Punch Upon a Time Black Knight Moveset and Guide

The Punch Upon a Time black knight is a heavyweight sword fighter built around high-impact aerial slashes, commanding grab setups, and lingering shadowflame area denial. He excels at controlling stage space through wide swings and damage-over-time fire hazards.

Who Is the Black Knight in Punch Upon a Time?

The Black Knight is a towering melee fighter listed among the fable and folklore legends published by Supersaurus on the Steam store page. His physical model stands tall enough that his helmet reaches near the lower platform line on standard battlegrounds. While lighter combatants rely on rapid dashes, the Black Knight controls tempo with broad two-handed broadsword swings and persistent shadowflame trails that deal tick damage to enemies standing in his wake.

In competitive formats such as 1v1 showdowns and team-oriented squad saga brackets, he functions as a frontline heavy. His basic aerial kit shares spacing principles with classic platform fighter sword users, using sweeping hitboxes to keep agile opponents at bay. Playing the character requires deliberate spacing, because his large hurtbox and deliberate attack windups leave him susceptible to multi-hit juggle combos when caught without defensive options.

Account progression for the character connects to the Fighter Master track. Leveling the Black Knight rewards profile cosmetics, including early unlocked titles such as The Crusher, custom chessboard spawn platforms, and the level 100 milestone title Camelot's Bane.

What Are the Black Knight Special Moves and Combos?

Commanding Clutch is a signature command grab on his side special that anchors his offensive mixups. When performed on the ground, the Black Knight reaches forward to seize his opponent, slamming them downward to ignite a burst of dark fire before launching them upward. Players can follow this launch directly into an up air or forward air depending on how the opponent applies directional influence. When used in mid-air, the grab throws the opponent straight down toward the stage surface, forcing a knockdown tech scenario.

His up special, Still Rust, serves as both an angled recovery tool and a burst attack. The Black Knight charges in place for a brief moment before launching his entire armored body forward in an aimed trajectory. During the startup windup, the surrounding flames possess an active hitbox to ward off reckless edgeguarders. Traveling across stage terrain with this move leaves behind a burning floor trail that punishes opponents attempting to pursue him horizontally.

Dark Drop functions as his aerial down special. Activating the move initiates a rapid vertical plunge that impacts the floor with explosive black fire. The resulting flame pool covers nearly an entire platform width, making it a reliable tool for catching missed tech rolls or safely resetting to solid ground from high aerial scrambles. His full Ultimate ability binds to the left shoulder button (LB), unleashing an armored strike once his energy meter charges during prolonged skirmishes.

Key normals and aerial combos include:

1. Neutral Air into Up Air: Catching an airborne foe with the front or rear pop-up hitbox of neutral air sets up an immediate jump-canceled up air juggle at low to mid damage percentages.
2. Neutral Air into Turnaround Back Air: Spacing neutral air on grounded opponents creates sufficient frame advantage to pivot and connect with back air as an offstage kill confirm.
3. Grounded Commanding Clutch into Forward Air: Grabbing an opponent near the stage edge launches them into range of his forward aerial swing, which hits with heavy horizontal knockback.
4. Up Throw into Up Air: Using his up throw executes a vertical choke toss that leads directly into aerial follow-ups before the opponent can reset their neutral state.

Practicing these input timings against stationary or recovering CPU targets is available in training mode, where players can evaluate hitboxes and combo string decay before queuing into live lobbies.

Strategic Decision-Making with Black Knight

Choosing the right attack option depends heavily on stage positioning, platform layouts, and how opponents react to tech situations.

When comparing the Black Knight against other characters, his sheer range and grab threat grant him an advantage in grounded trades. However, his recovery trajectory remains linear. If an opponent forces him low below the stage ledge, returning safely demands precise angling with Still Rust to avoid spikes or edge-trapping projectiles. Understanding how to play around his heavy frame requires reserving his double jump and using dark fire trails to deter direct rushdown approaches.

How Have Game Updates Affected the Black Knight?

Balance revisions detailed in the official Steam patch notes directly refined the Black Knight's weight, frame data, and special move properties across early testing phases. In Beta Weekend 2, developer Supersaurus adjusted his base weight value downward from 145 to 130 to normalize his survivability relative to the rest of the cast.

Grounded version now creates a small wake of shadowflames when slamming the victim into the ground. — official Steam patch notes

In addition to the shadowflame wake added to his grounded command grab, the update altered his heavy sword inputs. Both his up heavy and forward heavy swings had their startup speeds slowed down, preventing players from throwing out uncalculated smashes in close quarters. His forward aerial swing also received targeted adjustments that reduced its base damage, knockback scaling, and shield pressure. To compensate for these neutral nerfs, Still Rust received a more lenient grounded slide check, allowing him to glide across the floor while laying down continuous shadowflame hazard paths.