Black Knight

black knight enemy dark souls 3 wiki guide
Enemy Type Humanoid
Weakness

Dark, Frost, Poison/Toxic

Resistance Standard, Slash, Thrust, Bleed, Lightning,
Immune Rapport, Alluring Skull

Black Knights are powerful enemies in Dark Souls 3. These foes are iconic of the series since their introduction in Dark Souls. You can see their original form here.

 

Black Knights Description

Black Knights are large, imposing enemies often found standing guard in key locations. Despite wielding different weapons, they all share the same suit of jet-black armor with horns protruding from the helmet. When provoked, Black Knights are surprisingly agile and can easily catch a player off-guard with a flurry of high damaging attacks. Black Knights were the elite knights of Gwyn, the first Lord of Cinder. However, they were burnt to ashes, leaving only their ghosts to wander the land.

 

Black Knights Location

Black Knights can be found in the following locations:

 

Black Knights Combat Information

  • Health: 672 at Road of Sacrifices, 1200 at Untended Graves.
  • There are two variations of the Black Knights, each one carries either Greataxe or Ultra Greatsword. Unlike in Dark Souls, there is no Glaive/Greatsword variation, but in fixed locations, these weapons can be found.
  • One-handed attacks can be parried, two-handed can't.
  • Only Black Knights of Smouldering Lake will attack every enemy, Dark Spirits and even their own kind in the area 
  • Are able to launch the player into the air or flatten him.
  • Black knights have very high poise.
  • Attacks deals Standard Damage or Strike Damage.
  • Weak to Dark Damage, Poison/Toxic and Frostbite
  • Resistant to Lightning Damage, Standard Damage, Slash Damage, Thrust Damage and Bleed.
  • Can't be Lured.
  • Can't be Rapported.

 

Black Knights Drops

Item Variant Quantity Probability Luck
Black Knight Greatsword

Greatsword - Cemetery of Ash
Greatsword - Smouldering Lake
Greatsword - Farron Keep

1 4% Yes
Black Knight Shield

Greatsword - Cemetery of Ash
Greataxe - Cemetery of Ash
Greatsword - Smouldering Lake
Greataxe - Smouldering Lake
Greatsword - Farron Keep
Greataxe - Farron Keep

1 4% Yes

Black Knight Helm

Greatsword - Cemetery of Ash
Greataxe - Cemetery of Ash
Greatsword - Smouldering Lake
Greataxe - Smouldering Lake
Greatsword - Farron Keep

1 3% Yes

Black Knight Helm

Greataxe - Farron Keep

1 1.5% Yes

Black Knight Armor

Greatsword - Cemetery of Ash
Greataxe - Cemetery of Ash
Greatsword - Smouldering Lake
Greataxe - Smouldering Lake
Greatsword - Farron Keep

1 3% Yes

Black Knight Armor

Greataxe - Farron Keep

1 1.5% Yes
Black Knight Gauntlets

Greatsword - Cemetery of Ash
Greataxe - Cemetery of Ash
Greatsword - Smouldering Lake
Greataxe - Smouldering Lake
Greatsword - Farron Keep

1 3% Yes

Black Knight Gauntlets

Greataxe - Farron Keep

1 1.5% Yes
Black Knight Leggings

Greatsword - Cemetery of Ash
Greataxe - Cemetery of Ash
Greatsword - Smouldering Lake
Greataxe - Smouldering Lake
Greatsword - Farron Keep

1 3% Yes

Black Knight Leggings

Greataxe - Farron Keep

1 1.5% Yes

Ember

Greatsword - Cemetery of Ash
Greataxe - Cemetery of Ash

1 5% Yes

Ember

Greatsword - Smouldering Lake
Greataxe - Smouldering Lake
Greatsword - Farron Keep
Greataxe - Farron Keep

1 8% Yes

Black Knight Greataxe

Greataxe - Cemetery of Ash
Greataxe - Smouldering Lake

1 4% Yes

Black Knight Greataxe

Greataxe - Farron Keep

1 2% Yes

 

 

Black Knights Gallery

Black Knight FullbodyBlack Knight sides

 

Black Knights Trivia & Notes

  • In differ to Dark Souls I, all Black Knights respawn.
  • Black Knight at the Farron Keep Perimeter will chase player till boss fight arena, so he can "lured" to fight other enemies.
  • Untended Graves is an excellent farming location, provided you can defeat the Champion Gundyr, as 4 consecutive Black Knights can be defeated one by one with very little walking distance.
  • Outside of Champion Gundyr, the first 2 knights can be killed from the safety of the arena you killed Gundyr. Just tag the first knight, just up the right path, with a bow, and attack him while he is stuck in the door. Run up just past where he was to trigger the second knight’s patrol, run back to the arena entrance, then use a bow to aggro the knight as he walks down the left path.

 

 
Enemies
Ancient Wyvern (Mob)  ♦  Angel  ♦  Ascended Winged Knight  ♦  Basilisk  ♦  Boreal Outrider Knight  ♦  Caged Hollow  ♦  Carthus Sandworm  ♦  Carthus Swordsman Skeleton  ♦  Cathedral Evangelist  ♦  Cathedral Grave Warden  ♦  Cathedral Knight  ♦  Clawed Curse  ♦  Corvian  ♦  Corvian Knight  ♦  Corvian Settler (Enemy)  ♦  Corvian Storyteller  ♦  Court Sorcerer  ♦  Crystal Lizard  ♦  Crystal Sage (Mob)  ♦  Darkwraith  ♦  Deacon  ♦  Deacon of the Deep  ♦  Deep Accursed  ♦  Demon  ♦  Demon Statue  ♦  Desert Pyromancer Zoey  ♦  Devout Hollow  ♦  Devout of the Deep  ♦  Drakeblood Knight  ♦  Elder Ghru  ♦  Elite Hollow Soldier  ♦  Farron Follower  ♦  Fire Witch  ♦  Gargoyle  ♦  Ghru Conjurator  ♦  Ghru Grunt  ♦  Ghru Leaper  ♦  Giant Avelyn  ♦  Giant Crab  ♦  Giant Fly  ♦  Giant Serpent-Man  ♦  Giant Slave  ♦  Grand Archives Scholar  ♦  Grave Warden  ♦  Gravewarden Skeleton  ♦  Greater Crab  ♦  Grotesque Londor Grower  ♦  Harald Legion Knight  ♦  Havel Knight  ♦  Hollow  ♦  Hollow Assassin  ♦  Hollow Cleric  ♦  Hollow Manservant  ♦  Hollow Priest  ♦  Hollow Slave  ♦  Hollow Soldier  ♦  Infested Corpse  ♦  Irithyllian Slave  ♦  Iron Dragonslayer  ♦  Jailer  ♦  Judicator  ♦  Large Hollow Soldier  ♦  Lesser Crab  ♦  Lothric Knight  ♦  Lothric Wyvern  ♦  Lycanthrope  ♦  Lycanthrope Hunter  ♦  Mad Ghru  ♦  Madwoman  ♦  Maggot-grub  ♦  Man-grub  ♦  Man-Serpent Summoner  ♦  Millwood Chieftain  ♦  Millwood Knight  ♦  Mimic  ♦  Monstrosity of Sin  ♦  Murkman  ♦  Murkmen  ♦  Overgrown Lothric Knight  ♦  Overgrown Skeleton  ♦  Peasant Hollow  ♦  Poisonhorn Bug  ♦  Pontiff Knight  ♦  Pus of Man  ♦  Rapier Champion  ♦  Rat  ♦  Ravenous Crystal Lizard  ♦  Reanimated Corpse  ♦  Ringed Knight  ♦  Rock Lizard  ♦  Root Skeleton  ♦  Rotten Flesh of Aldrich  ♦  Rotten Slug  ♦  Serpent-man  ♦  Sewer Centipede  ♦  Silver Knight  ♦  Skeleton  ♦  Skeleton Ball  ♦  Skeleton Elites  ♦  Skeleton Wheel  ♦  Skeletons  ♦  Smoldering Ghru  ♦  Smoldering Rotten Flesh  ♦  Starved Hound  ♦  Sulyvahn's Beast  ♦  Thrall  ♦  Tree Woman  ♦  Winged Knight  ♦  Wolf  ♦  Wretch



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    • Anonymous

      i hate the stupid smouldering lake axe one. he does not let me attack him. he spams 1 attack that constantly staggers me with no way for me to hit him. if i try to pyromancy him he just rushes me and swings his axe. i have lost many souls to this...vile cretin

      the other ones are fine to deal with but not this bastard

      • Anonymous

        been farming this guy for 2h30 in farum keep perimeter and i have his whole set and his shield thrice and still not dropped his great sword, i'm starting to think he doesn't drop it

        • My favourite guy. In every playthrough, I farm him on the Farron Keep Perimeter. It takes ages, and it has become my comfort grind. I didn't know such combination was possible.

          • Anonymous

            Farming the Farron Keep Perimeter one is your best bet for armor + weapons early game. Kill the Ghrus and run past the lycanthrope (pray it doesn't aggro). Try to use one weapon (two-handed), with the Crystal Sage rapier.

            The knight himself is easy if you just bait one of his attacks with a slightly longer recovery and go for a backstab. You can also get a charged heavy for free with most weapons.

            Run back / bone back to the bonfire. Rinse and repeat

            • Anonymous

              Curiosidad:
              Los caballeros negros atacan a los invasores sin necesidad de usar la semilla, de forma natural.

              • Anonymous

                Luring one of these guys to fight other enemies like Tsorig or the Darkwraiths is an absolute spectacle to behold

                • Anonymous

                  very odd enemy. they're trivial if you can parry them, but as are most things. some of their attacks are ridiculously easy to parry, while others will getcha. sometimes they'll just hold up their shield and glare at you until you're out of sight

                  • Anonymous

                    What makes these guys so metal, besides the name and the brutal power-spike, is the fact they're just empty armors possessed by their spirits and forever bound to duty.

                    • Anonymous

                      These Mfs have got super armor and poise we could only dream of, Oh why did they have to nerf player poise into the ground in this game?

                      • Anonymous

                        first DS3 playthrough, farmed the faron keep knight, got the whole set, sword and shield in about 2 hours... used to all the way to SoC and now using in Ariandel and will use in Ringed City. really wish these weapons and armor were in ER. will be sad to go back to it without them :(

                        • Anonymous

                          Us when we use Ultra-greatswords: Slow as hell and not even that much more damaging than regular/curved greatswords and extremely punishing if you miss

                          These mfs: Swing Ultra-greatswords around like straight swords and constantly doing non-stop comboes
                          While also having infinite poise and infinite stamina and are guaranteed to stunlock you if they hit you even once because every single attack they do pancakes you, ragdolls you and sends you flying into the air, did i mention they attack ridiculously fast for enemies that wield weapons that are usually really slow in your hands on top of all of that? And good luck beating these guys efficiently without pure r1 spam since they'll often just instantly lunge across the room and ragdoll you before you can even get an attack off if you try anything else

                          Good god these bastards got 1000 times more annoying and cheap compared to the Ds1 Black Knights, Black Knights in Ds1 were tough if you didn't get good at parrying them, but atleast they didn't have speed and aggression on par with Father Gascoigne, ontop of infinite poise and stamina while pancaking you and sending you flying with even so much as a gentle love-tap, Screw these aholes, not even that hard, just cheap and obnoxious to the point that they aren't even scary anymore, just frustrating.

                          • Anonymous

                            Bullshit enemy, with infinite stamina stunlock, juggle comboes, and will never flinch to anything short of a full charged great hammer r2, even then it only stuns them SOMETIMES

                            • Anonymous

                              Lure him out of his patrol zone into groups of enemies, hide out of sight and watch him go apesht on everything.

                              • Anonymous

                                so went to untended graves to try farm for chestpiece and greataxe. killed about 120k souls worth of them, and got 9 helmets 1 greataxe, 4 gloves, 2 UGS, and NO CHESTPIECE -.-

                                • Anonymous

                                  I have an idea! why don't we add black knights in for fanservice but lets make them respawnable and the only two types that are in the game you can't parry! brilliant

                                  • Anonymous

                                    The Black Knights in DS3 are definitely harder than they were in DS1. In DS1 you could easily backstab and parry them once you got the hang of it

                                    • Anonymous

                                      these *******s are unnecessarily fast, they swing that greatsword 4 times faster than you can swing a stick, and it does way too much damage, more than just about any boss or mini boss in the game, they can 1 shot you before NG+

                                      • Anonymous

                                        For some really badass fashion souls, wear this set with the Billed Mask instead. Then **** people up like the terminator.

                                        • Anonymous

                                          If you want to farm the set and weapons, the best advice I can give is to parry them. The one near Farron bonfire takes 6 hits with a Claymore +2 and can potentially one shot you at this stage of the game. Parry takes only 1 hit, aside from the riposte. Tested at SL20 with a Claymore +2.

                                          • Anonymous

                                            Were the Glaive and Sword variants cut? cause some mods (champion's ashes is one of them) have a few of them and have very polished movesets that aren't just taken from DS1.

                                            • Anonymous

                                              If you lure the one in Carthus catacombs, he'll kill everything super easy as long as you keep your distance from him.

                                              • Anonymous

                                                Idk why but for me the drop rates are sky high of all the gear including ugs and great axe. Thanks Miyazaki.

                                                • Anonymous

                                                  Someone needs to change the droprate for "Black Knight Greatsword" from "rare" to "Good luck you'll be there for hours"

                                                  • Anonymous

                                                    I see some guys saying that the knights ain't that intiminating as in DS1, well, that was the first time you saw them and the first time you interacted with them. in this game you already (somewhat) know the attackpattern and because you have seen them before there is no "shock value" left. It's more of a nice "aha, this guy is back" as with many things in this game e.g. the blacksmith and also the nexus stile from demon's souls.

                                                    • Anonymous

                                                      n Dark Souls 1 their very presence was enough to make you doubt if engage them or not, and how and with what weapons and items, their drops were rare but incredibly valuable and fighting and killing them was exciting and almost felt like an honor. In dark Souls 3 they feel like cannon fodder, generic enemies easy to defeat and without that mystical aura, and their drops are nothing extraordinary. They still look cool though.

                                                      • Anonymous

                                                        when you tought darkwraith has bull**** tier of poise, but this guy doesnt even flinch when you hit them with lothric ugs charge thrust

                                                        • Anonymous

                                                          If you lure the knight guarding the Hornet Ring over to the entrance of the shrine, his AI will break and he'll stop attacking you completely. Didn't work with the other ones when I tested.

                                                          • Anonymous

                                                            back in dark souls 1 they were something special, they were these strange, powerful enemies, hard to defeat, and didn't respawn like the other enemies, but if you did you would be rewarded with a strange variation of titanite, or if you were lucky, they're armor or shield, and if you were VERY LUCKY early on, they're WEAPON(s), and if you got like, say, a black knight greatsword, sword, or halberd (which is renamed to a glaive in this game) you pretty much just won already, but in this game they're just kind of a disappointment, they respawn, they're not as intimidating or menacing as they were because we've seen them already, and they're weapons aren't nearly as powerful as the dark souls 1 variant, and what with the introduction of infusions and the various enemies and areas to find titanite and all weapons (not special or boss) require regular titanite instead of a special illusive titanite like green, red, blue or white, so it's VERY easy to aquire a powerful weapon for your specified build early on (as long as it dosen't require a later game coal like the giant's or profaned coal) so, yeah, they're not as powerful because of weapon optimization in this game, they're not as menacing or intimidating because we've already seen them, and they're weapons falter early game wise compared to like, a refined or heavy infusion

                                                            • Anonymous

                                                              Using a Crystal Rapier +3, Rusted Coin, and the Gold Covetous Serpent Ring, I have farmed 1 BK Helmet, 2 BK Plates, 3 BK Legs, and 1 BK Greataxe in my 10 kills just now in NG. When using the Rusted Coin, however, I got nothing as a drop of the times I used it before finishing them off with the Rapier.

                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                The weapons are SIGNIFICANTLY rarer than the armor and shield drops. After killing 60 black knights in the untended graves at an item discovery of 357 I have gotten 0 weapon drops and almost 5 full sets of armor along with 10 shields.

                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                  I think one at a time the black knight is very easy to kill using a sword and a shield. I circle around them and back stab them, they usually only hit my shield once since they are clumsy and aim poorly.

                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                    Props to the guy who led a Black Knight through the entirety of the Demon Ruins to see if they would attack each other

                                                                    • Anonymous

                                                                      Hey, I’m repaying the game from the start. Can anyone spare a full set for cosplay reasons? At the end I’ll be sure to give it back, as well as anything else you would like as this will be my last run.

                                                                      • Anonymous

                                                                        note: the black knight with the BKGS on the bridge leading to the balista in smouldering lake attacks invaders, i found this out when i went exploring down there during an invasion where the host camped in wolnier's boss room

                                                                        • Anonymous

                                                                          It's like the guy who designed cathedral knights got completely baked and coded 50 billion poise for black knights and nobody stopped him

                                                                          • Anonymous

                                                                            "all black knights respawn" except at least for the three in the building above the room you meet Seigward in Irithyll

                                                                            • Anonymous

                                                                              Does the one by Farron Keep Perimeter not drop the armor? Dude has given me like twenty ultra greatswords and two shields, but he won't drop any armor.

                                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                                How to kill this *****es ez mode: - Grab a Vordt's Great Hammer - Activate Perseverance - Face tank through their dmg like a boss - R1 spam like a caveman (remember Vordt's GH applies frostbite which pretty much does the job as soon as it procs, which happens in 1-2 hits anyway) - Profit - Repeat

                                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                                  how to kill: wait until they attack, roll behind them and attack, step back, repeat. works literally every time for me

                                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                                    Easy win depicting on the move set they use just watch for the first 3 attacks if he starts with an upward swing and follows with a downward swing roll quickly before his next attack if he hits you just roll and heal then circle him to backstab if he goes to attack roll towards him unless its a downward swing as one hit from these monstrosities lead to almost certain death by combo

                                                                                    • Anonymous

                                                                                      Poorly designed enemy with copypasta'd poise from Dark Souls 1 that didn't adhere to the "change in poise" they made to literally everything else that has poise that wasn't copypasta'd from Dark Souls 1. Parrying them can be a nightmare, as a partial will often allow them to hit you with 3 consecutive attacks even while mashing roll, before you can finally roll again. That is way too punishing, considering you're kinda punished for just attacking it because it attacks decently fast for having a UGS and DOES NOT STAGGER AT ALL. Well, it does... but not even with a charged R2 from a highly damaging Greatsword, which is like THE meatstick of this game. It's ridiculous. At lot of its attacks will cause stun that allow for a second highly damaging hit before you regain control of your character, which is not fair. So you will get punished twice for missing a parry, and punished twice for being hit, basically meaning you're getting punished 3 times for a missed parry, or twice for just getting hit. Not to mention it can charge its jab, which has the same tell as its uncharged jab, meaning parrying it is just a guessing game. Guessing games are s***ty by design. It's not rewarding AT ALL. Plus the over delay on that, and attacks in general, add difficulty in the bad way. They break the flow of the fight, the methodical dance, what makes them FUN. It's fun finding a rhythm and getting into it, and attacks like that just break it up. Also you can't wait for a safe opportunity to drink Estus near them. There is none, unless they allow it. You can dodge an attack and go to drink an Estus during the cooldown, but hey they're still spamming so NOPE! Or you can dodge and wait for the followup attack before you drink, but no he decided to end the combo and now if you try to drink he'll charge at you because you waited a fraction of a second to see if he'd continue his combo spam. Now you gotta wait to dodge another attack and GUESS AGAIN at what he's gonna do! Now mind you I can personally fight them just fine, and can sit in front of them and parry them repeatedly while blasting counter-hit Great Combustions on them all day. However, all of the points I"ve mentioned still stand about this enemy. They're all valid because they're true. They can go from fun to absolute s***fests just because of the nature of how they deal and take hits. On the other hand, giand crabs are absolutely fantastic enemies because there's not one move of theirs that breaks up the satisfying rhythmic flow of their attacks, giving a nice back-and-forth dance between your attacks and its, but yet they still pose a decently engaging challenge. That's without abusing their belly slam for a crit strike. The ONLY small gripe with them is their one very fast double slam, but even that can be avoided by either not being off too far to either side of them or not attacking them right after rolling through an attack of theirs that is usually followed up with the fast slams. Black Knights though, they need to get that DkS1 poise outta here.

                                                                                      • Anonymous

                                                                                        If someone was to ask me what is the first thing you think of when you think about dark souls, I would say the black kinght. Imo they are the meanest adversaries in the serie. Also, they just look so badass and I love the lore....my most favorite part in dark souls, regarding the black knights is walking towards Gwyn's arena and seeing the ghost knights walking around, like there souls are trapped in the kiln, while their armor guards the lord of cinder.

                                                                                        • Anonymous

                                                                                          The Road of Sacrifices's knight dropped a helmet, ember and his gloves for me yet, and only the ember is in the topic, as a rare drop

                                                                                          • Anonymous

                                                                                            Vordt's Great Hammer is exceedingly good against these guys. Using its special ability lets you hit them hard and quick, and will stagger them when Frostbite hits so you can heal

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