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Pre Launch:Blademaster

From Hellgatewiki.com

Female and male blademasters.

The Templar: Blademaster class focuses on weapon skills and offensive attacks. The blademaster can dual wield swords, and possesses a wide array of combat abilities suitable for dispatching any number of foes. Swords are the blademaster's weapon of choice, whether single, dual-wielded, or even used as a throwing weapon. The class is limited in its use of other weapon types -- Blademasters can not use heavy firearms, just melee weapons and pistols. They can use shields, but have no special skills to augment their effectiveness.

Additional Templar Information

1 Blademaster Play Style
2 Blademaster Skills
3 Blademaster Skill Evolution
4 Blademaster Media

Blademaster Play Style

Blademasters are killing machines, loaded with damage-boosting skills and abilities that make the class one of the most damaging in Hellgate: London. The balance is that Blademasters have few defensive skills and can not safely take on mobs of monsters. They must play with precision and intelligence, and use crowd control to thin out mobs and slaughter one or two monsters at a time, rather than trying to "tank" a dozen at once.

The danger with all of these skills is that the Blademaster is vulnerable while using them, and without life leech to keep refilling his health, he's got to balance killing speed with how much damage he's taking at the same time. Just how well the Surges can be used to heal and protect him while he's attacking remains to be seen, and will require experimentation. At low levels though, the Blademaster is vulnerable and less effective than the Guardian. Players trying out Blademasters were often using a shield and a sword early on, since even though he has no shield skills, he needed the added protection to keep from having to heal constantly. How big a problem this will be long term remains to be seen, but unless the Surges are potentially far more powerful than I expect, it seems unlikely that a Blademaster will ever want to just wade into a huge mob and try tanking it. He'll likely be more about movement and crowd control, and positioning the demons so he can take on a handful at a time and decimate them with his devastating "glass cannon" attacks.
--Flux, Mega Community Day Report, May 2007.

Blademaster Skills

Like all characters in Hellgate: London, the Blademaster will have around 27 skills in the final game. The Blademaster's skills are divided into four skill groups: Swordsmanship, Surges, Auras, and Taunts. Skills in related groups are usually connected by dependency lines and have each other as prerequisites.

See the Skills page for details about skill caps, levels, synergies, level ups, and more.
See the Templar Skills page for the evolution of the Templar's skills, and various unused Templar skills.

Blademaster skill menu, circa May 2007.

Surges

Surges are a new kind of skill in Hellgate: London. They give bonuses to the Blademaster, while also debuffing monsters. It's possible to use more than one at a time, and when several are in effect the bonuses stack and increase. Experimentation will be required to fully understand the use of these skills.

Surge of Restoration
Skill Groups: Surge Attack

Requires: Sword
Requires; Character level 1

Power cost 8
Max Skill Points: 5

Description: Every righteous kill serves to reinvigorate the blademaster's spirit. The amount of health regained is increased as more surges of this type are in effect. Lasts for 3 seconds.

Effect:

First surge regenerates 7 hit points per second.
Second surge: Regenerates 14 hit points per second.
Third Surge: Regenerates 21 hit points per second.

This is the Blademaster's healing skill. Multiple points in this skill are required to use the higher level Surges, and keeping this one active will likely be mandatory for most Blademasters at higher levels. More points in this skill lengthen the duration of effect. (Top)

Surge of Wrath
Skill Group: Surge Attack

Requires: Sword
Requires: Surge of Restoration, level 3
Requires: Character level 5

Power Cost: 8
Max Skill Points: 5

Description: The more demons the Blademaster slays, the more deadly he becomes. The chance to score a critical hit is increased as more surges of this type are in effect. Lasts for 3 seconds.

Effect:

First Surge: Hit chance increased 2%.
Second Surge: Hit chance increased 4%.
Third Surge: Hit chance increased 5%.

A skill to help the Blademaster deal with mobs; each kill in rapid succession improves his killing power. More points in this skill are believed to lengthen the duration. (Top)

Surge of Rendering
Skill Group: Surge Attack

Requires: Sword
Requires: Surge of Restoration, level 3
Requires: Character level 15.

Power Cost: 8
Maximum skill level: 5

Description: Holy energy is channeled through the weapons of the blademaster, parting the mystic defenses of his enemies. The chance to overload shields is increased as more surges of this type are in effect. Lasts for 3 seconds.

Effect:

First Surge: Shield overload increased by 49%
Second Surge: Shield overload increased by 98%
Third Surge: Shield overload increased by 147%

This skill lowers demon defenses, and does it more effectively when additional surges are active. The exactly definition of "shield overload" isn't yet known, but it's clearly got something to do with rapidly destroying a demon's shield. As such, this may not actually boost killing speed on monsters without shields, or help with the hit point removal once the shield is destroyed. More points are believed to lengthen the surge's duration. (Top)

Surge Mastery
Skill group: Surge Attack

Requires: Sword
Requires: Surge of Rendering, level 3
Requires: Character level 30.

Power Cost: Passive skill. No power cost.
Maximum skill level: 3

Description: Description: Becoming one wiht the divine powers that surge through his blades, the Blademaster prolongs their holy effect.

Effect:

Surge duration increased by 20%

It's not clear how this interacts with the individual surge timers, which seem to increase by several seconds with more points. This would presumably boost that increase by a percentage. More points in Surge Mastery will likely boost the duration by more than the 20% awarded with level one. (Top)

Orations

Blademasters have two taunt skills that debuff individual targets.

Call of the Chosen
Skill Group: Taunts

Requires: Character Level 10

Power Cost: 90
Maximum skill level: 6

Description: By filling his voice with exalted resonance the Blademaster names a single foe his target, taunting it while causing all but the chosen one to flee.

Effect:
Fear radius around target: 4 meters.
Fear duration: 5 seconds.

Commentary: A sort of marking skill, this one is most useful on bosses or other single targets you wish to kill one on one. Also useful to simply disperse a mob of monsters into individual targets that can be quickly dispatched. The power cost is enormous for a level 10 Templar skill, and may be adjusted in beta testing. (A level ten templar would be lucky to have 50 power in total, with some of that required to keep his aura active.) (Top)

Angelic Orator
Skill Group: Taunts

Requires Character Level 20.
Requires: Call of the Chosen, level 3.

Power Cost: Unknown.
Duration: Unknown.

Description: Any foe targeted by Call of the Chosen is cowed by the holy omnipresence of the command, reducing the power of their attacks.

Effect:

Enemy damage reduced by 25%.
Fear and taunt attack strength increased by 12%.

Commentary: The duration of the skill effect is not known, nor what more points in the skill do. (Top)

Swordsmanship Skills

Swordsmanship skills are pretty much what they sound like. All sorts of "kill things faster" abilities unique to the Blademaster class. All swordsmanship skills require that one or two sword-type weapons are equipped. More than half of the Blademaster's skills are classified swordsmanship, so check the skill menu image above to familiarize yourself with the layout and prerequisite paths.

Sword of Reckoning in use.

Sword of Reckoning:

Skill Group: Swordsmanship

Requires: Sword.
Character Level: 1

Power cost: 35.
Max Skill Points: 7

Description: Rising high above the minions of darkness, the Blademaster brings down the heavy hand of final judgment against a single foe.

Effects:

Damage increased by 50%

Commentary: A leaping attack that works against air and ground targets, this one evolved from the generic Templar skill Slam. The Guardian possess this same skill, but it only costs 15 power, so the 35 cost for this one will probably be reduced during further testing. Sword of Reckoning and Heaven's Arc have a nearly identical leaping up, chopping down animation, and have been featured in numerous screenshots and gameplay movies. (Top)

Heaven's Arc

Skill Group: Swordsmanship

Requires: Sword.
Requires: Sword of Reckoning, level 1
Requires: Character level 5.

Power Cost: 15
Max Skill Points: 4

Description: The Templar leaps into the air and takes the battle directly to those demons that call the skies their home. Can only be used against flying enemies.

Effects:

Damage increased by 50% (at skill level one)

Commentary: This leaping attack looks just like Sword of Reckoning, but only hits air targets. It can be seen in use in the Community Day Blademaster movie. (Top)

Crosscutter
Skill Group: Swordsmanship

Requires: sword
Requires: Heaven's Arc, level 1.
Requires: Character Level 10

Power Cost: 20
Max Skill Points: 5

Description: The blademaster turns his sword into a deadly missile by hurling it towards his enemy. Does 100% more damage than swinging the sword.

Effect:

100% damage bonus
20.0 meters range.
Cool down time: 8.0 seconds.

Commentary: Sword throwing is kind of a magic trick in Hellgate: London. The blademaster hurls his sword (it's not clear if you can select one or the other when dual wielding) and when the sword hits or misses the target, it vanishes and reappears in the Blademaster's hand. Thrown swords travel at a high rate of speed, and other skills can not be used while the sword is in flight.

This is a powerful attack, but not one a Blademaster can specialize in, with the eight second cool down time. It's not known what additional points in the skill do. They may increase damage, lower cool down time, or both. The range is considerable even at level one; most guns in Hellgate: London have no more than 10 or 15 meters range. (Top)

Sword Master
Skill Group: Swordsmanship

Requires: Crosscutter, level 1
Requires: Character level 20

Power Cost: Passive skill. No power cost
Max skill points: 5

Description: The blademaster has become highly adept at throwing a sword.

Effect:

Thrown sword damage increased by 15%

Commentary: It's unknown if additional points in this skill will up the damage or have some other effect. (Top)

Typhoon
Skill Group: Swordsmanship

Requires: Sword
Requires: Sword Master, level 1
Requires: Character level 30

Power Cost: 40
Max skill points: 3

Description: The Blademaster spins in a tight spiral, sending the spiritually imbued essence of his sword into a multitude of jagged shards. Individual shard damage is 100% of the sword's base dmage.

Effect:

Throws 12 shards.
Cool down time: Unknown.

Commentary: An interesting skill; it's related to the sword throwing skills in that the sword used is destroyed, before being magically reborn intact, in the Blademaster's hand. It's not known how many of the shards can hit a single target or how much range the shards have. If multiple shards can hit a single target this could be a very useful boss-killing skill. (Top)

Sword of Authority
Skill Group: Swordsmanship

Requires: Sword
Requires: Sword of Reckoning, level 3.
Requires: Character level 15.

Power Cost: 15
Max skill points: 5

Description: Through extreme devotion and dedication, the Bladmaster infuses his attack against a single foe with deliberate, fervent authority.

Effect:

Damage increased by 500%.
Cool down time: Unknown. (Long.)

Commentary: This skill deals huge damage, but has a slow swing speed and a substantial cool down time. Additional points in the skill lower the cool down time, but do not increase the damage. (Top)

Hamper

Skill Group: Swordsmanship

Requires: Sword
Requires: Sword of Authority, level 1
Requires: Character level 25.

Power Cost: 5
Max skill points: 5

Description: An attack designed to cripple the target, slowing both its movement and attack rate.

Effects:

Reduces enemy movement by 20%.
Decreases enemy armor by 25%.
Duration: Unknown.
Cool down time: Unknown.
Damage bonus: Unknown.

Commentary: Hamper has never been seen in use. It sounds like a basic "slow target" type of attack, one that debuffs by slowing movement (and attack speed?) as well as lowering armor. (Top)

Charge
Skill Group: Swordsmanship

Requires: Sword
Requires: Sword of Reckoning, level 3
Requires: Character level 5

Power Cost: 40
Max skill points: 5

Description: Calling upon the courage of his ancestors, the Blademaster races headlong into battle!

Effect:

Damage increased by +115%

Commentary: A dashing, "smash into them" attack, early information on Charge said it would enable the Templar to pass through demons in his path, striking them as he traveled. It's not known if this is still the case, of if only the higher level Path of Righteousness grants this ability. (Top)

Onslaught Skill Group: Swordsmanship

Requires: Sword
Requires: Charge
Requires: Character level 20

Power Cost: Unknown
Max skill points: Unknown.

Description: Unknown

Effect:

Unknown.

Commentary: This skill is known only by the name and has not yet been seen in use. (Top)

Path of Righteousness
Skill Group: Swordsmanship

Requires: Sword.
Requires: Onslaught, level 3
Requires: Character level 30

Power Cost: 50(?) Max skill points: 5

Description: Bolstered by celestial powers, the Blademaster dashes forward, slicing at every enemy in his path.

Effect:

Hits targets within 3.0 meters.
Cool down time: 10 seconds.

Commentary: A higher quality of charge, Path of Righteousness lets the Templar rush through and past enemies, striking multiple hits as he moves. There is no bonus damage associated with this skill, at least not at level one. A Blademaster can escape from a tight corner with this skill, while landing numerous hits to numerous enemies, but he is not invulnerable while using it and must therefore be judicious with its application. (Top)

Sword of Justice
Skill Group: Swordsmanship

Requires: Sword
Requires: Character level 1

Power cost: 15
Max skill points: 5

Description: The blademaster calls upon the swiftness of divine justice to perform a trinity of attacks in rapid succession.

Effect:

Damage changed by -70%

Commentary: This skill hits the same target rapidly and repeatedly, but at a substantial damage reduction at level one. More points in the skill may reduce the penalty. (Top)

Sweeping Strike
Skill Group: Swordsmanship

Requires: Sword
Requires: Sword of Justice, level 2
Requires: Character level 10

Power Cost: 50
Max skill points: 5

Description: The Blademaster channels his righteous vengeance into a whirling attack that strikes any foes within melee range. The spinning attack increases damage by 50%.

Effect:

Damage increased by 50%
Cool down time: Unknown (long).

Commentary: A sort of stationary single use Whirlwind, this skill allows the Blademaster to hit several targets around him, for substantial bonus damage. It's not known if the same target can be hit more than once. It has a long cool down time, so can not be used constantly. The mana cost at level 10 is quite high as well. (Top)

Whirlwind
Skill Group: Swordsmanship

Requires: Sword
Requires: Sweeping Strike, level 5
Requires level: 10

Power cost: 100
Max skill points: 6

Description: The blademaster unleashes righteous fury of the heavens and becomes a spinning whirlwind of damnation. lasts for 4 seconds.

Effect:

Movement speed increased by 70%.
Damage bonus: None.
Cool down time: Unknown.

Commentary: Activating Whirlwind enables the Blademaster to spin anywhere you point the cursor for four seconds, whirling around Tasmanian Devil style and landing multiple hits on anything in his path. The blademaster is vulnerable to damage while in Whirlwind, and the skill can be canceled before the full four seconds expire. (Top)

Dual-wielding in hell.

Matched Blades

Skill Group: Swordsmanship

Requires: Character level 10.

Power Cost: None, passive skill.
Max skill points: 6

Description: Specialized training allows the blademaster to equip melee weapons in both hands.

Effect:

Willpower feed decreased by 24 when two blades are equipped.

A point in Matched Blades enables a Blademaster to wield two swords at once. Once a point is in this skill, the Blademaster can dual wield. He can not dual wield without putting a point into Matched Blades. Blademasters have 24 points removed from their power pool while dual wielding. It is not known what more points in this skill will do; lower the power penalty, increase the damage, or something else entirely. (Top)

Thorns
Skill Group: Swordsmanship

Requires: Sword
Requires: Character level 30

Power Cost: Unknown
Max skill points: Unknown

Description: Unknown.

Effect:

Unknown.

Commentary: Only the name and icon of this one have been seen, thus far. (Top)

Auras

Blademasters have five aura skills, all of which provide benefits for the Blademaster that do not share to the other members of his party. Auras were initially stackable in Hellgate: London and each had a cost against the Templar's Concentration or Power feed. That changed during development and Auras now work much as they did in Diablo II. They're free to use, but only one can be active at a time. (Top)

Power Aura

Skill Group: Auras Requires: Character level 5.

Description: As a Templar places themselves in greater danger, their increasing faith fuels their power. Power regeneration rate changes based on the amount of enemies within the Templar's Holy Aura

Effect:

Increased power regeneration based on the number of enemies in the area of effect.

Commentary: Like many of the Blademaster's auras and skills, this one is most effective when there are multiple enemies nearby. This makes the Blademaster better at dealing with crowds, but can have an odd contrary effect, where you find your normal play style impossible against a single target. In the case of this skill, care must be taken to not overuse your power reserves when there are fewer targets nearby, since it will take longer to regenerate. A battle with a tough boss can be more difficult one on one than if you take on the boss while several weaker monsters are still in the vicinity.

When this skill required power to keep active, it cost 30 concentration at level 1, and 5 less per skill level. It must have granted a sort of double bonus then, since more points made it subtract less power from the feed, while also causing the active pool to regenerate more rapidly. (Top)

Aura of the Elements

Skill Groups: Aura

Requires: Aura of Power, level 3.
Requires: Character level 15.

Max skill points: 6

Description: As more enemies surround the Blademaster he calls upon the very powers of heaven and earth to aid his cause. Skill effects cap at 5 enemies.

Effects:

Stun, Ignite, Shock, Phase, and Poison attack increased by 1 per enemy in the aura radius.

Commentary: This aura boosts the likelihood of sending a demon into one of the five "states" associated with the five damage types in Hellgate: London. (Top)

Aura of Zeal
Skill Group: Auras

Requires: Aura of Elements, level 3
Requires: Character level 25

Max skill points: 5

Description: The more foes that close in, the more zealous the Blademaster becomes, thus increasing his chance to land a critical hit. Skill effects cap at 5 enemies.

Effects:

Critical hit chance increased by 3 (at level 1).
Critical hit chance is also increased by 2 per enemy in the aura radius

Commentary: Critical hit bonuses are extremely useful in Hellgate: London and can vastly increase character damage. They do not max out at double damage as they do in some games, but can run well into the hundreds. Needless to say, a 10% chance of doing 400% bonus damage is well worth a skill point or two. (Top)

Aura of Deflection

Skill Group: Auras

Requires: Character level 15.

Max skill points: 4

Description: This Blademaster aura calls upon heavenly spirits to turn aside ranged attacks that enter into his holy aura.

Commentary: No further stats or details are known for this skill. From the description it sounds like it makes some unknown percentage of enemy attacks miss completely. This was not initially an aura, but was a sort of invocation, with a limited duration. (Top)

Aura of Vengeance

Skill Group: Auras

Requires: Aura of Deflection, level 1
Requires: Character level 25.

Description: Turning their own dark powers against them, the Blademaster calls upon divine winds to reflect ranged attacks that enter his aura's radius.

Commentary: Another aura about which we do not know a great deal. It knocks down ranged attacks, while Aura of Deflection turns aside melee attackers. This skill was formerly called Holy Wind Aura (screenshot), which seems a much more appropriate name, so perhaps a switch back will yet occur. This skill can be seen in use against Nightmares who attack with invisible poison auras, so apparently it works against all sorts of ranged attacks; not just visible projectiles. (Top)

Blademaster Skill Evolution

Assorted Blademaster skill icons.

The Blademaster and Guardian were announced in early March, 2007, at the GDC game conference. Prior to that point Flagship was planning on three Templar subclasses, each roughly corresponding to the three Templar skill trees. The change to two classes with no/few overlapping skills altered things considerably, with the existing Templar skills being divided between the new Guardian and Blademaster classes. Some skills that didn't fit well with either class were dropped from the game, and it's expected that they will return on a third templar class to be added sometime after the game's launch.

It's not known how the skills will be presented in the final game; some sort of large menu layout has been promised, but the final arrangement, the level requirements, the icons, and all the skill details are still subject to change. Take the following as guidelines, and wait for the beta when we'll have much more confirmed information to add.

Blademaster Media

The Blademaster was unveiled at the GDC event in March 2007, and numerous gaming sites provided a paragraph or two on the character in their event coverage. Previews since then have added to our Blademaster knowledge, and they're listed below. The information found in these has been incorporated into this page, but if you want to see it in the original form, here's your chance.