1. How To Duel In Blade And Soul
2. How Do You Duel In Blade And Souls

Blade & Soul (Korean: 블레이드 앤 소울; RR: Beulleideu aen soul) is a Korean fantasy martial-arts massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by NCSOFT (Team Bloodlust). On September 13, 2012, NCSOFT announced that Blade & Soul would release in Western territories, which eventually happened on January 19, 2016.^[1] A Japanese animated television adaptation aired on April 3, 2014 on TBS and other stations^[2] then finished on June 26, 2014.

Gameplay[edit]

Blade and Soul How do Soul Shields Work? Unsubscribe from AuroraPeachy? Cancel Unsubscribe. Subscribe Subscribed Unsubscribe 30.8K. Blade & Soul (Korean: 블레이드 앤 소울; RR: Beulleideu aen soul) is a Korean fantasy martial-arts massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by NCSOFT (Team Bloodlust). On September 13, 2012, NCSOFT announced that Blade & Soul would release in Western territories, which eventually happened on January 19, 2016. Blade & Soul at various points will have you enter into instanced dungeon areas to complete your quests. Most of the time, these dungeons are just single player instances and could even break when you bring a friend that's not on the quest. Begin a heroic journey to confront dark forces and seek vengeance as a master of the martial arts in Blade & Soul, the free-to-play MMORPG. Darkness continues to descend upon the Earthen Realm, threatening to bring chaos and destruction with it. Join the fight in Blade & Soul: Eternal Night! Dual Strike now absorbs 100% of damage dealt as HP. Like the crane that soars on the wind, explore a beautiful, cinematic world like never before as you use the power of windwalk to glide across forests, dash across rivers, and jump over mountains. See the world inspired by the distinct visual style of acclaimed artist Hyung Tae Kim as you travel the land.

Blade & Soul features a combination of martial arts-inspired combat and qinggong in an open-world environment. Players create playable characters that explore around the world by completing quests assigned by various NPCs. The game uses a real-time battle system in the third-person camera view and requires players to 'combo' a series of attacks, much like that of fighting games. According to NCSOFT, the game also features an innovative “Downed” mechanic, allowing players to recover from the brink of death. Players begin with “player-versus environment” combat (PvE) but may participate in “player-versus-player” (PvP) combat later in the game.^[3]

Character customization[edit]

According to the developers, Blade & Soul provides a highly customizable system and it has been stated that NPCs in the game were made with the character customization system.^[4] Customizations a player has access to include hairstyles, facial structures, facial markings and makeup, eye color, height, and body sliders.

Races[edit]

Characters may be one of four playable races based on the Four Chinese Symbols: The Gon (based on the Azure Dragon), the Jin (based on the Black Tortoise), the Yun (based on the Vermillion Bird, also known as the Fenghuang), or the Lyn (based on the White Tiger).

Development[edit]

Weeks before NCmedia day, NCSOFT announced a new Unreal Engine 3-based MMORPG only known by its codename Project [M]. For the next two weeks, a teaser website was updated revealing more information about the project.

During E3 2007, Sony revealed that they had entered into an exclusive deal with NCsoft to produce new titles exclusively for the PlayStation 3. This contract included titles from both existing intellectual properties owned by NCsoft.

In February 2010, it was announced that Blade & Soul, alongside Guild Wars 2, was being developed for release on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. However, since then, there have been no updates on the development of the titles for the consoles.

The first closed beta test was scheduled for April 27, 2011, while the open beta test and commercial release were to be determined within the year.

In July 2011, Tencent gained the publishing rights of Blade & Soul in China, and made its first appearance at ChinaJoy 2011.^[5]Blade & Soul launched in China on November 23, 2013 with an open beta which seamlessly moved into official launch.

The second closed beta test took place from August 29 to September 10, 2011. During this event, the Assassin class was playable for the first time.

After an open beta test on June 21, 2012, with a record number of 150,000 players, NCSOFT confirmed that the official Korean Blade & Soul launch would commence on June 30, 2012.^[6]

In 2013, HTK has stated that an English version of the game would indeed be released sometime in 2014 after the Chinese commercial launch of the new Blade & Soul anime in Japan alongside Taiwan and Russia.^[7]

On May 20, 2015, Blade & Soul was announced for the NA and EU region and released in January 2016. The closed beta officially began on October 29, 2015.

NA and EU beta testing occurred over the course of five weekends beginning on October 30, 2015, and concluding on December 21, 2015.

The official launches of NA and EU servers occurred on January 19, 2016.^[8]

On May 10, 2018, NCsoft has teased a new 'Blade & Soul Vision Update', the renovation project that aims to upgrade the engine to Unreal Engine 4,^[9] and released as the Blade & Soul Complete expansion in December 2019.

Media[edit]

Anime[edit]

An anime adaptation of the game was produced and aired from April to June 2014, in which Hiroshi Hamasaki and Takeuchi Hiroshi directed the anime at the studio Gonzo from scripts by Atsuhiro Tomioka. Eri Nagata adapts Hyung-Tae Kim's game character designs for animation and serves as chief animation director.^[10] The original storyline revolves around a swordswoman named Alka who travels to seek revenge for her murdered teacher.^[11] The opening theme of the anime is 'Sayonara Usotsuki' (サヨナラ嘘ツキ) by MimimemeMIMI, and the ending theme is 'RAINBOW' by LEGO BIG MORL. The series was streamed by Crunchyroll in the West.^[11]

Episode list[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^'Announcing Blade & Soul'. NCsoft. Archived from the original on September 17, 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
2. ^'Blade & Soul Fantasy TV Anime's 1st Promo Streamed'. Anime News Network. February 14, 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
3. ^'FAQ'. NCsoft. Archived from the original on September 16, 2012. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
4. ^'Massively'. massively.joystiq.com. Archived from the original on February 13, 2012. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
5. ^'MMOsite'. MMOsite.com. Archived from the original on November 1, 2016. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
6. ^'Blade & Soul Dojo'. bladeandsouldojo.com. Archived from the original on March 29, 2016. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
7. ^'김형태 Hyung-Tae Kim Interview at NCSOFT 'Blade & Soul' studio'. Cuteinkorea.com. Archived from the original on November 16, 2016. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
8. ^'Blade & Soul'. NCSoft. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
9. ^'NCsoft previews upgrade to Unreal Engine 4 for Asian fantasy MMORPG'. MMOCulture. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
10. ^'Blade & Soul Fantasy MMORPG Gets Anime by GONZO'. Anime News Network. February 7, 2014. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
11. ^ ^ab'Crunchyroll Adds Blade and Soul Anime for Spring 2014'. Anime News Network. April 3, 2014.

External links[edit]

• Blade & Soul (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia

Credits to Toraso and the BnS Academy Discord

Contents

• 2 Part 1: Just Finished Story
• 3 Part 3: Bracelet, Weeklies, and Hongmoon Skills
• 4 Part 4: Black Tower and Hellion Dungeons

Most of story is fairly self-explanatory; you’ll want to do all quests that are either yellow (story), purple (training), or orange (raid). Raid quests only continue solo up to a certain point (after which you will need to complete the quest by doing the raid with an alliance), but are still integral in unlocking quests and receiving questline rewards.

With the awakening system, you’ll need to “redeem” achievements from Hongmoon Skills in your achievement menu (default hotkey “U”), and redeem the “Level 60” achievement when possible for skill points. Note that you should complete the purple quest “Legacy of the Hongmoon Clan” before starting on the last raid quest.

Coming out of the story, you should have the following gear equipped (with your Hongmoon Points distributed among Offense and Focus, prioritizing Offense breakpoints first):

Dawnforged/Riftwalk Weapon

5 Pentagonal Gems (Diamond, Ruby, Amethyst, Citrine, and Sapphire)

Solak Accessories

Stormbringer Pet Aura

Stormbringer Heart

Stormbringer Soul

5 Set Skybreak Spire (BT) Soulshield, 3 Set Midnight Skypetal Plains (MSP) Soulshield

A note about the weapon: Story gives you Dawnforged/Riftwalk Stage 3 from a story raid quest, or you can purchase it from the merchant Junsorei in Mushin’s Tower.

Celestial Basin

Celestial Basin is located in the southeastern area of the Gunwon City area. You are going to be spending a lot of time here. The goal here is to farm Celestial peaches to turn into NPC Vendor Lee Youjin in exchange for upgrade materials, Soul/Mystic Badges, and depending on your current needs, various other items.

How To Duel In Blade And Soul

From the Peach Vendor in this area, you can obtain:

• Eminence XP Charms, available to HM14 and below characters
• Mystic Badges

And more!

The NPC in the middle here, Lee Youjin.

Dungeons At this Gear Level

You should be able to LFP (Looking for Party) into the following dungeons without issue, or join/create F8 lobbies for them. Doing these dungeons daily will help you build your gold reserves, and provide basic upgrade materials for your weapon. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOU SHOULD READ UP ON DUNGEON MECHANICS BEFORE YOU ENTER THEM, EXCEPTION BEING TO ANYTHING BELOW EBONDRAKE CITADEL IN THE F8 LIST.

• Cold Storage
• Heaven’s Mandate (Requires an Orb of Ascension)
• Tower Of Infinity 3 wins
• Naryu Sanctum
• Irontech Forge
• Ebondrake Lair
• Starstone Mines
• Hollow’s Heart
• Ebondrake Lair
• Starstone Mines
• Hollow’s Heart

Daily Challenge At this Gear Level

You should aim to complete the 3 easiest challenges at your current gear level. This will be Brawl in the Basin (kill 1 of the 3 basin mini bosses), and two of the remaining challenges off the Daily Challenge list for that day. This will allow you to start gathering materials and Solar Energy for you to use for your soul badge.
Weekly Raids/Challenge

At this point you should be able to get into parties recruiting for the Weekly raids Dawn of Khanda Vihar (DKV), Fallen Aransu School (FAS), and Snowjade Fortress (SJF). To unlock these raids, you need to complete the Orange quests “Dawn of Khanda Vihar” (done previously if you followed this guide) and “Fate of the Aransu”. You will only be able to complete these quests up to a certain point, and then it requires beating Raven King and Hive Queen to proceed (don’t worry about that now).

These raids give you a good amount of gold, Raven Feathers, Hive Queen Wings, and various materials. Do them every single week. Raven Feathers and Hive Queen wings are essential for upgrading the next 2 tiers of soul shields, as well as raid Legendary Accessories (Ring and Earring from Raven King, Necklace from Hive Queen)

Before you do these raids, accept the quest “Know Thine Enemy Part 1”.

This quest gives the last remaining pieces of the Skybreak Spire (BT) soulshield set, pieces 6, 7, and 8. It also rewards a Heptagonal Amethyst. It requires completing, in order:

• Fallen Aransu School
• Snowjade Fortress
• Hall of the Keeper
• Hall of the Templar

If you cannot find people willing to accept you into premade parties, feel free to make your own- just announce that you are recruiting for the weekly quests, and people will apply to join your party. Be sure to know the mechanics of these dungeons before you start doing them. The best time to do weekly quests is on reset day- Wednesday for NA/EU.

Part 2: Getting your First Legendaries

You should now focus on getting your legendary bracelet, mystic badge, and Soul Badge.

This will require completing at least two quests, The Dead Refuse To Die and Know Thine Enemy Part 2. Know Thine Enemy Part 2 is what gives you your bracelet, and The Dead Refuse To Die is a requirement to unlock Know Thine Enemy Part 2, as well as a source for your first mystic badge.

Quest: The Dead Refuse to Die

You must complete, in order:

• A quest to kill one of the Celestial Basin bosses
• Heaven’s Mandate
• Cold Storage
• A quest to defeat the Searstrike Sisters at the 16th floor of Mushin’s Tower

This awards your choice of mystic badge (refer to the BnS Academy class channel for which one you should pick).

Quest: Know Thine Enemy Part 2

This quest gives you your legendary bracelet (refer to the BnS Academy class channel for which one you should pick), as well as a Heptagonal Diamond. It requires completing, in order:

• Naryu Sanctum
• Irontech Forge
• Ebondrake Lair
• Starstone Mines
• Hollow’s Heart

Note that you must complete the second raid questline “Fate of the Aransu – Chapter 4: Vale of Tears” to access Ebondrake Lair.

Soul Badge

After about a month of playing, you should be getting close to having enough Solar Energy to buy your Soul Badge from Dragon Express (125 Solar Energy, or appx. 25 -30 Days of Daily Challenges). If you are one of the lucky classes that uses Eternity or Transcendence, you can instead buy them for 15,000 Celestial Peaches (or get them from Midnight Skypetal Plains), and skip the month wait. If you are a class that uses a soul badge from the Glory Token line (Glory or Sagewood), it may be possible to purchase it outright with gold, because Glory Tokens are usually very cheap on the marketplace.

Midnight Skypetal Plains

How Do You Duel In Blade And Souls

Midnight Skypetal Plains (otherwise known as MSP) is a 12-player instance that has no lockout, accessible from the portal near House of Pleasures in Zaiwei. The boss in Midnight Skypetal Plains, Sacred Longgui, has six stages, each with their own loot that drops once you defeat him. This loot can be exchanged in Midnight Skypetal Plains itself, featuring some rewards that otherwise only drop in raid instances with weekly lockouts.

Soulshield Fusing and Reinforcement

The soulshields you receive generally have random statistics applied to them, with the best rolls being Critical and then Accuracy for PvE. You can add further stats to the soulshields by purchasing (or crafting) Artisanal Shield Bases from F5. Once you have an Artisanal Shield Base, you can exchange it for a particular stat type in Dragon Express’s first tab, and then shift+click on a soulshield in your inventory to Fuse the Artisanal Primer into it. Keep in mind that stat increases are random, and that fusing into your soulshield more than once doesn’t necessarily make the stat higher. Always check the menu before pressing the upgrade button.

There is another method of upgrading soulshields called Reinforce or Reinforcement; this involves fusing the same type of soulshield together, such as a piece #3 Assassin BT soulshield with another piece #3 Assassin BT soulshield. This only upgrades stats that both soulshields share, but is separate from fusing the Primers and can be used in combination with it.

Dungeons At this Gear Level

You should be able to LFP (Looking for Party) into the following dungeons without issue, or join/create F8 lobbies for them. Doing these dungeons daily will help you build your gold reserves, and provide basic upgrade materials for your weapon. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOU SHOULD READ UP ON DUNGEON MECHANICS BEFORE YOU ENTER THEM, EXCEPTION BEING TO ANYTHING BELOW EBONDRAKE CITADEL IN THE F8 LIST.

• Cold Storage
• Heaven’s Mandate (Requires an Orb of Ascension)
• Tower Of Infinity 3 wins
• Naryu Sanctum
• Irontech Forge
• Ebondrake Lair
• Starstone Mines
• Hollow’s Heart

After you obtain the correct bracelet (consult a guide for your class and spec to determine if you need Divine Dragon or TIger), you should level it up to at least Stage 4. This can get a bit expensive, so make sure you do you dailies every day for as much gold as you can get.

Bracelet is often the most cost effective and most dramatic damage upgrade until it is maxed at Stage 10, so make it your #1 priority.

Hongmoon Skills

By now, you should be unlocking your Hongmoon Skills. You can obtain some of these via the Achievement Vendor in Zaiwei, Celestial Peaches in Celestial Basin, Clan Crafting, or lucky drops from older dungeons. You can also get them from the Zen Bean Trader in most towns, in exchange for Bloodstones (bought with Zen Beans) if you like PvP, since the only way to get Zen Beans is via PvP (Arena 1v1 or 3v3 Tag matches). Good news is Arena is gear equalized, so gear doesn’t matter, however, expect to lose a lot in the beginning, so grinding Zen Beans this way can be slow going. The daily quests from the PvP notice board can help.

Bloodstones can also be acquired from other miscellaneous sources, as they are a generic PvP material.

With the awakening system, you’ll need to “redeem” achievements from Hongmoon Skills in your achievement menu (default hotkey “U”), and redeem the “Level 60” achievement when possible for skill points.

Dungeons At this Gear Level

You should be able to LFP (Looking for Party) into the following dungeons without issue, or join/create F8 lobbies for them. Doing these dungeons daily will help you build your gold reserves, and provide basic upgrade materials for your weapon. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOU SHOULD READ UP ON DUNGEON MECHANICS BEFORE YOU ENTER THEM, EXCEPTION BEING TO ANYTHING BELOW EBONDRAKE CITADEL IN THE F8 LIST.

• Cold Storage
• Heaven’s Mandate (Requires an Orb of Ascension)
• Tower Of Infinity 3 wins
• Naryu Sanctum
• Irontech Forge
• Ebondrake Lair
• Starstone Mines
• Hollow’s Heart

It’s time for you to Tackle Black Tower and get your Raven weapon! You will also start doing dungeons that reward Hellion Cores, and complete the Quest “Know Thine Enemy Part 2.”

Black Tower

This will be your first major raid. You can either try to find a Faction chat/Khanda Vihar area raid, or search for people recruiting for a raid in the BNS Raid Recruitment Discord (link at the end of this guide). Make sure to pick up the weekly quests for this raid at the Shrine of the Ascendant in Khanda Vihar.

Selection boxes for raid accessories will drop in Black Tower, so make sure to see what kind of bidding or priority system your group has.

Once you clear the final boss, don’t forget to finish the Orange Questline for “Dawn of Khanda Vihar”.

Upgrading your weapon to Raven tier

Time to get your next tier of weapon. This may take a bit of grinding to get enough gold for, but don’t get discouraged!

Going through the alternate weapon path (Dawnforged/Riftwalk) is cheaper than going straight to Raven from Baleful or Seraph. I would recommend doing this and swapping to Raven at stage 9. If you have an active clan, you can opt to instead keep on upgrading to Storm Dragon/Exalted to save costs, and switch to Aransu.

Dungeons At this Gear Level

You should be able to LFP (Looking for Party) into the following dungeons without issue, or join/create F8 lobbies for them. Doing these dungeons daily will help you build your gold reserves, and provide basic upgrade materials for your weapon. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOU SHOULD READ UP ON DUNGEON MECHANICS BEFORE YOU ENTER THEM, EXCEPTION BEING TO ANYTHING BELOW EBONDRAKE CITADEL IN THE F8 LIST.

• Cold Storage
• Heaven’s Mandate (Requires an Orb of Ascension)
• Tower Of Infinity 3 wins
• Naryu Sanctum
• Irontech Forge
• Ebondrake Lair
• Starstone Mines
• Hollow’s Heart
• Drowning Deeps
• Sandstorm Temple
• Ransacked Treasury

All BnS Academy Dungeon and Raid Guides

BnS Academy Discord

Afterword

Some commonly used terms and abbreviations
A google document that explains some more common terms and abbreviations, and talks about basic game mechanics
Some words about clans: Clans offer the potential to skip weeks if not months of farming, by taking you into higher tier dungeons, potentially into the first raid in the game (Skybreak Spire/Black Tower), and by providing you with clan bonuses and crafting. A clan is not guaranteed to be good, but if you can get into a decent one, whether through the standard clan recruitment channel, Discord, friends, etc., it saves a significant amount of time and effort.
Some words about events: You can check what events are currently going on by browsing the news section on the official Blade & Soul website. These events are usually, but not always, easily done by new players, and provide lucrative rewards such as high-tier upgrade equipment, decreased costs to upgrade current gear, and more. Always try to do events if you can.

The original version of this guide was made by /U/MoonfireArt. I just updated/changed aspects of the guide to be more updated for the current July 25th patch and help people gear up more efficiently. You can generally find me in the BnS Academy Discord server, by the handle Toraso#6983. Best wishes on your BnS experience.