Death Battle Predictions: Shovel Knight VS Shantae

“If happiness is the goal, and it should be, then adventures should be a top priority.” -Richard Branson

Shovel Knight, the Cerulean Spade-Wielding Knight of Shovelry.

Shantae, the Half-Genie Hero and Guardian of Scuttle Town.

While many of gaming’s greatest heroes are ones who are willing to go on epic odysseys, stand against world-ending cataclysmic events, and have their names be immortalized as legends for generations to come, there are those who are more grounded and only have one wish, to protect their home and the ones they care about until their dying breath.

In the case of these two platforming pros, all they need is hope and an endless pocket of side-scrolling inventories to journey through hell or high water to ensure that all that they love isn’t corrupted or destroyed. But when these two indie icons clash in combat, who will prove themselves the greater hero? Will Shantae be dug an early grave by the Master of Shovelry, or will Shovel Knight be cursed with a loss from the Half-Genie Hero? Let’s equip ourselves for our first G1 Bonus Blog of 2024 and see-

…Oh, this is going up a bit early then, huh?

Well, we hope everyone had happy holidays! And to celebrate the occasion, paradoxically both early and late to the party, we’re gifting the last blog of the year! And to end 2023 strong, and segue into the G1 Bonus Blogs of 2024, let’s find out who would win a DEATH BATTLE!!!!!!!!!!!

Before We Start…

For this blog, both combatants will be getting everything that they’ve been shown to have throughout their own games, which includes both what’s considered standard for their arsenals, as well as anything extra that’s less explicitly standard or canonical than the rest (such as Shovel Knight’s Custom Knight relics and abilities, and the various outfits Shantae has that grant new abilities). However, they will be limited to what they’ve shown within their own media, with no crossover feats or equipment being allowed, as humorous as them both just hopping into their own version of Sophia III and having a space tank battle would be.

Additionally, this exclusion of crossovers also extends to potential scaling to Kratos and the Battletoads within Shovel Knight’s campaign itself. While the equipment and feats related to both bosses will be considered, actually scaling Shovel Knight to either won’t be, given the staff/community has varying opinions on their usage and it shifts the focus away from the actual series represented in the blog. This also includes a certain feat in one of his games that was excluded for issues of being somewhat vague compared to set-in-stone stats, so the debate doesn't require it or the crossovers.

Lastly, several (two) contributors to this blog had previously analyzed Shovel Knight for the G1^2 blog between him and Dig Dug, and as such, there may be some overlap between the two blogs on some information. Regardless, there’s even more people here to add new work and refine what was done previously, so this blog should hopefully be just as thorough, if not more-so.

Background

Shovel Knight

“Prepare to taste justice! Shovel justice!”

Long ago in a far off kingdom, the lands were untamed and roamed by legendary adventurers. From practitioners of dark chemistry in the shadows, self-proclaimed card-dueling kings, and specters of a time long forgotten, no heroes shone brighter than Shield Knight and her partner, Shovel Knight.

Before his land-traversing escapades, Shovel Knight was trained in the art of Shovelry alongside his companions Black Knight and Polar Knight. Eventually, Shovel Knight was molded into a warrior of his own, and had partnered up with his friend, Shield Knight, to travel the world, not only to seek riches and fame, but to also help whoever is in need. Together, both had made their names known across the lands through their heroic deeds, such as the time they stopped the Hexcavators and their nefarious goals. However, that adventure in particular led to the accidental release of an ancient evil amulet that had been sealed away for hundreds of years. As such, Shovel Knight and Shield Knight made it their mission to travel to the Tower of Fate and destroy the amulet once and for all. However, their quest to stop the cursed relic proved too much for our heroes, as it unleashed a wrought magic which cast Shovel Knight out of the tower, and caused Shield Knight to vanish off the face of the Earth.

Believing his comrade to have died and stricken with regret and grief, Shovel Knight retired to the countryside to live a life of solitude, slandered by his old comrade Black Knight for being too weak to protect Shield Knight when it mattered most. Thus, without one of the land’s greatest heroes, a new vile league of knights, called the Order of No Quarter, seized the valley for themselves, for the glory of their mysterious leader, the Enchantress. All hope seemed lost until one day, after receiving a premonition of Shield Knight’s possible whereabouts and hearing rumors about the Tower’s reopening, Shovel Knight took up his spade and kickstarted a new adventure to travel back to the Tower of Fate, stop the Order of No Quarter, and find out Shield Knight’s fate.

His journey was not an easy one, and even though Shovel Knight had to face off against his old comrades Black Knight and Polar Knight, he never wavered and kept pushing, striking the Earth to achieve his dream of hopefully seeing Shield Knight once more. Eventually, once he reached the Tower of Fate and faced Black Knight one last time, Shovel Knight had discovered the truth. The vile magic of the amulet had taken over Shield Knight and turned her into the Enchantress. Despite it seeming impossible to bring Shield Knight back, Shovel Knight didn’t give up hope and eventually made his way to the top of the tower, to challenge the Enchantress in a climatic duel to not only save the land, but also save his friend. Thankfully, he was successful in saving Shield Knight and defeating the Enchantress once and for all. But, his battle left him gravely injured, and it was thanks to the efforts of Shield Knight and Black Knight that Shovel Knight was able to escape the collapsing tower. Finally, after an arduous adventure, Shovel Knight rested by a campfire, with his partner Shield Knight now back at his side. While it isn’t exactly groundbreaking to say, Shovel Knight has truly proven that with his mastery of Shovelry, he indeed is a hero.

Shantae

“Ret-2-Go!”

Have you ever heard of Sequin Land? It was once a magical land protected from all kinds of monsters by Guardian Genies. Their heroism won long years of peace, during which they fell in love with mortal men. The resulting offspring were all girls, seemingly human but with a trace of magical abilities. Thus, half-genies came into the world, with one such half-genie being known simply as Shantae.

Sadly, as the days passed, large numbers of genies had disappeared until not one remained. Many believed they had been trapped in bottles, while others believed they had returned to their own realm. Regardless, their disappearance caused Sequin Land to fall prey to evil once again. The towns of the land needed new guardians. Enter a small fishing port town called Scuttle Town, which chose Shantae as its guardian.

In the time since Shantae was hired as guardian genie, Scuttle Town has been attacked by pirates, led by the villainous Risky Boots. The self-proclaimed Pirate Queen and the Half-Genie Hero went on and on, with Shantae always coming out on top. Despite her victories overall, it almost always started with Shantae failing to stop Risky from committing theft in the town. Because of this, the town’s mayor, Mayor Scuttlebutt, kept firing her on the spot. Despite this, Shantae still cared about her town, and still defended it with her life, and still stopped Risky and whatever else threatened Scuttle Town. Even after losing her magic powers, she still saved Sequin Land from the Pirate Master, a legendary dark pirate monster. Regardless of her mayor’s general incompetence, Shantae would always be reinstated as Guardian Genie. Scuttle Town has never had a better savior. As long as Shantae is around, Risky Boots will never prevail.

Experience & Skill

Shovel Knight

Even before his original Shovel of Hope story, Shovel Knight had honed his skills in Shovelry for years and arguably became its most proficient user. According to Shield Knight, she and Shovel Knight had gone on over a hundred adventures prior to maturing into the warriors they are now, visiting plenty of lands and receiving hoards of treasures. Even outside of these, Shovel Knight is an incredibly skillful knight, capable of fighting any manner of foe. Whether it be basic and low level monsters, giant creatures which dwarf him in size significantly, similarly skilled adventurers as himself, and a man who weaponized hats (as one does). 

During his quest to fell the Enchantress and reunite with Shield Knight, he faced off against the Order of No Quarter, once individually and again in a full gauntlet back to back. This band of knights included the likes of King Knight, a boastful card master and weaponizer of flying rats (again, as one does), Specter Knight, a former thief turned reaper of souls, and Plague Knight, an explosion extraordinaire whose alchemic genius was only rivaled by his destructive potential. The former two having already gone on their own adventures facing off against various deadly and skilled foes, and the latter being in the middle of his own as Shovel Knight faced him. And despite all of their own experiences and various arsenals, all of them fell to the wielder of the Shovel Blade multiple times over.

In his first chronological adventure, he defeated the Hexcavators, a group of treasure hunting knights organized by master criminal Drill Knight, which was never caught before, at least legally. During this battle, Shovel Knight quite literally chased them to the ends of the earth, or more accurately the center of it, digging down to the core of the planet, while fighting various knights with might and magic abundant. Gigantic mechs, swarms of insects, scrap-of-all-trades, a criminal Simon The Digger, etc. Most importantly however, Shovel Knight found the real treasure Drill Knight was looking for and defeated said “treasure”, it being the Remnant of Fate, who possessed Drill Knight making him even a bigger threat than before. And all of that was done within the span of a single night, along with being able to face Black Knight’s Knightmare challenges on top of it if he so chooses.

Another of these adventures led Shovel Knight into a pocket dimension known as the Pocket Dungeon. This strange new land offered a change in flow of time, way bigger pool of enemies to fight, and a puzzle behind the dungeon just waiting to be unearthed. Puzzle Knight, the guy who designed this Pocket Dungeon in the first place, couldn’t solve (and therefore escape from it) for several years. That's not even mention going through the complete and utter chaos that is Mr. Hat’s hats, which gave him bigger and harder challenges across that adventure, including a massive pool of enemies leaving no place for escape, or covering the whole place in darkness and fog making Shovel Knight unable to see his opponents normally, etc.

All in all, Shovel Knight is the most experienced and perhaps skilled knight in his series - a statement which is spoken loud through both words and action. 

Shantae

While Shantae doesn’t appear to have any form of formal combat training, she has plenty of experience against some pretty crazy opponents. Ranging from giant vases, stone golems, minotaurs, dragons, mechs, giant tanks, pirates, zombies, mermaids, etc. She was also able to do fairly well against Risky Boots in all of her adventures, who as the “Queen of the Seven Seas” has multiple opponents throughout the lands of Shantae’s planet. 

Even when stripped of her Genie powers, she not only was able to fight and destroy the embodiment of said powers, but also was able to go on another adventure, fighting giant eyeballs, Ammo Baron with his large army of people with guns while himself being in a tank, cursed pirates, more dragons, ghosts, and the legendary Pirate Master himself before getting her powers back. 

During Half Genie Hero’s events, she managed to save Scuttle Town from various evil beings like Techno Baron who was using a giant mermaid up his sleeve, or Holly Lingerbean, a being that feeds on memories and practically exists as long as she is remembered. Shantae also managed to stop Ammo Baron, who was stealing magic silk carpets, and defeated his army when it was using Magic Carpets for their clothing…making them fly just like that, because magic. She even managed to stop Risky Boots from using Tinkerbrain to take control over the (or destroy) the genie realm, basically a place where Shantae’s mother (and practically all other genies) currently live. She was able to perform similar feats while mastering whole new movesets like her Ninja, Police Officer, Beach and Jammies costumes, all of which have different sorts of powersets.

In Seven Sirens, she also was able to save her new Half-Genie friends, all of which had some new transformations with her to share, which Shanate quickly mastered during the events of the game. In spite of having said transformations for such a short amount of time, she utilized them to a degree where she was able to quickly solve Sirens Island’s puzzles and face in a fight all various sorts of Sirens. A plant siren that was weak to sunlight, a siren that used a giant mech, a zombie siren, etc. But deadliest of all, the Empress Siren, who was using powers from other Half-Genies to become more powerful, all until Shantae stopped her.

Equipment

Shovel Knight

Shovel Blade

The perfect weapon for anyone who wishes to uphold the Code of Shovelry. This unconventional blade can be used to strike at foes directly, and strike from above with his Shovel Drop for dealing damage and to pogo to greater heights. In Pocket Dungeon, the Shovel Drop can also build up more damage the more consecutive bounces Shovel Knight gets, or simply drop to the bottom of the screen for mobility. He can also, naturally, use it to dig like a regular shovel, both for digging up anything above ground or digging further below as a means of traversal. Another trait it bears is its ability to bounce back and repel most projectiles should he intercept them with a swing, like the Enchantress’s energy blasts in their battle. Additionally, Shovel Knight has upgraded his Shovel Blade with more abilities to make it even more versatile:

Drop Spark: Whenever he’s at full health, he can send a spark of energy across the ground as he strikes, either letting him double up on damage or attack enemies otherwise out of reach. If he’s taken any damage, however, this ability will cease unless he can heal back to full.

Charge Handle: After taking a second to pull back his blade and build up energy, Shovel Knight can release a full power strike that deals double the amount of normal damage. Additionally, this attack bypasses any kind of shielding an opponent may have, letting him attack foes that may have nullified his strikes otherwise. In the process of charging, however, he slows down considerably and isn’t capable of jumping, making it a higher risk-higher reward attack. In Showdown, however, Shovel Knight does a jumping slash when he uses the Charge Handle, and it doesn’t slow him down while charging.

Trench Blade: Allows Shovel Knight to dig up whole mounds of dirt in a single swing. Riveting.

Armor

Throughout his adventures, Shovel Knight has dawned many different armors that all come with their own benefits. Such armors include

Stalwart Plate: Shovel Knight’s original armor. Doesn’t come with any unique benefits, but it still serves as armor that defends Shovel Knight (and looks rad).

Final Guard: A red-plated armor set that’s used for helping Shovel Knight lose less money when he dies. Traditional NES-inspired platformers aren’t easy.

Conjurer's Coat: A purple-plated armor set that sacrifices defense for a higher magic limit. It also allows Shovel Knight to gain additional magic for every enemy he defeats.

Dynamo Mail: A silver-plated armor set that allows Shovel Knight to charge up a powerful charge slash after performing his signature Shovel Drop twice. Unlike the slash given from the Charge Handle, this doesn’t negatively impact his movement once this version is given, and tends to be the most useful out of his baseline kit.

Mail of Momentum: A black-plated armor set that allows Shovel Knight to not get knocked back as far from enemy attacks, but in turn also makes Shovel Knight more slippery and harder to stop in place. Perfect for when you’re trying to avoid pits /s.

Ornate Plate: A gold-plated armor set that adds no benefit outside of making Shovel Knight look flashy with his jumps. This, of course, makes it the best one.

Armor of Chaos: A red and gray coated armor set, making Shovel Knight resemble the god slayer whose shovel was used to forge it. Shovel Knight’s shovel swipes become multi-hitting combos, which reach further and ignite opponents, as well as greatly increasing his potential air-time. Additionally, he gains a powerful flaming Shovel Drop, and damaging enemies can drop Red Orbs, which gives Shovel Knight a powerful projectile that pierces through an enemy’s defenses.

Toad Gear: A green-plated armor Shovel Knight got from certain tubular toads that increases his speed, empowers his Shovel Drop, and turns his helmet into chargeable ram horns. While it may sound like it makes Shovel Knight rash, we think he’s just ready to leap into battle.

Streamline Mail: A gray-plated armor set that allows Shovel Knight to gain a free accessory at every stage. Helpful within his game’s context, not so much in a VS scenario.

Scrounger's Suit: A green-yellow plated armor set that increases item luck but also lowers Shovel Knight’s defense as a trade. Items in the shops also have reduced prices, but the same deal as above applies.

Ballistic Armor: A dark-teal plated armor that allows Shovel Knight to curl up in a mobile ball form, one which can also function as an offensive maneuver that can effortlessly plow through the earth.

Brash Bracers: Another red-plated armor set that increases Shovel Knight’s striking power, but comes as the cost of lowering his max health.

Combo Cuirass: A pink-plated armor set that increases the amount of gold Shovel Knight gets depending on how many enemies he slays and how much dirt he digs up.

Baron Suit: A suped-up version of Shovel Knight’s standard armor that comes equipped with an even bigger Shovel Blade. Purely an aesthetic difference, as even the bigger Shovel Blade doesn’t increase his range (it does look absolutely badass though).

Pandemonium Plate: A blue and gray plated armor that will change into one of Shovel Knight’s other armors at the start of a run (or in this case, fight).

Relics

Either by finding them, exploring the stages of the Order of No Quarter, buying them from various different shopkeepers, or acquiring them through the use of a Nintendo figure in real life, Shovel Knight has acquired an assortment of magical relics. Aside from the Troupple Chalices (which are instead one-use only), each use requires Shovel Knight to use some of his total magic, which caps at 100 normally and 150 with the Conjurer’s Coat. However, within DIG, Shovel Knight is able to stack relics to give him almost unlimited ammunition for any of his various relics within his arsenal.

Flare Wand: Shoots up to two fireballs at once that fly straight ahead, ignoring gravity. Costs 4 magic.

Phase Locket: Makes Shovel Knight intangible, both to enemy attacks and most hazards for a few seconds. Costs 8 magic.

Dust Knuckles: Gauntlets that let Shovel Knight directly punch anything in front of him, and allow him to traverse destroyable terrain by repeatedly punching across it. Costs 2 magic.

Chaos Sphere: Throws up to two magical spheres at a time that bounce around the room, which can damage a foe multiple times before dissipating. Costs 6 magic.

Propellor Dagger: A bladed weapon that can send Shovel Knight dashing through the air, both to traverse gaps and to attack distant opponents. Costs 4 magic.

Alchemy Coin: Tosses a coin that travels across the ground, and either transmutes enemies that touch it into coins, or deals damage to those that resist its effects. Additionally, Shovel Knight can strike the coin to send it through the air. Costs 8 magic.

Fishing Rod: A fishing rod with a giant anchor attached to the tip of it, which deals significant damage if it hits but can only be used while Shovel Knight is stationary and is generally situational. Costs 6 magic.

Throwing Anchor: Throws up to two purple anchors into an arc above him, which can strike opponents both on their way up and as they come down. Essentially, just Castlevania axes. Costs 6 magic.

Mobile Gear: Creates a platform Shovel Knight can stand on, that travels across spikes, jumps across small gaps, and can damage an opponent if it comes into contact with one. Costs 6 magic.

War Horn: Shovel Knight blows into a horn which blasts sonic waves in an AoE around him, dealing twice the amount of damage as his regular attacks. Costs 20 magic.

Troupple Chalices: Chalices that can contain Ichor granted from the Troupple King. Shovel Knight can carry two at once, and each can carry one of the three available Ichor for a one-use power up:

• Ichor of Renewal: Restores Shovel Knight’s health and magic back to full.

• Ichor of Boldness: Gives Shovel Knight invincibility for 10 seconds.

• Ichor of Fortune: Draws gold to Shovel Knight like a magnet for 60 seconds.

Flareo Wand: A variation of the Flare Wand which spawns a clustered explosion directly in front of Shovel Knight. Costs 12 magic.

Bait Bomb: Originally used by Plague Knight, this is a bomb that rushes forward and explodes upon contact with an enemy or wall, or blows up a fishing spot. Costs 6 magic.

Tow Anchor: A variation of the Throwing Anchor where, rather than throwing a small projectile, Shovel Knight leaps into the air with a large anchor and arcs back down to slam into foes. Costs 4 magic.

Infinidagger: A variation of the dagger, which works very much like the Propeller Dagger with one caveat - it can move endlessly until you hit a wall or an object, making it a huge help in crossing large gaps and pits. Costs 5 magic.

Rising Dagger: A variation of the Propeller Dagger which allows you to float vertically upwards instead of horizontally. Costs 6 magic.

Ghost Glove: An object similar to the Dust Knuckles in appearance that shoots small ghostly projectiles, with shorter range then the Flare Wand but a much faster firing rate. Costs 3 magic.

Buzzsaw Boomerang: A projectile that when thrown, goes straight ahead and then curves upwards until it reaches back where it started - it swaps trajectory in the air, however, going upwards and then curving forward until it returns to its origin point. Costs 5 magic.

Fleet Flask: Originally used by Plague Knight, this is a drink that causes the target to rush forward until they hit a wall, turn around, or use their weapon, dealing damage to anything. Costs 5 magic.

Shadow Knight: Allows Shovel Knight to summon a clone of himself some distance away from him that jumps and attacks with him and is immune to all damage, giving him a good advantage in close quarters combat. Costs 1 magic for every second it is in use.

Flameo Wand: Allows Shovel Knight to shoot fireballs that bounce off the ground, allowing each fireball to deal multiple hits of damage to his opponents - however, the fireballs dissolve when they hit water.

Throwing Trowel: Allows Shovel Knight to throw a trowel that ricochets off of surfaces for some time, allowing it to deal major damage to enemies.

Reverse Exa: An axe that when thrown, goes downwards and then upwards, in an opposing arc to the Throwing Anchor.

Blizzeo Wand: From this wand, one may shoot ice projectiles that freeze enemies on contact, allowing you to shatter them shortly after or set up any number of new tricks.

Gusteo Wand: This shoots a small tornado that clings to surfaces after being used, chasing down most opponents.

Morph Lance: A lance that allows Shovel Knight to extend his melee range, with the more hits Shovel Knight lands with it in a row making it more powerful. Get 5 consecutively, and you're playing with a veritable Gurren Lagann drill.

Mobile Gear Drill: This is a variation on the Mobile Gear that gives it a drill, in case it has nowhere to go but downwards with dirt below it, allowing it to dig into the ground to let the user keep on going. 

Coffer of Safekeeping: A relic that allows Shovel Knight to hide inside it to avoid all damage, with the downside of not letting him attack while inside of the coffer.

Bubble Frog: Shovel Knight uses a Tadfloat to let himself float in the air for some time, at the cost of getting hit taking him out of the bubble, though he can Shovel Drop on top of the bubble to give himself even more altitude.

Shadow Locket: Summons a clone of Shovel Knight that can go through walls and damage anything that touches him for a few seconds, before teleporting Shovel Knight to the location of the clone once it expires, giving Shovel Knight that little extra bit of maneuverability in and out of combat.

Pocket Dungeon Relics

These tools are his primary gear inside the dangerous and unknown Pocket Dungeon. Unlike his normal Relics which use Magic and are thus finite, these are essentially passive effects that stay with him for the entire journey should he buy/collect them. They are only lost once he dies for good, and then he has to collect them again. 

Diamond Dust: By sprinkling a little diamond dust, Shovel Knight enhances all his items/weapons for greater damage and durability/usage time, permanently doubling each statistic for all items for the remainder of the run, including offensive items like the axes or spears.

Obsidian Drill: This ultra-powerful drill gives off extra damage to all blocks for the whole run, like wood, dirt, stone, steel and even bomb blocks (which are usually indestructible save for bomb explosions).

Snoutin' Charm: Shovel Knight can sense gems hidden within blocks, and very little else related to a fight to the death. 

Shockproof Socks: By slipping into these socks, Shovel Knight can ignore electric damage, and static will build up on the bottom of them to do double damage in 10 steps/moves or attacks.

Fizzle Wand: This item is actually a broken Flare Wand, which leaves a damaging fire trail on whatever ground Shovel Knight treads.

Bomb Seed Bag: Shovel Knight gains an immunity to all manner of explosions (including Black Knight’s meteors), while in the process causing more explosives to spawn around the area..

Nimbus Balloon: This special balloon will automatically make Shovel Knight hover over hazards for the remainder of his quest, from poison and lava, to ice, spikes, and water.

Potion Napkin: Rather than chaining potions together, will allow Shovel Knight to take them in individually.

Dynamallet: Causes chains of enemies to explode upon defeating one, though it must be recharged by opening treasure chests. 

Power Pail: Doubles damage when the Pocket Dungeon’s gem meter is full…which does nothing here.

Desperation Talon: Dealing a fatal blow to an enemy when Shovel Knight is at 1 HP increases it by 2.

Gem Chain: A chain of gems that will help you get more Gems from chains. 

Gem Beet: The juice from this beet slows down the Gem Meters depletion, and slain enemies grant more Gem meter, thereby making it far easier to build up the Gem Meter far easier. Highly helpful within the Pocket Dungeon, meaningless here.

Gold Leaf Clover: Makes it more likely for Shovel Knight to find rare items in the Pocket Dungeon...and does nothing outside of it.

Swift Dagger: The first strike on an enemy with this weapon deals double the normal damage.

Third Amulet: If Shovel Knight hits the same foe three times in a row, the third hit will deal double damage.

Single Glove: If striking a singular enemy rather than one in a group, deals double damage.

Divine Liquid: Deals additional damage to undead foes, as well as increasing Shovel Knight’s health upon +8 Chains, with the latter of which being basically useless outside of the Pocket Dungeon.

Five String: Doubles the damage of each fifth hit done in general, whether it’s for the same opponent or not.

Fenix Feather: After taking a fatal hit, Shovel Knight will be revived as the entire screen gets wiped of enemies, though this revival only works once and cannot be replicated if he finds another feather.

Chronos Glass: Freezes time for 16 seconds/turns, either at the start of a round, when Shovel Knight enters a new room, or when the room is about to be filled.

Too Big Bomb: This enhanced relic will turn all bombs pink, doubling their damage and range.

Toad Totem: This mini-totem will add a damaging poison effect to all attacks, while granting Shovel Knight immunity to poison.

Mentor Manual: A map of the Pocket Dungeon. You get three guesses on how helpful it is here.

Fury Horns: These horns let Shovel Knight hit twice as hard as usual, after fatal blows to chains.

Zesty Slice: Increases the potency of health potions’ healing.

Chester's Chart: Gives an extra chest in every level of the Pocket Dungeon. RIP.

Super Skeleton Key: A one-size-fits-all key that not only unlocks any lock, but causes any keys found to explode enemies. 

Ram Rod: Allows Shovel Knight to ram opponents for double damage.

Conjuring Cupcake: A magical cupcake that will ensure some dirt blocks are now cake, and can be eaten for extra health.

Underdog Collar: This charm will help Shovel Knight out by dealing double damage when surrounded on all sides.

Coin Of Carnage: A flip of the coin embodied to the fullest, in the sense that it gives a chance to deal double damage.

Coin Of Cover: Similar to the prior coin, this has a chance to block the damage of an attack, nullifying the power of it.

Bountiful Bugle: This bugle's sound is so pleasant, it will make the relics in shops cheaper, and it can reroll shop relics once per level. Not that useful unless he plans to shop while fighting.

Time Capsule: Gives a random relic the room after the one it was acquired, which effectively does nothing in a scenario like this one.

Pocket Dungeon Items

While Shovel Knight may have an enormous arsenal of magic, he's not opposed to sticking with some more simple tools for adventuring. He's always got his Shovel Blade, but he's been known to carry an arsenal of all kinds of tricks in battle, such as those from Pocket Dungeon. These have finite usage before they break or are unusable anymore, but he can improve their effects through something like the Diamond Dust, or just collect more of them. The only downside is he can't use more than one at a time, but once he runs out of one, he can still grab the other should it still be lying around. All of them are lying somewhere in chests which Shovel Knight can open by using keys (or the Super Skeleton Key which can open every chest)

Spear: A long reach weapon pierces shields and goes through multiple enemies (20 uses initially).

Shield: A staple of medieval combat that blocks one attack/damage unit (12 uses initially).

Ice Axe: One half of a slicey song of ice and fire that freezes foes in place on contact, locking them in place until they thaw out and leaving them open to repeated strikes (10 uses initially).

Flame Axe: The second half of the former, which ignites the ground where an enemy stood after they’re hit, dealing extra damage if they don’t immediately move (16 uses initially).

Wood Blade: A paltry sword that deals +1 damage (double) on attack (20 uses initially)

Steel Blade: One blade made with higher quality that hits with +2 damage (triple) on attack (20 uses initially).

Hero Blade: Made with the finest metals, this beauty grants +3 damage (quadruple) on attack (20 uses initially).

Chronos Coin: This familiar relic/Curio stops time for 10 turns/attacks. In Specter Of Torment, it will instead slow down time for 10 seconds when fully upgraded. Shovel Knight also seems to keep this in his horde of magic and weapons in Shovel Knight DIG.

Wildcard: A card that destroys all targeted enemies or objects of the same type, regardless of their health. This can be used to damage foes with shielding too strong for Shovel Knight to damage, or even obliterate intangible ghosts that Shovel Knight can’t even hit directly otherwise. It's quite literally point, click, and bam. You no longer exist.

Smoke Bomb: Yet another tool taken from a particular alchemical adversary: Shovel Knight can avoid harm and attack for a short time in the bomb’s smoke, avoiding all damage or counter attacks.

Zap Wand: Blasts a beam of electricity that deals quintuple damage, in a straight line, across the entire board (4 uses initially).

War Horn: A staple of Shovel Knight’s arsenal, and a horn so mighty that it will blast clear an area all around him with triple the AOE of normal attacks.

Flood Fish: Kicking off the tools of the games VS Mode, one can flood the opponent's board/area with enemies and blocks, stalling their progress at worst and severely overwhelming them at best.

Shuffle Top: Upon usage, this shuffles the opponents board/area, mixing it up, thus disrupting chains, blocks, and enemies.

Bomb Cannon: A calamitous cannon to drop multiple bombs on the opponent's board/area.

Monster Potion: This will turn your opponent into a monster/enemy, which can limit movement or attack potency depending on the transformation.

DIG Accessories

In his journey during DIG, Shovel Knight also got access to various “accessories”. These accessories function similarly to Pocket Dungeon’s Relics, in that they give various passive effects. Just like with said relics, Shovel Knight will lose them once he dies for good, but he can naturally collect them later. These accessories include:

Berserker Bauble: A magic bauble that lets his Shovel Blade do double the damage when he is at low health, giving him a last leg when on death's door.

Book Of Bomb: An explosive shaped book  that somehow makes some enemies drop bombs to use against others upon their death.

Boom Rock Trigger: This will make some rocks in the well he digs up explosive, and viable options to blast enemies with in a well-timed swing.

Burrow Horns: A nifty helmet modification that gives Shovel Knight sharpened horns to headbutt dirt and enemies in a piercing blow.

Comet Collar: This gives Shovel Knight extra knockback in all his blows, allowing him to knock his enemies further as if his Shovel was a baseball bat.

Dirtwrecker Curse: A magical pox upon dirt that will cause it to crumble away just by walking or jumping on it, similar to Specter Knight.

Drop Spark: This is an extra attack ability that lets Shovel Knight slash the ground when at full health, sending a careening spark for a ranged attack, just like his later Shovel Blade ability.

Dynamo Gauntlets: Through wearing these Gauntlets, and performing 2 consecutive Shovel Drops, Shovel Knight will fire up a powerful charge attack, just like his later armor the Dynamo Mail. 

Dynamo Greaves: Yet another homage to the Dynamo Mail. With these metal armaments, performing 2 consecutive Shovel Drops will give Shovel Knight a brief speed boost to help him get around quicker or a drop on enemies.

Enchanted Slamvil: As if he was in a cartoon, Shovel Knight has access to a large Anvil that will seek out strong foes in order to weaken them before battle by taking out a portion of their health. 

Fenix Feather: A marvelous feather that lets Shovel Knight revive after death once, while spreading the wings of said creature to damage any foe in the area. Just like the Pocket Dungeon incarnation, it is only usable once, but its power makes it well worth its weight.

Flameo Ring: The first of multiple defensive rings: This makes Shovel Knight immune to fire damage through an energy shield that has a brief cooldown that can be worked around, but nonetheless makes fire attacks practically worthless to him.

Bolteo Ring: This makes Shovel Knight immune to lightning/electricity damage

Blast Ring: This makes Shovel Knight immune to bomb/explosive damage, which also leaks a bit into fire Resistances as well

Blizzeo Ring: Following the rules of the former, this ring makes Shovel Knight immune to ice/cold damage and moves that freeze him solid.

Gusteo Ring: His fifth (and currently last) ring, makes Shovel Knight immune to wind or tornado damage.

Inverse Repeller: Through this magic magnet, one will magnetize gems to their location, even through dirt, so long they are in the general area.

Leaping Plume: An arrow shaped feather that lets Shovel Knight jump higher, similar to the Curio of Specter Knight which lets him float.

Looking Glass: This magical magnifying glass looks for secrets and points them out to Shovel Knight when they wouldn't be obvious to others, like Shovel Knight himself when he doesn't have it. Examples include revealing hidden rooms and exits in his digs that are otherwise unnoticeable, save for a specific detail.

Lucky Magic Vial: This gives Shovel Knight a chance to spawn a magic jar to refill his magic supply when he uses a relic, giving him even less to worry about in terms of magic supply.

Lucky U-Shaped Charm: A lucky horseshoe type object that will in turn cause more riches to appear for collection on a dig. Lucky him!

Platter Charm: Should his appetite for adventure translate to an actual appetite, he can use this Charm to make it so more food/health will appear from fallen foes and chests.

Scout Boots: These put a little pep in Shovel Knight's step to increase his running and overall speed.

Shovel Blade Flint: This upgrade to his primary weapon lets Shovel Knight extend the reach of it with a spark to hit enemies farther away.

Spikeproof Sabatons: A special kind of sole he can add to his boots to allow him to walk over spikes, which are normally instant death, unharmed.

Suave Salve: By this invisible effect, Shovel Knight becomes more attractive/dashing, resulting in getting better deals at shops. In other words, he increases his rizz-

Tome Of Relic Thrift: From this tome, Shovel Knight will gain double the usage of all his relics, severely diminishing the cost of his magic weakness across the board.

Pets

During the course of Shovel Knight DIG, Shovel Knight is able to acquire and carry eggs with him throughout his run which, if brought to specific nests, will hatch into pets that fly around him and give him benefits as they follow him. He can have multiple pets active at the same time, and they only take damage if Shovel Knight himself does, so these benefits will remain active so long as Shovel Knight keeps himself safe. These pets include:

Blorbs: Small slime-like creatures which bounce at enemies to attack them.

Fairies: Cute(?) flying creatures that take bites out of any enemies they approach.

Griffoths: Baby griffins that shoot fireballs towards foes.

Troupples: Rather than damaging foes, these flying fish kiss Shovel Knight to heal him at low health, but will vanish after doing so three times.

Consumables

(Why the hell was there an Arby’s Shovel Knight promotion anyway-)

Beyond the traditional Castlevania-esque turkeys which can restore Shovel Knight’s health to its maximum, Shovel Knight has also found items of other various foods and drinks that give their own unique buffs. These include:

Red Chalice: Increases Shovel Knight’s maximum health by 5.

Blue Chalice: Allows Shovel Knight’s health to gradually regenerate, one HP at a time.

Fortified Roast: Shovel Knight’s health restores to full, in addition to three of his health becoming protected, with this extra shielding needing to be destroyed before he takes actual damage. In addition, multiple usages of this can stack to shield even more.

Overstuffin’ Muffin: After eating this muffin, any further consumables will increase Shovel Knight’s maximum HP by 1, making him gradually harder to kill.

Magic Borscht: If Shovel Knight takes damage, he will get a magic jar to refill his magic afterwards.

Blinding Hot Curry: Shovel Knight doubles the amount of health that he has, but loses the ability to track it for the rest of the fight.

Tears of Mercy: After consumption, every time Shovel Knight’s health drops to 0, he will revive with one HP taken off of his maximum. This effectively means that he will need to be killed as many times equivalent to his HP count in order to finish him for good, though naturally, with each HP lost he becomes progressively easier to kill each time.

Hats

“Oh dear, forgive me. I do not know what came over me. To wear multiple hats with such elegance! I am in awe.I shall take my leave now... until next time..."

In their adventures throughout Pocket Dungeon, Shovel Knight and other knights got access to Mr. Hat’s Hat shop. In it, Mr. Hat has a large assortment of hats for sale, with Shovel Knight capable of wearing all 92 at once, as utterly chaotic as it can be. Listed below are all the ones that actively benefit Shovel Knight in a VS scenario, or at least have trade-offs that can work in his favor:

Terrorpin’s Toque: Summons Terrorpin, Black Knight’s faithful steed, who spins around the area and deals damage to anything he comes into contact with. While a valuable asset, it is also one that can still damage Shovel Knight.

Snow Pelt Cap: Passively causes avalanches to appear in the area, pushing Shovel Knight back but freezing all enemies hit in place.

Turkey Torque: All potions get transformed into turkeys.

Platter Hatter: If the above hat is equipped, all turkeys get covered by plates, and revealing them will sometimes drop a bomb instead of a turkey.

Troupple Acolyte’s Hat: Increases a foe’s health by 50%, in exchange for doubling Shovel Knight’s own.

Troupple Crown: In exchange for all foes gaining 1 HP, Shovel Knight gains 5.

Taming Topper: Enemies with only 2 HP will instead be reduced to having 1 HP.

Toad Totem Topper: Allows Shovel Knight to poison foes with every hit, in exchange for giving him a permanent, albeit slower acting poison effect.

Dash Slash Cap: Gives a passive version of Specter Knight’s Dash Slash, allowing Shovel Knight to slash through a single enemy.

Bohto Boater: Increases HP by 1, also makes Meal Tickets easier to find in shops, but naturally that’s irrelevant here.

Transmuting Tammie: Passive and active items stack on top of each other after being used.

Wrathful Tyrolean: Increases attack damage by 1.

Shantae

Hair Whip

Shantae’s signature attack, where she whips her hair hard enough to crack it like an actual whip. 

Items

Throughout her adventures, Shantae has acquired numerous items from a local merchant. Such items include: 

Health Vials: Potions of the small, medium, and large variety that restore Shantae’s health.

Vanish Cream: Lets you walk past enemies.

Storm Puffs: Small storm clouds with various abilities:

• Storm Puff: Launches lightning in random directions.

• Crush Puff: Explodes.

• Mega Puff: An explosion that covers the entire screen.

Pike Balls: Steel balls that spin around Shantae’s body. This can be upgraded into different forms:

• Pike Ball: One regular steel ball.

• Super Pike Ball: Two spiked balls.

• Mega Pike Ball: Three giant spiked balls.

• Scimitar: Five spinning pirate swords.

Float Muffins: Allows Shantae to bounce across bottomless pits.

Exit Candy: Useful for exiting labyrinths.

Flash Bolts: A powerful energy projectile.

Twin Mints: Allows Shantae to duplicate herself.

Boot: A powerful upward 2-hit spin kick.

Sash: Lets Shantae use a drill kick.

Cuff: Shantae charges up a powerful elbow dash.

Tiara: Go from an elbow dash to a tornado spin.

Silky Cream: Repair split ends for faster whipping.

Bubble Shield: Summons a bubble to protect Shantae from projectiles.

Monster Milk: Increases attack power.

Auto-Potion: Restores Shantae’s health after being defeated.

Metronome: Increases the speed of her transformation dances.

Magic Bracelet: Reduces the magic you consume by half.

Bikini Armor: Reduces the damage you take by half.

Shampoo: Increases the damage dealt by the hair whip.

Mirror: A shield that rebounds attacks back at foes.

Invincibility: A shield that provides total invincibility for a limited time.

Magic Tiara: Provides Shantae with unlimited magic.

Homing Rocket: Fires deadly projectiles that seek out targets on their own.

Super Ball: Launches a bouncing projectile to hit foes at awkward angles.

MP Saver: Reduces Shantae magic consumption.

HP Saver: Spray-on armor that lowers the amount of damage by 25%.

Pirate Gear

After losing her genie powers at the end of Risky’s Revenge, Shantae formed a temporary alliance with her nemesis, both to defeat the Pirate King and to return Risky’s lost pirate gear. In the process of acquiring the latter, Shantae was able to utilize them throughout her newfound adventure, and would keep this equipment up to the final battle with the Pirate King, where she had her powers restored. The pirate gear she borrowed from Risky includes:

Flintlock Pistol

Risky's pistol, which is useful for shooting at distance. While weak at first, over time it becomes just as strong as Shantae’s regular Hair Whip attacks. 

Pirate Hat

Risky's hat. Useful to float over hazards, giving a gliding option for traversal.

Scimitar

Risky’s scimitar. While airborne, Shantae can perform a down thrust with it, similar to certain NES platformers that might’ve inspired someone familiar. Can be further upgraded to deal high damage.

Risky’s Boots

Risky's boots, which allows Shantae to build up speed until eventually releasing raw energy, making Shantae run at super speed. This allows her to chain her attacks as she dashes through enemies, and can also run over lethal lava or spikes as well as jump longer. Similar to good ol’ Speed Booster from Metroid. 

Cannon

Risky's cannon. With this, Shantae puts a cannon below herself and fires a deadly blast, to propel into the air a maximum of 3 times. In other words, sort of like a triple jump which can damage opponents below.

Fusion Coin

A powerful artifact Shantae got from other Half-Genies (and Rottytops) that allows her to transform into certain rare animals of Siren Island instantly, no dancing required:

Dash Newt

Shantae can dash to the side and even stick to walls and climb them. Her Newt Dash also inflicts damage to her opponents and in-game helps to go through some attacks.

Gastro Drill

Shantae drills through soft surfaces, which can hurt small enemies that she drills past. Obviously, she is weak to being attacked from behind by the enemy.

Bonker Tortoise

In this form, Shantae can smash through stone and spin like a top via a spike on its shell. The latter needs a bit of a charge and can be activated only on ground, sort of like Sonic’s Spin Dash combined with Mario’s Koopa Shell physics -  fast and bouncy.  

Sea Frog

This form lets Shantae swim through salt water at super high speeds, though she can always slow down if she is going way too fast towards something deadly.

Jet Octo

This form lets Shantae use ink jets to triple jump. Similar to Risky’s cannon, minus attacking from below.

Monster Cards

In Seven Sirens, most enemies have the potential to drop a card, and by equipping them Shantae can gain various benefits. There are 50 Monster Cards in total, with each giving Shantae some minor buff, whether it be for a transformation or items or just average attacks. Normally, she’s only capable of equipping 3 Monster Cards at once, but Rule Breaker Mode allows her to stack all 50 on top of each other. These cards and their descriptions include:

Bat - The Boomerang consumes less magic when used!

Crab - Shantae's crawling speed is doubled.

Slime - Hair Whip converts Green Gems into Magic!

Tree Troll - Increases the damage dealt by the bouncing Super Ball weapon!

Slime Wiz - The Super Ball travels much faster than before!

Siren Man - Frog speed drastically increases!

Archer - Rockets consume less magic when used!

Dragon Head - The Tortoise Stomp's damage is doubled.

Orc - Hair Whip converts Red Gems into Hearts!

Snake - Shantae's vine-climbing speed is doubled.

Eagle Man Bomber - The Boomerang does more damage than before!

Froglips - Increases the damage caused by Fireball magic!

Pincher - Increases the odds of collecting dropped Food!

Naga - Fireballs consume less magic when used!

Cactus - Take zero damage when destroyed by spikes!

Scorpgal - The Pike Ball consumes less magic when used!

Scorpman - The Quake Dance does more damage to foes!

Bone Fish - Boomerangs are thrown with tremendous speed!

Wetman - Take no damage when destroyed by a pit!

Wetgal - Increase the odds of collecting dropped Magic!

Mermaid - Shantae's swim speed (human form) is doubled.

Jumping Frog - The Shield consumes less magic when used!

Lobster Jugger - Loot will be automatically drawn in from a greater distance!

Ceiling Bug - Rockets travel much faster when chasing down their targets!

Wall Dasher - Increases Newt Dash damage

Circus Squid - The Spark Dance consumes less magic when used!

Rag and Bones - The Refresh Dance restores more Empty Hearts than before!

Siren Soldier - The Quake Dance consumes less magic when used!

Rocket Archer - Rockets inflict more damage to their targets!

Metal Slag - The Super Ball consumes less magic when used!

Muckgal - Increase the odds of collecting dropped Hearts!

Muckman - All food types gain an extra healing boost when consumed!

Phase Wall Dasher - Extend the reach of the Newt Dash and fly further!

Spider - The Newt's climbing speed is doubled.

Dirt Crawler - Makes Gastro Drill drill through dirt much faster than before!

Ghost Eye - The Seer Dance consumes less magic when used!

Spectre - The Refresh Dance does more damage to sickly or undead foes!

Skeleton Knight - The Tortoise Form will take less time to charge up!

Sickly Silverfish - The Refresh Dance consumes less magic when used!

Batgal - The Spark Dance does more damage to foes!

Water Lily Siren - Hair Whip attack deals even more damage than before!

Coral Siren - The Magic Meter will refill over time!

Tubeworm Siren - The Tortoise's Bash causes higher damage than before!

Angler Fish Siren - The Newt travels at super speed when dashing!

Octo Siren - The Pike Ball weapon class deals even more damage to foes

Empress - Reduces the amount of damage taken from enemy attacks!

Various Outfits

Shantae gains a wide assortment of outfits that affect her abilities and give her new weapons. This includes the following:

Red/Blue Bedlah

Shantae’s standard outfit. The blue variant was created as a token of gratitude from WayForward towards the fans who supported Half-Genie Hero’s Kickstarter campaign.

Dancer

With this outfit, her magic is doubled but she now receives twice the amount of damage from enemies.

Ninja

Gives Shantae additional speed, agility, and magic at the cost of defense. Not only that, but she also gains a short sword, shuriken, the ability to cling to walls for wall-jumps, and can turn invisible for a short-range teleport.

Officer Wagon

Based on Patricia Wagon from Mighty Switch Force!, this outfit gives Shantae a ranged Pellet Gun, though she loses her ability to swim or crouch.

Beach Day

This outfit gives Shantae various special moves, such as throwing a beach ball at foes and floating over obstacles with a bubble. Though this does greatly reduce her defense, and her health drains rapidly, and she needs to collect sunscreen constantly (or be in something more cold like water) in order to stay alive.

Jammies

(Somehow clothes her more than her actual clothes. But look at the bedhead! She eepy!)

This outfit replaces Shantae’s hair whip attack with an attack from a pillow, which is stronger, but slower to come out. She also takes more damage than in her normal clothing. She also gets access to a Dream Cloud, which allows her to float slowly upward, similar to the bubble in her Beach Day outfit. Along with this comes Wooly Manifestations, a magic attack that lets her summon sheep that bounce around and attack enemies.

Abilities

Shovel Knight

Shovel Blade Techniques

“A long road lies ahead of you, young Shovel master. Return to my tomb with diligence, and study further!"

After sufficient adventuring, as well as overcoming various trials from Master Argus, Shovel Knight has learned several new techniques that utilize his weapon of choice to the fullest. These include:

Parry

When Shovel Knight parries an incoming attack, he negates the damage and counters with a smaller War Horn blast, which safely pushes enemies away but doesn’t do any damage by itself. This works on both physical attacks and projectiles, safely repelling both without issue. If Shovel Knight attempts to parry and misses, he’s left open for attacks, as the parry has a decently lengthy cool-down period if it whiffs.

Glide Cloud Drop

While utilizing the Shovel Drop, Shovel Knight gradually floats down due to a cloud surrounding him as he falls, giving far more air time to traverse the skies and plan his next move once he actually lands.

Super Shovel Drop

After starting a regular Shovel Drop, Shovel Knight effectively ground pounds and sends his Shovel Blade rocketing to the ground, being far faster and deadlier than striking from above normally.  

Charge Boomerang

Shovel Knight charges up like the Charge Handle, but instead of slashing with further range, he throws his Shovel Blade forward like a boomerang, making it fly in an arc before returning to him. It’s a useful option for ranged attacks, but leaves him without the Shovel Blade for the duration of the attack.

Cyclone Slash

Cyclone Slash works pretty much akin to Shovel Knight’s Dig Slash, but instead of hitting in one direction, Shovel Knight swings his Shovel Blade and hits on both sides. Primarily useful when surrounded at all angles.

Whip Slash

The Shovel Blade extends like a whip, giving much longer range while avoiding the whip cooldown synonymous with the move that inspired it.

Spiral Air Slash

Shovel Knight performs a spiraling slash through the air, tearing through enemies around him in a wide and encompassing arc. It’s also a Mega Man Zero reference, which automatically makes anything more worthwhile.

Hover Air Slash

Shovel Knight is able to strike in the air to temporarily delay his descent, letting him cross larger gaps, strike when airborne more often, or simply make treacherous platforming safer.

Charge Abilities

Similar to the additional Relics, as a Custom Knight, Shovel Knight is able to freely access multiple other abilities that he can swap between. These abilities override the Charge Handle, and can all be charged up for use without limiting Shovel Knight’s movement like the ability they’d be replacing. These include:

Burrow Bomber: Shovel Knight spirals through the air, making distance as well as damaging anything he comes in contact with.

Fire Razer: Shovel Knight jumps into the air, before dropping to the ground with a flaming Shovel Drop, which leaves four pillars of fire around him.

Bomb Burst: Originally used by Plague Knight, Shovel Knight creates a small damaging explosion which can propel him through the air for additional height and distance.

Blink Flash: Shovel Knight dashes forward, passing through anything in his path unscathed, and increasing his time in the air if done above ground.

Coin Capture: Draws in any gold around Shovel Knight.

Special Abilities

Unlike the above abilities, these ones are passive, and can be used independently of whatever Charge Abilities he has. These include:

Shovel Blade Max: Allows Shovel Knight to toggle all of the Shovel Blade’s upgrades at once (with the exception of the Charge Handle if other Charge Abilities are active), with him losing these if he chooses a different ability instead.

Dash Boots: Gives Shovel Knight the same increased running ability as the Toad Gear.

Glide Cloud: Shovel Knight slows his descent in the air with a blue cloud below his feet, which extends his potential air time and lets him cross much further distances.

Double Jump: Take a wild guess.

Diagonal Drop: Replacing the regular Shovel Drop, this allows Shovel Knight to essentially aerial dropkick his foes using the Shovel Blade.

Bounce Bomb: Gives access to Plague Knight’s basic bombs, which can be thrown three at a time and bounce off the ground before exploding shortly thereafter. These can also be used to extend his time in the air, though while this is active, he isn’t able to swing the Shovel Blade (though he can still use the Shovel Drop).

Underwater Breathing

No matter how long Shovel Knight has to traverse watery depths, he’s able to be underwater seemingly indefinitely no worse for wear. Is he simply able to hold his breath for as long as is needed to do battle underwater, or is there another reason, perhaps because of…

Fish Head Physiology???

“Oh hey how's it going? Ahh, it's nice to get that helmet off sometimes!"

…His biggest secret??? While Yacht Club has brushed off his appearance each time it’s been brought to their attention, we all know the real truth. The Fish Head’s appearances in Rivals of Aether and Shovel Knight’s F4F statue make things clear to see, and after all, whatever other reason could he have for surviving underwater for as long as-

…Oh, every other knight can stay underwater indefinitely when Treasure Knight floods the boss gauntlet arena.

Okay, could just be holding his breath for a really long time, sure.

Resistances

Thanks to his many defensive items, Shovel Knight can resist pretty much anything thrown at him, like:

Fire Attacks: Via Flameo Ring.

Explosives: Via Blast Ring and Bomb Seed Bag.

Ice/Freezing Attacks: Via Blizzeo Ring.

Wind/Air Attacks: Via Gusteo Ring.

Poison: Via Toad Totem.

Electricity/Lightning Attacks: Via Bolteo Ring and Shockproof Socks.

Shantae

Genie Dance

Shantae’s claim-to-fame ability as a half-genie. By completing labyrinths, finding certain statues, or buying them from somewhere (because that makes sense), Shantae can perform a dance that can let her perform various effects or access certain transformations. Such abilities include:

Warp: Shantae dances to warp to previously visited areas within a given world.

Revive: Refills some health in exchange for magic.

Super Revive: Refills all health in exchange for magic.

Obliterate: With a dance and some magic, Shantae can deal heavy damage to any enemy on screen.

Transformation Dances

Monkey

Can jump higher and climb walls. The Monkey form has an ability called Monkey Bullet, which lets her dash in any direction at high speeds, bashing herself into opponents. She most commonly uses Monkey Bullet to dash away from walls for maneuverability, but it can also be used as an attack.

Elephant

Can allow Shantae to charge forward and bust through walls too sturdy for her normal form, along with enemies. The Elephant form has an ability called the Elephant Stomp, which lets her rocket down to the ground, smashing through any breakables on the way down. She can also transform into a much larger elephant and combine this with a warp to crash down onto an opponent from above.

Spider

Can climb the foreground, walk on ceilings, shoot webs onto surfaces and pull herself toward them, and spit venom blobs.

Harpy

Grants flight. The Harpy form has an ability called the Harpy Talon, which lets her fire projectiles for attack.

Tinkerbat

Climb walls like a monkey and spider, and shoulder charge like an elephant, and utilize a pirate scimitar as well as glide through the air. In Half-Genie Hero, Shantae had to trade the Dryad Dance in order to obtain this, but in the original GBC game, this was simply a hidden form.

Mermaid

Can dive, swim, and breathe underwater. The Mermaid form has an ability called the Mermaid Bubble, where she launches bubbles out of her mouth that can bust through stone. She can also launch herself into the air and create a bubble around herself in this form, alongside launching an array of bubbles in an arc.

Crab

Allows Shantae to travel underwater. The Crab form has an ability called Crab Claw, which allows Shantae to attack with…well, crab claws, and cut through grass. This form also allows Shantae to summon two waterfalls on opposite sides of her opponent. She can quickly dash between these waterfalls, snapping her Crab Claw at her enemy.

Bat

Allows Shantae to hover forward and only forward. The Bat form has an ability called the Bat Sonar, which lets Shantae see in the dark a little. It’s also capable of covering the whole place in darkness, but said darkness disappears the moment she goes back to any other of her forms.

Mouse

(I’ll finish this like Ant-Man)

This form allows Shantae to squeeze through tiny spaces. Also has an ability called Mouse Bite, which is exactly what it says on the tin. Ouch!

Dryad

Turns into a Dryad tree and rustles her branches into her leaves to harvest three oranges, which will each heal Shantae a small amount upon consumption.

Sophia III Dance

(Hey, we said she can’t hop into a Sophia III, but we never said anything about her turning into one.)

Shantae turns into a tank that can fire energy blasts forward and upward. However, Shantae needs to trade the Super Revive Dance in order to obtain this dance.

Blobfish Dance

Bounces around as a blobfish. Despite being a fish, this form cannot be used in water. Think Goldeen from Super Smash Bros. To make matters worse, Shantae needs to trade the Obliterate Dance in order to obtain this.

Gemjug Dance

Shantae transforms into a jug of gems to gain more. But she does need to trade the Warp Dance to obtain it. Money, argargargarg.

Fusion Dances

Upon visiting Siren Island, Shantae had to save other Half-Genies while also discovering the island's secrets. To do so, the same Half-Genies gave Shantae their own magic through Fusion Stones, allowing Shantae to access fusion forms using their power, at the cost of magic.

Seer Dance

The Seer Dance is the first dance Shantae obtains, when her magic is combined with Plink's through the use of a Fusion Stone. This dance allows Shantae to seek out hidden pathways and items, things no one with average eyesight can see. It is also capable of revealing invisible enemies, though overtime, everything that became visible with this dance will go back to being unseen.

Refresh Dance

The Refresh Dance is the second dance Shantae acquires, when combining her magic with Vera's. This dance is mainly useful for healing Shantae, but it also revitalizes plants and people, refreshing them and giving more of life energy. It can also heal from petrification, cure poisonous objects (like water) and its healing properties actively damage the undead. 

Spark Dance

When Shantae collects the Ghost Elder's Fusion Stone and combines her magic with Zapple, she gains the Spark Dance. This dance powers nearby machines and attacks enemies with a screen-wide barrage of electricity.

Quake Dance

When Shantae collects the Ghost Genie's Fusion Stone and combines her magic with Harmony, she gains the last known fusion dance, the Quake Dance. This dance creates a screen-wide earthquake, which can open blocked pathways, reveal hidden statues, unearth treasure, and most importantly, deal massive damage to enemies as long as said enemies are standing in the ground. If any enemies are airborne when the attack goes off, the Quake Dance will be ineffective and won’t give any sort of damage.

Fire Magic

Allows Shantae to launch blasts of fire of varying size and power.

Fireball: Fires only one small burst of fire

Spitfire: Fires three fireballs at the same time

Flamethrower: A large torrent of fire.

Wish Granting

Practically like any known fictional genie, besides using transformations or magic, Shantae can grant wishes, like the time she used this power to turn Scuttle Town back to normal after the Battle Baron turned it into a base of operations. However, despite the wealth of potential wishing whatever she wants provides, she’s never used it within combat and thus lacks any reference for its potential. 

Misc. Abilities

Attract Magic: Attract dropped items like a magnet.

Magic Fill: Magic Meter refills automatically.

Back Dash: Does what the name suggests.

Power Kick: Also does what the name suggests.

Feats

Shovel Knight

Overall

• Saved the Valley from the Enchantress on several occasions.

• Found all of the missing Music Sheets.

• Rescued Shield Knight from the Tower Of Fate.

• Escaped the perilous Pocket Dungeon.

• Chased Drill Knight to the center of the Earth and stopped his Drill scheme.

• Freed the Hall of Champions from its ghost infestation.

• Defeated all four Wandering Travelers.

• Bested the god-slaying Kratos, gaining his respect in the process.

• Completed the Battletoads’ Turbo Tunnel, a nigh-impossible feat (also fought them too I guess).

• Defeated The Order Of No Quarter (twice), the Mirror Of Fate, the Master Mind, the Hexcavators, and the Enchantress.

Power

• Can casually break through all manner of material (dirt, stone, steel, etc) with simple shovel swings.

• Can break specific walls down in a single swing.

• Has killed multiple monsters several dozen times his size.

• His Blizzeo Wand is powerful enough to freeze Giant Dragons and Giant Bees in one shot.

• Defeated Black Knight, who had a portion of The Enchantress's powers, and could call down meteors in seconds.

• Shovel Knight should upscale a good bit further, as Black Knight is capable of doing similar in his base form, and Shovel Knight defeated the embodiment of all of the Enchantress’ magic later that day.

• Outmatched and defeated the Enchantress three separate times, who massively upscales from every feat performed above and elsewhere in the series (DIG, Pocket Dungeon, and Shovel of Hope).

Speed

• Able to outrun cannonballs (300-360 m/s).

• Can move and strike in-tandem with Phantom Striker and Baz’s lightning. As these lightning bolts come from the sky during storms, they should be natural lightning (Mach 388.3 - Mach 1489).

• Digged down to the core of the Earth in a short period of time.

• Can dodge Black Knight’s meteor strikes.

Durability

• Constantly falls several hundred feet in-between stages with no problems whatsoever.

• Basically fine after getting catapulted by Percy's contraption, from the village, all the way to the armor outpost, in seconds. He can also do the same with the shortcut back to the village, which is even larger.

• Similarly, Shovel Knight can be sent by a large cannon through the entire valley and still be fine.

• Tanked hits from Treasure Knight, who can punch his gold covered floor hard enough to erupt ripples of gold coins.

• Can tank the Meteors summoned by Black Knight in his base or powered up form (310.3 tons of TNT).

• Fought and shrugged off attacks from the Mirror Of Fate and Mastermind.

• Has endured multiple attacks from The Enchantress over their 3 battles.

Shantae

Overall

• Defeated giant vases, stone golems, minotaurs, a swordsman riding a dragon, a steampunk mech, and Risky Boots herself.

• Fought a giant pirate ship mech.

• Defeated and destroyed her Genie half when it was stripped from her.

• Defeated Wilbur, a giant sandworm and “Devourer of Dreams”.

• Defeated Twitch and Vinegar, two of the Ammo Baron’s soldiers.

• Defeated The Pirate Master, a being even Guardian Genies had troubles against.

• Saved Scuttle Town from various troubles whether it be Risky Boots’ or other’s invasions.

• Saved Genie Realm and all Genies that reside in it from The TinkerBrain designed by Risky to corrupt its magic.

• Saved Siren Island and her new Half-Genie friends from Seven Sirens.

Power

• Can break steel with her hair whips.

• Can move stone slabs with her hair.

• Broke out of bondage.

• Elephant form can break down metal doors and large stones.

• Each of Shantae’s transformations can destroy the Element Stones.

• The Elephant Stomp creates a shockwave powerful enough to destroy stone blocks above her.

• The Mermaid Bubble can violently fragment stone about her size.

• Destroyed the Ammo Baron’s tank.

• Her battle with the Empress Siren destroyed the airship they were fighting in, which has weapons that threaten to destroy Siren Island.

Speed

• The Harpy form could escape an explosion that destroyed Risky’s Island.

• Can move in tandem with sound waves.

• Able to avoid gunfire.

• Can whip her hair so fast, she creates afterimages.

• Can avoid shots from the Ammo Baron’s tank.

• Can move in tandem with lightning summoned from the Giga Mermaid. Since these come up from the sky, it’s likely these are lightning bolts from clouds (Mach 187)

• Dodges a laser (30% SoL, debatable).

Durability

• Survived being shot by cannonballs.

• Survived a bomb that could destroy part of a building.

• Tanked an explosion that knocked her off a pirate ship.

• Can survive being launched out of a cannon.

• Survived a shot from a cannon.

• Can survive being struck by magic lightning.

• Can survive the Hypno-Baron’s elemental beakers.

• Can survive underwater mines.

• Can survive shots from the Ammo Baron’s tank.

• Survived the Ammo Baron’s airship exploding underneath her (912.4 tons of TNT).

Scaling

Shovel Knight

Shield Knight

Being his partner for a long time, Shield Knight and Shovel Knight are known as a strong duo. They’ve been shown to be comparable to one another during the times they’ve fought together, Shovel Knight can defeat her in Showdown, and he’s defeated her when she was amplified by the Enchantress’ power, making more than enough evidence for Shovel Knight to scale to her feats.

• Held back one of the Drill Knight’s huge blades.

• Was able to shake a room in Tower of Fate during her fight against Donovan.

• Blocked damage from the Remnant of Fate while the Tower of Fate was collapsing.

• She also potentially survives the tower’s collapse, though this isn’t as clearly established.

Black Knight

Shovel Knight is consistently a match for Black Knight, and has repeatedly defeated him in combat during DIG, Pocket Dungeon and Shovel of Hope, even when he was empowered by the Enchantress.

• Can destroy the ground underneath them with his blows.

• Hit the Drill Machine so hard he broke a stone wall and caused a big explosion by it.

• Can call down six meteors at once (1.8 kilotons of TNT and Mach 32).

• In Pocket Dungeon and DIG, he’s shown to summon way more meteors at once (minimum 10)

Wandering Travelers

During the Shovel of Hope story Shovel Knight met other wandering travelers and notable heroes of the Valley. Often they have mistaken him for a villain or all other kinds of person to fight, but despite these unexpected fights Shovel Knight managed to beat each of them in a fair battle.

• Reize, who broke the glass in the Tower of Fate.

• Mr. Hat, who:

• Can cause shockwave on ground with his King Hat

• Unnoticeably got from one place to another, as if he was teleporting 

• Casually held his house and threw it at high speeds.

• Baz, who 

• During his fight against King Knight, destroyed a whole house in a few attacks

• Can use his lighting in combat.

• Phantom Striker, who can catch his own lighting and use it in combat.

Order of No Quarter

Shovel Knight’s journey has led him to fight all the members of the Order of No Quarter, with him besting them in combat, once on their own and a second time in a gauntlet with all eight. As such, he should easily scale to any feats performed by them, especially as both King Knight and Specter Knight should be superior to how they were during their prequel campaigns. The knights he defeated include:

• Donovan/Specter Knight, who:

• Even prior to becoming Specter Knight, was capable of harming and defeating Shield Knight, with their fight causing the room in the Tower of Fate to collapse.

• Can chop cannonballs in half with a single slash of his Scythe.

• By simply leaping off materials such as stone blocks he damages and destroys them.

• Broke the Mirror of Fate at the end of Specter of Torment.

• Plague Knight, who:

• Can use his explosions to propel himself and move in tandem with natural lightning (Mach 133.9)

• Defeated the Plague of Shadows/Corrupted Essence, the embodiment of the Ultimate Potion, immediately before it was used to destroy the Tower of Fate.

• By his own claim, could blow up the Cloud Castle.

• King Knight, who:

• Managed to shake towers and castles with his bashes

• Held an entire house along with Mr Hat while flying to the skies in mere seconds

• Was capable of moving as quick as light from light orbs (65.2% SoL, debatable)

• Dodged lasers

• Treasure Knight, who:

• Can punch his gold covered floor hard enough to erupt ripples of gold coins.

• Can take down a giant angler fish.

• Propellor Knight, who:

• Is barely fazed when standing on a platform destroyed by cannons.

• Mole Knight, who:

• Can effortlessly tunnel through walls of dirt, shake the area above to get debris from it, and swim in lava.

• Can create sparks while moving with his claws.

• Tinker Knight, who:

• Has tanked his massive mech being destroyed on several occasions each time he is defeated, despite being portrayed as physically weak.

• One of his machines is capable of causing earthquake strong enough to make Lava tsunamis.

• Polar Knight, who:

• Can shake the ground hard enough to cause icicles to fall.

• Can casually throw large stone blocks in a single dash.

Pocket Dungeon Knights

During Pocket Dungeon events, Shovel Knight had to face and fight Puzzle Knight - creator of Pocket Dungeon, and Prism Knight - an adventurer in hopes to solve Pocket Dungeon’s mysteries. Shovel Knight (and pretty much nearly all other knights) was able to defeat them in a fight fair and square.

• Prism Knight can charge massive heat beams.

Hexcavators

As said before, Shovel Knight’s first adventure was against a gang of treasure hunters led by the Drill Knight. During a single night, Shovel Knight managed to contend and defeat every single member of the team, making it possible for him to scale to all of its members. This would include:

• Spore Knight, who was able to make multiple small or big mushrooms to grow in a short timeframe.

• Hive Knight, who can throw objects so hard they leave smoke behind.

• Scrap Knight who:

• Carries a large amount of items in her bag. Bag is so big that it is straight up used by her as a pocket dimension.

• Drill Knight, who:

• Can drill through his own metallic castle at high speeds.

• Destroyed a wall in a prison to escape the cage during first seconds he got into the prison.

The Enchantress

Pretty much the main villain of the entire story of Shovel Knight that is feared by her enemies and respected by her army. Released deep from the core of the planet, Enchantress was spreading her evil deeds across the valley as soon as she managed to possess Shield Knight. She fought many knights, but only Shovel Knight managed to defeat her and free Shield Knight from imprisonment. Obviously this makes Shovel Knight comparable to everything Enchantress can do.

• Should be a more powerful mage than the hedge farmer whose magic could grow a beanstalk in a short timeframe (8.79 - 16.71 kilotons of TNT).

• Has moved Tower of Fate from the core of the planet to the surface at high speeds (1.3 gigatons of TNT and Mach 309.6).

• Is considered as the most powerful and dangerous foe in the Shovel Knight universe, making her stronger than Drill Knight’s Castle, which is capable of causing a powerful earthquake across the entire valley (2.1 - 68.6 gigatons of TNT)

• Said Earthquake was done as a part of the Drill Knight's plan to get his hands on The Amulet Enchantress comes from, unintentionally releasing her. 

• Drill Knight was using Gemstone(s) to move underground which not only were used as mere keys to The Enchantress at the end of the game, but also presumably were either absorbed by The Enchantress while possessing Drill Knight or demonstrably shown to be less powerful than The Enchantress.

• Is presumably a more powerful entity than Mirror of Fate. 

• Powered up Puzzle Knight into his Master Mind form, whose defeat resulted in the collapse of the entire Pocket Dungeon

• Every single playable character in-game can defeat him and outmatch this level of power, not just Shovel Knight

Mirror of Fate

One of the bigger events and dangerous creatures made within the Tower of Fate is the monster called “Mirror of Fate” (talk about being original). Created by residents of the tower to help their friend Specter Knight and trap Enchantress within the Mirror. Something went terribly wrong however and instead of trapping Enchantress, it trapped…pretty much all nearby warriors of the Valley, recreating it in its own pocket dimension with only 1 purpose, to make all warriors fight each other. Shovel Knight and pretty much nearly every other knight and some other warriors like Mona, Baz, Reize, etc. were able to defeat this Mirror. So there’s no question in Shovel Knight scaling to it.

• The Mirror of Fate recreated and contained the entire valley, and upon its destruction, destroyed the recreated Valley (24.3 gigatons of TNT, potentially far more)

Shantae

Barons of Sequin Land

During various adventures, Shantae numerously defeated all Barons of Sequin Land - a group of thieving bandits who pass themselves off as artifact collectors. None of them were too big of a threat for Shantae, so there shouldn’t be trouble in scaling her to their feats.

• Squid Baron shaking the whole room during his boss fight.

• Ammo Baron tanking his ship exploding and crashing after its generator was destroyed.

Risky Boots

Shantae’s most iconic rival and the self-proclaimed Queen of the Seven Seas. She clashed against Shantae on many occasions, either 1v1 or with her army, and considering the consistent amount of times Shantae’s beaten Risky in a fight, it should be obvious that they’re even in strength.

• Risky often tanked her own ships being exploded.

• Tanked a massive explosion after her TinkerBrain was destroyed by Shantae (17.5 kilotons of TNT)

The Pirate Master 

A frighteningly powerful creature, so powerful it took the combined power of all the Genies in Sequin Land to seal him away from the world in a lonely grave on an isolated island. Without her magic, Shantae was able to trade attacks with him for an extended period of time, but was able to fully overwhelm him after regaining her genie magic at their fight’s climax (going from dealing -5 damage with her strikes to -999 after returning to her prior peak). 

• Pirate Master created a large storm that covered Scuttle Town and extended to the horizon (603.7 kilotons of TNT).

Seven Sirens

While visiting Siren Island, all new Half-Genie friends Shantae met went missing in a single moment of the festival. This eventually led Shantae to do an investigation, where she would save all trapped Half-Genies and trek through the entirety of Siren Island from its highest heights to its lowest secrets. While doing so, Shantae also had to face off in a fight against Seven Sirens (or to be more precise Six Sirens, Sixth Lobster Siren had a change of heart throughout the adventure and wasn’t fighting Shantae at all, if she was in first place). The Sirens she defeated include:

• Water Lily Siren who can create and move large spiky vines at high speeds.

• Coral Siren, who:

• Can shake whole rooms with her jumps.

• Debatably survived her mech exploding.

• Tube Worm Siren who can shake a small cave by just getting out of the ground.

• Angler Fish Siren who can move big stone walls and water with her magic.

• Octo Siren who practically is a part of massive octopus.

Empress Siren

Last but not least, Empress Siren - the leader of all Sirens and Queen of the Seven Seas during her final phase. Shantae not only fought on par with her, but defeated Empress Siren in a fight after she stole the life force of Risky Boots and several half-genies. Albeit, she unnoticeably absorbed Rottytops’ life force (which was planned by Risky in case of Betrayal), which tainted the life force she received and allowed Shantae to retaliate. Regardless, she still took the brunt of Empress Siren’s attacks, so scaling should be perfectly viable.

• Should be superior to Wrench, who can travel Shantae to various locations beyond the horizon (Mach 19).

Weaknesses

Shovel Knight

As he is honor bound to the Code of Shovelry, Shovel Knight tends to fight nobly and basically never resorts to dirty tactics to win a fight in-character (regardless of what Plague Knight would try to tell you). As such, he also tends to be a rather straightforward fighter compared to many of the more outlandish abilities of those around him. Additionally, he’s capable of running out of magic to utilize his relics, and his methods of restoring magic and health are even more notably finite, though his more recent outings have made that less of an overall issue. He's also reportedly not the most intelligent, as he believed that Shield Knight was dead after only seeing-

checks notes

...Her discarded and destroyed armor, with her nowhere in sight, after being knocked unconscious fighting monsters together.

yeah okay.

Shantae

For all of Shantae’s incredible versatility with her magic spells, she does have a limited supply of magic, and once she runs out, that’s it for her spells…At least, without the Magic Tiara, which makes this weakness basically null and void. Additionally, while transforming it takes Shantae time to perform a dance to use the form, leaving her open to be attacked. 

As good of a hero as Shantae is, she does have a pretty bad inferiority complex. When trying to save her uncle from Risky Boots, while she did succeed in rescuing him, she blamed herself for his capture in the first place, and this led to her willingly giving Risky the Magic Seals to unleash the Magic Lamp’s powers. She has also claimed she’s not a good role model on account of her “bad temper and outlandish outfit.”

Before The Verdict

Shovel Knight Cosmology

Nah we’re just fucking with you lmao.

Mirror of Fate and Pocket Dungeon

(Now this looks familiar…)

As many of those invested in Shovel Knight know, as far as vs debating is concerned, some of the greatest feats in it are the matter of The Mirror Of Fate and the Pocket Dungeon. This section should explain and clarify how exactly these matter, and what they mean for the series. 

Firstly, both cases can absolutely be translated into AP and raw power. The Mirror Of Fate outright creates the alternate reality the Showdown cast fights in, and destroys it all upon its death, which can be brought on by every single playable character. Shovel Knight, Specter Knight, King Knight, Plague Knight, the rest of the order, the Enchantress, Reize/Dark Reize; Hell, even a liquid samurai/minion. The Pocket Dungeon has roughly the same arguments, where all of its playable characters are able to defeat the Master Mind, which subsequently causes the destruction of the Pocket Dungeon. The Master Mind was also created in the first place via the Enchantress's power, so it's fairly consistent. 

One argument that has come up is that the Showdown example was a dream, and therefore unusable for no physical attributes, or for not being “canon”, so to speak. However both those examples are debunked in the story itself. The endings for multiple characters are how the prior games happened in the first place, and thus fill in actual story gaps as a result. For example, Shovel Knight found out Shield Knight was alive in the first place because he met her while in the Mirror of Fate, and Plague Knight was able to set out on his own quest thanks to research he and Mona gathered from the Mirror and that same Liquid Samurai. 

This also leads into it being physical and applicable for power, as not only did Plague/Mona collect sludge from that minion from the Mirror, but numerous characters were transported there and back while they were conscious, like Specter Knight in the Tower of Fate. Thus, the Showdown collapse feat is usable, and the Pocket Dungeon feat is mostly the same. Not only have the developers stated the pocket dimensions share properties, but one can break objects and the like inside, leading to it being usable for the same reasons as Showdown.

So, since both are usable, how does that translate into AP? Well, what we know for sure is that these pocket areas encompass the Valley that all games take place in at the very least. You venture throughout them in maps shown on-screen with the same landscape and look as the previous entries, and meet the same enemies/area specific details in these locations. Thus, it being the Valley itself is practically all but assured for AP, getting the high values it does. 

Traveling more into somewhat speculative territory, one could argue both to be bigger, though however much is somewhat up to interpretation. Examples include Black Knight summoning meteors, presumably from out of orbit, celestial objects like stars still existing in it as proven by Puzzle Knight’s telescope, and the spatial area known as “Event Horizon”, the area Cardia flew to which potentially has a black hole and other planets in the background, being a place you can visit in Showdown. These are not that much of a stretch when you consider again, the dimensions share properties, but it is far less obvious/backed as the simple explanation that they encompass the Valley, and thus are not required, only included if you want to.

Verdict

(Official art by @sachichy and @N_sakurajyousui)

Stats

Talking direct feats solely, Shovel Knight can survive Black Knight’s meteors hitting him head on, with 1 meteor packing a kinetic energy of 310.3 tons of TNT. Shantae’s best durability feat would be surviving an exploding airship at point blank range, which can yield up to 912.4 tons of TNT, giving her almost a 3 times edge in durability as well as strength, since both of these characters can fight and harm fighters that can damage them. Speed, meanwhile, isn’t as close. Both of them are capable of moving in tandem with lightning, but while Shantae’s clocks in at Mach 187, Shovel Knight’s can get up to Mach 1489, nearly an 8 times speed difference in Shovel Knight’s favor. While that may not be entirely a blitz, it does mean Shovel Knight has plenty of time to dodge Shantae’s strikes and land plenty of his own. Purely off of direct feats, Shovel Knight is fast enough that he can chip away at Shantae’s stronger durability fairly reliably.

When discussing their scaling, it becomes more lopsided in favor of Butt Butt. While Shantae can scale to the Pirate King’s horizon spanning storm, reaching well up to 600 kilotons of TNT, Shovel Knight is a match for the Enchantress time and time again, who is the strongest magic user in the Shovel Knight verse. With her power, she managed to lift her castle at massively hypersonic speeds, yielding a kinetic energy equivalent to over 1.3 gigatons of TNT, over 2000 times stronger than the Pirate King’s storm. Shovel Knight has also defeated the Mirror of Fate, who created a dimension containing the entire Valley, if not more so given its potential larger size, a feat worth 24.3 gigatons of TNT, which is quite consistent with the Enchantress’ feat.

As a side note, while Shantae has debatable laser timing, the laser itself doesn’t meet many of the properties required to be a lightspeed laser. Moving straight and not exploding don't mean anything, as while that can prove that a laser might be legitimate, they aren’t hard evidence in favor of it, simply being supporting evidence alongside more clear cut aspects. For example, plasma cutters also move in a straight line and burn, and they aren't lightspeed. Nothing else about Shantae’s laser feat gives any direct evidence for it being lightspeed, and if we apply similar leeway to the light orbs that characters like King Knight can move in tandem with, Shovel Knight’s scaling would end up gaining a higher result, giving the speed edge to him regardless of whether you use low or high ends.

In summary, Shantae is definitely a strong and agile fighter, but Shovel Knight holds a significant edge in speed with direct feats and high-end scaling, and is far stronger when scaling both to the strongest feats in their verse.

Arsenal & Abilities

Now, one might think Shantae has a clear edge here, and that the moment her stats became comparable to Shovel Knight’s she could win fairly solidly. She has more games than he does, and her arsenals tend to be much larger than the one he had in Shovel of Hope. Additionally, the Magic Tiara practically gives Shantae unlimited magic, while Shovel Knight’s capacity for magic is ultimately limited, and that combined with abilities like Invincibility Bubble seems like it could be an win…but boy do we have news for you, as that's the part where DIG and Pocket Dungeon comes into play. These two games allowed Shovel Knight to be able to stack his relics for almost unlimited ammo - while yes, he does still have limited ammunition by technicality, it’s unlikely to matter in the fight, especially with a free refill thanks to his Ichor of Renewal, ensuring that it’s unlikely Shantae could win a war of attrition against Shovel Knight’s hugely expansive arsenal. 

Additionally, DIG and Pocket Dungeon also gave Shovel Knight a much wider arsenal of abilities, with a lot more options that give him many ways to deal with Shantae’s insane arsenal, including counters to almost every single one of her abilities. Her various elemental abilities? Shovel Knight has resistances to all of them through his various rings and the like. Her earthquake? Shovel Knight has multiple tools to keep himself in the air. Poison? He resists that, as well. And besides that, Shantae really doesn’t have any major hax abilities to keep her in the game besides her Invincibility Bubble, with most of her kit being fairly straightforward.

By contrast, Shovel Knight’s arsenal is a lot more esoteric, larger, and generally gives him far more options - between his time manipulation, Wildcard, Alchemy Coin, Blizzeo Wand, Monster Potion, various projectiles and items and more, he generally has far more ways to bring down Shantae than vice versa. As well, he has far more stamina due to the Fenix Feather (which is itself another potential win-con due to the vast AP gap, as it would passively screenwipe upon Butt Butt’s revival) and the Tears of Mercy giving Shovel Knight far more health then Shantae would reasonably be able to work through. On top of that, the Wildcard kills intangible and invincible enemies Shovel Knight cannot normally harm, and the Charge Handle just ignores shielding entirely, meaning both would likely pass through her Invincibility Bubble and render it essentially useless (even ignoring Shovel Knight’s AP being far higher than anything it’s shielded from prior).

Of course, Shantae hypothetically could use her wish magic to wish Shovel Knight out of existence, like she did to Ammo Baron’s forces - however, she’s never actually used it in combat, and that would require her to be able to get a chance to use it, which is very unlikely to begin with, due to Shovel Knight’s ace in the hole - the Chronos Glass. With this, at the start of the fight, time will automatically stop for 16 seconds, allowing Shovel Knight to use basically any of his options, especially combined with his Slamvil automatically hitting Shantae at the start of the fight to begin with. With this in mind, he could easily hit her with his shovel, transmute her, or use his Wildcard on her before she could realistically do anything in the fight, making her wish hax a moot point.

Lastly, while both adventurers are capable of reviving with items such as Auto-Potions or the Tears of Mercy and Fenix Feather, only one of them has a direct counter to stop the other from using theirs. If Shovel Knight is equipped with the Turkey Toque hat, all potions in the area will transform into turkeys instead, with some of them optionally becoming turned into bombs with the Platter Hatter on top of it. Regardless of the latter, if Shovel Knight starts the fight with the Turkey Toque hat, then it could very easily be argued that it would turn all of Shantae’s Auto-Potions into turkeys, which cannot be used for revival. And since Shovel Knight has a massive AP advantage, and the Enchanted Slamvil comes out passively before the fight even really starts, you could legitimately argue that Shovel Knight can end the fight the instant it begins off of nothing but his own passive abilities.

While a first glance might give the impression that Shantae could have an edge in this category, Shovel Knight simply has too many options to counter her entire arsenal, while conversely, Shantae has no real counters to any of Shovel Knight’s game-ending hax that should let him reasonably just get a win before she gets any opportunity to use any of her abilities to begin with.

Tertiary Factors

While Shantae has more games under her belt than Shovel Knight does, that in itself does not necessarily equate to more experience. Even prior to DIG, the earliest game within the Shovel Knight series' timeline, Shield Knight has said that her and Shovel Knight have gone on over a hundred adventures together prior to maturing to who they are now. These adventures don't include Shovel Knight's history alongside Black Knight and Polar Knight (which is suggested through the latter's dialogue to have lasted a significantly long time), nor any of his and Shield Knight's escapades closer to DIG’s actual place in time, which combined with his four playable journeys winds up being more experience than Shantae's own. 

Additionally, Shovel Knight's training under the Code of Shovelry, most prominently shown with the trials given from Master Argus, are more noteworthy than anything Shantae has had, given her lack of formal training. Across the board, Shovel Knight's experience has a solid lead over Shantae's, in spite of slightly less direct material.

Conclusion

Shovel Knight

"I will never give up on you. I will follow you to the end of the world."

Advantages:

• Significantly stronger and tougher

• Faster at both low and high ends

• Can stack enough relics and items to make running out of magic unlikely…

• More skilled and experienced

• Greater arsenal and far more useful abilities

• Various pets give Shovel Knight a numbers advantage

• Items like Fenix Feather and Tears of Mercy make him incredibly hard to put down for good

• Passive items like Chronos Glass and Enhanced Slamvil give an edge the moment the fight starts

• Wildcard, Alchemy Coin, Blizzeo Wand, and Monster Potion all are possible instant win options

• Options like Charge Handle and Wildcard could potentially bypass invincibility even ignoring stats

• Can get rid of Shantae’s revival method thanks to the Turkey Toque hat

• Resists most of Shantae’s abilities

• Jake Kaufman

• Ass so nice he’s named after it twice

Disadvantages:

• …But his pool of magic is still ultimately limited, unlike his opponent

• Doesn’t have the best track record against characters who had an 8-Bit Capcom game followed by an HD WayForward one

• Assist Trophy moment

Shantae

"You may never become a full genie like your mother…but you’re becoming more like her in more important ways! She’ll see it herself one day, when you finally meet her."

Advantages:

• Magic Tiara makes it impossible for her to lose magic…

• Shantae can end the numbers disadvantage with Obliterate

• Wish Power could theoretically give Shantae an easy win…

• Jake Kaufman

• Studio Trigger

Disadvantages:

• Inferior in the stat trinity

• Less skill and experience

• …But Shovel Knight’s relics and item stacking makes this advantage less relevant overall

• …But she’s never used Wish Power for combat purposes, making the possibility rather flimsy

• Far smaller arsenal 

• Most abilities are resisted by her opponent

• Fenix Feather, Tears of Mercy and other options make it harder to put down Shovel Knight for good

• Does not resist timestops from Chronos Glass or Chronos Coin

• Lacks any means of resisting Shovel Knight’s haxes that could end the fight instantly

• Ninja Mode ending (no seriously, what in the hell was that)

• Mii Fighter moment

Overall, Shovel Knight has fought more powerful foes, went through a lot more adventures, and has far more useful stuff in his pocket to throw against Shantae. Direct feats don’t leave Shovel Knight far behind in strength, but scaling gives him a massive edge in power, while he always has a significant edge in speed regardless of how one approaches it.

When it comes to abilities and arsenal, Shantae’s Magic Tiara is an unlimited source of magic, but Shovel Knight’s relic/item stacking just makes this advantage irrelevant in a grand scheme of things, and practically everything Shantae can pull off is something Shovel Knight has either resisted, countered or experienced before. You can’t say the same for Shantae when it comes to something like passive time stops, or transmutation methods, or Wildcard just being an instant win button, etc.

And on top of everything else, Shovel Knight’s much longer history and better training left him the more well-hardened warrior, meaning he has all the skill and knowledge needed to take the advantage even ignoring his statistical superiority or better arsenal. In the end, the dug grave decided the fate: thy shovel was steeled, a Half-Genie Hero was sealed, and Shovel Knight was just Ret-2-show some justice…Shovel Justice!

Final Tally

Shovel Knight (11) - Bananabot24, Behemoth, door-kun, Frickroll, greymerlion2, Maddie Antiqua, Oleggator, Rina Antiqua, Round 1 Fight, Strunton, The Monster King

Shantae (1) - Pasbros 

Next Time…