Stellaron Hunters are dominating the banner release schedules for Honkai Star Rail, with Blade being the latest member set to release on July 19, 2023. The HoYoverse seems to be pulling out all the stops to hype up his arrival, as it recently did a giveaway for a Blade character badge and stand on social media. Everything about Blade, from his looks and story to his path and combat type, exudes cool. As such, it’s no surprise that players are racking up their Honkai Star Rail Passes for a chance to pull him.
Fans may have already expected his arrival, as the game also gave an early look at his character design in the “Nightmare” cinematic, which was shown during Gamescom 2022. Blade was also part of the Honkai Star Rail Version 1.2 banner leaks back in early June, which not only revealed his release schedule but also his full skill set. Meanwhile, a recently-posted trailer entitled “Death Approaches” showed a glimpse of his capabilities and background, as well as his shared history with an Astral Express crew member.
Honkai Star Rail: Blade’s Skill Set Explained
Honkai Star Rail's Blade is a Destruction character that uses Wind as his combat type, making him a great bruiser character. This means that he can deal good damage, but he also has some tools to keep himself alive. However, Blade is on the more aggressive side of the spectrum, since most of his abilities consume HP.
Blade is a five-star Honkai Star Rail character with a unique and powerful set of skills. His enhanced basic attack, called Forest of Shadows, deals damage to a target and adjacent enemies based on his attack stat and maximum HP. Blade's skill is aptly named Hellscape, and it causes him to consume his health to increase his overall damage, and his sword turns into its Forest of Shadows form for a few turns. His ultimate, Death Sentence, halves his HP to deal a devastating blow to an enemy and adjacent targets. Attack and total HP lost also add to this move’s damage.
Shuhu’s Gift is Blade’s talent, and it adds a stack of charge every time Blade’s HP gets reduced. He does a follow-up attack and recovers some HP when he reaches the maximum stacks. His technique, on the other hand, consumes some of his HP to immediately attack an enemy after entering battle. As for Blade’s bonus abilities, they’re a mix of self-healing and follow-up attack damage boosts.
An Overview of Blade’s Lore So Far in Honkai Star Rail
Blade is loyal to Elio, Destiny’s Slave, just like his fellow Stellaron Hunter Kafka. According to the game’s official lore, Blade is an adept swordsman who abandoned his life to become a living weapon. His self-healing bonus abilities and use of HP to enhance his basic attacks and skills suggest that he could also be a vampire of some sort. The official description of Blade also stated that, like his cracked and weathered sword, his mind and body have also deteriorated throughout the years.
Blade also has a history with one of the game’s protagonists, Dan Heng. The latter dreamed about Blade in the Nightmare cinematic. In it, Dan Heng dreams of Blade telling him and Jing Yuan that they must pay a price. What the price is and what the two did to earn Blade's attention are still unknown. Blade’s Death Approaches trailer shows him being hunted by guards who want to apprehend him, dead or alive. Jing Yuan and Jingliu also make an appearance. In the final sequence of the trailer, Blade says he’ll continue to pursue Dan Heng until his sin is cleansed. This all suggests that Dan Heng may be on the Astral Express to escape Blade’s clutches. With Blade’s powerful arsenal of skills and his terrifying ability to heal himself, any enemy of his would be wise to run away.
Honkai Star Rail is available now for Mobile and PC, with a PS5 version in development.