Blademaster

The Blademaster is the melee damage dealer class. Always at the front of the battle, Blademasters can hold back a handful of players with their powerful AoE (Area of Effect) skills. Ranging between pure power, DOT (Damage Over Time), stunning, or pure speed, Blademasters have the greatest variety of all the characters in Perfect World International. Not only in skills, but also in weapon choice and stats. All of this makes the Blademasters the most creatively open class, which is also why it's amongst the most popular.

Pros:
 * High Physical Defense and HP
 * Can have a variety of stat builds based on Vit, Dex, and Str
 * Can use multiple weapons when fighting for greater skill choice
 * Good class for stun and AoE (Area of Effect) skills
 * Can grind multiple mobs at once
 * Very strong AoE (Area of Effect) damage increasing debuff

Cons:
 * Low magical defense on early levels
 * Can be difficult to play due to a lot of weapon swapping
 * Doesn't specialize in anything
 * Too many skill choices (can cost a lot of spirit in later levels)
 * Expensive repair costs
 * Low damage output compared to wizards, archers, clerics, and psychics at low and mid levels
 * Can be killed very easily if using the "Marrow" skills wrong against enemies
 * Low accuracy (PvP)

Weapons
Blademasters are unique in that their skills require a variety of weapons in order to use them. While some blademasters may build themselves around one weapon type, most will build themselves to use multiple types of weapons. The weapon types blademasters use can be split up into 4 categories: Axes/Hammers, Polearms, Swords, and Fists.

Weapon sockets are typically filled with garnet (physical attack) shards.

Axes/Hammers
Axes and Hammers require the most Strength and least Dexterity of all weapon paths. The majority of blademasters build themselves around this type as they have some of the highest maximum attack power, but at the cost of being low in minimum attack power and slow in attack speed. Another major factor is that the Rank 9 weapon for blademasters are dual axes. Previously when skills cost coin to upgrade, the skill path for axes and hammers was popular due to the many AoE and stun-locking skills available.

Damage Chart: Lower-Low-Medium-High-Higher Attack Speed Chart: Slower-Slow-Medium-Fast-Faster

Polearms
Polearms require high Strength and a medium amount of Dexterity to equip.

Damage Chart: Lower-Low-Medium-High-Higher Attack Speed Chart: Slower-Slow-Medium-Fast-Faster

Swords
Swords require high Dexterity and a medium amount of Strength to equip.

Damage Chart: Lower-Low-Medium-High-Higher Attack Speed Chart: Slower-Slow-Medium-Fast-Faster

Fists
Fists require the most Dexterity and the least Strength of all weapon paths. They are primarily used for auto-attacking rather than skill usage. They were previously popular due to the potential of reaching the maximum attack speed of 5 attacks per second. They have become less popular due to bosses increasing their defense against melee attacks and buffs to skill damage being available.

Damage Chart: Lower-Low-Medium-High-Higher Attack Speed Chart: Slower-Slow-Medium-Fast-Faster

Armor
The recommended armor type for blademasters is heavy armor as they spend the majority of their time fighting up close. While they have the potential to equip light armor, it is not suitable for most builds as it offers lower defenses. In order to equip heavy armor, the player should add 5 Strength and 1 Dexterity every 2 levels. Armor sockets are typically filled with citrine (health) shards or vitality shards. While some blademasters opt for sapphire (magic defense) shards, they only are effective against magic attacks while citrine and vitality shards are effective against both physical and magic attacks. For blademasters who engage in PvP they may prefer to embed attack level or defense level shards depending on their playing style.

Blademasters in PvP
Blademasters differ a lot in PvP depending on which path you take. Sword blademasters are the best tree for fighting single targets but inferior for group/mass PvP. The polearm blademaster is the path with an extra DoT that's stackable with draw blood for extra DPS and have the best range of the paths, this makes them ideal for attacking kiting ranged classes. Axe and hammer blademasters are all about stunning the enemy and reducing its defense, while dealing high spike damage. Fist blademasters are the best path of PVE because of their DPS but are lacking in PvP. However, this changes once a blademaster reaches the Sage/Demon cultivation. At this point, most blademasters who plan to PvP frequently opt to go for the demon path, in order to make use of the increased attack speed that the demon spark gives. At this point, most blademasters utilize fist/claw weapons for single target PvP, and axes for group PvP. Most players also fight with two or more weapons to take advantage of their skills. For instance, as a fist blademaster you might use an axe weapon to take advantage of the extra stun skill that the axe path has. So when the enemy is running, you can use the axe for stunning, and when the enemy is stunned, you can switch back to fists for the faster damage. This is really easy since you can drag your weapon onto your speedbar for quick and easy switching.

Blademasters in PvE
In general PvE, blademasters are the best solo grinders because they can grind multiple mobs once they get all of their AoE skills. In squads, blademasters have essentially 3 tasks:


 * 1) Tank: Blademasters often act as a back up tank in case the barbarian should die midway through a boss fight, or they can act as the primary tank should the squad be unable to find a barbarian (NOTE: Acting as the primary tank should only be undertaken by an experienced blademaster, as it can be difficult to keep aggro from other classes such as wizards, assassins, or other high damage causing classes).
 * 2) Damage Dealer: A blademaster should use the strongest skills they have to attack the boss, while also being mindful to not take aggro from the primary tank. Heaven's Flame, Myriad Sword Stance, or Glacial Spike are all great DD skills, especially Heaven's Flame, as it boosts the damage the boss takes by 55% at level 1, and by 100% at level 10 (it also has a range of 12 meters, like the other 2 spark skills).
 * 3) Crowd Control: This task basically boils down to protecting the other members of the squad (especially caster classes) from random mobs whose attention they might attract. The AoE stun Roar of the Pride, the Axe AoE attacks, and the Spear/Sword ranged skills make this an easier task for blademasters than for most other classes. Only archers can really compete with blademasters in this regard, though they lack the number of AoE skills and stuns that a blademaster can bring to bear.

Blademasters in Territory Wars
As barbarians have a different job in Territory Wars, blademasters work as the tank class. Not only because they are a melee class, but also because they have their great AoE skills which can stop a whole party in its track. Combined with a bunch of damage dealers and a cleric, you have a very deadly squad on your hands. However this also means that blademasters are very often killed as some of the first in the party, but in a way, that's what they are meant to do in order for the fight to be won.

Guides

 * Lyndura's Blademaster Class Guide
 * Blademaster Builds
 * Beginners Guide - Blademaster ( Heavy Build )
 * Frequently Asked Questions - Blademaster
 * Blademaster Guides

Skills

 * Blademaster Skill List
 * Blademaster Glyphs
 * Blademaster Skill Books