Mystic Knight

The Mystic Knight is one of three Hybrid vocations in Dragon's Dogma. Hybrid vocations are exclusive to your main character, the Arisen. It costs 1,500 Discipline Points (DP) to unlock this vocation.

Description
Masters of sword and sorcery, the Mystic Knight deals devastating damage to foes on the battlefield with their enchanted weapons, while also defending against the most ferocious attacks with their magickal shields.

Primary Weapon: Sword, Mace or Staff (NOTE: Maces cannot be traded.)

Secondary Weapon: Magick Shield (NOTE: Magick Shields cannot be traded.)

Primary Offensive stat: Magick

Strengths and Role
Battle Magick: Mystic Knights are able to cast powerful magicks while wearing heavy armor and wielding maces or swords. The Mystic Knight's key core skill, Reflect, allows the player to pick up all damage on the field (friendly and non-friendly) and incorporate it into its own attacks.

Stalwart Defense: Mystic Knights carry large, magickal shields with them in combat, allowing them to counter almost all attacks. The shields can also be imbued with magickal energy, providing a deadly surprise for any enemy that dares assault the Arisen.

Deadly Enchantments: The Mystic Knight is the only magickal character capable of enchanting the entire party’s weapons at once, making them invaluable support characters. The elemental Trances and Invocations are more powerful buffs than Affinities or Pacts; but they do not last as long in duration as an offset to their strength.

Versatility: Having both ranged and melee capabilities as well as a shield allows the Mystic Knight to adapt to many situations. This Arisen can act as both the Tank and frontline Fighter or can hang back and cast Cannon spells for ranged magick attacks. They are also able to wield slashing swords or blunt damaging maces, giving them even more options to aim for enemies weaknesses. Their armor selection is the most varied as well, ranging from physical-focused plate armors to magick-focused robes.

Weaknesses
Silence: If Silenced, Mystic Knights will not be able to use their most powerful skills, although it is less disadvantageous than Mage or Sorcerer since the Mystic Knight can still use melee weapons and skills.

Slower Movement and Counter Range: Similar to the Fighter, the Mystic Knight's defenses are very strong in front of the Mystic Knight. This vocation can have trouble against multiple opponents due to slow movement and lack of manual turning when the Magick Shield is deployed. This leaves the Mystic Knight's backside vulnerable to attack if enemies flank. Using Perfect Block with an elemental shield buff to both defend and deal damage can be difficult to perform due to its requirement for proper timing, but once the Mystic Knight player masters these counters, they become very effective offensive moves.

Knockdown Prone: Mystic Knights can be staggered or knocked down more easily than a Fighter or Warrior, however their selection of heavier armors allows them better stability when casting than a Mage or Sorcerer. Careful selection of top-tier armor can eliminate knockdown and stagger vulnerability, which can be game-changing to a small Mystic Knight and invaluable for a larger one.

Slow Casting Speeds: Their class-specific spells take a long time to incant. These spells also do not allow movement during the incant unlike Staff and Archistaff spells; this, combined with being relatively vulnerable to stagger and knockdown can make it difficult to complete certain sigils during a fight. Carrying the Wyrmking's Ring in the inventory will reduce the casting time of these skills; the Sorcerer's augment Articulacy also assists with casting speed. Learn your enemies and predict their moves by watching them telegraph their tactics to fight proactively, not reactively.

Skills
Augments: 26,800 DP Core: 10,200 DP Sword/Mace Skills: 29,600 DP Staff Skills: 23,100 DP Magick Shield Skills: 73,100 DP

Total Skills: 162,800 DP

Augments
For information on how augments impact stats and how stacking of multiple augments works see the Stats page.

Tips and Tactics

 * The Mystic Knight is the only vocation capable of setting traps. Cast a Ruinous Sigil, then a Great Cannon on top of the first sigil, then move back to lure the enemy into the area of effect.  While the enemy is following your lure into the trap and engaging it, the Mystic Knight has a tactical opening to set up another attack or cast further spells.


 * Each time the Cannon spells are cast, the sigil creates a floating orb of magick that can be struck to release projectiles, and they can be cast multiple times without cancelling. A Mystic Knight can have up to three orbs on the field at once, all of which can release up to three projectiles each per hit. Given enough preparation time, this can quickly fell large monsters single-handedly.
 * Some Sorcerer spells will fire a Great Cannon, under certain circumstances:


 * 1) Bolide or High Bolide can strike Great Cannon sigils.
 * 2) Fulmination or High Fulmination's bubble surrounding the Sorcerer will fire any Great Cannon sigil within it.
 * 3) If a Great Cannon sigil is set within the area of effect field of Maelstrom or High Maelstrom, the spell will fire the sigil. The edge of the area of effect is indicated by loss of the player's vision.
 * 4) Setting a Great Cannon sigil within Miasma or High Miasma will fire it.
 * 5) If Gicel or High Gicel is cast through a Great Cannon sigil, it will fire.
 * 6) If a Great Cannon sigil is struck by Brontide or High Brontide, it will fire. This is rare, as the whip must pass through the sigil.
 * 7) Magick Agent will set off a Ruinous Sigil when its balls strike the sigil, which in turn will fire a Great Cannon sigil. This is the only Mage skill that will interact with Mystic Knight sigils.


 * If there are no enemies nearby and the Mystic Knight has placed multiple Cannon orbs, shots from one Cannon will seek another and act as a network. This can be used to attack enemies from farther away, and possibly to shoot around corners. The shots that pass through a second Cannon orb will acquire that orb's element, if different.


 * Abyssal Anguish allows the Mystic Knight to stack two elements as Abyssal Anguish can be cast in conjunction with a standard elemental buff; Abyssal Anguish's side effects are Dark, high knockdown/stagger and extra range added to the weapon.  This allows for the creation of compound long-range elemental weapon enchantments. In addition, all attacks made with the primary weapon will deal extra hits to any enemy/enemies in range. Paired with skills such as Blitz Strike, and Full Moon Slash, Abyssal Anguish can dish out devastating damage through extensive hit combos and easily stagger or knock down large enemies such as Drakes, Wyrms, Chimeras, Elder Ogres, and the like.
 * Another tactic is to use the Anguish spells on a staff since the shockwave that follows each projectile shot produces a devastating barrage if used consecutively. This tactic is very effective against Dragons as the shockwaves tend to hit the most vulnerable spots of a target (in this case the heart).
 * The Sorcerer tactic of releasing a Focused Bolt at the height of a jump, when buffed with an element AND Abyssal Anguish, is extremely effective when used by the Mystic Knight.


 * Even though it has an extremely long cast time, Holy Furor can be very effective. However, note that Holy Furor is a double-edged sword as not only does it take a long time to charge, it will drain all stamina from the party after it completes.
 * Using Full Moon Slash on a Great Cannon (or multiple Great Cannons) provides extra damage from the orbs and invincibility frames that will protect the Mystic Knight from spells and draconian breath attacks. It will not prevent interruption from a heavy physical blow, such as the Ur Dragon's or Daimon's fists.


 * Players who are making more of a bruiser/tank Mystic Knight, can start with Fighter as the basic vocation; that way players will get used to being in the middle of combat and get that early extra health per level.


 * Players who are making more of a caster Mystic Knight can start with Mage as the basic vocation; that way players will get used to the timing of spells and learn to recognize their individual incant sigils when enemies are casting.
 * Players also have the option of starting the game as a Strider for the first ten levels for superior stamina gains, as a Mage start shorts HP and Stamina, while a Fighter start shorts Magick and Magick Defense. Strider's stats are more evenly balanced.
 * After learning the skill Reflect, excellent timing can greatly improve both one's survivability and damage output. A properly timed block will not only negate damaged that would have been received but will also unleash a blast of magick, depending on the shield's current enchantment. Most melee attacks can be successfully countered as well as arrows, bolts from a staff, and thrown oil, torches and rocks. Strong Magical based attacks such a Wyrm's firebreath cannot be countered, although almost all enemy caster spells can be blocked, like Ingle, Bolide and Levin . A Perfect Block will fire a Great Cannon sigil if one is on the field when a perfect block is performed; additional elemental damage will be incorporated if the Mystic Knight charges the magick shield with an elemental Riposte prior to executing a perfect block.
 * The elemental Ripostes are both an elemental 'charge' to the shield and a specific counter.  Performing chained elemental Ripostes and/or elemental-charged Perfect Blocks repel and incorporate damage into the Mystic Knight's counters. The camera will swoop in to display the Mystic Knight raising the primary weapon up behind the raised shield, and a loud, deep FOOM sound effect will play upon performing these counters correctly.


 * The Mystic Knight's damage output is more powerful when using augments from other vocations, such as Mage's Attunement, Sorcerer's Acuity, Warrior's Clout and Fighter's Vehemence. The Mystic Knight player may also find the Mage's Equanimity, Sorcerer's Articulacy, Fighter's Prescience and Exhilaration, Warrior's Ferocity and Assassin's Bloodlust and Autonomy useful.


 * In the final fight against The Dragon, the Holy Aid/Holy Grace spell on the shield, coupled with the Reflect core skill, is a great way to negate damage and minimize the usage of restorative items.


 * Faster blocks with the shield can be made by flicking the analog stick in the direction of the blow and quickly follow up with the Secondary items button.  Performed quickly, this will change the direction of the Arisen almost instantaneously.


 * Taking on some of the Warrior and Fighter's Augments can help deprive enemies of a close-range advantage. All augments carry over from vocation to vocation.


 * Try taking on lighter armor types to loosen up hampered mobility, wearing light boots and gloves with a light underarmor. Consider using Leg-Strength from the Strider for moblity and/or Sinew from the Fighter vocation if players don't want to carry the weight of extra protection, or take the Warrior Augment Bastion if players are willing to shed some carry weight while still maintaining decent defenses.
 * Due to their nature as half-fighter and half-mage, Mystic Knight is the only vocation that can wear both heavy armor and light magick vestments for some truly unique looks.


 * Bitterblack Isle features a new variant of the Ogre (Elder Ogre). Try to cast Abyssal Trance before casting Great Cannon or dropping a Ruinous Sigil. This dark magic buff does great damage to this enemy.


 * The augments Sinew, Articulacy and the key item The Wyrmking's Ring help mitigate a Mystic Knight's two major shortcomings. Managing a Mystic Knight's weight to "Very Light" and cutting cast times by 30% make for an incredibly dangerous Mystic Knight since the Sorcerer augment Articulacy will stack with the Wyrmking's Ring for a total reduction in casting time of 30%.
 * The advanced weapon enchanting skills ["Trance" rather than "Enchanter"] need to charge fully by allowing the skill bar to turn orange rather than green before releasing L1. If the skill is not fully charged it will trigger the base version of the skill. Correspondingly, the third tier weapon enchantment skills, the Invocations, must fully charge through the third bar or lesser versions will be cast depending on which bar is complete when the skill buttons are released.