Withered Knight is one of the additions Mistfall Hunter shipped at full launch<\/a>, and during the earlier beta it only had one weapon: the Greatsword. During the beta, the class only wielded a greatsword, but now that the full game is out, it gets a second weapon like the five other classes: a polearm and shield.<\/span> That makes Withered Knight the last of the six launch classes to receive its full two-stance kit, which is also exactly why it's the only class the developer has touched with a balance pass since release \u2014 everyone else launched with both weapons already tuned against each other.<\/p> Withered Knight specializes in heavy melee damage and rushing down enemies, and splits its kit across two weapon sets: the Greatsword and the Shield and Polearm. It's especially strong in 1v1 situations, which makes it a solid pick for solo runs. The Greatsword branch leans on Wither stacks for burst, while Polearm & Shield trades some of that raw damage for reach, block uptime, and team utility.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":" TL;DR<\/p> The patch shipped one day into the game's post-launch life, and it was the first balance patch after launch, arriving one day into the game's life, with every class change targeting the Withered Knight's new Polearm & Shield stance while the rest was bug fixes. Nothing about the Greatsword moved. If you're playing that side of the kit, this update changes nothing for you \u2014 it's purely a Polearm & Shield tuning pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note<\/p> Every change in the July 30 patch was to the Polearm & Shield stance, and it lowered energy drain during the shield-raising charge phase while improving Tier-1 charged dash turning \u2014 but Bellring Games described these as slight adjustments in prose, not as percentages. No official numeric values for the energy or damage changes have been published, so treat any specific figure you see elsewhere as unconfirmed.<\/p><\/div>\n\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"table","headers":[{"header_text":"What changed"},{"header_text":"Direction"},{"header_text":"What it affects in a fight"}],"rows":[{"cells":[{"cell_text":"Block energy cost"},{"cell_text":"Reduced"},{"cell_text":"You can hold the shield up longer before running dry"}]},{"cells":[{"cell_text":"Rainbow Piercer energy cost and cooldown"},{"cell_text":"Reduced"},{"cell_text":"The charged spear thrust comes back faster and drains less to use"}]},{"cells":[{"cell_text":"Basic Attack, 1st and 3rd thrust"},{"cell_text":"Damage slightly increased"},{"cell_text":"Your default poking damage goes up without changing the combo's speed"}]},{"cells":[{"cell_text":"Spear Barrage damage multiplier"},{"cell_text":"Slightly increased"},{"cell_text":"Your main basic damage skill, the one that applies Wither, hits harder"}]},{"cells":[{"cell_text":"Tier-1 charged dash turning"},{"cell_text":"Slightly improved"},{"cell_text":"Easier to redirect the gap-closer mid-charge instead of committing to a straight line"}]}],"size":"small"},{"acf_fc_layout":"title","heading":"How to Play Polearm & Shield After the Buff","tag":"h2"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"\n\n The stance itself hasn't been redesigned \u2014 the buff just makes the same playstyle cheaper to sustain. Here's a practical opening sequence that leans into what actually changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"steps","intro":"Follow this sequence to get it done fast.","steps":[{"title":"Open with Spear Barrage","description":"it's your basic damage skill, unlocked from the start and a must-have in every Polearm and Shield build, with decent burst damage that applies Wither, and its multiplier is now stronger.","image":null},{"title":"Raise the shield and hold","description":"while attacking in this stance you also count as blocking, reducing all incoming damage, and the lowered energy cost means you can keep pressuring instead of dropping the block to conserve energy.","image":null},{"title":"Charge Rainbow Piercer once the target is committed","description":"hold the skill to charge with reduced maneuverability, and at the end it releases a violent spear thrust that empowers the weapon with Judgement while you're Shielded during the charge; the cheaper cooldown lets you throw this out more often per fight.","image":null},{"title":"Use the charged dash to reposition, not just to close","description":"the improved Tier-1 turning means you can curve the dash toward a moving target instead of whiffing past it.","image":null},{"title":"Hold the rescue option in reserve","description":"the Polearm & Shield stance can pull downed teammates back from a distance, so don't dump every cooldown chasing a kill if a squadmate is on the ground.","image":null}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":" Mistfall Hunter<\/a> launched with six classes: Mercenary, Sorcerer, Blackarrow, Shadowstrix, Seer, and Withered Knight, each with its own weapon stances. We've already covered how the full lineup stacks up, so this isn't another tier list \u2014 the question here is narrower: does the July 30 buff change who should play Withered Knight?<\/p>\n\n Short answer: it makes the class more forgiving, not more dominant. Nothing in the launch-window notes describes the Withered Knight as overperforming \u2014 it received buffs, not restraints, which puts it below the classes the developers actively reined in, but it's not a weak pick, and it carries no learning-curve warning. That places it below the classes getting nerfed for being too strong, and squarely in the \"safe, sustainable pick\" tier rather than the \"must-play\" one.<\/p>\n\n Polearm & Shield specifically suits players who want to hold a chokepoint and keep a squad alive rather than chase kill counts. With high sustain, the ability to shield allies, buff itself, and block damage from the game's toughest bosses, this side of the kit is built for group PvE encounters more than solo speedrunning. If you're weighing whether that survivability holds up against the harder difficulty tier, it's worth checking gear expectations in the Chaos Mode gear requirements guide<\/a> before committing to it as your main.<\/p>\n\n It also has a PvP identity worth knowing about: the class is described as dominant in PvP, able to pull enemies, stun them, stagger them, and execute them through brutal combo chains. If that's your priority, the PvP guide on Soul Threads<\/a> covers when Withered Knight's engage windows actually pay off against other classes.<\/p>\n\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"title","heading":"How the Buff Changes Fight Timing Mid-Run","tag":"h2"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"\n\n The practical effect of cheaper stance-holding isn't more damage per second \u2014 it's more control over when you commit to a fight<\/a>. Before the patch, holding Block or charging Rainbow Piercer for an extended read drained energy fast enough that you had to pick your moment early. With both costs down, you can sit in the stance longer while you wait for an opening, which matters most against bosses with long telegraphed windups \u2014 the fight against S\u00e1lmar the Cursed Moonwane<\/a> is a good example of an encounter where holding a defensive stance through a tell now costs less than it used to.<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"Mistfall](\"https:\/\/shared.akamai.steamstatic.com\/store_item_assets\/steam\/apps\/3282300\/2005702b33b3a4a67174d5b67bbb111c1c213a70\/ss_2005702b33b3a4a67174d5b67bbb111c1c213a70.1920x1080.jpg?t=1785673983\")
<\/figure>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"title","heading":"Where the Withered Knight Fits Among Mistfall Hunter's Six Classes","tag":"h2"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"\n\n