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Strategy

Dark Knight

Dark Knight is designed for ground combat and is relatively safer with stronger HP attacks in neutral situations, but has a limited effective positions. As Dark Knight, Cecil can close gaps with a dash and contest grounded options, but requires wall rush to maximise reward on hit. Prioritise ground combat and do not rely on Gravity Ball or Paladin Arts in the neutral; Long start-up, low priority, late cancel window and slow travel speed make the dark sphere projectile detrimental for space control.

Recommended stages:

Pandemonium, Pandaemonium - Top Floor, M.S. Prima Vista

Offense (Ground)

Shadow Bringer is unreactable on start-up, this is your primary HP threat up close. If it clashes with lower melee priority braveries, it will stagger and the followup can hit the opponent if they're close enough. Mix up with dashes and braveries such as Valiant Blow.
Use Valiant Blow or Shadow Bringer to catch landing lag.
Use Dark Flame directly under opponents if possible. Works well against positional dodges. Dodging this and punishing Cecil for using it become more difficult due to tracking and long active collision.
Dark Cannon is Ranged Low priority when going forward, but Ranged Mid when returning to Cecil. A good trait for whiff punishing from the attack's maximum range, but Cecil is completely vulnerable otherwise. Use with caution.
After staggering with a block or comboing after an assist, Dark Flame won't stagger Cecil against LV2 Assist Change.

Defense (Ground)

After guarding an air attack on the ground, Soul Eater can easily miss when used to retaliate. Shadow Bringer, Dark Flame or jump into Paladin Force are more reliable HP attacks.
For assist meter generation, Valiant Blow and Shadow Bringer are decent options but use them carefully. Shadow Bringer's overall quick animation makes it difficult to whiff punish with an assist too.
Dark Flame can be used to occupy space and build assist meter. As it puts pressure on the opponent, Cecil can get away with whiffing this move.
Shadow Lance can reflect mid and high priority projectiles when done very close to them.
Infinite Reverse Ground Dashing in Order's Sanctuary works for Cecil. It can be used to play runaway style and build assist meter without whiffing attacks all the time. Just pick your attack timing carefully when preventing assist meter decay that comes from just dashing.
Spot dashing works as well for building assist meter, but Cecil does not have many moves to safely stall meter decay afterwards. Valiant Blow, Dark Flame and Shadow Bringer are all good moves for this. If Cecil has to take it to the air, Reverse Air Dash (Quickmove) into Nightfall can also work.

Dodge Punishment (Ground)

Ground Dash > Shadow Bringer punishes neutral and side dodges.
Soul Eater has horizontal tracking before the initial stab, which can punish side dodges without a dash if done close to the opponent.
Dark Flame can punish forward ground dodges and directional air dodges near Cecil

Offense (Aerial)

Generally speaking, Dark Knight Cecil's air braveries are not fit for close-range offense.

Nightfall can hit grounded characters, but it is often telegraphed due to it's nature as a downward air-to-ground attack. If you are closing distance with a grind quickmove, keep an eye out for counter hit attempts.

Defense (Aerial)

Nightfall's (Dark Knight) explosion is Melee Mid priority, but it also won't get whiff punished with an assist often.
Descent Speed Boost basic ability is good for reaching ground faster.

Dodge Punishment (Aerial)

Dark Knight Cecil has weak tools for punishing dodges in the air and generally won't be spend much time in the air. Nightfall can hit opponents below Cecil, so using Omni Air Dash or Multi Air Slide basic abilities could theoretically work. These situations aren't very common for Cecil, however.

Paladin

Paladin can contest in various positions, but is more vulnerable to counterattacks due to relatively slow attack start-up, long animations and late cancel windows. As Paladin, Cecil can whiff punish effectively, but he often requires assist and high commitment to apply HP damage. Solo combo potential and bravery damage output goes up thanks to Searchlight and Slash, but hitting moving opponents can still be challenging due to slow start-up on attacks and inadequate tracking.

Recommended stages: Old Chaos Shrine, Order's Sanctuary, World of Darkness.

Offense (Ground)

Slash is a gap closer and a combo starter, but it can easily whiff due to it's below average tracking.
Use Searchlight from afar to create stage presence, encourage the opponent to move or punish very long-winded immobile attacks. You can combo on hit into Paladin Force from long range with the hit glitch.

Defense (Ground)

Slash can be whiffed occasionally to build assist meter.

Dodge Punishment (Ground)

Punishing air dodges is difficult for Paladin Cecil overall. Even if he follows the opponent with a dash, his braveries tend to miss afterwards, missing important openings for damage.

Paladin Force can punish ground dodges, but Cecil must be close to the opponent to do this. Use a dash to get closer and jump to have access to Paladin Force itself.
Shadow Bringer HP is Cecil's fastest ground attack and can be used to defend after dodging. It will put him in the Dark Knight job, however.

Offense (Aerial)

Similiar to Slash, Radiant Wings can be used as a gap closer despite it's slow startup and lackluster tracking.
After comboing into Aerith assist, Luminous Shard is the safest but lowest damaging option against LV2 Assist Change. It won't stagger Cecil or be reflected straight back at him.
Saint's Fall's tracking during the dashing portion can be enhanced by calling the assist during the attack's active period. Can call out ground dodges, but it's still a very risky attack to use due to long animation start-up and recovery, however.

Defense (Aerial)

Use Sacred Cross to punish (whiffed) attacks done from below or above Cecil.
Sacred Cross is also good for retaliating after staggering with LV2 Assist Change of your own.
When building assist meter, Luminous Shard, Sacred Cross, Searchlight and lock off Radiant Wings (facing away from opponent) can be used sparingly from a distance.
If opponent escapes from Paladin Force with LV1 Assist Change, make sure to mash air dodge in case they try a counter attack. If the multi-hit portion of PF makes contact with assist, it can allow Cecil to dodge cancel earlier than what would be normally possible.

Dodge Punishment (Aerial)

Paladin Force has good vertical tracking on startup, use it against neutral and up air dodges. While the range is somewhat short, characters trying to dodge above Cecil can get hit by this move.
Cecil can contest straightforward attacks that come after a dodge with Sacred Cross by going under them.
When defending, Sacred Cross can also be used as a post-dodge defensive option for it's evasive movement.

Counterstrategies

Offense

Dashing towards Cecil with Free Air Dash shuts down many of his projectiles. Gravity Ball, Paladin Arts, Searchlight all lose to an aggressive approach. Whenever Cecil is at mid range, it's his safest range to use these moves in.
Dark Cannon be dashed through on start-up and hit Cecil for using it.
Assist depletion can greatly cripple Cecil's momentum.

Defense

If your character has fast running speed like Prishe, it can be leveraged to make Paladin Cecil whiff more. Move backwards, away from Cecil and watch him track first before whiffing.
Air dodge (backwards) makes it difficult for Paladin Cecil and Dark Knight Cecil's Dark Flame to hit you. Be wary of landing lag regardless of which job he is in, however!
Dark Flame is susceptible to high priority blocks, such as Exdeath's Omni Block.
Multi Air Slide and glides help in evading Dark Flame
Dark Flame can be whiff punished with an assist, but the timing requires the flame to have travelled for a moment for it to work safely, roughly half of it's max travel distance. After a certain point the flame follows a set path -at about the apex-, continuing at it's current angle downward. Use slower assists like Kuja (ground) with due diligence.
Dark Flame loses to Precision Evasion, but this can be challenging to do and capitalise on when done from above.
Shadow Lance can be whiff punished with assist, but be aware of the assist's speed - Kuja on the ground is particularly slow.
Fast assists such as Jecht and Tidus (air brv) can whiff punish majority of Cecil's attacks on reaction. Utilising assist meter in this way creates oppressive situations where Cecil has to take high risks just to survive.

Meter Usage

If Shadow Bringer is staggered with LV2 Assist Change, the opponent can usually dash towards Cecil and enforce an interaction.
Since Paladin Force ends with a diving attack from above, it can be staggered with LV2 Assist Change just before the guardin period ends; This creates more frame advantage for you to retaliate afterwards, as long as you are not at the ceiling. Assist Change will send you downwards if it's done at the ceiling.