Blade & Soul shows off the new talent system for Destroyers, Blade Masters, and Summoners
When the next update for Blade & Soul arrives, players will be able to start specializing their characters through the use of the new talent system. If you’re wondering how this is going to work, the official site is showing off the talents for three of the game’s 11 classes (or you can read about the specializations down below) although all 11 will have access to the system. While your Summoner isn’t going to suddenly become a melee fighter, you can choose between summoning swarms for utility and knockdown, or focusing on ranged attacks via the Way of the Thorns.
Blade Master
The Blade Master is a versatile class and their two new Specializations are Way of the Spirit Sword and Way of the Singing Blade. The class maintains a continuous damage style with a balance between offensive and defensive skills.
Way of the Spirit Sword – A powerful all-around fighter thanks to its Strengthened Blade buff that allows it to deal increased damage and its Blade Fluidity Talent that gives it access to new combos.
 Sharp Edge |
 Blade Fluidity |
 Red Hot Edge |
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A Strengthened Blade buff will be applied whenever using Lunar Slash (TAB). That buff increases Attack Power on Bosses and ignores a target’s Defense. |
Provides a buff when a certain combination of skills revolving around Dragontongue are used. |
Introduces a new skill named Burning Whirl (TAB) which can be used right after Lunar Slash (TAB). Burning Whirl pierces Defense and Parry skills. |
Way of the Singing Blade – An elusive master of the sword, Slippery and a boost to mobility provide increased invincibility time and auto-targeting resistance making this Specialization a prime choice for PvP.
 Gleaming Blade |
 Slippery |
 Crimson Blade |
|---|---|---|
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Enables you to use Fatal Blade (F) whenever you use Flash Step (V) through a target. Fatal Blade pierces Defense and Parry skills. |
A powerful defensive skill which increases your invincibility time to 1 second whenever you use Evade (S), Blindside (E), Strafe (Q), or Flash Step (V). |
Changes your LMB skills whenever you are in Draw Stance, granting access to the Bleeding Edge and One Strike, Ten Cuts skills. |
Destroyer
The Destroyer's place remains on the frontlines with its imposing strength displayed in both sheer size and skill. Their new Specializations are Way of the Stone Breaker and Way of the Reaper.
Way of the Stone Breaker – A resilient melee master who fights in the frontline and uses defensive skills to withstand attacks that would destroy lesser warriors.
 Earthen Bones |
 Rocky Resilience |
 Stone Rage |
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Stone Shield (V) decreases damages received by 10 % for 5 seconds (stacking up to 5 times). You can now also use the Forge Guard effect on your party members, providing them with Iron Plating (V) for 5 seconds when attacked. |
Stone Shield (V) now allows you and your party members within range to resist status effects. Using Stone Shield/Iron Plating (V) now also recovers 2% of your HP when party members within range are hit. You are Immobilized during Stone Shield/Iron Plating. |
This Talent gives your Stone Shield/Iron Plating (V) a Stun attack that pierces Parry and Defense skills which makes it a potentially devastating skill. |
Way of the Reaper – A devastating force that weakens opponents with Scars and other debilitating debuffs and then cuts them down one by one.
 Perseverance |
 Annihilation |
 Subjugation |
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This passive Talent increases the duration of Fury (E) or Persistence (E) to 8 seconds (up from 6) and almost doubles your Hongmoon Focus Recovery to 300 (up from 180). This new passive Talent can be extremely useful in both PvE and PvP. |
Annihilation (X) is a new skill that replaces Execute (X). The more you use Annihilation, the more powerful it becomes with damage doubling at every stage. Annihilation also offers a 20% HP Drain on targets with 5 Scar stacks. |
Turns your Blitz skill (1) from a Stun Ability to something more defensive, allowing you to Resist Damage and Status Effects during use. Using Blitz will still approach an enemy and now absorbs 50 % of damage as HP for each target hit. When using Stone Shield or Iron Plating (V), the new Wrecking Ball skill will be available for use. Wrecking Ball allows you to approach enemies and Stun them. Using it on any target affected by a Crowd Control effect will launch that target into the air. This is a great Talent for PvP since Wrecking Ball also pierces Parry skills. |
Summoner
The Summoner is a ranged damage dealer that can call on a Familiar. With its role in the backline, this class offers party support, and can dish out heavy damage. Their new specializations are Way of the Swarm and Way of the Thorns.
Way of the Swarm – A ranged attacker who continuously buffs and supports allies from behind.
 Cat Nip |
 Surprise Gift |
 Sweet Wish |
|---|---|---|
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Enables you to use Anklebiter (V) twice to Knockdown your target for 4 seconds (instead of 3). |
This Talent replaces Anklebiter with the Surprise Gift (V) skill, allowing you to plant a bomb and remotely trigger it. The bomb will apply a double Knockdown effect on the target. |
Will give you access to the all-new Sweet Wish (TAB) skill. No more waiting when resurrecting your Familiar! Your cat will be back alive in only 1 second (instead of 5 previously). This ability requires 5 stacks of Honey. Honey is a new mechanic introduced for Swarm Summoners. Multiple abilities generate Honey and Honey will be able to be spent in various ways that increase Damage or HP. In this case, Honey is used to resurrect your Familiar faster. |
Way of the Thorns – A ranged attacker who can neutralize many enemies and protect their friends.
 Sun Storm |
 Petal Storm Toss |
 Burr Toss |
|---|---|---|
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Enhances Petal Storm (3) to protect you from projectile damage and will boost the damage of your Sunflower attack during Petal Storm. |
Changes Petal Storm (3) to Petal Storm Toss (3), making you deal damage instead of resisting projectiles. |
After generating three Burrs (through the skill “Flying Nettles” (F)), the third cast will create a giant rolling Burr that will land on your enemies for big AoE damage that pierces Defense and Parry skills. |
Destroyers will always be the center of destructive forces, but they do get to choose between more furious debuffs and attacks or defensive tricks that make them nigh-unkillable. Last but not least, the Blade Masters can either focus on higher damage output with sharpened blades or become far harder to hit and able to dish out auto-targeting attacks. Check out the full rundown on the official site to get a sense of how the same basic class can have multiple flavors.
