Introduction

Hello, my name is Zach (ZenZach#0007). Lunar Knight on Project Duck has a major change to the flow and gameplay with its custom rework. The class has shifted to a burst style of combat that revolves around the [Ascension] skill, while filling in damage with [Smash X], [Moon Blade Dance], and [Halfmoon Slash].

I play a variety of different classes and you can see my other guides for Ice Witch, Sniper, and Pyromancer in the Class Guide Archive.

Skills

Warrior

Lunar Knight no longer has a CM3 activation skill so this tree is used for getting your passive skills, plus [Brush Off] and [Breaking Point].

Swordsman

[Moonlight Splitter] - Medium Ranged skill that can be extended 2 additional times with left click and grants 10 [Lunaris] on cast. Outside of [Ascension], [Moonlight Splitter] will move your character forward slightly with each attack. [Moonlight Splitter] is primarily used to create [Lunaris], which are consumed while Ascended. The more Lunaris you have stacked up the longer you can stay in Ascension.

[Sword Flurry] - Medium ranged multi hit skill that grants 10 [Lunaris] on cast. Outside of [Ascension], [Sword Flurry] is primarily used to create [Lunaris] and apply the crit resistance debuff. The damage is split up with the blades fired dealing about 30% and the rift left behind dealing about 70% after a short delay, but due to its long cast time finishing the skill is not always optimal.

[Crescent Cleave] - Short ranged skill firing out multiple waves that does very high damage vs medium and large sized enemies. Positioning is important before casting on small and medium enemies to ensure the greatest amount of damage dealt. When used after [Luring Slice] it becomes [Crescent Cleave Instant], which combines the waves into one projectile that is less dependent on enemy size. The instant version can be used by left-clicking after [Luring Slice]. [Crescent Cleave Instant] is about 66% of the damage of the full 31 hits of [Crescent Cleave] and do not share cooldowns.

[Halfmoon Slash] - Short ranged skill that grants you a 10% magic damage buff on cast and deals high damage. This is your consistent damage to any enemy regardless of size. Ensure the damage buff is always active while in combat.

[Luring Slice] - Short range debuff that enables [Crescent Cleave Instant] or [Ascended Crescent Cleave Instant] if you are ascended. You can cancel the animation after the first hit with [Crescent Cleave Instant] or [Eclipse] to minimize downtime.

[Parry] - Only used to block an attack and deal damage when eclipse is on cooldown, or to block and attack after dodging.

[Eclipse] - Short range skill used for additional damage, useful iframe to dodge attacks, and break animation locks. (The iframe is short but can be used to dodge almost any attack.)

[Courageous Shout] - Buffs your damage by 30% for 900 seconds. Keep this active at all times

[Blade Storm] - High damage skill that puts your character into the air dealing AOE damage around you then landing dealing 3 large hits. Invulnerable while in the air. Primarily used to dodge mechs or to start off combos after mechanics.

Lunar Knight

[Moon Blade Dance] - Medium ranged skill that outputs medium to very high damage depending on the size of the enemy. Each hit reduces the cooldown of [Ascension]. This requires a good attention to the enemies hit box and size to ensure the maximum number of hits. On most enemies aiming up and to the left will result in more overall hits.

[Flash Step] - Utility skill that fires out waves dealing average damage, gains 5 [Lunaris], and allows the user to move backwards upon cast. After the initial cast your character becomes invulnerable during the roll animation. While moving you can turn your camera to allow for more flexible movement.

[Smash X] - Long Range very high damage skill. Due to its long cooldown it should be used as soon as possible to maximize damage output.

[Ascension] - Long range high damage buff skill. After the waves of damage the user becomes ascended, resetting the cooldowns of and enhancing [Moonlight Splitter], [Sword Flurry], [Crescent Cleave], [Moon Blade Dance], and [Flash Step] to grant [Twilight]. Once Ascended you will consume 2 [Lunaris] every second giving you a maximum up time of 25 seconds. Running out of [Lunaris] will remove the consumption effect and remove the ascended state. Your cooldowns aren't reset when exiting [Ascension], so be mindful of what skills you want to use towards the end of its duration.

Note: You can cancel out of [Ascension] early by reactivating the skill, but this consumes 30 [Lunaris] AND 30 [Twilight].

[Twilight] - Is a new resource created on hit by any skill enhanced by [Ascension] and is expended when casting the extension of [Moon Blade Dance]: [Thousand Moon Waltz].

[Ascended Moonlight Splitter] - Triples the number of blades per swing while cutting the damage dealt per blade by a third. Similar to [Moonlight Splitter], its primary focus is to build up to 3 [Twilight] per swing and continue into other combo skills.

[Ascended Sword Flurry] - Changes the animation to be a small backstep and then a forward slice creating a rift with no delay in damage. Similar to [Sword Flurry] its primary focus is to build up to 8 [Twilight] and continue into other combos.

[Ascended Crescent Cleave] - Creates a pillar of light in front of you that can be extended with left click for a total of 16 hits, also granting 16 [Twilight]. The instant version can be used by left-clicking after [Luring Slice]. Deals about 80% of the 31 hits of damage from [Crescent Cleave].

[Ascended Crescent Cleave Instant] - Initiated by [Luring Slice] dealing the same damage as [Ascended Crescent Cleave] over 4 hits.

[Ascended Moon Blade Dance] - Fires waves of energy forward at a set distance dealing maximum damage and can be extended into [Thousand Moon Waltz] by using any directional movement up to 3 times based on the amount of [Twilight] available.

[Thousand Moon Waltz] - Costs 30 [Twilight] per cast, replicates [Ascended Moon Blade Dance] and deals full [Moon Blade Dance] damage per hit regardless of boss size.

[Ascended Flash Step] - Has the same properties of [Flash Step] but now only fires 1 wave granting 5 [Twilight] on hit up to two times for a total of 10 [Twilight].

Before entering content ensure you have 50 [Lunaris] and 100 [Twilight].

Skill Build

Unified Skills: Max HP Boost, Final Damage Boost

Skill Crests

[Moonlight Splitter DMG] / [Cyclone Slash DMG] / [Crescent Cleave DMG] / [Moon Blade Dance CDR] / [Eclipse DMG] / [Halfmoon Slash Action Speed]

Skill up: +1 Moon Blade Dance

Gameplay

*The order of skills won't always be exactly this, but in general will result in overall higher dps when looking at priorities.

Skill Priority - Out of Ascension

-[Halfmoon Slash]

-[Smash X]

-[Moon Blade Dance]

-[Crescent Cleave]

-[Crescent Cleave Instant]

-[Moonlight Splitter]

-[Sword Flurry]

-[Flash Step]

-[Eclipse] - used in between other skills

[Ascension] is not on the skill priority as when it is used is not always determined by its cooldown

Skill Priority - Ascended

-[Crescent Cleave]

-[Halfmoon Slash]

-[Crescent Cleave Instant]

-[Moon Blade Dance]

-[Smash X]

-[Sword Flurry]

-[Moonlight Splitter]

-[Flash Step]

-[Eclipse] - used in between other skills

Rotation

Lunar Knight is a mid ranged class that revolves around being ascended while maintaining Twilight and Lunaris to output damage. With differences in enemy size the rotation will change so making the best use of Flash Step to reposition is key to getting the full hits on Moon Blade Dance and Crescent Cleave.

Example Rotation:

[Halfmoon Slash] --> [Smash X] --> [Crescent Cleave] --> [Luring Slice] --> [Crescent Cleave Instant] --> [Moon Blade Dance] --> [Flash Step] --> cancel with [Eclipse] --> [Ascension] --> [Crescent Cleave] --> [Moonlight Splitter] --> [Luring Slice] --> [Crescent Cleave Instant] --> [Halfmoon Slash] --> [Moon Blade Dance] --> directional key for [Thousand Moon Waltz]

BDN Skill Spread

Dragon Gems: 1 Conversion 3 Elemental

Rune Dragon HC Gameplay Video

Gameplay video by Vahr