Knull

Tier List

Villain, Cosmic, Mystic, Controller, Symbiote, Symbiote Six

Arena	★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Alliance War Offense	★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Alliance War Defense	★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Cosmic Crucible Offense	★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Cosmic Crucible Defense	★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Raid	★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Dark Dimension	★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Battleworld	★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Iso-8

For Knull, the best roles are Raider or Striker. As a Raider, he can hit multiple enemies with his attacks, maximizing the damage output. As a Striker, his follow-up attacks apply additional Darkness, which accelerates the damage opponents deal to each other. Since the effectiveness of the Striker’s follow-up attack relies on whether the target is Vulnerable, we’ve decided to go with the Raider role for now, but this decision is not final.

T4 Priority

P – Passive ability

U – Ultimate ability

S – Special ability

B – Basic ability

Passive – Enemies cannot become Empowered. This crucial upgrade enhances Knull’s performance across all game modes, including Arena, Crucible, War, Battleworld, Raids, and Dark Dimension. Against opponents like Mephisto or Apocalypse, they will be unable to enter their Empowered state. Consequently, Mephisto cannot use his Empowered Abilities at the beginning of the fight, and Apocalypse will be unable to use his Empowered Basic after performing his Ultimate.

This is especially impactful against Mephisto, as he won’t just be deprived of his Empowered Abilities; he also cannot lose Empowered status since he never acquires it. When Mephisto typically loses Empowered, he casts the Mark of Mephisto Battlefield Effect on his team, which grants a bunch of benefits, and in addition to that he buffs his team with Safeguard, Offense, and Defense Up, Deathproofs, and removes all Vulnerable effects from his allies. Additionally, Mephisto applies Trauma, Offense, and Defense Down, and Bleeds to the opposing team. With Knull in play, he will be unable to execute any of these actions.

Ultimate – Knull’s Ultimate deals increased Piercing Damage and applies Trauma for 2 turns to all enemies. Trauma is a valuable addition to his already powerful Ultimate. Since Knull flips Immunity with his Battlefield Effect to Disrupted, the Trauma will prevent opponents from removing Disrupted status, meaning they won’t be able to buff themselves.

Special – If Knull does not have Trauma, he transfers all negative effects from all allies to himself. Because Knull is immune to Trauma (he cannot be affected by it), this mechanism will always activate. This upgrade is highly effective, as Knull will subsequently flip all the negative effects and transfer 3 random positive effects from himself to each ally. Additionally, Knull will deal extra Piercing damage with his Special.

Basic – Knull’s Basic attack deals additional Piercing Damage and always Mind Controls a random enemy with Darkness to attack the most injured enemy (previously a 50% chance). When playing as Knull, it is advantageous for us to make enemies attack each other, causing self-inflicted damage, making this upgrade particularly beneficial.

Infographics

About Character

Knull is a formidable powerhouse who poses a significant threat to his enemies with a diverse range of techniques that can dismantle enemy teams using his multi-faceted abilities. He is immune to Trauma, Stun, and Slow, making his Speed Bar invulnerable and allowing him to control the pace of the battle. His Passive ability prevents enemies like Apocalypse and Mephisto from becoming Empowered, giving Knull an immediate advantage.

Knull’s dominance is further enhanced by his Darkness mechanic. Every ability he uses applies Darkness, which can stack indefinitely and cannot be resisted. This Darkness forces affected enemies to attack an ally during their turn, with the damage of that attack increasing for each stack of Darkness. Additionally, Darkness reduces the target’s Damage and Resistance, prevents them from gaining Speed Up, and allows Knull to heal during his turn, with the healing amount increasing for every enemy affected by Darkness.

The situation only worsens for Knull’s foes. His Ultimate Ability activates the Battlefield effect known as Enveloping Darkness. When this effect is active, enemies gain +1 Darkness on their turn, have their Immunity reversed, and receive +1 Slow.

As a finishing touch, Knull unleashes a symbiote to do his bidding. The first time he uses this ability in a match, Knull’s Special summons Carnage (Enraged), who is significantly stronger than a typical summon. This enraged version of Carnage immediately gains Safeguard for 2 turns and Defense Up for 2 turns. Additionally, he has a modified version of Carnage’s kit, which deals increased damage and applies Trauma.

Knull’s Basic Ability applies Darkness to the primary target, then attacks both the primary and adjacent targets with Piercing damage while applying Slow. Afterward, Knull uses Mind Control on a random enemy affected by Darkness, forcing that enemy to attack the most injured opponent. The controlled character receives a damage bonus of +20% for each Darkness effect applied to them, up to a maximum of +200% damage. If Knull is forced to attack an ally, he does not apply Darkness to that ally. Additionally, if the ally is a Symbiote Six character, Knull will deal reduced damage to them and will not reduce their Max Health. This Basic attack cannot be blocked or dodged.

If Knull does not have Trauma (and he cannot have it), his Special (cost 5 Ability Energy, can be used in the first turn) transfers all negative effects from each ally to himself, then flips all negative effects applied to him. After that, Knull copies three random positive effects from himself to each ally, excluding Stealth and Taunt. This means he cannot drive his protectors into Stealth with Taunt, preventing them from protecting others and exposing other characters to enemy attacks by applying Taunt to them. After performing these actions, Knull heals for 15% of his Max Health.

Next comes the offensive aspect of the Special: Knull attacks the primary and adjacent targets with Piercing damage, applying +1 Darkness to each target. This attack is Unavoidable and cannot be blocked.

The first time Knull uses his Special in a match, he summons one Carnage (Enraged) ally. The summoned Carnage gains Safeguard for two turns and Defense Up for two turns. This version of Carnage has abilities similar to the standard Carnage but is significantly stronger. His Ultimate attack applies Trauma (which the standard Carnage does not do) and passively fills the Speed Bar for himself and Knull (but not for Symbiote allies) when opponents drop below 25% Health. The summoned Carnage does not have a Raid bonus on its Special ability.

If Knull is not Exhausted, he clears all Battlefield Effects on the enemy side and applies the Battlefield Effect “Enveloping Darkness” to that side with his Ultimate (cost 6 Ability Energy, can be used in the first turn). The Enveloping Darkness Battlefield Effect helps Knull continuously apply Darkness to opponents and slow them down.

Enveloping Darkness:

• On enemy Turn, apply +1 Darkness to that enemy + flip Immunity on that enemy.
• On enemy Turn End, apply +1 Slow, up to a maximum of 3 to that enemy.
• This Battlefield Effect lasts until cleared or until the end of the match.

Characters killed by Knull cannot be Revived. Upon spawning, Knull’s Passive grants him Defense Up for two turns and applies +1 Darkness to the enemy with the highest damage. On his turn or an ally’s turn, Knull heals for 5% of his Max Health per enemy afflicted with Darkness. If his health is full, he instead gains a Barrier equal to 5% of his Max Health for each enemy with Darkness. This passive self-heal significantly enhances Knull’s sustain, making him an excellent choice for Raids and Dark Dimension, where we face a bunch of enemies at the same time, and Knull can easily apply Darkness to multiple opponents.

Knull passively gains +50% Assist Chance, plus an additional 15% Assist Chance for each Villain ally and another 15% for each Symbiote ally. For instance, if he is on a team with three Villain characters (one of whom is a Symbiote), Knull can easily exceed 100% Assist Chance. This scenario can occur in the Arena if he is paired with three Annihilators (all Villains) and Gorr (a Symbiote), giving Knull a total of +105% Assist Chance.

He also gains +10% Speed for each Symbiote ally, while Symbiote allies receive +15% Speed and +15% Piercing damage. This can considerably impact Arena compositions, especially if Knull is paired with Gorr.

Knull passively prevents opponents from becoming Empowered, which particularly affects characters like Mephisto and Apocalypse. I’ve detailed how Knull impacts Mephisto in the section discussing his T4 Passive upgrade, which is significant.

Knull cannot gain Trauma, Stun, or Slow, and opponents cannot reduce his Speed Bar.

Darkness:

• On Enemy Turn, if that enemy has Darkness, Mind Control that enemy to attack the most injured enemy. This attack gains +20% Damage for each Darkness on that enemy, up to a maximum of +200% Damage.
• Enemies with Darkness cannot gain Speed Up.
• Gain +10% Drain and +10% Speed for each enemy with Darkness, up to a maximum of +50%, for self and all Symbiote allies.
• Lower Damage Reduction, Damage, and Resistance by 25% for all enemies with Darkness.
• This effect cannot be resisted.

Overall, the Darkness debuff is potent and has a considerable effect on opponents while simultaneously buffing Knull and his Symbiote allies. As opponents accumulate Darkness, they deal damage to themselves, and their Speed Up is prevented, along with a reduction in damage and resistance. Knull and his Symbiote allies can gain up to +50% Drain and Speed based on the number of Darkness effects present on opponents. Best of all, Darkness cannot be resisted, ensuring that Knull consistently applies it.

These factors make Knull a META character who can easily enhance many teams significantly.

You can find detailed information about Knull on the Symbiote Six team page HERE.

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