Should you pull for Blade in Honkai: Star Rail?

The ruthless Wind Destruction character Blade has made his highly anticipated arrival in the first half of Honkai: Star Rail’s Version 1.2 update. Now that Blade is officially obtainable as a playable unit, you might be wondering whether or not he is worth recruiting.

Is Blade worth pulling for in Honkai: Star Rail?

Blade is a brutal damage dealer and a tank with a massive amount of health points, so he is absolutely worth pulling for. If you have the Stellar Jade and Star Rail Special Passes to pull for Blade, you should try your best to add him to your roster.

The Wind character has five different abilities you’ll want to learn about before deciding whether or not to pull for him.

• “Shard Sword” basic attack: Deals 50 percent to 130 percent of Blade’s attack as Wind damage against a single targeted enemy.
  • When Blade’s skill is activated, his basic attack is then converted into “Forest of Swords.” While this is active, Blade consumes 10 percent of his maximum health points to deal Wind damage equal to the sum of 20 percent to 52 percent of his attack plus 50 percent to 130 percent of his maximum health points against a targeted enemy. It also deals Wind damage against adjacent enemies equal to the sum of eight percent to 20.8 percent of his attack plus 20 percent to 52 percent of Blade’s maximum health points. If Blade doesn’t have the required amount of health points to perform this action, his health points will be lowered to just one health point.
• “Hellscape” skill: Drains 30 percent of Blade’s total health points to trigger the Hellscape state. Once this state is activated, Blade’s skill cannot be used again and the damage he deals is increased by 12 percent to 54 percent. Blade’s basic attack is also changed to “Forest of Swords” for the next three turns. If Blade doesn’t have the required health points when he activates this skill, his health points will be decreased to one.
• “Death Sentence” Ultimate: Sets Blade’s health points to 50 percent of his maximum health points and deals Wind damage against the selected target. The damage dealt by this attack is equal to the sum of 24 percent to 48 percent of Blade’s attack, 60 percent to 120 percent of Blade’s maximum health points, and 60 percent to 120 percent of the health points Blade has lost in battle. At the same time, Blade also applies a blast of Wind damage against the adjacent enemies equal to the sum of 9.6 percent to 19.2 percent of his attack, 24 percent to 48 percent of his maximum health points, and 24 percent to 48 percent of the total health points he has lost in the battle.
• “Shuhu’s Gift” talent: When Blade consumes his health points for his abilities or takes damage, he gains one stack of charge. Only one charge can be gained each time Blade is attacked by an enemy and he can possess up to five stacks. When the maximum of five stacks is gained, Blade immediately begins a follow-up attack that deals Wind damage equal to 22 percent to 55 percent of his attack plus 55 percent to 137.5 percent of his maximum health points. All of the stacks Blade has are consumed in this attack.
• “Karma Wind” technique: Blade initiates an attack on the enemy to immediately enter battle. Upon entering battle, 20 percent of Blade’s maximum health points are consumed to deal Wind damage equal to 40 percent of his maximum health points against all enemies. If Blade uses this ability but doesn’t have the required amount of health points, his health points will be reduced to one health point.

Related: Best Light Cones for each character in Honkai: Star Rail

Blade’s abilities allow him to efficiently take on both single and multiple targets at once. Characters who are part of the Destruction path are basically immensely tough and brutal damage dealers who possess both immense amounts of health and high survivability.

Compared to most of the other paths characters are part of in Honkai: Star Rail, Destruction units are some of the most useful. I’ve found that it’s quite difficult to lose a battle when you have a character of this type on your team since they can withstand just about anything, and Blade is one of the best since he restores his own health points.

While Blade does replenish his health, he does so because his abilities drain his health to execute greater damage. If you’re familiar with characters like Xiao or Hu Tao from Genshin Impact, you have a solid idea of how Blade functions, although I find him to be easier to maintain than both recruits.

Because Blade has such a unique skillset, players will need to build him carefully. Ensuring he has the best Relics, a solid Light Cone, and a great team is crucial for helping him perform to the best of his ability.

Even though Blade is an immensely powerful recruit, you may want to skip him if you don’t like characters who drain their health points to enhance their abilities. Blade is certainly a high-risk, high-reward character, but if you do not want to carefully watch and manage his health points then you should probably skip his Warp banner in favor of saving for another recruit.

Should you pull for Blade or Kafka in Honkai: Star Rail?

Blade’s banner will be immediately followed up by Kafka’s, so you might be debating which of the two to pull for. Both Blade and Kafka are immensely powerful recruits, so you really can’t go wrong pulling for either.

I’d recommend choosing between the two based on which kind of recruit you need for your team lineup. Blade is a damage-dealing focused character and can work as a DPS capable of targeting single foes or taking on many at once.

Kafka is mostly a support unit, although she can also deal some solid damage. Since Kafka is part of the Nihility path, her abilities are mostly based on applying debuffs to weaken her foes and make it easier to vanquish them.

Since Blade and Kafka are drastically different recruits whose skills are suited for different combat scenarios, you can’t really directly compare them. Blade is better at dealing damage and lasting through any battle while Kafka is a powerful support unit that will make it easier to vanquish enemies and applies solid Lightning damage.

Based on my experience with each recruit, I would pull for Blade over Kafka, but I think they’re two of Honkai: Star Rail’s best characters overall. If you have the means to pull for both, I’d recommend doing so as Blade will be available for the first half of Version 1.2 and Kafka will take over for the second half of the update before they both then become unobtainable for a while.

We gathered this information by playing Honkai Star Rail Version 1.2 “Even Immortality Ends” on PC.