Honkai: Star Rail Blade banner: Release date, abilities, and more

Honkai: Star Rail‘s Wind element will get its second five-star character in Blade, and he’ll offer something completely different to the game’s roster.

Blade’s kit will be unique in Honkai, and it likely won’t be easy to learn for many players. The reason is that the Destruction character will have to manage his HP carefully, as some of his abilities sacrifice life to deal more damage and make him more powerful.

If you’re more into the strategy side of Honkai, this character might be for you, though. He’ll release later this year, so you won’t have to wait too long. Here is everything we know about Honkai‘s upcoming character, Blade.

When will Blade release in Honkai: Star Rail?

Blade will release alongside Patch 1.2, according to HoYoverse’s usual patch schedule. His official trailer, named “Death Approaches,” was revealed ahead of the update on July 14. He’ll join the Character Event Warp when the update is introduced on July 17.

He will be then replaced by Kafka, the other five-star character who’s joining with Honkai‘s next Major update. She’s expected to replace him in August for its second Phase.

Related: Forget Kafka, there’s another character Honkai: Star Rail fans are dying to play

Blade’s abilities in Honkai: Star Rail

Blade was initially revealed during the game’s beta phase in Patch 0.70 back in May 2022. While some details might have changed since then, the character’s official trailer confirmed he would keep the same playstyle overall: dealing more damage when hit by enemies. Here were the abilities of Blade during Honkai‘s beta phase:

• Basic attack: Blade deals Wind Damage equivalent to 50 percent of his Attack to a target.
• Skill: Sacrifices 30 percent of his Max HP to gain 100 percent chance of Advancing Forward and a 12 percent Damage increase.
  • His Basic attack is also upgraded for three turns: while the upgrade is active, Blade cannot use the Skill anymore, and if he doesn’t have enough HP left, they’ll be reduced to One. The Skill won’t regenerate Energy either.
• Ultimate: Deals 28.8 percent of his Attack as Wind damage to a target and enemies adjacent to it. Also deals another array of Wind Damage equivalent to 14.4 percent of his Attack and 36 percent of his Max HP. On the other side, his Max HP will be set to half.
• Talent: When he takes Damage, Blade gains one stack of Charge for three turns (up to Five). When he reaches the maximum number of stacks, they’ll be all consumed to deal 21 percent of his Attack and 54 percent of his HP lost as a Follow-up Attack. Lastly, he recovers 30 percent of his Max HP.
• Technique: Attacks the enemy and uses 20 percent of his Max HP to deal 40 percent of his Max HP as Wind damage to all enemies upon entering combat.

What to expect from Blade in Honkai: Star Rail

As the abilities above show, Blade will be tricky to play at his full potential. On the other side, we think learning how to use his skills in an efficient way will feel pretty rewarding.

In addition, Blade will be a great addition to anyone’s roster since he’ll be the first Wind character to feature significant AoE damage. The other Wind representatives before his release are mono-target DPS Dan Heng, as well as Bronya and Sampo, who both are supports.

Players also pointed out he would form a great synergy with the last five-star healer who released, Luocha. While the latter uses Attack to grant teammates more healing and regeneration, Blade will use HP to deal damage. Both use opposite stats compared to the other characters from their category, and many see that as a way to gather them up into the same team.

While Blade will likely be a popular choice in the Honkai community, it won’t be easy to decide to put all your resources into pulling his banner since he’ll replace another highly anticipated character in Kafka.

Both are five-star characters, which means unlucky players will have to spend a massive amount of resources to get them through upgrading their Pity if they don’t get them through random pulls.