From the story's perspective, Dark Angels are portrayed as having power to rival or even surpass Horny's, with the Keeper with whom they ally being considered unbeatable; in Angelic, you lose if another Keeper wins their allegiance,[verification needed] despite Horny's confidence that he can defeat them in combat. However, they have no true loyalty to whomever they ally with; they are merely a means to their own ends. A Keeper, even one who has Horny at his side, would be unwise to anger them; 'grave and horrid consequence' shall befall those who do, according to the Mentor.
Dark Angel panel icon
In-game, Dark Angels are extremely powerful creatures (on its own, one can stop an army[vague] of Giants without any difficulty!), but unlike Horny, are not invincible, though they are still extremely tough; at level 10, their mêlée strength is superior to even Horny's, and they can conjure an army of Skeletons to do their bidding. They also have the powerful Hail Storm and Disruption spells at their disposal. A Temple with a hand can attract up to two Dark Angels, with another being required for up to two more, and so on. Dark Angels are also decent researchers, and hate Monks and Fairies.
Another concept drawing
The Mentor's Thoughts[]
"A victor! Truly you are the most pitiless and cold-blooded mercenary we have beheld. The Gem is yours - if you can finish off your former foes. We shall aid you, but mind that you mark our presence by gracing us with unhallowed ground. One Temple shall two of our brethren require. Should you have need of us further, another Temple must be crafted in our name." — Dark Angel, Campaign mode (DK2)
"Dark Angels are terrifying entities, who join you only for their own amusement and interest. They are powerful magic users, and amazingly efficient researchers." — The Mentor, Pet Dungeon Mode (DK2)
Elite[]
Elite Zachariah foreground, normal Dark Angels in the background.
The Elite Dark Angel, Zachariah, has dirtier skin, a chest plate armor, bloody wings, bloody sword, and a beak. Zachariah's benefits:
Higher huge melee damage! (He has the strongest melee attack in the game.)
Way higher +166% health!
Trains tiny bit faster.
5 times higher research points per second!
Almost 40% higher pay.
Almost 40% higher possession cost per second.
Tips[]
You need a rectangular minimum 5x5 Temple with a Hand effigy in the middle of its sacrificial pool to get two.
Dark Angels are really expensive. 75,000 gold must be spent on a Temple to attract just two, and they also have high wages. However, even if the Temple doesn't pay for its own expenses over time, it more than makes up for it by versatility:
You can still use the Temple you've built to get an infinite number of non-portal-creature-limit minions if training time is not an issue if you can withstand the payday wages. And if not, all of them could be Skeletons (even if it outrages the Mentor) who have no wage. And don't forget, having a lot of powerful prayer creatures at a Temple can fuel a lot of spells that may take strong foes down, fuel lots of traps without your Impsdying off, or Heal tons of your creatures in major confrontations.
In multiplayer, Temple sacrifices to gain non-portal-limit creatures (mostly heroes) is one of the main meta gambits.
Compared to a Temple, if you build a Casino instead, you get way weaker Rogues, and you either make all your creatures unhappy by rigging it, or on generous setting you may need to pay Jackpots of HUGE proportions, many of which around or even higher value that the price of a Temple over and over and over again, sometimes even with only a half a minute delay between two playbacks of the music.
Dark Angels are extremely easy to train after they have reached level 4 if there is lava around.
Dark Angels have an extremely powerful mêlée attack that does almost double the damage dealt by Black Knights and Mistresses. Therefore, they become an extremely effective possessed creature assassination and door/trap destruction tool who are rather survivable too.
Skeletons summoned by Dark Angels are not permanent; they will automatically perish after a while, unless possessed, or on a Hero Lair. But this ability can place some temporary creatures of yours onto land which is not yours, even past a lava flow, which you may attempt to possess and use as a disposable scout.
Dark Angels produce the highest mana gain per second when praying at the temple (200).
In the single player story campaign, on level 20 - Regicide - Heartland there is a hidden Elite Dark Angel called Zachariah which you can claim by building a 5x5 Temple in the area you have dug out next to it (where gold possibly resembles the creature logo), and depending on version of the game:
either sacrifice a Firefly, Warlock, Black Knight,
or a Firefly, Black Knight, Warlock; and Zachariah will be freed.
Bugs[]
To get them in the campaign, you need to install a fan-made bug fix. Doesn't matter which version you play from 1.0 to 1.71.
On the back of a Dark Angel around waist height, under his right wing, when highlighted by pointing at him with the Hand of Evil, there seems to be a polygonal patch of distorted texture.
Skeleton Army sometimes just doesn't create Skeletons.
Trivia[]
The Dark Angel is one of the four evil researchers (Warlock, Vampire, Dark Angel, Maiden). Of these four, Dark Angels are the best at spell research.
Regardless of having larger wings than either the Fairy or the Firefly, owning wings that seem outright powerful, the Dark Angel never performs any flight movement, at least in and up until the game's last known official release. He does, however, lift off the ground when celebrating, cheering on fight, or gambling, modestly lift off while drinking but not yet drunk, and seems to sprint with slightly assisting his movement with wings. (He has no flight special ability, nor any normal ones for that matter. Reasons for all of these is unclear.) When he enters through the Portal he does fly, but it is unconfirmed if he is doing it by his own skill or there is some magic assistance involved.
Dark Angels have less health than Black Knights, but possess higher damage and powerful spells.
The Dark Angel pickup icon is similar to the symbol of the homonymous Warhammer 40k Space Marine Chapter. Whether this is intended as a reference to it or is simply a coincidence is unknown.
Keeper Nemesis went looking for Harmonia's Dark Angels after being defeated by Lord Pureheart, and had his allies Harkan and Carrion aid him. When King Reginald learnt of this, he sent his sons, the Princes, to personally destroy Carrion.
Dark Angels seem to wield a similar sword as The Three Princes. This is not yet explained why.
The existence of "Dark" Angels imply the mutual existence of normal, Good, or Light ones in the Dungeon Keeper mythology. However these have not been unveiled by the franchise so far. However...
A strategy guide details them as 'Once divine heroes fallen from grace'. And that piece of worldbuilding flavor written by Scott Udell (1998 Strategy Plus, Inc. 12/1998) probably came from Bullfrog. Also calling Dark Angels by the name Fallen Angels also on the same page in the same article.
Blue skinned angels have been an artistic verbal or visual depiction, some say, since Old Testament tradition. (Joshua 5:14–15 and Daniel 9:21)
It seems that the Dark Angel once had a more unique 'falling-unconscious' animation with it falling on its face like failing a pushup, then collapsing with its wings spread sideways. This is front and center visible from an early trailer.
It seems that the Dark Angel once had the Firebomb spell; a Dark Angel version of it can be found in the Dungeon Keeper 2 Editor.
