Personality
Specter Knight is a thoroughly cruel Knight, showing sheer coldness towards his enemies, as well as being somewhat sarcastic. He has a tendency to hiss at people when he is angry or annoyed.
When about to face Shovel Knight, he taunts him with the memory of Shield Knight by insisting she is dead. Whilst many of his comrades acknowledge Shovel Knight's strength to some extent after the Battle Royale, Specter Knight instead affirms his faith in The Enchantress and assures Shovel Knight that he cannot succeed.
Before battling Plague Knight, he is quick to mock him for his cowardice, being the only one able to reduce Plague Knight to stunned silence.
As shown in Specter of Torment, Donovan's loyalty to The Enchantress is actually incredibly forced, despite her being the one who resurrected him in the first place. In reality, Specter Knight hates The Enchantress and deeply resents her treatment of him, only serving her because he is forced to, as he had relinquished his free will to her.
At the start of Specter of Torment, he only agreed to serve her as part of a deal so she can restore him back to life. This is enforced by the Keepsake Locket, which The Enchantress granted the power to reverse death, but only when 8 knights swear their loyalty to her, thus Donovan is forced on a quest to gather them for her.
After discovering that The Enchantress is actually Shield Knight, he also shows how angry he can be, and proceeded to attempt to slay her, knowing he would never be restored to life if he succeeded. He does not believe that there is anything left of Shield Knight in the Enchantress, and that attempting to return her to normal is a pointless endeavor, nor does he care to try due to his deep-seated hatred of her. His sarcastic remarks about Shield Knight being dead to Shovel Knight may stem from this.
Though his loyalty to The Enchantress is forced, his loyalty to his late-friend Luan is genuine. He swore to protect Luan's son, Reize, at all costs, even at his own life. He honors this oath so far, that he took Reize's place as the 8th knight of the Order of No Quarter, relinquishing his own free will to The Enchantress, and then used the locket's power that could have restored his humanity to save Reize from The Enchantress's power.
While he can be genuinely ruthless and cold, his heart is not as dead as he is. He still feels incredibly guilty over having a hand in the death of Luan.
Relationships
Luan
Luan was Specter Knight's friend in life and longtime partners in crime. Luan considered Donovan part of his family, and even handed his treasured keepsake locket to him.
Reize
Luan's son, whom Donovan swore to protect if anything would happen to Luan. As Specter Knight, Donovan still honors his promise and tries his best to protect Reize.
Shield Knight
Specter Knight holds a grudge against Shield Knight, as it was her interference that prevented Luan and him from obtaining the magical amulet inside the Tower of Fate. Donovan's fight with Shield Knight caused the ceiling of the chamber where the amulet was to collapse, resulting in Luan's death. After Specter Knight discovers that Shield Knight is the Enchantress, he becomes even more fueled by rage, blaming her for the death of his friend and his state as a serving wraith.
Black Knight
He was the very first Knight that Specter Knight attempted to recruit, under the orders of The Enchantress, and the one that reveals to Specter Knight that she is actually Shield Knight possessed. Specter Knight and Black Knight show a mutual respect for each other's abilities. He is one of the few characters to only refer to Specter Knight as Donovan. This is because they knew each other in life, though it is unclear as to how. He also has knowledge on the events leading up to Donovan's death, unlike any other known character. Black Knight expresses happiness to see Specter Knight well, but also wishes to maintain distance between them.
King Knight
Specter Knight has a hatred towards King Knight due to him being a "fool" and "a child, in the guise of a monarch". Every dialogue exchange between them has King Knight taunting on Specter Knight, calling him names such as "loyal lapdog" or "mangy beggar", showing their rivalry and antipathy for each other.
King of Cards
Specter Knight faces King Knight twice in King of Cards, using his ninja-like form seen in Specter of Torment. His first appearance is in Spectral Ravine, where he tries to give King Knight advice on how to become a champion of Joustus, but becomes aggravated by King Knight's arrogant personality and decides to fight the gilded goon instead. During this battle, Specter Knight runs and jumps around the room, sometimes using his Curios to attack. He'll often shoot Bounding Soul and Spider Scythe and will sometimes jump into the air to use Dread Talon. On rare occasions, he'll use Judgement Rush, but the attack can be interrupted.
Later, Specter Knight appears as an Encounter Boss blocking the way to King Birder's stage, King's Roost. Here he uses his Curios much more often and breaks out the Throwing Sickle and Skeletal Sentry in addition to the ones he used in his first battle. However, once his health is reduced to three full health bubbles, Specter Knight channels his power and transforms into his reaper-like form from Shovel of Hope and fights exactly as he did in the aforementioned campaign.
Similarly, to Plague Knight in Plague of Shadows, in Specter of Torment Specter Knight receives a new sprite set that makes him smaller (almost the same size as Shovel Knight) and with unique animations for walking, jumping and climbing, among others. His design has been slightly tweaked, as his cloak no longer covers the majority of his body, allowing players to see his armor.
Specter Knight's gameplay is fast and melee oriented, using his Scythe's Slashes as his primary way of attack. He can also perform an attack called Dash Slash against enemies and certain objects while airborne; a gash will appear on the target, and if the attack he attacks in that moment, Specter Knight will fly through the target with a scythe attack. He can Dash Slash downward/upwards if he is above/below his target, respectively; it is also possible to perform Chain Dash Slashes by hitting opponents/objects multiple times.
Much like Plague Knight, Specter Knight has a very short jumping height. This is balanced by his ability to use Chain Dashes, and he can also climb walls and perform wall-jumps, granting him high mobility. He also has the ability to break dirt blocks by simply jumping off of them, but he completely falls though sand blocks due to this ability.
Specter Knight has access to Relics of his own, called Curios, which require Darkness (the equivalent of Magic) to be used. Darkness, unlike Plague Knight's Power, does not refill over time, but can be replenished collecting Darkness Jars, which drop from opponents and some breakable objects. Unlike both Shovel Knight and Plague Knight, Curios can be upgraded for 4000 gold apiece by visiting Legion in the Tower of Fate.
In addition, in order to unlock Curios, Specter Knight must collect Red Skulls, which are scattered on each stage, in a similar way to Cipher Coins in Plague of Shadows. These Red Skulls can be turned in to Red, who will lead Specter Knight to a small dungeon in the Tower of Fate, where the player must pass a small gauntlet using the Curio they bought before they can leave.
Specter Knight can also equip different kinds of Cloaks, similar to Shovel Knight's Armors and Plague Knight's Cloaks. These can be bought from Manny in the Tower of Fate.
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