Updated 2024/04/19 (As of Patch 6.45)

Introduction

My name is Brea (Eternal/breamiin on Discord) and I’ve been playing Blade Dancer on DN NA since 70 cap and on Infinity Nest since 2021.

This is a guide on what I learned on how to play Blade Dancer with some tips and tricks along the way.

Overview

Blade Dancer is a Neutral Element, DPS class that scales off of the Strength stat as well as the Physical damage stat.

This class will use Bear and Destructive items over Agility, Intelligence, and Vitality.

Stats to prioritize will be:

• Final Damage
• Strength
• Physical Attack
• Critical Chance
• Critical Damage
• Defense and Magic Defense

Skill Build - PvE

I do not PvP so there will not be a skill build recommendation for it.

Important Skills to Note:

• Courage - Shared Buff with Warrior, All Attack & Stats Increased by 8% for 900s, 100% Uptime
• Phantom Guard - Damage Reduction Buff 20% and Super Armor Buff 50% for 20s, 67% Uptime
• Breeze Call Dance - FD Buff 20% & DR 24% for 20s, 100% Uptime
• Breeze Call [Awakened] - Attack 2000% Buff for 20s, 100% Uptime, has an i-frame when using with 6 Second Wind Bubbles
• Graze Dance EX - Crit Resist Debuff -30% for 30s, 100% Uptime
• Sweet Circle EX - Defense Reduction -10% for 30s, 100% Uptime
• Twinkle Spin EX - Good for dodging Stomps or ground attacks
• Deadly Drill - Slight i-frame during the middle of the skill
• Inner Fire [Awakened] - Attack & Attack Speed Buff 15% for 85s, 94% Uptime, CD was reduced to 90s, i-frame in the middle of skill
• Squall Flaker - Can cancel skills, i-frame on the normal attack, left click will raise you in the air which is not an i-frame
• Upright Spin - Gain 2 Second Wind bubbles and a buff for 7s. It is an i-frame. CD is 12s and buff has 58% Uptime
• Zephyr - Fills your Hero Skill gauge and is a full i-frame
• Blade Step - Strong DPS skill, non-CM3 version is full i-frame; use after Fancy Turn and it loses its’ i-frame but increases the damage
• Elegant Storm - Second strongest skill, while using it you take less damage

Kali Tree

Here you need at least 45 SP used to learn the ultimate skill and this is what I recommend for the basics.

Fancy Turn only needs to be level 6 but it can be maxed as you’ll be using it in rotation frequently.

On Infinity, you can max out just about every skill but the base tree doesn’t have anything important aside from the passives, Phantom Guard, Courage, and Fancy Turn so this is where I would utilize my skill points.

Dancer Tree

Here you need at least 65 SP used to learn the first Blade Dancer skill.
This is the build I recommend for just pure Blade Dancer skills. You can go hybrid and take some Spirit Dancer skills as filler.

If you do take Spirit Dancer skills, just remember that Breeze Call Dance and Illusion Dance share the same cooldown.
Breeze Call Dance will buff your Blade Dance, Blade Dancer, and Awakening skills so you’ll want to prioritize this over Illusion Dance.

Blade Dancer Tree

You’ll want to max everything on this tree.
The EX versions improve on the base skills and will add extra hits to it or increase range of attack.
Elegant Storm EX and Gust Dementia EX become your strongest skills.

On my skill tree Gust Dementia is 12/11 - I recommend getting the cash shop skill up plate to increase Gust Dementia’s level.

CM1 is important because it allows you to reduce the cooldown of all Blade Dance skills by 2s with every use. I highly recommend a CD skill plate for Breeze Call Dance.

Awakening Tree

Learn all of these skills.

Zephyr is the skill that will charge your Hero Skill gauge.
Be mindful of when to use the buff [Harmony] Courage as it has a long CD and it is shared by the Warrior class.

The CM3 passive from the Blade Dancer tree uses Blade Step and enhances it by removing the i-frame but increasing its damage output.
You can choose to use Fancy Turn + Blade Step or not and get the full i-frame out of it.

Zephyr is also an iframe while Grazing Rush is not.

Skill Plates

There are a few recommended skill plates for Blade Dancer. Test the ones that you prefer.

Currently Using

→ Breeze Call Dance Cooldown
Helps with self-healing by lowering CD from 15s to 12s and lowers cooldowns of Blade Dance skills by 2s with each use.
→ Graze Dance Damage
Crit Resist debuff on the EX and decent damage to plate over other options
→ Elegant Storm Damage
Increases the damage for Elegant Storm & Elegant Storm EX
→ Gust Dementia Cooldown
Alternatively, you could run damage but cooldown lowers the CD from 18s to 14.4s and helps with a smoother playstyle.

Other Options

→ Inner Fire Cooldown
→ Breeze Call Cooldown
→ Sweet Circle Damage
→ Phantom Guard Increase Buff Duration
→ Deadly Drill Damage or Cooldown

Skills Rotation

This game is very reactive based so a perfect rotation will never be possible but try to ensure that Elegant Storm and Gust Dementia are fully used.
If you tumble out of these to cancel it then it's a huge loss in your dps.
Use Squall Flaker or Tumble for a quick i-frame.
Sinia Turn will extend your tumble’s i-frame, right click after tumbling to use it.

Courage (Genie) - lasts for 900s, no need to recast unless you have died and revived. Phantom Guard, cast off Cooldown.

Below is a link to a DPS test showcase, it doesn’t follow this exact pattern but the goal is to have enhanced Breeze Call and Upright Spin active for Elegant Storm and Gust Dementia for maximum damage.

Once you have your Hero Skill, Zephyr will charge it by 25% when it hits an enemy so use it when it is ready.

Skill Bar Setup

Below you can see how my skills are set up in the skill bar, my quick slot keys are different from the default settings so find what works best for you.

I like to keep my setup similar for my right side with my utility skills and on the left side is my damage skills.

Sweet Circle has a low cooldown and can be used to save your Bubble stacks while moving through nests/dungeons.

I like my Hero Skill key to be assigned to T on my keyboard but find what works best for your play comfort.

You can get special skill heraldries from the PvP shop.
Barnack’s Breaking Point is a buff that increases attack power by 5% and is a popular choice.

The other popular ones are Iona’s Healing Crest and Geriant’s Barrier.

Ending Section

Thank you for taking the time to read my guide! If you have any questions you can pm me in game or on discord.

In game I am on Brea, Makenai, or Relics

Discord my username is breamiin (Eternal or Brea is my display name)