Marvel Rivals has finally welcomed Blade with the Season 3.5 update. The iconic Daywalker’s introduction had been teased for the past two seasons via references in the lore as well as direct appearances on specific maps. He was even seen in a deep slumber at the Imperial Institute of Science on the Birnin T’Challa map.
Following an update back in June, the character mysteriously disappeared from the map’s spawn room, indicating that he’s ready for action. And now, he has joined the game, armed to the teeth and ready to slice through his rivals. So, we’ve put together a guide on everything you need to know about Blade in Marvel Rivals, including tips and tricks on how to use him.
Marvel Rivals Blade: Kit and Abilities
Blade is an aggressive duelist capable of dealing burst damage. His arsenal includes two weapons — the Dracula Sword and the Hunting Gun — that players can switch between. His health pool sits at a respectable 350 hitpoints.
Blade’s kit in Marvel Rivals includes sword slashes and explosive fragmentation blasts, allowing him to alternate between melee attacks and ranged projectiles depending on the scenario. He can also tap into his vampiric powers to lifesteal and heighten his senses. His Ultimate is a powerful AoE attack, which sees Blade execute a front-facing melee maneuver that ends with the Dracula Sword slicing away at the enemies standing behind him.
Lastly, Blade has a team-up ability with Cloak & Dagger and Moon Knight, which grants healing over and brief invisibility to the trio. When the team-up is active, Blade can also unleash a Swift Strike towards a chosen enemy.
| Ability Name | Ability Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Ancestral Sword | Primary Fire (Sword) | Use Dracula’s Sword to slash in front of you, inflicting damage to the enemy you hit. |
| Hunter’s Shotgun | Primary Fire / Alt Weapon (Gun) | Use a hunting shotgun to fire a long-range explosive fragmentation round that delivers a large amount of shrapnel at the point of detonation. |
| Scarlet Shroud | Alt Fire (Sword) | Use Dracula’s Sword to set up a sword stance that reduces damage from in front of you. |
| Daywalker Dash | Shift (Movement/Utility) | Sprint forward. If wielding a gun, shoot an enemy to reduce healing. If wielding a sword, slash an enemy and apply to reduce movement speed. |
| Bloodline Awakening | E (Self-Buff) | Awaken the Dhampir bloodline, enhancing slash speed during continuous attacks and triggering Whirlwind Slash. While under this state, you suffer Reduced Healing, but attacks gain Lifesteal. |
| Thousand-Fold Slash | Q (Ultimate) | After building up your strength for a short period, you quickly unsheathe your sword and charge forward, releasing a powerful Chop and leaving Dracula’s Sword frantically chopping the area behind you. Enemies hit by the sword suffer from Reduced Healing. |
| New Moon | Team-Up Ability with Cloak & Dagger and Moon Knight | Cloak & Dagger can inject light and dark energy into Moon Knight and Blade to create a Light & Dark Realm where Moon Knight and Blade can become invisible and gain Healing Over Time. Blade can unleash Swift Strike toward a targeted enemy. |
How to Play Blade in Marvel Rivals
Blade is a DPS duelist built for 1v1 duels and suited for aggressive players. His kit is actually among the versatile in his class, offering a sharp blade for close-range melee attacks, and the Hunting Gun for chipping away at enemies from afar (within 20m). This weapon combination adds an extra dimension to his kit, meaning players can be far more tactical than while using more straightforward duelists such as Wolverine or Star-Lord.
Before discussing positioning, it’s important to understand when to use which weapon. If you’re engaged in a close-range 1v1 duel, the Ancestral Sword should be your weapon of choice. Combine those slashes with Bloodline Awakening to trigger his lifesteal ability and skew the battle in your direction. If you’re dealing with an enemy at range or an airborne menace such as the Human Torch, chisel away at their health using the Hunting Gun.
The best opportunity to tap into Bloodline Awakening is while cornering Strategists. If you manage to find one isolated or clustered together, then trigger the ability to cancel out Strategists’ self-healing and boost your attack speed in the process. These effects should see Blade walk away from the duel victorious.
Another important element of his kit is Daywalker Dash. Beyond adding some mobility to his kit, it also serves a tactical purpose. This is because the dash changes depending on the weapon you have equipped. If you trigger the dash with the Hunting Gun in hand, Blade darts in a given direction, knocking enemies back on impact, and applies a 40% healing reduction. On the flip side, dashing with the sword equipped sees him execute a spinning maneuver that eats up ground and can damage multiple enemies at once.
The key to maximising the dash is using it for an offensive purpose, instead of prioritizing repositioning. During general gameplay, set your eyes on an isolated target or an out-of-formation support character, and knock them back using the dash. With the 40% healing reduction applied, trigger lifesteal, and start slashing furiously using the sword. This combination should down most enemies, and can become a bread-and-butter combo for the duelist.
Lastly, Blade’s Ultimate is a charged-based forward slash, which leaves behind a barrage of strikes that damage any trailing targets. Given its splash damage effect, the Ult is best used on a cluster of enemies, especially at chokepoints. The ability also applies a healing reduction effect, which makes survival almost impossible for surviving enemies. But despite its devastating effect, the Ult works best as an opener, initiating a team push through heavily reinforced sections of the map.
Marvel Rivals Blade: Best Counters
In trained hands, Blade can be a menace. He’s lethal at single-target lockdown and at initiating team maneuvers via his sweeping attacks, but he’s not exactly mobile. This means he can be targeted quite easily from range, and since the duelist does most of his damage up close, doing so should neutralize his threat completely. Here are some of the best counters for Blade:
| Character | Counter |
|---|---|
| The Punisher | Punisher’s ranged capabilities can deny Blade the opportunity to get in close. And even if the daywalker manages to cut the distance, Punisher’s firepowers can overwhelm Blade at close range. |
| Hawkeye | With long-range burst damage and a stun trap, the marksman can catch Blade off guard and deny him any room to get in close. |
| Peni Parker | The frontline Vanguard has the health pool to constantly get in Blade’s way, coupled with self-healing, which ensures that she’ll survive a 1v1 duel. |
| Groot | Just like Peni Parker, Groot can deny Blade access to the backline and clamp down on any attempted offensives by the daywalker. |
That wraps up our guide for Blade in Marvel Rivals. How are you finding the new duelist? Be sure to let us know in the comments.
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Rishabh Sabarwal
