Blade Honkai: Star Rail Guide for Relics, Light Cones, and Skills

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It turns out that even sci-fi adventures like Honkai: Star Rail (HSR) are not immune to the charms of the mysterious swordsman archetype. Introduced to us in a rather ominous cutscene, Blade is an immortal swordsman and part of the Stellaron Hunters, a known criminal group in the HSR universe. It is heavily alluded to that Blade has a complicated history with some fan favorites like Jing Yuan and Dan Heng and seems pivotal to the main story happening aboard the Xianzhou Luofu along with his partner in crime, Kafka.

Blade hails from the Path of Destruction, which makes him a powerful yet durable character capable of cutting down multiple enemies at once. Be careful, though, because his insanely terrifying damage potential comes at a great cost to his own health.

Players will need to toe the line between life and death itself and master the blade by using this Blade Honkai: Star Rail Guide. With the right set of relics, light cones, and skill tree allocation, studying the blade has never been more rewarding.

Best Relic Set and Ornament for Blade

The new relic set, Longevous Disciple, comes out in Version 1.2 alongside Blade, and there’s no doubt about it being his best-in-slot when it comes to relics. This set is pretty much tailor-made just for him, as it gives him damage, survivability, and consistency. The 2 piece bonus is already incredible on him, given that Blade’s damage scales off of his HP, but it’s the 4 piece bonus of improving his CRIT Rate upon any change to his HP that seals the deal considering that his whole kit revolves around that mechanic. Blade havers would have to farm the newest Cavern of Corrosion, Path of Elixir Seekers, to get these relics.

Longevous Disciple grants the following effects:

• 2-Piece Bonus: Increases Max HP by 12%.
• 4-Piece Bonus: When the wearer is hit or has their HP consumed by an ally or themselves, their CRIT Rate increases by 8% for 2 turn(s) and up to 2 stacks.

While Blade’s relic set is rather straightforward, there’s a decision to be made when it comes to his Planar Ornaments as it is a toss-up between ‘Inert Salsotto’ or the new set ‘Rutilant Arena.’ They’re fairly similar in their initial effect with the increase to the wearer’s CRIT Rate, but they diverge on which skills they buff upon reaching a CRIT Rate threshold. Inert Salsotto focuses on improving the damage of Blade’s Ultimate and Talent, which does count as a follow-up attack, while Rutilant Arena boosts Blade’s Basic ATK and Skill. Players can obtain these ornaments from World 6 and World 7 of the Simulated Universe, respectively.

Here’s what Inert Salsotto does:

• Increases the wearer’s CRIT Rate by 8%. When the wearer’s current CRIT Rate reaches 50% or higher, the wearer’s Ultimate and follow-up attack DMG increases by 15%.

In comparison, Rutilant Arena gives these bonuses:

• Increases the wearer’s CRIT Rate by 8%. When the wearer’s current CRIT Rate reaches 70% or higher, the wearer’s Basic ATK and Skill DMG increase by 20%.

Stats to Prioritize for Blade

Make sure his relics have the right main stats by following this guide:

• Body: CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG
• Feet: SPD or HP%
• Planar Sphere: Wind DMG or HP%
• Line: HP%

While Blade does fall in line with your typical crit-chasing DPS, he stands out from the other options due to his unusual scaling. Unlike other characters like Seele or Yanqing, whose attacks scale solely with the ATK stat, Blade’s attacks scale higher off of his HP stat. This is why it’s more optimal for him to stack HP instead of ATK on his relics. Be sure to grab either CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG on his body piece and aim for a 1:2 crit ratio. For his Planar Sphere, the difference between Wind DMG and HP% is minimal, so go for the one that has better substats.

Speaking of substats, Blade more or less wants the same stats of CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, Speed, and HP% as his substats whenever possible. ATK% and Break Effect are okay to have, but their benefits are not as great as the stats previously mentioned. DEF% is counteractive to his kit, which wants him to take as much damage as possible but does improve his survivability in team comps that lack enough healing.

Best Light Cone for Blade

The Path of Destruction has a good variety of premium light cones to choose from. Of the three, Blade’s complementary light cone, ‘The Unreachable Side,’ is easily the best choice. It improves both the wearer’s CRIT Rate and Max HP, which are more valuable to Blade than ATK. ‘Something Irreplaceable’ is a good alternative, but in terms of effectiveness, ‘The Unreachable Side’ just blows all other options out of the water. Players who want to obtain a copy of this light cone will have to warp on the Brilliant Fixation banner when featured.

Here’s why ‘The Unreachable Side’ is insanely OP:

• Increase the wearer’s CRIT Rate and Max HP by 18%. After the wearer is attacked or consumes their own HP, increases the wearer’s DMG by 24%. This effect is dispelled after the user uses an attack.

Budget Alternative

Most Destruction light cones are often geared towards improving the wearer’s ATK. While this is usually great for other characters, the same can’t be said for Blade. It’s not often that a 4 Star light cone is comparable to 5 Star light cones, but ‘A Secret Vow’ is the best budget alternative for players that missed out on getting ‘The Unreachable Side.’ On its highest superimposition level, it gives the wearer a whopping 80% DMG increase when enemies have higher HP percentages which is easy to achieve on Blade. You can obtain this light cone as a 4 Star drop in any Warp banner, making it easier to obtain and superimpose.

‘A Secret Vow’ gives this ability:

• Increases DMG dealt by the wearer by 20/25/30/35/40%. The wearer also deals an extra 20/25/30/35/40% of DMG to enemies with a higher HP percentage than the wearer.

Blade Skill Priorities

Here’s a breakdown of Blade’s skills:

• Shard Sword (Basic ATK) – Blade’s Basic ATK deals 50 to 110% of his ATK as Wind DMG.
• Forest of Swords (Enhanced Basic ATK) – His attack now consumes 10% of his Max HP and deals Wind DMG equal to the sum of 20 to 44% of his ATK and 50 to 110% of his Max HP to a single enemy. It also deals Wind DMG equal to the sum of 8 to 18% of Blade’s ATK and 20 to 44% of his Max HP to adjacent targets. Forest of Swords reduces his HP to 1 if his current HP is insufficient and cannot regenerate Skill Points.
• Hellscape (Skill) – Activating Blade’s skill consumes 30% of his Max HP to enter the Hellscape state. When Hellscape is active, his Skill cannot be used, the damage he deals increases by 12 to 43%, and enhances his Basic ATK to  Forest of Swords for 3 turns. Usage of the skill does not end the current turn and does not regenerate Energy. If Blade’s current HP is insufficient, his HP will be reduced to 1 when he uses his Skill.
• Death Sentence (Ultimate) – His Ultimate sets Blade’s current HP to 50% of his Max HP and deals single target Wind DMG equal to the sum of 24 to 43% of his ATK, 60 to 108% of his Max HP, and 60 to 108% of the total HP he has lost in the current battle. At the same time, it also deals Wind DMG to adjacent targets equal to the sum of 9.6 to 17% of his ATK, 24 to 43% of his Max HP, and 24 to 43% of the total HP he has lost in the current battle. The total HP Blade has lost in the current battle is capped at 90% of his Max HP and is resetted and re-accumulated after his Ultimate has been used.
• Shuhu’s Gift (Talent) – When Blade sustains DMG or consumes his HP, he gains 1 stack of Charge, stacking up to 5 times. A max of 1 Charge stack can be gained every time he is attacked. When Charge stack reaches maximum, immediately launches a follow-up attack on all enemies, dealing Wind DMG equal to 22 to 48% of his ATK plus 55 to 121% of his Max HP. At the same time, it restores his by 25% of his Max HP. After the follow-up attack, all Charges are consumed.
• Karma Wind (Technique) – Blade’s Technique immediately attacks the enemy and enters combat. It consumes 20% of his Max HP while dealing Wind DMG equal to 40% of his Max HP to all enemies. If his current HP is insufficient, his HP will be reduced to 1 when this Technique is used.

Level his skills in this order, from most important to least:

• Basic ATK (Shard Sword / Forest of Swords)
• Talent (Shuhu’s Gift)
• Ultimate (Death Sentence)
• Skill (Hellscape)

Blade’s Basic ATK takes priority over all of his skills solely because of his enhanced Basic ATK’s insane HP scaling per level which makes it Blade’s bread and butter. You’ll also be able to proc his Talent several times during any combat which makes it ideal to upgrade afterwards to maximize his damage output. While his Ultimate does deal a fair amount of damage, the difference between levels is not as significant as his other skills; therefore, it gets bumped down in priority. Lastly, players can only trigger Blade’s skill once every three turns, and that makes it a safe bet to upgrade last.

Leveling these skills will take up the following resources:

One of the new resources introduced to HSR upon Version 1.2 is the new Echo of War that drops the Regret of Infinite Ochema. Blade uses this limited weekly material to unlock his Major Traces, so players will have to dedicate some Trailblaze Power to get it. Leveling his skills also requires a lot of the Path of Destruction trace material, Worldbreaker Blade, which can only be obtained from farming the corresponding Crimson Calyx.

Best Blade Team Compositions

Blade works as a multi-target DPS with his enhanced Basic ATK, Talent, and Ultimate being able to deal sweeping damage to hordes of enemies. While he is immortal in lore, he can still be knocked out in combat, so you will still need other party members that will work well with him. Due to his health point-hungry gameplay, a healer is sorely necessary in a team composition with him as the driver. Pair him with your most built healer for the best results, and the other two slots can be flexible to what the situation needs.

The characters that are currently in the running for his best teammates are:

• Luocha, Bailu, or Natasha (Sorry Blade, no dying for you)
• Bronya (She’s the only Harmony buffer that works flawlessly with him)
• Silver Wolf, Welt, or Pela (Take your preferred type of debuff)

Although his kit does require players to watch his health for him constantly, he does have some survivability in his kit that helps mitigate damage on your healer’s downtime. Another aspect of his that players may overlook is that Blade does not consume a lot of skill points in order to do his job. This makes him an ideal pick for a secondary DPS in teams that can only deal single-target damage prior. Overall, this Stellaron Hunter is a fantastic pickup on any player’s account. As long as you can keep him alive and well, he’ll cleave through any obstacle HSR has to offer.