DNFD/Dragon Knight/Strategy

Neutral

Offense

Blockstrings

Corner blockstring options demonstration

Dragon Knight's blockstrings are fairly flexible, but learning the initial blockstring of 5AA > 2B > 5B > 5S serves as a fundamental starting point. After this string, Dragon Knight is left at -8 and a large distance away, leaving her mostly safe due to distance. After this 5S, you have a handful of options. Stopping at 5S is perfectly acceptable and allows you to return to neutral. Another option is special canceling into 236M, which can serve as a frame trap. Canceling into 5M can serve as an option for continuing pressure, but this is not a gapless string. Instead, it offers an RPS situation (especially in the corner) in which Dragon Knight has 2 strong options:

If Dragon Knight uses 236M after her Astra summon, Dragon Knight will catch an opponent trying to roll out and hit opponents who use fast normals to kill Astra. In addition, if Dragon Knight used 5M~S at the end of her blockstring in the corner, catching an opponent with 236M after a roll allows for a full juggle. However, 236M will generally lose to opponents who reversal 623M; Dragon Knight could delay this, but this would cause her not to catch the prior two options.
If Dragon Knight chooses to do nothing after Astra summon (e.g., hold down-back to block), this allows Dragon Knight to effectively catch other characters' 623M and react to roll attempts. If the defending character attempts to reversal, Dragon Knight can simply jump-in and punish the whiffed DP; if they attempt to roll, Dragon Knight can catch with her 5AA string during the opponent's recovery frames (excluding Enchantress's unique roll).

During abareAttacking while you're at negative frame advantage and expecting an opponent to have a gap in their pressure situations, Dragon Knight has a uniquely effective 2A: it is the fastest 2A in the game at 5f startup and can be chained into itself up to 3 times. Because of this, you'll often find yourself utilizing 2A > 2A > 2B > 5S, which offers similar options as prior mentioned. The ability to chain 2A into iself cannot be understated; one of the best ways to pressure opponents is to stagger your 2A > 2A chains in order to frame trap your opponent.

Although a risky option, 4S can be an effective way for Dragon Knight to steal a turn on an unaware opponent. From any grounded A normal, grounded B normal, 2S or relatively close ranged 5S, you can opt to use 4S in your blockstring. If the aerial hit of 4S is hit or is blocked, canceling into 5M puts you at an advantaged position: j.A strikes high and frametraps non-invincible responses while j.B allows Dragon Knight to land and threaten 2A or throw. If an opponent has been conditioned to reversal 623M during a blockstring due to your use of 4S, prematurely ending your blockstrings (e.g., stopping after 5B and choosing to block after) is an effective way to bait DPs and get large punishes. However, your 4S pressure has to be threatening enough for them to want to commit to DPing your strings.

Occasionally, players might chain into a string that ends with 2S, which leaves Dragon Knight at -12 (easily punishable by most of the cast); In this case, canceling into 236M will leave Dragon Knight safe (at -8), albeit at the cost of 40 MP.