Post by Shapey on Feb 28, 2023 19:22:22 GMT -5
Hello Champions! Today I continue my look into archetypes, and this time it features The Blade. This is the other melee damage available for all players as a part of the base game, and boy does it perform! Most people wouldn't give archetypes a second thought, much less one of the free ones, but The Blade packs one mean punch (not to be confused with The Fist)! So lets dive right in and see what the Blade is about.
The Blade comes as follows;
Super Stats
○ Dexterity (Primary, Level 6)
○ Strength (Level 10)
○ Recovery (Level 15)
○ The Blade Innate Trait (+10 Dex/Rec/Str, +8 End)
Powers
Energy Builder: Reaper's Touch (Innate)
Power 2: Reaper's Caress (Innate)
Power 3: Thunderbolt Lunge or Cut Down (Level 6)
Power 4: Way of the Warrior (Level 8)
Power 5: Scything Blade (Level 11)
Power 6: Form of the Swordsman (Level 14)
Power 7: Reaper's Embrace or Dragon's Bite (Level 17)
Power 8: Deflect (Level 21)
Power 9: Relentless (Level 25)
Power 10: Smoke Bomb or Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Level 30)
Power 11: Intensity or Masterful Dodge (Level 35)
Power 12: Shuriken Toss or Chained Kunai (Level 40)
Specializations
○ Dexterity (Level 10)
○ Brawler (Level 20)
○ Warden (Level 30)
○ Dexterity (Primary, Level 6)
○ Strength (Level 10)
○ Recovery (Level 15)
○ The Blade Innate Trait (+10 Dex/Rec/Str, +8 End)
Powers
Energy Builder: Reaper's Touch (Innate)
Power 2: Reaper's Caress (Innate)
Power 3: Thunderbolt Lunge or Cut Down (Level 6)
Power 4: Way of the Warrior (Level 8)
Power 5: Scything Blade (Level 11)
Power 6: Form of the Swordsman (Level 14)
Power 7: Reaper's Embrace or Dragon's Bite (Level 17)
Power 8: Deflect (Level 21)
Power 9: Relentless (Level 25)
Power 10: Smoke Bomb or Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Level 30)
Power 11: Intensity or Masterful Dodge (Level 35)
Power 12: Shuriken Toss or Chained Kunai (Level 40)
Specializations
○ Dexterity (Level 10)
○ Brawler (Level 20)
○ Warden (Level 30)
This one is a lot more monotone, sticking entirely to Martial Arts and primarily to Single Blade powers. Not necessarily a bad thing as Martial Arts in general tend to be great for dealing damage, and this one in particular employs a lot of bleeds, such being possibly the best stacking damage-over-time there is. So what about its power choices? This time I'll break down each power and how it's utilized by the AT, if at all, rather than only the options.
Reaper's Touch is the energy builder. Simple enough, generates your energy like every other, won't need it if you've built effectively.
Reaper's Caress is your combo. Not the strongest combo, but the Blade can get a lot of millage out of it; combined with form, you'll have a 50% chance on the first two steps to apply a stack of bleed and a 100% when you finish the combo. When using Reaper's Embrace, the more damage your combo does, the better your DPS will be. Also serves as a close-range AoE and your debuff applicator.
Thunderbolt Lunge or Cut Down; There isn't a whole lot of difference between these two, mostly just in what utility they bring. Thunderbolt Lunge is a flying kick lunge that can get an advantage to stun a target that isn't currently being Held, Cut Down is a single-blade dash that can get an advantage to apply Jinxed, which reduces the damage a target deals for a short time and knocks them down at the end of the duration. Both snare, both root when used from far enough. Choose for theme here.
Way of the Warrior is your Passive. Increases Melee damage and Bleed damage by a significant amount, other types of damage by a smaller amount, increasing your Dodge and Avoidance, and generating energy when an enemy Dodges your attacks. Always rank this up.
Scything Blade is your AoE and a tool, depending on your choices. A charge that hits 5 foes within a small sphere. One of, if not the only, source of Swallowtail Cut, an advantage that applies a damage-over-time that deals percentage damage, though cannot be applied to foes above the Villain rank. If you're using Dragon's Bite, this is also where you'd get your Shredded debuff refresh.
Form of the Swordsman is your toggle form. Gives a stacking damage buff and energy return every time you apply, rupture, or refresh a Bleed. Lasts 20 seconds, new stacks refresh the timer, but stacks can only be gained every 4 seconds. The damage buff and energy return scales with your Dexterity, so the more you have, the stronger your stacks and more energy you regain.
Reaper's Embrace or Dragon's Bite; This is where the Blade breaks off into two styles. Reaper's Embrace is a Bleed rupture power, dealing high damage on a charge and dealing another high amount of damage shortly after landing, depending on how many stacks of Bleed it consumes. If you fully charge it while your foe is affected by your debuff, Shredded, it'll also apply Open Wound, giving a per second chance to reapply a new stack of bleed. The No Mercy advantage changes up how this plays, consuming all types of Wounds (Bleed, Shredded, Swallowtail Cut, Open Wound, Deep Wound) to deal significant damage over a short period. Meanwhile, Dragon's Bite proves more simplistic, being a short charge that deals damage twice to your foe and refreshes the duration of your bleeds. While on paper it might not look like much, the speed of the power and its baked-in bleed refresh make it a strong choice. It isn't stronger than Reaper's Embrace in the end, but it does work better in more mob-clearing scenarios.
Deflect is your Block upgrade. When activated, it has a 2 second window that the first attacker gets a stack of Bleed applied to them, with a 5 second cooldown before that effect can be triggered again. It's otherwise an ordinary block upgrade. Recommended to rank to 3.
Relentless is your Energy Unlock. Whenever you score a critical hit on a Wounded enemy, you receive a buff lasting 6 seconds that grants energy every 3 seconds. The amount of energy scales on your Recovery. Scoring multiple critical hits while the buff is still up will refresh the duration, but you can only gain energy every 3 seconds.
Smoke Bomb or Bountiful Chi Resurgence; This is the same case scenario as the Unleashed where you're forced to choose between a threat wipe and HP sustain. If you plan to do endgame content, especially with Reaper's Embrace, you'll want to have Smoke Bomb to remove your threat. In other cases, Bountiful Chi Resurgence will help keep you alive without a healer, but it can't sustain you past a lot of pressure.
Intensity or Masterful Dodge; A proper Offensive cooldown versus Defensive cooldown. Intensity will increase your damage by a percentage and increase your Dexterity and Strength for the duration, both increased based on rank. Masterful Dodge significantly increases your Dodge and Avoidance for a time, making successful dodges heavily mitigate the damage you take. As you have 30% dodge from Rank 3 Way of the Warrior, it's easy to get 100% dodge from Masterful Dodge, guaranteeing significant damage mitigation for 15 seconds.
Shuriken Toss or Chained Kunai; A bit of a flavor choice to make here, but like the Unleashed, the most significant difference here is Chained Kunai having Restoration. Shuriken Toss is a simple ranged attack that deals minor damage from a distance to a single target and knocking them down. The knock down can only happen every 5 seconds. Shuriken Toss has access advantages that give it a chance to apply Bleed or Poison, so it is an option to apply stacks at a distance, but it being only a 10% chance, it'll drain energy far faster than you'll gain stacks. Chained Kunai is a knock-to on a short cooldown, primarily used as a utility given all its advantages. However, most of them require a full charge to do things that your kit either doesn't need or is covered elsewhere.
So clearly from the kit, you're meant to focus on wounding and scoring critical hits on foes. Whichever choice of powers you take, Shredded and five stacks of Bleed are vital for your damage. That all being said, how would I build The Blade? That depends on what I'd like my main damage to be, so I'll make two segments.
Note: Both playstyles will utilize the same talents and gear, so those segments will be included after Powers, Specializations, and Gameplans.
Style RE:
Powers
Energy Builder: Reaper's Touch
Power 2: Reaper's Caress (Rank 2, Cleaving Strikes, Accelerated Metabolism)
Power 3: Cut Down (Delayed Attack)
Power 4: Way of the Warrior (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Power 5: Scything Blade (Rank 2, Swallowtail Cut)
Power 6: Form of the Swordsman
Power 7: Reaper's Embrace (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Power 8: Deflect (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Power 9: Relentless
Power 10: Smoke Bomb
Power 11: Masterful Dodge (Rank 2, Unchained)
Power 12: Chained Kunai (Inner Peace, Nailed to the Ground)
Specializations
Dexterity
Energy Builder: Reaper's Touch
Power 2: Reaper's Caress (Rank 2, Cleaving Strikes, Accelerated Metabolism)
Power 3: Cut Down (Delayed Attack)
Power 4: Way of the Warrior (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Power 5: Scything Blade (Rank 2, Swallowtail Cut)
Power 6: Form of the Swordsman
Power 7: Reaper's Embrace (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Power 8: Deflect (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Power 9: Relentless
Power 10: Smoke Bomb
Power 11: Masterful Dodge (Rank 2, Unchained)
Power 12: Chained Kunai (Inner Peace, Nailed to the Ground)
Specializations
Dexterity
○ Gear Utilization (3/3)
○ Power Swell (2/2)
○ Deadly Aim (3/3)
○ Expose Weakness (2/2)
Brawler
○ The Glory of Battle (1/3)
○ Penetrating Strikes (2/2)
○ Ruthless (2/2)
○ Setup (2/2)
○ Flanking (3/3)
Warden
○ Fortified Gear (3/3)
○ Slaughter (3/3)
○ Ruthless (2/2)
○ Elusive (2/2)
Warden Mastery
Gameplan
With Reaper's Embrace, your goal is to get to 5 stacks of bleed as quickly as possible to use it to its maximum potential. There is a trick to it, however; in single target scenarios, the optimal means is to use your Combo 3 times, fully charge Reaper's Embrace, use your combo 3 times again, then tap Reaper's Embrace, repeating that cycle until the target is finished. Against trash mobs, you'll want to hit as many targets as you can with Scything Blade, or your combo if all the targets are grouped together. Swallowtail Cut will help bleed out lesser mooks. When in trouble, use Chained Kunai for restoration and Smoke Bomb as an escape route, or activate Masterful Dodge to get out of any holds and heavily reduce the damage you take so you have a chance to recover some.
Style DB:
Powers
Energy Builder: Reaper's Touch
Power 2: Reaper's Caress (Rank 2, Cleaving Strikes)
Power 3: Cut Down (Delayed Attack)
Power 4: Way of the Warrior (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Power 5: Scything Blade (Rank 2, Messy)
Power 6: Form of the Swordsman
Power 7: Dragon's Bite (Rank 2, Rank 3, Accelerated Metabolism)
Power 8: Deflect (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Power 9: Relentless
Power 10: Smoke Bomb
Power 11: Masterful Dodge (Rank 2, Unchained)
Power 12: Chained Kunai (Inner Peace, Nailed to the Ground)
Specializations
Dexterity
○ Gear Utilization (3/3)
○ Power Swell (2/2)
○ Deadly Aim (3/3)
○ Expose Weakness (2/2)
Brawler
○ The Glory of Battle (1/3)
○ Penetrating Strikes (2/2)
○ Ruthless (2/2)
○ Finishing Blow (2/2)
○ Flanking (3/3)
Warden
○ Fortified Gear (3/3)
○ Slaughter (3/3)
○ Ruthless (2/2)
○ Elusive (2/2)
Dexterity Mastery
Energy Builder: Reaper's Touch
Power 2: Reaper's Caress (Rank 2, Cleaving Strikes)
Power 3: Cut Down (Delayed Attack)
Power 4: Way of the Warrior (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Power 5: Scything Blade (Rank 2, Messy)
Power 6: Form of the Swordsman
Power 7: Dragon's Bite (Rank 2, Rank 3, Accelerated Metabolism)
Power 8: Deflect (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Power 9: Relentless
Power 10: Smoke Bomb
Power 11: Masterful Dodge (Rank 2, Unchained)
Power 12: Chained Kunai (Inner Peace, Nailed to the Ground)
Specializations
Dexterity
○ Gear Utilization (3/3)
○ Power Swell (2/2)
○ Deadly Aim (3/3)
○ Expose Weakness (2/2)
Brawler
○ The Glory of Battle (1/3)
○ Penetrating Strikes (2/2)
○ Ruthless (2/2)
○ Finishing Blow (2/2)
○ Flanking (3/3)
Warden
○ Fortified Gear (3/3)
○ Slaughter (3/3)
○ Ruthless (2/2)
○ Elusive (2/2)
Dexterity Mastery
Gameplan
With Dragon's Bite, you'll want to use your combo enough times to apply 5 stacks of Bleed and get Shredded active on the target, at which point you'll use Dragon's Bite repeatedly, only stopping to tap Scything Blade in order to refresh Shredded when it's at 5 seconds left of its duration. If you're in a large fight and can't keep track of your own Shredded, I find counting the amount of Dragon's Bites you can do before needing to refresh helpful. In AoE situations, much like above, you'll want to use Scything Blade and your Combo, but when there's less targets, you can finish things with Dragon's Bite instead. Refer to the other gameplan for what to do when in trouble.
Travel Powers
Player's choice. Just make sure to rank it up to 3.
Gear
Starting:
○ Critical Severity Primary Offense with Dexterity mods and a Gambler's Lucky Gem
○ Greater Health Primary Defense with Dexterity mods and a Growth Amulet
○ Efficiency Primary Utility with Dexterity mods and a Gambler's Lucky Gem
○ +20 Rec/+47 Crit Secondary Offense (Transgression Belt), +20/20 Rec/Str Secondary Defense/Utility (Warlord's)
Ending:
○ Distinguished Offense Gloves with Dexterity mods and Soviet Guard's Resolution mods.
○ Distinguished Freedom Armor with Dexterity mods and Growth Amulets
○ Distinguished Efficiency Helm with Dexterity mods, Jack Fool's Blade, and a Gambler's Lucky Gem
○ Onslaught Gloves of the Slicer with a Dex/Rec mod (Critical Determination Belt if not applicable)
○ Onslaught Tights of Fitness with a Dex/Rec mod (Armored Heart of Determination if not applicable)
○ Onslaught Efficiency Helm with a Dex/Rec mod (Bolstering Eyepiece of Determination if not applicable)
Player's choice. Just make sure to rank it up to 3.
Gear
Starting:
○ Critical Severity Primary Offense with Dexterity mods and a Gambler's Lucky Gem
○ Greater Health Primary Defense with Dexterity mods and a Growth Amulet
○ Efficiency Primary Utility with Dexterity mods and a Gambler's Lucky Gem
○ +20 Rec/+47 Crit Secondary Offense (Transgression Belt), +20/20 Rec/Str Secondary Defense/Utility (Warlord's)
Ending:
○ Distinguished Offense Gloves with Dexterity mods and Soviet Guard's Resolution mods.
○ Distinguished Freedom Armor with Dexterity mods and Growth Amulets
○ Distinguished Efficiency Helm with Dexterity mods, Jack Fool's Blade, and a Gambler's Lucky Gem
○ Onslaught Gloves of the Slicer with a Dex/Rec mod (Critical Determination Belt if not applicable)
○ Onslaught Tights of Fitness with a Dex/Rec mod (Armored Heart of Determination if not applicable)
○ Onslaught Efficiency Helm with a Dex/Rec mod (Bolstering Eyepiece of Determination if not applicable)
Other Notes
The Blade gears the exact same way as the Unleashed does, but it'll need a lot more help from the gear since it doesn't have access to a barrier. This is yet another glass cannon, so be careful when engaging groups; use recovery devices where applicable, don't be afraid to use your cooldown. Style RE will have a moderate amount more DPS than Style DB, but they otherwise don't have a lot of differences, so it might not warrant having two Blades just to try both. Be sure to stick to the back of your target as much as possible to utilize Flanking.
Overall, my opinion of the Blade is that it is the strongest free Archetype anyone could play, but it's also the most vulnerable. As long as you mind your HP, you can deal as much damage as a lot of Freeforms do, making this an excellent AT.
As before and always, thank you for reading.