Summary
Highlights
The video introduces a comprehensive Blade guide, created after over 20 hours of gameplay to ensure accuracy. It outlines the video's structure: a basic kit summary, key skills to master, and a detailed breakdown of each ability. Blade is likened to a power drill, emphasizing a strategy of 'pre-drilling' enemies with his pistol, then activating 'Bloodline Awakening' and 'Daywalker Dash' to finish them off aggressively.
The first crucial skill is the 'perfect parry' via Blade's 'Scarlet Shroud' ability (hold right click/L2). While holding reduces damage by 80%, the 'perfect parry' occurs in a tiny 0.4-second window at the start of the animation, granting invulnerability to crowd control (CC) and movement. Examples include parrying Jeff's ultimate, Thor's dash, Doctor Strange's Eye of Agamoto, Magik's uppercut dash, Emma Frost's choke, and Black Widow's spin kick. Mastering this allows Blade to negate enemy abilities and seize offensive opportunities.
The second essential skill is seamless stance swapping between Blade's pistol and his Bloodline Awakening sword state. This involves constantly switching between conservative ranged attacks with the pistol (for healing, priming targets) and aggressive melee attacks with the sword in 'Bloodline Awakening' (for enemies within 10 meters, quick movement, or lunge attacks). The goal is to always be in the appropriate stance intentionally, never accidentally.
Blade's primary weapons are his sword and shotgun pistol. The sword has a 4.5m reach and can hit multiple enemies, but the narrator rarely uses its basic attack outside of Bloodline Awakening. The shotgun pistol acts as a slug within 8m and buckshot beyond that, dealing significant damage especially with critical hits. The pistol is effective for softening up targets, picking off distant healers, and taking down flying enemies, but requires leading shots due to projectile travel time.
The 'Daywalker Dash' offers two charges, allowing a 15m lunge in any direction. It can be used for quick repositioning, escaping danger, or initiating combat. Dashing into an enemy deals 20 damage and disrupts their movement. A pistol-equipped dash deals additional damage and applies a 40% healing reduction debuff, useful for tanks. A sword-equipped dash delivers a flipping attack for 60 damage and a 1-second slow. The choice depends on the combat situation.
Bloodline Awakening is Blade's core offensive state. It grants increased movement speed, replaces the pistol with the sword, and builds attack speed stacks (up to 10) with each hit. Every five hits trigger a powerful whirlwind slash. Crucially, using the Daywalker Dash while in Bloodline Awakening grants five free stacks, significantly boosting initial attack speed and life steal. While active, Blade receives 40% less healing from external sources but gains 60% life steal from his damage, making aggressive play vital for survival. Remember to activate Bloodline Awakening for faster movement from spawn and deactivate it before picking up health packs.
Revisiting 'Scarlet Shroud', the parry has an energy bar, allowing a 2-second hold to block 80% damage. The 0.4-second perfect parry blocks all CC and movement. Blocking 200 damage refunds one dash charge, providing an escape mechanism for dire situations. It's crucial to face the enemy as parry only blocks frontal damage. Understanding enemy kits is key to timing parries effectively, such as against The Thing's haymaker, to gain advantage and reduce deaths. Note: Psylocke's ultimate cannot be damage-reduced by Blade's parry.
Blade's ultimate, 'Thousandfold Slash', is an anime-style dash that leaves a damage-dealing AoE field. It deals 100 damage on impact and 225 damage per second within the field, also applying a 20% incoming healing debuff. It lasts 2 seconds, making precise placement in choke points or in combo with immobilizing ultimates (Groot, Doctor Strange, The Thing) essential. Waiting one second after activation can extend the AoE tunnel from 10m to 25m, significantly increasing its effectiveness.
Blade's constant damage output leads to extremely fast ultimate charge, allowing for more frequent and opportunistic ultimate usage. In large brawls, prioritize enemy supports to minimize their healing potential and prevent them from charging ultimates. Blade should always be in Bloodline Awakening when within a support's healing ultimate for maximum DPS and survivability. Finally, use Blade's physical presence (body blocking) to control enemy movement, corner them, and deny escape or access to support.