Blade’s build guide

Role

Eric Brooks aka Blade immediately became my favorite companion in both combat and hanging out. It is maybe because the life of Blade and Hunter are similar in many ways or because Blade never makes small talk. He is always on point and with him, there is only action without meaningless delaying the inevitable.

Blade is in constant fear that his monster nature will prevail over his humanity. This constant struggle draws out the best in him, shaping him into a true Champion of Light. Even though his actions are Dark by nature, when Dark is used against Dark to help the Light, it is no longer Dark.

At some point, Blade will make a Book readers Club where Captain Marvel, Captain America, Wolverine, and Hunter will talk about books in order to use their wisdom in the fight against Lilith. Some Content Creators used this to hate the story in the game because in their opinion it is not normal for Blade to read books or for Wolverine to watch birds.

In my opinion, it is quite the opposite. Using Sun Tzu’s infinite wisdom to overcome the enemy and explaining that to others it is a true Superhero act that is strange only for those who are only satisfied when everything is fast, easy, and immediately understandable.

In combat, Blade is a pure damage dealer and probably the best help you can have in the early stages of the game (especially on higher difficulties). His damage potential is insane, and he is equally useful against all kinds of enemies throughout the entire game.

Best Build

Attack

• Quick Strike
• Strike
• Strike
• Reaper

Skill

• Make’em Bleed
• The Hunger

Heroic

• Savage
• Glaive/Stake (if you don’t have a Legendary Card)

Skill Cards

Blade has 2 different Skill cards, and both are essential for him.

“Make’em Bleed” provides 2 Heroism, draws 2 Balde cards, and grants 2 Bleed on the next 3 Blade’s damaging Card. Without this card, Blade is an ordinary hero with slightly increased damage. He has a chance to passively place Bleed on enemies, but that chance is small and useless even on a maximum Friendship level.

That is why it is not recommendable that Blade uses any of his abilities before this card is activated. Knowing that this card will not be available always you may consider putting 2 of those on your deck, just in case. I did not suggest that in the Best Build proposition, but if you do that you will not make a mistake, on the contrary.

“The Hunger” provides 1 Heroism, places 2 Marked on each enemy with Bleed, and heals Blade for a moderate amount for each Bleed (approximately 4 Bleeds in total = full healing). This card is free, and you will not use Card Play after using it. This card is insane but in order to be effective, affected enemies must be affected with Bleed. Knowing that it is clear that having the “Make’em Bleed” card activated first is of utmost importance.

Attack Cards

Blade has 4 different Attack Cards. Each of them can be really useful but unfortunately, there are not enough slots in the deck for using them all.

“Quick Strike” grants 1 Heroism and causes minor damage. It is Quick meaning that after KO, a Card Play will be refunded. If the target is affected by Bleed the damage will be tripled. Blade needs at least one of those cards. If there is no “Make’em Bleed” card in the hand, “Quick Strike” is the only way to make Blade useful. That is why I often decided to put 2 of those cards in the deck and that is why I improved this card twice before starting to salvage additional copies.

“Strike” grants 1 Heroism, Chains 2 times (3 times if upgraded), and causes minor damage. The damage of this card is low, but each Chain can place Bleed. So, if the “Make’em Bleed” card is activated and the card is upgraded you can place 2 Bleeds on 3 different targets or 6 Bleeds on a single target. Since there are not enough slots in the deck to use all Blade cards that you need, I find it most efficient to have 2 upgraded “Strike” cards in my deck.

Without an upgrade, the “Strike” efficiency is almost halved so you should do it as soon as possible. Keep in mind though, that if you choose to have 2 “Quick Strike” cards in your deck, you cannot have 2 “Strike” cards unless making sacrifices with other cards (which is not recommendable because all other cards are basically mandatory).

“Relentless” grants 1Heroism and causes moderate damage. If the target was damaged previously in turn, the damage will be increased to the point that you will one-shot all but most dangerous enemies. Even though the potential damage of a “Relentless” card is really high compared to other members of Midnight Suns, this card could never find a spot in my deck because other Blade cards are simply better and more useful.

“Reaper” grants 1 Heroism and causes minor damage. However, it also consumes all Bleed on the target to immediately cause all remaining Bleed damage. When upgraded, it grants Strengthened upon KO. This is the card that you must have in your deck. It utilizes Blade’s style of play to deliver instant final hits against even the most dangerous enemies.

The damage of a single Bleed depends on the maximum HP of the target, so if you placed 6 Bleeds by focusing all Chains from “Strike” on a single target, with “Reaper” you will potentially trigger the damage that can exceed 1 k in some situation. That is like you have used 2 Hero Combo cards simultaneously but a little bit stronger. It is sufficient to say that having 1 “Reaper” card ready at all times is the core of Blade’s combat strategy.

Heroic Cards

Blade has 4 different Heroic cards. Unfortunately, you will not be in a position to benefit from all of them, because of 2 reasons – they are costly and situational. You can make additional spots in your deck for Heroic cards only at the cost of Attack and SKill spots and we already lack those spots to be fully effective. That is why it is best to decide to have only 2 Heroic cards that will be in synergy with the rest of the deck and fit most of your needs.

“Stake” costs 3 Heroism (2 when upgraded), causes immense damage, and grants Lifesteal. The damage of this card is really high compared to the Heroic cards of other Heroes. Most importantly, it will automatically heal Blade, making him self-sufficient. Honestly, having this card is always useful and negates the uncertainty of “The Hunger” Skill card that depends on Bleed. However, the overall potential of “The Hunger” card is greater, so in the end, it is only logical to abandon the “Stake” card hoping that Blade will do what he is supposed to do.

“Savage” costs 2 Heroism and causes the highest single target damage of all character non-legendary Heroic cards in the game. If the target has Block the damage is increased to the point where it equals the damage of the Hero Combo card. Being able to deliver this kind of damage for only 2 Heroism is hard to ignore. This card will fully negate the presence of Guarding Mobs in battle allowing you to easily fulfill tasks that are meant to be hard. Some other members of Midnight Suns have similar cards, but “Savage” is significantly stronger than any other card of this kind. That is the main reason why I decided to prioritize “Savage” over “Stake”.

“Daywalker” is Balde’s Epic Hero card. It causes minor damage but grants 4 Chains at the cost of 3 Heroism. When upgraded it will also grant a random card for each KO. As you can see it would be logical to instantly equip this card upon finding it, considering Blade’s playstyle. However, it proved more efficient having 2 improved “Strike” cards than having “Daywalker”. The potential damage is almost the same (“Daywalker” has 1 Chain more) but instead of spending Heroism with “Daywalker” you can accumulate it with “Strike”. It is true that you will not get new cards upon KOs, which can be really important in some situations. In my experience, there is no space for both “Strike” and “Daywalker” cards in your deck.

That is why if you want to use a “Daywalker” card you should totally ignore “Strike” cards and replace them with multiple ” Quick Strike” cards. That way you will compensate for Heroism accumulation and allow “Daywalker” to be used without any real cost. Keep in mind though, that 2 “Striker” cards can place a total of 12 Bleeds on the target, while “Daywalker” can place only 8. The final decision is up to you – you can see what my decision in my Best Build suggestion was.

“Glaive” is Blade’s Legendary Card that is available after finishing Challenge at Forge. “Glaive” is an AOE that causes huge damage and places 2 Bleeds on each target at the cost of 4 Heroism. When upgraded, the damage will be doubled against targets with Bleed. Upon use, the card will be discarded. This is an extremely powerful card, which doesn’t need “Make’em Bleed” used previously. This card will place Bleed on everyone in the vicinity while causing major damage at the same time. It will be an opening for finishing with “The Hunger” and “Reaper”.

Having this card increases the chance of a successful opening with Blade because he will no longer have to wait for the certainty that he will place Bleed. If by any luck, he can use “Make’em Bleed” and “Strike” before using “Glaive”, that will allow him to execute the most powerful AOE attack in the entire game. Keep in mind that Blade can be fully efficient even without Legendary Card. “Glaive” was the first Legendary companion that I’d unlocked, and I was very happy about it until I realized that I would have to discard some other card that I needed. Nonetheless, in the end, my Blade was a considerably stronger character.

Synergy

Blade is a pure damage dealer, and he lacks any form of controlling the battlefield. He can’t Knockback, he can’t draw enemy attention to him, and he can’t help allies. That is why it is best to have a full supporting character with him.

In my experience, only 4 characters (along with Hunter) have what is needed to allow Blade to shine:

Doctor Strange obviously, since he can redraw the last 2 played Attack cards (ideal for Blade) and grant 4 Card plays in the next turn (also ideal).

Nico Minoru, since all her buffs and debuffs fit Blade’s needs, so the random effect of her abilities is not important anymore.

Magik, since she can draw multiple enemies into one place, which allows all Blade’s AOEs to be efficient.

Spider-Man, since his accumulation of moves and free interaction with the environment, will help Blade have all enemies close enough for his Chains and AOEs.

Passive

If you choose to improve your relationship with Blade, you will unlock his passive ability:

• Blood Flawn I- 10% chance to place Bleed with each attack
• Blood Flawn II – 25% chance to place Bleed with each attack

Blade’s passive seems essential if you wanna rely on him. If he has a chance to place Bleed with each attack, his damage potential will be significantly increased. However, in practice, you will never rely on that because a 25% chance means that he will trigger it on every 4th attack (10th if the passive is not upgraded).

That is why Blade’s passive doesn’t have any real impact on the game. You will use Blade’s cards only when you are certain that he will place bleed or when you will one-shot enemies. In both cases, his passive will be totally useless.

In short, improving Friendship with Blade will not crucially influence his fighting capabilities and you should do it only if you want to unlock his Challenge at the Forge.

Conclusion

As I said at the start, Blade is definitely my favorite character in Midnight Suns. A warm feeling of accomplishment always overwhelms me, when Blade is about to score with the “Reaper” Card. I don’t know how to describe it, but it is like when you execute Fatality in Mortal Combat or something like that.

His Book Readers Club was totally awesome and it was probably the only Friendship part of the game where I didn’t click on the skip button.

If someone told me earlier that Blade will be my favorite character in Midnight Suns, I would tell them that they are nuts. Nonetheless, he is and I’m happy about it.