Shovel Knight is a character owned by Yacht Club Games and is one of the 6 characters unlocked from the start. He appears in his eponymous game, Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove.[1]
Trophy Quote
"A practitioner of the ancient code of Shovelry. Shovel Knight can do almost anything with his signature weapon: the Shovel Blade. He uses it to mercilessly attack, dig up treasure & bounce on foes in search of his long lost partner Shield Knight, against all odds." ― Shovel Knight's Trophy Description.
For Shovel Knight's Hard Mode trophy, see Ornate Plate.
Character Origin
Shovel Knight is a knight wearing a blue armor, the Stalwart Plate, and wielding his weapon of choice, the Shovel Blade. In Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope, his own campaign, he goes on a quest to rescue Shield Knight who was sealed in the Tower of Fate, and will encounter many enemies and challenges along the way, like the Order of No Quarter: A merciless Order of villainous knight volunteering to seize control over the land.[2]
Summary
Shovel Knight is a slow and heavy, but hard-hitting character that can take a bit of practice to get used to. He has a special property that no other characters have: His Shovel Drop, used by holding the control stick down, is an alternative to the Pogo Attack, by which he can retain his Pogo Combo.
Moveset
Shovel Drop: The Shovel Drop is Shovel Knight's unique trait. By holding Down to do a Shovel Drop, the player is able to jump off enemies to do 1 damage. It is quicker, but weaker than a Pogo Attack. The Shovel Drop cannot be performed while in helpless state. It can be used to bounce off the floor and keep a Pogo Combo instead of landing and cashing it. Shovel Dropping on an opponent doesn't reset the air jump nor any move, but Shovel Dropping on the ground does.
Side Melee : Shovel Knight uses his trusty Shovel Blade to perform a Dig Slash and inflicts 4 damage. This move can reflect projectiles such as Teslakid's Ball Lightning and Penelope's Vampire Mines. Any projectiles Shovel Knight reflects with this move fall under his ownership.
Up Melee : Shovel Knight thrusts his Shovel Blade up high. Deals 4 damage with decent upward knockback.
Down Melee : Shovel Knight points his Shovel Blade to the ground, extending it downwards. Deals 4 damage with decent downward knockback. This move can be used in conjunction with Shovel Drop to give it extra height.
Neutral Special | Flare Rod : Shovel Knight casts a slow, lingering fireball that travels in a straight line. Deals 3 damage on impact.
Side Special | Dust Knuckles : Shovel Knight punches forward using the Dust Knuckles. Can be used multiple times in rapid succession. The first punch deals 5 damage. Each consecutive punch deals 2 damage.
Up Special | Infinidagger : Shovel Knight uses his Propeller Dagger to lift high into the air. This attack deals a minimum 5 damage and a maximum of 10 damage when ascending. Holding the button will lift him even more and make him hover in the air for a few seconds. In this state, if an enemy touches the tip of the dagger, it will deal 3 damage.
Down Special | Fishing Rod : Shovel Knight uses his Fishing Rod. The Anchor of the rod can deal 7 damage when falling on the ground. The Anchor will stay on the ground until it's used again, retracting back to Shovel Knight, dealing 7 damage. The move can be cancelled by pressing the dodge button. If the Anchor falls offstage, Shovel Knight is able to catch a Troupple and heal 5 HP.
Grounded Charge | Mobile Gear : Shovel Knight uses his Mobile Gear to move on the ground. The Gear in itself does 4 damage. Shovel Knight can jump while riding the Mobile Gear. When jumping on the Mobile Gear, he can release the attack button to shoot the Gear downward, dealing between 4 and 9 damage. Shovel Knight can release the attack button on the ground to jump out of it and deal 6 damage with a Shovel Thrust. Shovel Knight has super armor when he performs the Shovel Thrust. The Shovel Thrust cancels on hit, allowing for a follow-up.
SUPER | War Horn : Shovel Knight uses his War Horn and blows around him, dealing 2 damage multi-hits in rapid succession to anyone in its radius. Shovel Knight is invulnerable during his Super, and can move around freely while it is active.
Alternate Skins
Blue (Stalwart Plate)
Shovel Knight in the Stalwart Plate armor (Base Skin).
Red (Final Guard)
Shovel Knight in the Final Guard armor.
Purple (Conjurer's Coat)
Shovel Knight in the Conjurer’s Coat armor.
White (Dynamo Mail)
Shovel Knight in the Dynamo Mail armor.
Black (Mail of Momentum / Black Knight)
Shovel Knight in the Mail of Momentum armor, or could be based off the color palette of his rival; Black Knight.
Gold (Ornate Plate)
Shovel Knight in his golden Ornate Plate armor. While using this skin, Shovel Knight emits glowing particles.
Green (Player 2)
Based on the appearance of Player 2 in Shovel Knight‘s co-op mode.
Competitive Play
Attributes
| Strenghts | Weaknesses | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Techs and Strategies
- Shovel Boost : Shovel Knight can Shovel Drop out of a roll jump to keep his momentum and eventually bounce off foes or the ground.
- Shovel Knight can cancel his SUPER by retracting the fishing rod's anchor.
"Shovel Knight is SO close to A tier, but he does have a few openings on his diagonals. His damage output and punish potential with his nair is great, his up air is really risky but can be utilized well up close. His down air is very specific and also risky, not always worth setting up. His ground attack is really wonky, not sure how on earth to utilize it yet." ― Chaokobon
"Shovel Knight focuses on the maestry of the shovel drop, since it's your combo extensor, it retains your combo and resets all of your moves (if touching the ground). It is also reccomended to check the characters' weight class, 'cause the shovel drop affects your opponent early, if he/she is using a lightweight character. Finally, try to connect the other moves shovel knight has with the shovel drop: you could always do a shovel swipe, and then, start doing shovel drops, or, while shovel dropping, use your infinidagger, so you start shovel dropping again." ― Bandana Blue
Matchup Chart
Update History
Coin mini-game now has Shovel Knight anchor shelf below stage.
- Fixed a bug that prevented Shovel Knight from dying on top of Blockman's block.
- Fixed a bug relating to interactions between Shovel Knight and Teslakid's Magnetism.
- Fixed a bug that prevented Shovel Knight's death sequence from ending on top of Blockman's block.
- Shovel Knight can now dodge downward.
- Shovel Drop
- Damage reduced from 2 to 1.
- Parkour
- Roll startup acceleration decreased.
- Side Melee
- Shovel Knight’s old Neutral Special has been moved to his Side Melee.
- Can now be used multiple times in midair.
- Damage reduced from 8 to 4.
- Down Melee
- Can be used in conjunction with Shovel Drop to give it even more height.
- Neutral Special – Flare Rod
- Shovel Knight casts a slow, lingering fireball that travels in a straight line. Deals 3 damage on impact.
- Side Special – Dust Knuckles
- Shovel Knight punches forward using the Dust Knuckles. Can be used multiple times in rapid succession. The first punch deals 5 damage. Each consecutive punch deals 2 damage.
- Up Special – Infinidagger
- Aerial hang time decreased.
- Minimum damage reduced from 8 to 5.
- Maximum damage reduced from 15 to 10.
- Down Special – Fishing Rod
- Other players can now consume Troupples as they’re being reeled in.
- SUPER – War Horn
- Shovel Knight can now move freely while this attack is active.
- Duration reduced.
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Gallery
Trivia
- Shovel Knight makes a lot of references to his game of origin, Shovel Knight.
- His entrance animation is the same as when he enters a level.
- His palette swaps correlate to the various armor he can purchase in his original game.
- He uses his Shovel Blade during many of his moves.
- He can perform the Shovel Drop, just like in his game.
- He uses several Relics to attack, parkour and dodge on the battlefield, such as the Flare Wand, the Phase Locket, the Dust Knuckles, the Propeller Dagger, the Fishing Rod, the Mobile Gear and the War Horn.
- Oddly, Shovel Knight's Up Special attack is called "Infinidagger", despite him clearly using the Propeller Dagger, curiously the same way as he uses the Rising Dagger from Shovel of Hope. This move can be considered as an amalgamate of every Dagger relic.
- He drops Gold bags when dying. Collecting these in Arcade Mode, as of Patch 1.1.3.0, rewards players with the "Treasure Hunter" bonus.
- Shovel Knight was revealed during the Kickstarter trailer, and as such is the first character to be revealed during the Kickstarter in its entirety.
- Shovel Knight, along with CommanderVideo, is one of the two characters to appear in both Indie Pogo and the Super Smash Bros franchise, in the form of an Assist Trophy in the latter.[3]
- Shovel Knight was the 13th character added to the game.[4]
- Shovel Knight has two unused sprites in the game files. These were used for a scrapped move and can be viewed in the Gallery above. The move originally was Shovel Knight's Down Aerial, and it was going to be downwards drop similar to Blockman's Down Aerial.
- Shield Knight was planned to be alongside Shovel Knight in battle. She'd follow Shovel Knight around, but it was scrapped because it was too messy and complicated, according to the devs.
- Shovel Knight was revealed in Rivals of Aether on August 8th. He retains several moves from Indie Pogo like the Shovel Drop, the Fishing Rod and the Propeller Dagger, but features more attacks and original mechanics.
- Shovel Knight was implemented in the game July of 2017.
- As of 2019's Heavy Metal Update, he has also become a base game fighter and no longer needs to be purchased for 215 coins.
References
| Fighters | |
|---|---|
| Current Characters | Blockman • Bullet Kin • CommanderVideo • Diogenes • Fishy • Jack • Kick • Lilac • Meat Boy • Orcane • Penelope • Shovel Knight • Stardrop • Teslakid • Velocispider • Viridian • Welltaro • Yolk • Zorbié |
| Upcoming Characters | Octodad • Dust • Gunvolt • Voltar |