BLADEMASTER guide

ok guys, since everyone's doing a blademaster these days, i'm gonna make ONE guide for special chaotic dragons out there...

First of all, blademaster dmg is more about high dmg output with normal hits than "nukes" which we will talk more about later.

So, to get started, go to the dojo, fight the career advisor that looks just like me and get a swan feather sword from the weapon store. Blademasters are supposed to wear leather armor, but u can use heavy armor and shields in the beginning as well (if u have the skill).

Blademaster needs the following skills to be efficent dmg dealer in boss fights, and solo.

Beastials:

there's 2 main paths to become a sword swinger, the first one is called wolf-build, this build is based on getting your attackspeed as high as possible, personally i think it's mostly a bit fancy, and using wolf buff on my blademaster feels like slapping the things with a dead fish instead of making high dmg with the dragon build. Someone also made a graph comparing the 2 builds and he came into the conclusion that around 13 ish asp you will make higher dps with the dragon build, which was my opinion from the start. I've also noticed that aspd has a downside to it, so the smaller the number is in total, the more difference it makes, like from 0 to 10 is huge difference compared to 10 - 20. Also, saber buffs (such as phoenix song, dragon's call and howling wolf) don't stack at all, so you can only pick one.
I'm listing here the skills for dragon build, if you want to make a wolf build, just replace the reptile skills with wolf.

Beastial skill tree:

GROWLING TIGER lvl 5 - ROARING LION (felines)
Growling tiger is the skill that will get aggro nulled and cast a "fear" effect on the monster, making it wander around and only randomly hit back if attacked first. Very essential for soloing 1 vs 1 since it gives you a huge advantage on monsters. Also if you're doing a slim and agile build, you'll find out that lvl 5 tiger's growl is almost enough to keep monster stunned constantly, thus giving you totally free hands in one on one. Also tiger's growl slows other ppl down on arena and in pvp so you can escape if you are on cd with skills. Very usefull skill when fighting mobs bigger than you. Roaring lion is the fastest stun in game, and it's ment for knocking down opponents in pvp, but it also works as a short stun in fighting solo. Useful skills both.

HAIR RAISING HISS lvl 5 - DRAGON'S CALL lvl c/max

Hair raising hiss is another skill you will check as "usefull" on your skills list, since it lower's the opponents defenses, and also it cancels any defence buff casted on the opponent. After lvl 5 it starts to lower % of the total defence (+canceling the def buffs) so it's also usefull in pvp, thus making it possible killing MAs and other pvp tankers. it goes all the way up to 13 if you're making a duel build, but as in DPS build we leave it at 5 to save points.
Dragon's call is the ultimate rage buff for making more dmg on normal attacks. It doesn't affect your "attack" stat on the status chart, but in the description you can see how much it adds the dmg on your normal hits. it also makes you hit better, thus making it very usefull in fighting mobs that are higher lvl than you. Also adds critical attack.

MENACING MOO lvl 5 - GRIZZLING BEAR max

These are the nukes of beastial side, the moo-skill isn't to be underestimated, it has the relatively high dmg on impact + poison effect that can cover regenerations in higher lvls. And we need for getting the bear skill. Also note that menacing moo is something that a rpg-player would call "breath weapon" so you need resistances against it, rather than defences. I've noticed domo makes differences between the lashing, piercing and crushing type of attacks, so it might be that moo is actually efficent attack against armored moles you will be dealing with in pvp. I use it as a spare nuke or regen blocker in pve. Grizzling bear is a heavy crushing strike that is hard to hit on low lvl but after you lvl it you can kill enemies with low defense on one hit, definetly one of the strongest nukes in game, cause it also, like all the beastials has 0,1 0,2 seconds casting time and very high dmg.

i hope i didn't miss anything.. no.. i don't think i did.. that's all the beastials you will need for max dmg.

MARTYR ARTS:
these are the highly valuated skills for any physic class that wishes to make high dmg
only downside is that when lvld high they WILL hurt yourself too and especially on other classes than BM you won't be able to hold up with just your natural regeneration so healing skill is needed. MA:s tranguil turtle is enough to cover even the higher lvl of these skills, but regeneration 10 is a bit too low...

MANIAC ATTACK lvl 5 - DOUBLE EDGED SWORD
these are the frenzy attacks of the blademaster, maniac attack is the final single attack on my skill tab, so i only use it if i'm desperate. It's not only the weakest nuke but it depletes the weapon's durability so eventually you want to be very careful using this with your golded nine rings. I got one lvl of double edged sword to safe my musicians and healers when they get into trouble, it's perfect mob controlling for blades, and a high dmg aoe too, if you lvl it higher it will outdmg any other physical aoe, but has a long CD... in my build you won't have enough skill points to max it, but it's really worth concideration if you try making your own. Leave it to lvl 1 or drop it out completely and lvl maniac.

BERSERKER'S BLOW max- MINDLESS SLAUGHTER max
your berserking skills. mainly, what it means is that berserker blow, while being a little sluggy with 0 agility will hit almost every time, and is the most accurate and definetly strongest nuke on the first pages. Actually you can compare this to the T2 skills and it will be around the dmg they do when maxed up to your lvl. I love this skill and it only costs a small amount of hp so use it every time. it developes into the second heavy nuke of blademaster called MINDLESS SLAUGHTER that is similar to the bear strike from beastials and will hit same amount of dmg, AND it has a chance to crit on players making very high dmg, also 0,2 casting time with small amount of agi. Relatively short CDs on both skills, definetly worth getting. If you don't want the nukes from beastials you should still get these as they will be very usefull in your burst (which we will talk more about later).

LASH OUT lvl 5 - SNEAK ATTACK lvl 1 (max)
These are the speed buffs of blademaster. you will need lvl 5 lash out and some agility to get constant attackspeed. (some meaning you can have 40 agility in your build to make the builds constant overall)
Sneak attack is the fearsome pvp skill you will use to crush your opponents down with a fierce rushing attack from long distance. It's almost unblockable without a skilled duelist who knows how to step back and use stuns on you, with a little practise or using hypno you can use this skill to get initial attack in every pvp match. Very usefull and one of the skills we will definetly want for PVP also maxes at lvl 1.

FOCUS - CONCENTRATION
the HIT-boosters of blademaster. Very usefull, focus has the same CD as lash out so you will want lvl 5 for attacking mobs higher than your lvl, it also adds dmg into piercing and lashing attacks, such as berserker's blow and maniac attack. And overall dmg rate a bit when the "half" hits are reduced from your DPS. use it together with lash out to get a constant buff.
Concentration is a PVP skill that you will want to use in your rushing charges, makes you hit almos everything with your skills when maxed adds 20 mag acc to your status.
But we will have to drop this from our DPS build since i did springs and you probrably didn't so you won't have the 4 skill points to make it lvl 2. You will want this to your final build anyway.. Good skills.

BURNING RAGE lvl 5 - ALL OUT ASSAULT max
these three skills will build your DPS buff from the martyr arts, lash out, focus and all out assault. First you will want to use burning rage until you get the all out assault skill but leave it to lvl 5 since it will not significally change after that and is a bit lousy attack buff overall. It gives something like 17 attack + 10% at lvl 5.. You will want to use burning rage to boost your attack in duels but and bursts.. That's about it.
Get all out assault to boost your DPS to the top, it, together with dragon's call will be the final DPS buffs you use when fighting bosses. They add roughly 100% to your attack so you will definetly SEE and FEEL the difference in between 700dmg and 2500dmg hits. All out has 2 downsides, first of all, using nukes when this buff is on becomes useless, cause they will hit the same as your critical attack (about 1/10 of the normal skill dmg) and it can get very hard to keep your health up when using high lvl of this buff. The dexcription says it will only hurt 75hp but this is in reality meaning 75 ho / tick and on lvl 8 it will be almost constant but very painfull drain in HP. very important skill nevertheless, and you will find many uses for this with physical attack classes.

STATUS BUILD(S)
First of all, the FULL POWER BLADEMASTER is something you will at least want to try one time in your life. It will make so much dmg when buffed that you won't want to compare it to any other class at all. -BUT- full power meaning you got the min amount of DEX and AGI will make it relatively slow and clumsy. U can still use full power status with this skill build and it WILL make sexy dmg output, but fail in having gaps between the buffs and slow casting times.

40 agi 40 dex (rest power)
this is close to the status build i use myself, i have constant dps buffs and i don't miss at all, when buffed. Also i can PVP with this status set and still make very high dmg. Also i'm still evasive with this status build and onyxed shoes. This build works the best for me, since it's a bit more comfortable when it comes to casting and buffing. You could also say 40 dex is the minimum for attacking higher lvl mobs or another players since your will miss a lot more there.

2 power 1 dex
this is the status build you will want to use on low lvl when developing blademaster, until you get 40 dex. Just get the occasional agi point every now and then to make it move perkier.

ABOUT THE FIGHTING STYLES ON BLADEMASTER
When you're using my "dragon"-build you will find that there's 2 kinds of attacking styles you will be able to master. BURSTS and DPS. Using these together mainly clicks into the all out assault buff that makes the difference between the 2.
BURSTING: means that you will buff BURNING RAGE, SNEAK ATTACK and CONCENTRATION and make an attack at your opponent using all of your nuking skills, in this order: tiger's growl - hair raising hiss - menacing moo - grizzling bear - mindless slaughter - berserker's blow - (maniac attack - double bladed sword) - roaring lion.
When the opponent is stunned by your roar, you use the time to buff your DPS, with lash out - focus - and all out assault and attack your opponent with dragon's call and tiger's growl (every time they wear out, recast) and then keep beating it until your all out assault wears out, in which point you make another burst and so on...
Just remember not to go bursting with all out assault since it will make no good in dmg, besides all out will only have a gap with enough time for one burst until you need to buff it again and start over with DPS.

You will also want to try using all beastials when in DPS mode, or dropping some of them in exchange for dmg rate but dragon's call and tiger's growl are going to be the most important beastials here. You will still take a small amount of hits every now and then but get a major advantage in general. Just remember that using tiger's growl will also make the monster uncontrollable by mock or taunt, so it will attack occasionally on whoever makes a hit on it. Also using a high lvl moo will slow down regeneration and hiss will lower defence... Like you already know.

WEAPONS OF THE BLADEMASTER
are obviously: sabers. In domo they are, for some reason called swords, and sabers. But they are, outcounting the scarlets blade, very much sabers, with one edge and a curve.
Using a normal blademaster saber has an attackspeed penalty, and if you're using my build you will notice that 1 attackspeed makes a significant difference in your DPS, so you will find out that the lvl 33 and 53 sabers are the final solution for your weapons. Upgrade the lvl 53 nine rings once and gold it, and you will have your ultimate weapon.
using platinum and golden sabers may be fancy for the 4 attackspeed, and if you got the gold you might wanna try them, but in general, i've decided to leave those weapons for the ppl that fancy making "attackspeedbuilds" and such. We who want max dmg will find the nine rings best for our uses. Also get a bonecrusher if you want pvp it's the strongest weapon in game when upgraded and golded. In early times you will want to use chef's knives and sabers to make more dmg, but the scarlet blade will be your final solution for dmg rate. No doubt. Only difficult to find one on market now, but i will make one for you if you provide me with materials. I think 2 green powder, 1 violet and a split bamboo will be it...

blademaster also makes good use of a bow, if you have the skill. 4 lvls of mastery will do.

(also if you like lvling in teams, you will find using a fencer weapon very convinient. BM can sub elemental attacks and 4 lvls of mastery from fencer and still use the power build, with peach wood sword and ying yang saber, that are both based on high physical attack. Works very good in aoe teams of any kind.)

GEAR:
We dicussed about the armor of blademaster earlier, and like i noted, blademasters use light armor for some extra attack and no aspeed penalties. But light armor tends to be soft so you will be more frail with it. SO. If you want to fight high lvl bosses and such you will want to consider using the mercs skills for a shield and heavy armor. In general, blademaster should have no problems using a merc sub with a spear to form your team and shield + heavy armor to sustain some dmg. HA doesn't have any special downsides on BM except it slows you down a tiny bit and doesn't have the small attack boost in it.

FINALLY a more clear skill build for check ups at later times...

BEASTIALS:

page 1
Tiger's growl - lvl 5
hair raising hiss - lvl 5
menacing moo - lvl 5

page 2
roaring lion - max
dragon's call - max
grizzling bear - max


MARTYR ARTS:

page 1
maniac attack - lvl 5
berserker's blow - max
lash out - lvl 5
burning rage - lvl 5
focus - lvl 5

page 2
double bladed sword - lvl 1
mindless slaughter - max
sneak attack - max (lvl1)
concentration - (max with springs)

PASSIVES:
get the slaying skill for mmaxing DPS dmg, if you have the points.

STATUS BUILD:
2 power 1 dex/agi


that's all, hope you will have nice time lvling your blades.