This is one of the changes with the biggest implications. Knights have been one of the top rated Auto Chess strategies in the meta so far, but this rework changes the dynamic of the class significantly.

First, needing (3) instead of (2) or (4) Knights is a nerf for two reasons:

(2) Knights was very useful in the early game (the shield proc on Chaos Knight could easily carry you in the early rounds).

(4) Knights, on the other hand, gave approximately an 11% higher chance to proc the shield compared to (3) Knights (two 30% procs (effectively 51% chance) instead of one 40% proc).

This means that if you are NOT going for the full (6) Knights (which was the standard for most Knight strategies), your frontline would be noticeably weaker.

Second, the (6) Knights bonus is also weaker in terms of proc chance than it used to be. The fact that it applies to all units is a good added bonus, but most of the time this wouldn’t be game-breaking. If you are running (6) Knights, you only have space for 2-4 more units in your final lineup, who would most likely be utility heroes and wouldn’t benefit from the shield protection as much. In that sense, the fact that you have a weaker frontline is a bigger nerf compared to the buff of the shield affecting your other heroes.

That said, it’s worth mentioning that (6) Knights is probably currently a stronger counter to AoE-heavy strategies like Mages.