Teams with Knuckles

KNUCKLES/SONIC

With this team, Knuckles essentially turns into a Sonic that punches things: his gliding and climbing are replaced by the Mid-Air Dash Glide, which is a fancy name for a headbutt. This team is highly-specialized for running fast, even more so than many other teams with Sonic, but little else.

Moveset

Spin
Spin Jump
Spin Dash
Mid-Air Dash Glide
Double Punch
Breast Stroke
Floating on water
Sonic's Tag Actions
(note: Wall Climb only available underwater)

Pros

This team is a Speed team, which mean it has higher momentum and can go into Boost mode.
You can use Sonic’s Tag Action to immediately go into Boost mode.
Knuckles’ Mid-Air Dash Glide is a powerful boost, it destroys enemies with ease and it lets you roll forward, great on downward slopes. The longer he falls, the faster he will be on landing. It’s very similar to his forward Trick Action in Advance 2.
You can destroy Power barriers.

Cons

Knuckles can’t neither glide nor climb (unless he’s underwater), depriving him of any aerial advantage.
On upward slopes, his Mid-Air Dash Glide slows him down considerably, and you can’t change direction while rolling after a Mid-Air Dash Glide – you have to know where to execute it if you don’t want to be slowed down.
Knuckles’ move-set is limited compared to other combinations.

Why use it?: if you need to be fast and break Power Barriers at the same time. This is the only niche this team has found for itself. As a speedrunning team, it’s overshadowed by T/S and C/S, which can fly, and A/S, which can use the Hammer; but if you only “gotta go fast”, this team can do it pretty well. The Mid-Air Dash Glide, false advertising aside, is an interesting move because Knuckles launches himself like a rocket and he can gain velocity if he lands on a downward slope or falls from a considerable height. It’s a good team for levels like Route 99 and especially Cyber Track, which involve more running than platforming, and it’s probably the best team for Toy Kingdom Act 3, as you can take a convenient Power shortcut.

KNUCKLES/TAILS

The most infamous game breaker of the game. It’s a Power team with the best flying abilities you can get, and Knuckles doesn’t have to sacrifice a thing! What’s best, you can use it as early as the second zone in the game!

Moveset

Spin
Spin Jump
Spin Dash
Double Mid-Air Glide
Wall Climbing
Spiral Upper
Breast Stroke
Floating on water
Tails' Tag Actions

Pros

Knuckles can glide and climb walls as usual.
Before gliding, Knuckles automatically performs a double jump which allows him to cover longer distances. Double jumping can help cut down the time taken to climb up walls.
Tails’ Tag Actions allow you to fly or get launched into the air.
His Double Punch gets replaced by the Spiral Upper, a fiery uppercut that keeps Knuckles’ momentum when he’s running.
You can destroy Power barriers.

Cons

Knuckles automatically double jumps before gliding and there’s no way to avoid it. This may throw you off at first, as it slows down the animation, and it could give you trouble if you need to aim or carefully climb down.
The Spiral Upper’s hitbox doesn’t reach the ground, meaning you can’t destroy Power Barriers in the floor.

Why use it?: if you want to have as many aerial advantages as possible. This team gives you everything: gliding (with an automatic double jump), wall climbing, flying, being catapulted high into the air, floating on top of the water, swimming, and being able to break Power barriers. This combination is perfect for exploring, finding shortcuts and collecting Chao.

KNUCKLES/CREAM

This is the closest you get to a normal Knuckles, but with the addition of a Homing Attack and Cream’s Tag Actions he gets even more combat-oriented than he already is.

Moveset

Spin
Spin Jump
Spin Dash
Mid-Air Glide
Homing Attack
Wall Climbing
Double Punch
Breast Stroke
Floating on water
Cream's Tag Actions

Pros

Knuckles has his standard move-set – he can glide and climb walls as usual.
He can home on enemies (but the process is different).
Cream’s Tag Actions let you use Cheese and if performed in the air it gives you a handy double jump, or even flings you high, while keeping you curled. This also works on springs, even the chargeable ones.
You can destroy Power barriers.
While Knuckles never gets Spinning Cheese for himself, keeping Cream close (easy to do with the Tag Action button) can help against enemies and bosses.

Cons

Knuckles’ move-set is limited compared to other combinations.
Compared to K/T and K/A, climbing is very slow, especially if the wall is particularly tall.
Performing the Homing Attack is more complicated than with other teams: instead of pressing the jump button twice, you need to glide near an enemy and then press the attack button, which makes the move less convenient
Very minor, but when using Cream’s Tag Actions, Knuckles can’t temporarily destroy Power barriers.
Cream’s air boost isn’t as powerful as Tails’ or Amy’s Tag Actions.

Why use it?: if you want to play as normal Knuckles, with the extra quirks that Cream gives you. While not as good for verticality compared to K/T and K/A, Cheese and the Homing Attack give you a defensive advantage.

KNUCKLES/AMY

This is another proof that it’s not true that Amy ruins other characters by default. It’s very similar to K/T, except that instead of a double jump Knuckles gets the very useful Dash Climb ability, which lets him Spin Dash up walls, with the only sacrifice of having to manually spin while jumping.

Moveset

Spin
Jump
Spin Attack
Spin Dash
Hammer Attack
Mid-Air Glide
Wall Climbing
Dash Climb
Drill Claw
Breast Stroke
Floating on water
Amy's Tag Actions

Pros

Knuckles can glide and climb walls as usual.
He can do a Dash Climb to climb walls much faster.
He can perform a Drill Claw (the equivalent of Sonic’s Bound Attack, in his case a Power attack).
Amy’s Tag Actions give you a great aerial boost.
Hitting springs with the hammer flings you very high into the air.
You can destroy Power barriers.

Cons

Knuckles jumps without spinning: to spin you have to press the attack button.
The Hammer Attack is slightly slower than his punches and doesn’t have as much range.

If you don’t charge the Dash Climb enough, you’ll fall down and you won’t be able to jump and try again until you reach the ground.

The only way for Knuckles to destroy Power barriers is to use the Drill Claw next to them, which is not very intuitive.

Why use it?: if you want to scale tall walls with Knuckles’ Dash Climb and/or if you want to combine Knuckles’ move-set with Amy’s hammer. It’s another great team for collecting Chao and for breaking vertical acts.

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