Pretty sure with the knights we're actually getting a break.
thralls with Shields would be...not fun.
There's to many acolytes for them to have Shields, you'd get overrun immediately. And unless you want to give wizards MORE Shields, then knights is your only option.
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There is only one part in the strike where there are a lot of acolytes. The second wave of defending Dinklebot. The amount of Knights you experience through all three waves and subsequently at Phogoth are probably the same, if not more than the acolytes. Also, that room after the Knight and Ogre and before Phogoth has no enemies with shields (besides the normal Wizards) so those acolytes would not count.