Banner Guide – Apostle Blade

Official Patch Notes

Exclusive Gear

Overview

PVE	PVP	Fiend Hunt/Guild Raid
A	B	S
Last Night	Tower of Pride	Tower of Salvation
B	A	B

＋ Incredibly high base ATK

＋ Unique effect of damaging ALL enemies when countering, highly effective against large bosses

＋ No time limit expiry on counter effect, so you can set it up in advance

－ Abysmally low HP, needs help from teammates to survive strong attacks

－ Counter doesn’t work well in some battles

－ Doesn’t stack chains well (not good with Liberta, Refi)

－ High cooldown, and no second costume yet (though more costumes have been promised by the devs!)

Blade’s stats

In this game, Blade is the initial character you can control among the Apostles. Given their immense power in the narrative, it seems appropriate that Blade should possess impressive statistics to correspond. Let’s first examine her stats before delving into her abilities.


Base stats at Lv 100	Base stats at Lv 100 (with awakening)

Initially, what stands out is that Blade’s attack power (ATK) is extraordinarily high compared to most other five-star attackers. Typically, these top-tier fighters possess a base ATK of approximately 352. However, Blade boasts the highest base ATK in the game at an impressive 429. Following Blade, Alec comes second with a base ATK of 418, although his damage skills are fixed, limiting him. Nebris follows closely behind with a base ATK of 396. Consequently, Blade is capable of dealing significantly more damage than other characters, given the same multiplier for skill damage.

As a huge fan, I’m not surprised to find that her costume’s battle stats lean heavily towards offense: when fully upgraded, she gains a whopping 52% Attack, a modest 5% Defense, and an impressive 47.20% Crit rate!

As a gamer, I’ve got to say, Blade’s base crit damage sits at an impressive 75%, outperforming the usual 50% you’d find in most games.

Contrarily, Blade starts with an exceptionally low health point (HP) of just 1050. In comparison, she boasts the least HP among all characters in the game, except for Wiggle. Even the weakest 3-star characters like Emma and Julie have more HP than Blade. To give you a sense, Blade’s starting HP is less than half of Justia’s (2121). To compound matters, Blade begins with zero base defense (DEF) or magic resistance (M.RES), making her survival in late-game boss battles challenging.

Blade for PVE

There are two parts to Blade’s skill: her attack, and her counterattack.

she delivers one strike in the shape of a T across a wide area, dealing damage that could be up to seven times the original amount. This makes it a powerful attack, particularly when you factor in her robust offensive base attributes.

The distinctive feature of Blade lies in her counterattack ability. Among all costumes in the game, only Apostle Blade possesses a counterattack that inflicts damage on the entire enemy squad. At maximum potential (+5), she counters for 200% per hit, up to 10 times, which equates to a potential total of 2,000% damage per use of her skill. In theory, she could deal up to 2,700% damage each time she activates her skill. If she successfully lands all those hits, she’s an incredible asset. To maximize her effectiveness, it’s crucial to assess enemy attacks before each turn and position Blade to capitalize on her counterattacks.

Her ability to retaliate against all adversaries makes her an ideal candidate for fiend hunts and guild raids. Since it’s rare to strike all boss components simultaneously, her wide-ranging counterattack provides significant value. This is particularly beneficial in guild raids, as the bosses have a larger field due to their expansive territory. Moreover, her counterattack boost doesn’t expire, allowing you to prepare it ahead of time. You don’t need to synchronize her skill with enemy multi-hit attack turns (unlike NH.Seir).

Concurrently, Blade’s extremely low Health Points (HP) necessitates cautiousness when engaging high-level bosses. It’s essential to equip Blade with gear that boosts Defense or Magic Resistance (M.RES) by nearly 90%. Additionally, you’ll likely need defensive supports like AD.Diana alongside healers to maintain Blade’s survivability. During periods when her counterattack is on cooldown, it might be necessary to shield Blade from harm as well.

In battles outside of monster hunts and guild conflicts, Blade proves useful when enemies employ multiple attacks per turn, and you can’t eliminate all foes in a single round. She is suitable for Tower of Pride engagements; however, due to the absence of dark adversaries, she hasn’t had the opportunity to excel in this mode yet. In Tower of Salvation, her counterattack ability is theoretically powerful, but she requires defensive relics and healing support to stay alive, making her less consistent and a late-game option only if you’ve developed both offensive and defensive relics.

Blade for PVP

Blade’s entire squad’s counter-attacking strategy appears very appealing, yet it’s challenging to implement effectively in Player vs Player matches at the moment.

Initially, her health points (HP) are extremely low, making her susceptible to almost any attack, including regular ones. It’s been confirmed in tests that the counterattack doesn’t activate when this character, similar to Lecliss, is weakened to the point of death. Consequently, the probability of launching even a single counterattack is quite slim, unless you employ energy guard buffers like RH.Rou or AD.Diana for protection.

In addition, Blade doesn’t yet possess alternate outfits. Although there have been hints about additional costumes for Blade (such as the recently teased Blade onsen costume), she currently has two idle player turns during her five-turn cooldown period.

As a devoted fan, I’d like to share my thoughts on Blade. Her higher SP cost, especially after potential upgrades, restricts the types of teams she can be effectively used in. Defense teams aren’t ideal for Blade because her low survivability and delayed counterattack activation until Turn 3 make her vulnerable.

However, when it comes to attack teams, her 3 SP cost leaves limited options for team composition. Currently, one viable setup could be Apostle Blade (3 SP) alongside Killer Doll Lecliss (1 SP) and Anti-Dystopia Diana (1 SP), totaling 5 SP. Lecliss is there to absorb enemy attacks and any debuffing skills, while Diana provides an energy shield to keep Blade alive until her counterattacks are triggered.

The challenge with this setup is that Blade’s unbuffed initial attack might not be effective against a Comeback Idol Granhildr, and neither Blade nor Diana have much to do on Turn 3. This highlights the need for strategic adjustments when building teams around Blade.

In summary, there is currently a discrepancy in physical support within PVE gameplay. Magic teams can leverage B-Helena for significant attack and critical boosts, as well as healing, which allows them to reach a 100% crit rate with the right gear. However, physical teams lack this advantage, as H.Lathel is powerful but doesn’t support crit damage builds that lead to exponential damage. This issue is alleviated slightly when Liberta’s base costume is released, providing both attack and critical rate buffs. Until then, the lack of a critical rate buff restricts the full potential of Blade’s counterattack, which has a comparatively lower damage multiplier.

For now, Blade may not stand a good chance in PVP competition due to inconsistency. While she can deal significant damage given the right circumstances (such as facing an Empress Rubia), her performance isn’t reliable enough for high-ranking matches where consistency is key. However, with future costume and supporter releases, she has potential to become extremely powerful. To truly shine, Blade needs balanced enhancements in both offensive and defensive abilities at a reasonable cost.

Exclusive Gear

Blade’s signature weapon is referred to as the same name, Blade. Much like other attacker characters, wielding this unique equipment offers a significant 45% boost in ATK on its bonus stat. While it’s advantageous to have this gear, she performs admirably without it. However, if you aim for high scores, having her exclusive gear becomes more crucial.

Because additional costumes for Blade are planned over the next few months, there’ll be further opportunities for you to acquire her unique equipment, even if you don’t manage to do so now.

Conclusion

Blade serves as our initial playable Apostle, and her attire truly embodies her canonical strength. She possesses one of the greatest damage capabilities within the game, reaching a maximum of 2,700% damage, and she excels in fiend hunts and guild raids due to her exceptional counterattack skill that damages ALL opponents, yes, you read that correctly. Moreover, she boasts the highest base Attack value in the game. Nevertheless, Blade is a perfect illustration of a “glass cannon”: her health points are so minimal that even relatively weak 3-star characters like Julie and Emma have more durability. This makes it challenging to employ Blade effectively in late-game content without advanced level gear and defensive allies.

Despite the fact that Blade has a lengthy cool-down period, developers have hinted that we can expect additional Blade costumes. We are already aware of two new ones: Young Lady Blade and Onsen Blade. Therefore, it’s reasonable to anticipate that your investment in Blade will yield greater value as time goes on.

2025-02-14 07:38