Introduction
Discover everything you need to know about Blade in Marvel Rivals, including his abilities and gameplay mechanics.
Blade in Marvel Rivals is a Duelist and has a switching playstyle that moves between his ancestral sword and shotgun pistol. While the sword does rapid strikes against a target at close range, the Shotgun Pistol deals pot shots against targets at moderate range. Playing Blade is about getting as much damage off as you can from a moderate distance.
This newest hero also adds a new mechanic to the game, which is heal block. This reduces incoming healing by a percent for a short period of time, allowing the Blade to be a specialist at taking down priority targets. With the arrival of Blade in Marvel Rivals, the meta shift has totally changed due to unique abilities and gameplay strategies. In this guide, we’ll discuss how Blade works in Marvel Rivals and some useful tips and tricks.
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Blade Overview in Marvel Rivals
Blade is the newest Duelist in Marvel Rivals, and what he provides to the team is incredibly unique. Instead of running in with his sword, he actually uses his shotgun like a blaster from mid-range to weaken targets before going in for an execution. You need to hit a headshot and then switch to your sword to dash at your enemies and then duel them.
Blade also has anti-heal capabilities; it really isn’t as strong as you think without a good team and solid communication. If you want to pull out your sword and slay, then Blade isn’t your character.
All Blade Abilities in Marvel Rivals
Below are all the Blade’s abilities in Marvel Rivals.
- Ancestral Sword – Provides infinite ammo for close-range slashes and deals solid melee damage.
- Hunter’s Shotgun – A secondary weapon that fires explosive fragmentation rounds, allowing the Blade to eliminate enemies easily.
- Daywalker Dash – Blade dashes forward while shooting at enemies upon impact and applying a Healing Reduction.
- Scarlet Shroud – Blade uses his Ancestral Sword to become unstoppable for a short time, providing crowd control immunity.
- Bloodline Awakening – Provides damage reduction for a short period while blocking. Uses the sword for a spin attack to deal damage.
- Thousand-Fold Slash – Charged dash that deals continuous damage with his sword to enemies.
Ancestral Sword (Left Click Ability)
Blade swings his sword in a one-two-one combo. The entire combo deals 92 damage with two sword strikes every second. At the base level, the sword is only dealing 44 damage per second. So, you don’t want to use the sword unless you’re in your blood rage form. The sword does cleave, though. If you’re in a situation where you’re getting surrounded, pulling the sword is okay, but you must have blood rage form.
Hunter’s Shotgun (Left Click Ability)
The shotgun fires a projectile with a straight trajectory that does not fall, which will later break into shrapnel after traveling 8m. This weapon has two different fall-off ranges in the game. It does very low damage from 5 to 8m. Past 8m, it begins to increase damage dealt, maxing out at about 15m distance. After that, it begins falling off again, getting to the point that it deals almost no damage past 30.
This is the weapon that you need to use at moderate range at all times. If you’re ever too close to the target, you’re switching over to sword mode. The further back you get, the more they spread out, and the less likely every shot hit the target you’re aiming at. This means that the damage of this is actually pretty decent at long ranges. Using the shotgun gives a very devastating and quick double head tap onto a lot of targets.
Daywalker Dash (Left Shift)
His left shift is a short-range dash into knockback onto a target, and then it has follow-up mechanics depending on which weapon you have equipped. If you have the sword equipped, it does a spinning cartwheel strike that puts a slow on target hits. However, if you have a shotgun equipped, it applies a healing block. This reduces the healing taken by the target by 40% for 2 seconds.
The time doesn’t seem like a lot of time, but it is the opportunity you are going to need to be able to take down priority targets. This will feel weird because you do the quick dash into the shot with the shotgun, then you want to switch over to your sword mode. This allows you to start slashing the target at close range because you’ve gotten too close that your shotgun’s not really being that effective.
Scarlet Shroud (Right Click Ability)
Scarlet Shroud is his block ability that allows the Blade to parry attacks thrown his way, reducing all incoming damage by 80%. This is strong enough for him to completely tank even Iron Man’s ultimate. The block has an energy bar that dictates how long you were able to hold the guard for. The guard lasts two seconds long in total and takes 8 seconds to fully charge back up.
You can also just flash the block instead of holding it to avoid wasting energy. Blade can even flash the block while weaving in shotgun shots with no loss in damage output. For the first half second of that parry, you will be immune to all crowd-controlling abilities like knockbacks and stuns.
Bloodline Awakening (E Ability)
Blade pulls out his sword when this ability is activated, allowing him to move 1.5 m/s faster. Suffers from 40% reduced healing, but gains access to 60% life steal with all of the damage he does. Each time Blade hits a target, he is granted a stack with a maximum of 10 that buffs his sword swing speed. Each stack gives you a 10% boost to your attack speed, totaling to double your attack speed at 10 stacks.
As you attack while in this mode, that indicator in the center of your screen builds up charges. The longer you maintain this mode, the more you’re going to be shredding enemies in your area. It’s a good AoE attack with lots of damage around you.
Thousand-Fold Slash (Q Ability)
Upon activating this ability, you get some sick beats and begin charging up. On release, you will dash forward, leaving a path behind you that slashes the target and applies that 40% heal block to all targets that enter the zone. The longer you charge this ability, the further you go, up to about 25 m, where an instant tap of this ability only goes about 12 m.
You need to decide whether the value of getting this ability off quickly but a smaller area or charging it up for a larger area. The longer Blade holds the dash, the further the dash will go, with the distance maxing out after 1 second. You will know when the distance is maxed when his sword flashes. If you hit the target directly with the dash, they will take 100 damage, while the spell after deals 550 damage over 2 seconds. The alt also applies a 20% healing reduction to any enemies hit, which might sound like a lot.
How to Counter Blade in Marvel Rivals
Groot can be really annoying to play into at face value because he can wall off your ultimate, stopping it all altogether. However, you can actually build stacks in the blood rage form off of his walls. Emma can also be incredibly annoying for you to deal with since she is just broken in general. You can block her choke slam onto you or a teammate by parrying it.
Blade has a great matchup against pretty much every single tank for the most part due to his parrying ability. The main tank match-up he really struggles with is The Thing because he can slam the ground and cancel your dashes. Staying further away and shooting him with your blaster is your best bet before you go for an engagement. Johnny is also annoying to play against since he is agile, and he can play outside of your 15m dash range.
Blade Synergies
Magneto and Emma are the top picks with Blade. They have been the best duo in terms of tanks for a while now, but Emma is getting banned in almost every single game. Blade with Groot is also good since he can alt with Groot’s alt, and it will eliminate the entire enemy team with the click of one button. Just make sure the enemy team doesn’t have an Atom lurking in the shadows.
For DPS, anything that deals sustained damage over time is really strong with Blade. Characters like Bucky, Phoenix, and Punisher come to mind and synergize really well with the type of playstyle Blade has.
Tips and Tricks For Blade in Marvel Rivals
Here are the best tips and tricks for Blade in Marvel Rivals.
- Make sure to use the shotgun to weaken enemies from a distance before dashing in to apply healing reduction.
- When the fight goes poorly, you need to keep one dash charge to disengage.
- Aim to land the healing reduction from your shotgun dash.
- Use the ultimate when the enemy has burned their mobility and crowd control.
- Partner up with Groot’s ability or Doctor Strange’s zoning tools to lock down enemies with your ultimate.
- Use his Hunter’s Shotgun to poke enemies and apply healing reduction. After that, switch to his sword to deal heavy melee attacks.
Conclusion
Blade in Marvel Rivals is a versatile Duelist who excels at applying healing reduction, shredding enemies in close combat, and creating high-pressure plays with his unique mix of sword and shotgun abilities. With proper synergy and timing, Blade can easily turn the tide of battle and secure victory for his team.
FAQs for Blade in Marvel Rivals
What is the role of Blade in Marvel Rivals?
Blade in Marvel Rivals is a Duelist, and his role is to deal significant damage to opponents.
Which Hero Works Well with Blade?
Groot and Emma Frost are the two heroes who work best with Blade due to their ultimate combos and tank-deleting capabilities.
Is Blade a Good Hero to Choose?
Yes, Blade is an excellent hero choice in Marvel Rivals due to his insane damage output in close-range combat.