout on a won strike. | |
Propeller Dagger: A situational card, but one that has a lot of utility. The attack is solid all on its own, and the Hit and After effects can both be useful. Remember that your gauge is full of cards that you already spent, so putting Propeller Dagger back in your hand is sort-of-kind-of free for the resource you care about. The Move 3 can be used to dodge attacks or just reposition, but note that you can’t use both effects - if Propeller Dagger is back in your hand, there’s no After effect. Scales amazingly with Power boosts. For Shovelry is your preferred source of the dreaded (but needed) card draw, because it also gains you life, upping your trading potential. Most of your time will be spent with 5 to 7 cards in hand, but every game will have a few frantic turns that dip your hand size - that’s when you reload and keep boosting. | |
Troupple Chalice: This is a pretty solid ultra, but it’s not enough value for the gauge cost, and trading force for life is usually not something you’re willing to do. Play it if it beats every option your opponent has. There’s not a lot that needs to be said about Justice In Spades that’s not clear from the incredible stat line. Prefer to discard a lower-value boost like Defend, Get Digging, Dig Tirelessly, or even Fierce or Light in a pinch - that applies to both ultra boosts. This is also incredible Tech bait - you already discarded one boost to play it, and the value your opponent can deny you by getting rid of this boost is immense. You prefer to cash out with a card that can make use of all three stats (like Sweep), but just two is fine - put it on Assault, a midspeed, or War Horn. Adjust as needed if your opponent already has boosts in play. |
Normals
Normals math gets very strange with the Promo Knight mindset. Remember that you can afford to trade much better than your opponent - Grasp into Sweep is a hard loss on any other character, but barely registers for Promo Knight. Meanwhile, Focus into Sweep actually trades UP over the course of the game, because your health is so high. And obviously, combining nearly any normal with nearly any +3 stat boost makes things wild pretty quickly.
Grasp: Not a great target for your boosts, and Fierce is still great even when you have better boosts in your kit.
Cross: Both Cross and Run are force-efficient movement. Whether it’s a neutral tool or a panic option depends on the situation, but you can use it as both (as long as you have a way to threaten at range).
Assault: Your only source of Advantage, which means you can initiate with a boosted Assault and not leave yourself vulnerable by passing the turn to your opponent with no boosts down. Backstep is force-efficient movement, but generally puts you at a range you don’t want to be.
Dive: You’re likely going to win nearly any boost war you participate in, so you don’t have much use for Tech. Dive is a great attack with basically any boost on it, and it’s force-efficient movement besides.
Spike: Sharpen Thy Shovel makes this a safer and more punishing Cross, notable for being an incredibly safe card. This combo beats everything except R2 reversals, which much of the cast doesn’t have. Defend, while valuable as a combination with a Power boost to guarantee value, is less powerful and less expensive than most other cards in your kit. That makes Defend a default target for either of your ultra boosts’ discard effects.
Sweep: Paying out with Sweep is incredible value. 6 damage for a single card is the best return you’re going to get in Promo Knight’s whole kit. If you can corner your opponent, a boosted Sweep can win you the game. Light is still an incredible boost, but you can more freely play Sweep than most characters because you have better Speed boosts.
Focus: Focus is always a stable defensive card, and is probably your best bet if you’re caught without a boost down. You appreciate the Armor, but not the card draw. Reading is powerful, but you don’t have much trouble winning strikes without it.
Block: You have almost zero need to block in most matchups, so use this as Parry on your opponent’s Tech.
The Promo Knight Mindset (General Gameplay Tips)
Despite what the life totals tell you, you are the one under pressure to beat your opponent, not the other way around. If you don’t make meaningful progress on your opponent’s life total using your amazing Power boosts, you WILL deck yourself out. Boosting ticks you closer to your loss condition, because you’re drawing a card. Striking ticks you closer to your loss condition, because you’ll eventually need to refill your hand by drawing cards. In order to compensate for this, you must make more progress on your opponent’s life total than you make on your own deck.
In order to kill your opponent before your timer runs out, you need to press the situation by threatening dangerous boosts, and occasionally initiate strikes. Those strikes must be backbreaking, because you’re leaving yourself defenseless on your opponent’s turn whenever you do so. You can win a lot of strikes and still lose the game to deckout - try to maintain a metric in your head for how many cards you’re spending per damage dealt. At minimum, you want that ratio to be even, movement and positioning included. Your gauge is full of cards you’ve already spent, allowing you to use resources without speeding up the clock.
When you boost, win the strike first. Put enough Speed, Power, or Armor down that you’re confident that whatever your opponent plays, you’ll beat it. Once the strike is won, increase the payout with more Power unless you suspect that giving your opponent an extra turn will allow them to defuse your setup.
Try to trade up in card quality. If you can make your worst options good enough to beat your opponent’s best options, you still have your best options available to you when your opponent can no longer stop them. If a great card and a mediocre card would benefit identically from a boost in a given situation, put the boost on the less-valuable card. Available card quality will fluctuate over the course of a game as options go down, so reevaluate constantly and take advantage of holes that open up.
Mulligan for Alchemy Coin or Chaos Sphere to use their excellent boosts, and mulligan away your ultras, which are both much better later in the game (especially once Tech is gone).
Promo Knight Is His Own Counterplay
Promo Knight has too much effective life for most characters to handle, so your opponent’s win condition is making you deck out. A combination of great value decisions and great reads CAN kill him even through his amazing boosts, but most losses will come from being forced to spend resources. Good players will strike into your setups to prevent you from increasing your payout if they think they can make you waste value, but they’ll also make you overextend, pushing you to boost to win a strike against a dangerous card for a low payout, and then holding that threatening card for later. Your opponent’s goal is to make you spend more cards per life that you take from them - if you spend a lot to beat a card they don’t play, you won’t have the resources to spend later when they DO play it.
Your opponents can cleanly beat a card that has a Power boost on it, or intentionally get hit by a card with a Speed boost on it to deny you the value you’d get by putting Power down. When multiple boosts are in play, smart Reading plays can put you very far behind - your opponent doesn’t even need to hit you if they can make YOU whiff when you have a lot of resources committed.
Your opponent’s Techs alone do not qualify as meaningful counterplay, because you have more threatening boosts than they have the ability to defuse. Your opponent will absolutely Tech your boosts (mostly Justice in Spades), and they’ll do it with such consistency that they effectively don’t have a copy of Dive in their deck.
Other Characters Like Promo Knight
Not a lot of characters play like Promo Knight, but you can enjoy him for two reasons - big numbers, or driving your opponent insane. For the former, take a look at Remiliss, Akuma, King Knight, Fight, Sol, or May. Not all of these characters get their big numbers from boosts, but they’ll all scratch that specific itch even if they don’t play like Promo Knight. If you specifically love trading, Ragna might be a good pick.
For those looking for another character who’s frustrating to fight against, or someone for whom the information game is as important as it is for Promo Knight, take a look at Renea, Geoffrey, Treasure Knight, or Anji. And finally, if you’ve played so much Promo Knight that you never want to even THINK about decking out again, look at Hakumen.
Credits and Resources
I wrote this guide after an extensive conversation with Taxi on how to run Promo Knight. You can find that conversation here. I’m not familiar with any other Promo Knight guides out there at the moment, and my understanding of the situation is that Taxi is THE Promo Knight player. Ask around on the Breakfast Club Discord - just because I don’t know them doesn’t mean they don’t exist!