Blade is the newest 5-star character on the block in patch 1.2, and he is an absolute beast. This edgelord has some serious bite to him, and he’s made it to the top of our Honkai: Star Rail character rankings thanks to his incredibly high AOE damage output. If you missed out on the other top damage dealer in the game, Seele, you should seriously consider using your Rail Passes on Blade. If you do pull Blade in Honkai: Star Rail, he needs a very specific type of team composition to be at his best, as outlined in our guide, as well as the right kind of build which we’ll cover here.
How to Build Blade into an AOE Damage King in Honkai: Star Rail
Blade has a unique build requirement to function at his strongest thanks to his damage scaling heavily with both HP and Attack. You need to have a good balance between the two, alongside a good Crit ratio to maximize the damage you can get out of Blade.
Best Relic Sets
The new Longevous Disciple set from the new Cavern of Corrosion is the perfect Relic set for Blade. Its two-piece set bonus increases HP by 12%, which offers a nice increase to Blade’s damage output. The four-piece set bonus allows Blade to gain stacks of Crit Rate when he loses HP, meaning Blade will have a high uptime on the extra 16% Crit Rate as he’ll be taking plenty of damage consistently.
For the Planetary Relic set, you’ll want to go with the Inert Salsotto. This set works perfectly with Blade because the largest portion of his damage comes from passive follow-up attacks and with enough Crit Rate, this set will boost his damage by 15%, which is pretty huge.
Best Relic Stats
For the implicit stats on the Longevous Disciple set, you’ll want Crit Rate on your body if you’re under 50%, otherwise Crit Damage is the best here. For boots, you’ll want to get HP% as it will add the most damage. For the Inert Falsetto set you’ll want either Wind Damage% or HP% on the Planar Sphere, both are equally good. Lastly, you’ll want to get HP% on the Link Rope.
For sub-stats, the priority is as follows: Crit Rate (up to 50%) > Crit Damage > HP% > Attack% > Flat HP > Speed > Flat Attack.
Best Light Cone
The best Light Cone for Blade is, predictably, his 5-star Light Cone, The Unreachable Side. Most players won’t have or obtain this, so luckily there is a very good 4-star alternative. That Light Cone, A Secret Vow, provides only slightly less of a damage boost. If you have this Light Cone, Blade will be happy, and he will certainly appreciate any Superimposition to increase the bonuses of it as well.
That covers it for the best build for Blade in Honkai: Star Rail, hopefully you have good luck with your pulls if you’re trying to obtain him. If you do land him, make sure you try this build so that he can become the absolute weapon that he is.